Strange monitor/graphics card when using Firefox

[greyhnd]

Hello folks and good day.

I'm using an ATI HD4830 512mb graphics card and an Acer S201HL 20" LCD monitor. My screen resolution is set at 1600 x 900. The graphics card driver is version 8.892.

Now for my problem. When using Firefox, currently ver. 9.01 I have strange "artifacts" that show up. Example: when I use my bookmarks, the last bookmark extends below the bottom of the Firefox window. Then when I collapse the bookmarks, the bottom entries stay visible on the taskbar. If I use the mouse to point to an item on the side of the Firefox window, the item will stay highlighted out side of the window, but not in the Firefox window itself.

It doesn't happen in other browsers nor when using an explorer window. I've tried using both a newer version of Firefox and also an older version to see if that corrects it. No luck so far. The problem doesn't seem to effect my pc's performance in any way, it's more of an annoyance. The monitor is less than 6 months old and the graphics card is less than a year old. The card isn't running hot, the fan is clean and the connections all seem to be snug.

The settings in the Catalyst Control are set to the defaults and the card isn't OC'd. Should I update to the newest drivers, or make some changes to my settings?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

[Lemur]

Suggestion: remove all plug-ins/add ons from ff. Close and restart ff. Does it persist? If not, add back plug-ins one at a time until you can isolate the problem.

 

[bassfisher6522]

And YES.....update your driver. The latest driver version for the 48XX series is 11.12. Same driver for my 4870.

AMD Graphics Drivers & Software

 

[greyhnd]

Lemur - By removing add-ons/plug-ins, do you mean actually remove them or just disable them and then re-enable them one at a time. I suppose I could install a newer version of FF again if it's a wise idea.

bassfisher6522 - I'll grab the newest driver as you suggested.

 

[Solarstarshines]

There is also a newer version of FF if it didn't automaticly update

I would reset the browser to default and see it it works before the customization

Graphic drivers could cause strange artifacts as well i would uninstall old driver then install the latest from the site 11.12 guru3d has a 12.1 preview if you are interested

 

[stormy13]

And YES.....update your driver. The latest driver version for the 48XX series is 11.12. Same driver for my 4870.

AMD Graphics Drivers & Software

Jimbo 8.92 is the Catalyst 11.12. 11.12 is the Catalyst version while 8.92 is the driver version. From the release notes for Catalyst 11.12,

The AMD Catalyst™ software suite 11.12 contains the following:

• AMD display driver version 8.92
• HydraVision™ for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7
• Southbridge/IXP Driver
• AMD Catalyst™ Control Center version 8.92 / AMD Vision™ Engine Control Center version 8.92.

As for disabling addons, start it in safe mode first,

Safe Mode | How to | Firefox Help

and if that fixes it, then you can either disable them all and add them back one at a time or go the other way and disable them one at a time.

May also want to try the Firefox profile manager,

Managing profiles | How to | Firefox Help

and start it with a new profile, it is possible if it isn't the addons it could also be something corrupted in your current Firefox profile.

 

[Lemur]

I would completely remove addons/plugins, and go from there. Not a big deal, and cleaner. You might even uninstall ff, completely remove directory including config, reinstall and check it out. Go with stable version, not beta or Aura.

 

[bassfisher6522]

And YES.....update your driver. The latest driver version for the 48XX series is 11.12. Same driver for my 4870.

AMD Graphics Drivers & Software

Jimbo 8.92 is the Catalyst 11.12. 11.12 is the Catalyst version while 8.92 is the driver version. From the release notes for Catalyst 11.12,

The AMD Catalyst™ software suite 11.12 contains the following:

• AMD display driver version 8.92
• HydraVision™ for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7
• Southbridge/IXP Driver
• AMD Catalyst™ Control Center version 8.92 / AMD Vision™ Engine Control Center version 8.92.

As for disabling addons, start it in safe mode first,

Safe Mode | How to | Firefox Help

and if that fixes it, then you can either disable them all and add them back one at a time or go the other way and disable them one at a time.

May also want to try the Firefox profile manager,

Managing profiles | How to | Firefox Help

and start it with a new profile, it is possible if it isn't the addons it could also be something corrupted in your current Firefox profile.

Yes sir your quite right...but it just easier to say that the AMD catalst update is 11.12 which includes the driver instead of breaking it all down for them which can confuse the heck out of some. Just trying to make it as painless as possible. I'll clarify it a little better next time.

 

[greyhnd]

Thanks for the suggestions and tips. I checked the Device Manager and the driver I'm currently using is 8.892.0.0 dated 9/8/2011. The CCC version is I believe 9.08 also from 9/8/2011. Instead of Catalyst Control Center my version is called the AMD Vision Engine Control Center. I'm assuming this is the same as the CCC.

I started FF in safe mode with all add-ons and plug-ins disabled. I use very few of either other than the usual Flash player, java and DownThemAll. When I restarted FF the problem was still there and enabling then individually also made no difference.

I downloaded the 11.12 Catalyst drivers and will install them a bit later. If that fails to resolve the problem I'll update to a newer version of FF.

Thanks again for taking time to help me with this. Will post back with results.

 

[Lemur]

Good deal. Keep us posted ...

 

[greyhnd]

Well folks, installed the 11.12 Catalyst drivers without a problem, which I didn't expect to have in the first place. No noticeable improvement, but also no worse than before. I think I'm going to stay with the FF version I'm using now for the time being. I'll try version 10.0b4 in a few days and see if that provides any improvement.

Does anyone suppose part of my problem could be with a monitor setting? I'm running the native resolution of 1600x900 and it seems to perform just fine. The only gaming I do is GTR2, rFactor and Evo and with the new drivers they are fine as well. I just use the default graphic card settings because I've never had reason to worry about changing anything. Might there be some adjustments I can try in the CCC?

I appreciate the help I've received and I'm apt to stumble on a fix if I get pointed in the right direction. Thanks again to all who have pitched in with suggestions.

 

[Lemur]

You could bump the rez down and see... only takes a second.