Windows 7: glitches with radeon hd 4200

I'm getting graphics glitches which last for ~20 ms at random times. This is from my motherboard's integrated HD 4200 chip.
And I know it's not overheating because running FurMark isn't increasing the number of times these glitches occur. Also, no overheating-type artifacts (I had a laptop with bad cooling once - I can tell if it's overheating, and it's not).

Does this mean I need a real graphics card?



And Aero Live Preview is far too useful to disable.

Are you getting any error messages when this occurs?

You might start by clean installing (re-installing) your video drivers.

First, go to the laptop's website and download the most current known good driver.

Then go to Start > Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall a program. Uninstall all the Video Apps first, then uninstall the driver. You will be asked to restart > restart.

When the puter reboots to the desktop Windows will install it's own generic WDDM1.1 driver and you will be asked to restart again. You must do so in order to install the new Drivers > Restart. (You could test to see if the issues occur while using the generic Windows drivers.)

Now install the drivers.

If you continue to have problems you can then try and use DriverSweeper to remove all traces of any video software from Safe Mode. Look up FROSTMOURNE's tutorial on installing drivers to get instructions on using DriverSweeper:

Installing and updating drivers in 7

Hope that Helps.

It happened with both current and original drivers.
It feels like a hardware issue...

And it's not a laptop, but a desktop motherboard with the GPU integrated into the northbridge.

If you feel it is a hardware problem then you could need a new video card. But before you shell out the money for a new card you might want to eliminate some of the other causes first. The more common ones are problems with the drivers as I mentioned, but barring that the hardware issues are usually Memory (errors and defects), Unstable Overclocking or Incorrect motherboard voltages, Poor Cooling, Power Supply,and Video Card.

It helps if you can isolate the actions that trigger the event. Most often it will be an application using 3D graphics. But if the incidents occur constantly it would point more towards defective hardware. If it happens more specifically (just when running Game X) it points towards overheating, settings, software, or driver issues.

GENERAL SYSTEM PERFORMANCE
You need to eliminate the possibility that your computer has a global problem. You can use a program like Prime95 to stress test your system. Free Software - GIMPS
You can run the "Stress Test" for a few hours or overnight. This will not tell you what the problem is, but it is helpful to uncover any issues your system has with instability and cooling.

OVERHEATING
You can check your temps by looking at your BIOS readings or use a free program like Speedfan SpeedFan - Access temperature sensor in your computer .
A real easy test is to just pull the side panel(s) off your case (You can also blow a house fan directly into the open case) and see if the problem goes away or gets better. If it does then the issue is definitely overheating. If you are overheating you need to look at installing some cooling upgrades. You want to look at ventilating the case (more or bigger fans), Upgrade your case to a larger gaming case (lots of fans, water-cooling), etc.


MEMORY
Memory errors can cause video problems. Run a program like Memtest86+ for at least 3 passes to see if there are any memory errors. Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool .

Go into the BIOS and check your motherboard voltages against spec. You could also reset the BIOS defaults if you think any alterations or overclocks you have made may cause system instability.

Check that your power supply has sufficient wattage for your system. Keep in mind that a power supply loses power as it ages.

If you can borrow a known working video card to test in your system that will tell you if the on-board graphics are no good.

Hope that helps

Sorry but that is not the best of ideas especially with onboard video. Even more so when you consider the fact that it is integrated into the northbridge, running something like Furmark (which puts far more load on a GPU than a game would) can damage a lot more than just the video component.

I did a week of SSEBurn and Memtest86+ when I bought the parts and assembled them. It's just that I'm bored of having no functional 3D in Linux and decided to install 7 for games. Either that, or buy an nVidia card. Is +12.34 V (multimeter) on the +12V good or bad? Same for +5.09 V on the +5V.

It is good. What I did with my rig was I hooked up the multimeter to the pair of PCI-e dongles that I had plugged into my video card (I used a spare set to run the card at the time) and then watched the meter while booting and as I used the computer to see if the readings stayed solid.

Normally, this power issue is most likely when you are using a big, power hungry, high-end card. I am not aware of any beastly graphics being put into motherboards today, so I tend to dismiss that as a cause in your case (although I may be wrong).

Your case is unique because you are getting the "glitches" without the typical "Display driver xxxxx stopped responding and was recovered" message that would indicate a TDR event. It would help if you described what the glitches are. You can't give too much info here.

A recent poster replaced nearly every component in his rig until he hit on the real cause: bad memory. And this was after running and passing diagnostic tools and Memtest multiple times! One quick test is to try the memory one stick at a time and see if it changes anything. Is the exact memory modules in your box tested and approved by MSI?

If your onboard graphics are defective then a real video card would be a possible solution. But you can't rule out the motherboard itself either.

Sporadic flicker and frame-duration random rectangle no more than a few hundred pixels in area. Also, my system is set up in dual-channel mode and my RAM is dual-channel (Patriot PVS222G8500ELKN). I do have enough money to buy 2x1gb sticks of memory in the approved list, and if that fails, I'm going to rma the motherboard.