Video card appears to causing (ever more frequent) crashes

[kevmusic]

This started when the screen saver came on. The PC would lock and the screen would be covered in tiny green wavy lines, breaking up the main image. It also happened in flight sims so I put it down to the video card. I disabled the screen saver and stopped playing BoB Wings of Victory. I downloaded the latest video drivers and installed the latest version of Direct X but it seems to be making things worse! :{ Now it crashes in any application, with no apparent trigger. All my Norton AV stuff is up to date. Here's my specs:

Dell Vostro 410DT, MS Vista Home Premium
24” monitor
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Processor (2.50GHz, 1333 MHz, 6MB cache)
3072MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024 + 2x512) memory
500GB hard drive with 16MB cache
512MB nVidia GeForce 8800GT graphics
MS Force Feedback 2 joystick
(......and don’t ask me what any of that means!!)
Help!

[Sprogget]

Possibly goosed card? GPU's do get hotter than the average pc component, I've had a few give up the ghost over the years. Maybe swap it out for another & try again, or mayber go back to the last stable driver. Nvidia do release lots of driver updates that often are targeted at specific issues in games/apps, so often aren't relevant to your situation.

[green granite]

Try removing the Video card, make sure any plugable chips/modules are properly seated, then gently clean the edge connectors with a soft pencil rubber (eraser for the colonials) and re-insert the card. Also make sure that any extra power connectors are still plugged in and that the heat-sink and it's fan are properly seated.

[Sprogget]

One thing that occurs to me is that wavy green lines can be related to loose connections out of the card - I have a box at work with a broken screw that does just this when the vga connector works loose. An afterthought really, but worth checking the cable out of the back of the box.:)

[tony draper]

Most mother boards have on board graphics chips now as well, some of them as good as if not better than the older cards,try connecting the monitor to the on board graphics and see what occurs.
You may have to go into bios and tell it to use the board graphics,

[kevmusic]

Thanks for your input, chaps. Sprogget, your suggestion about heat got me thinking: my pc has always been on, 24/7 and it's in a corner where ventilation is limited. So now I have a big fan parked next to it and I turn the computer off every night. Now I can run every application all day - even my GPU-roasting flight sim - without crashing....almost. Well, I get the occasional crash, so there must be a bit of damage/instability, but for the most part, she runs all day, hassle-free! :)

[Sprogget]

I shall print my invoice on toilet roll for faster processing.:)

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Clean the fluff out of all the fans, including the ones on the heatsinks?

[kevmusic]

Good thinking, Wombatman! (Sorry, coudn't resist! :p)

Seriously, that's a must-do.