Screen Flickers on DVD/BR Playback

SoAdCrAzY · 26 Jan 2013 at 11:54

This problem randomly started last night when I tried to watch a DVD in Windows Media Center.

The whole screen flickers white and green until I close the application.

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I have also tried PowerDVD and the problem persisted. I have also tried various different DVDs and Blu Rays.

My gfx card drivers are up to date. I have an ATi Radeon 6950 2GB.

I have had no problem in the past with watching DVDs/BRs and haven't installed anything new which may have caused this.

snips86x · 26 Jan 2013 at 12:13

Do you have on-board graphics?

Do you have the same issue using your on-board?

SoAdCrAzY · 26 Jan 2013 at 12:27

snips86x said:
Do you have on-board graphics?

Do you have the same issue using your on-board?

I'm not sure. My motherboard is a:

MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION **

Is there a way to disable the graphics card or do I have to take it out completely?

[EDIT] Just found out there was an update for CCC so I updated it and the problem still persisted. In fact, the screen required overscan in order to make it fit the monitor.

snips86x · 26 Jan 2013 at 12:58

It would appear you don't have an on-board display port. Do you have another card you can use?

SoAdCrAzY · 26 Jan 2013 at 13:36

snips86x said:
It would appear you don't have an on-board display port. Do you have another card you can use?

No, I'm afraid I do not.

SoAdCrAzY · 26 Jan 2013 at 15:39

I found a thread on Google and the OP had the same problem and he said that turning the screen resolution down helps minimise the flickering. This works.

Does this mean that the graphics card needs replacing?

SoAdCrAzY · 26 Jan 2013 at 20:50

*bump* Another thread says a reformat fixed the issue for someone. Is this worth it?

[EDIT] Ok, I'll try it.

[EDIT] Didn't work.

SoAdCrAzY · 28 Jan 2013 at 09:57

How would I go about returning it as I believe it is in warranty? Can I do this?

It's pay day on Thursday so I could get this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-100-GI in the mean time?

shankly1985 · 28 Jan 2013 at 10:16

Have you tried another player. Like vlc media player?

SoAdCrAzY · 28 Jan 2013 at 10:26

shankly1985 said:
Have you tried another player. Like vlc media player?

Yep.

I now keep getting random BSOD (not just when I play DVDs).

shankly1985 · 28 Jan 2013 at 10:29

SoAdCrAzY said:
Yep.

I now keep getting random BSOD (not just when I play DVDs).

Download blue screen viewer on phone so can't link you. If you Google it should be first link.
Install it and then post the driver showing in red from last bsod.

This could be a ram issue, so a run of memtest for couple passes to see if you get any errors.

SoAdCrAzY · 28 Jan 2013 at 10:38

shankly1985 said:
Download blue screen viewer on phone so can't link you. If you Google it should be first link.
Install it and then post the driver showing in red from last bsod.

This could be a ram issue, so a run of memtest for couple passes to see if you get any errors.

Thank you. I have got BlueScreenView. It doesn't show any drivers etc (0 Crashes). I guess that I need to wait for it to BSOD again?

I will try memtest now.

shankly1985 · 28 Jan 2013 at 10:47

SoAdCrAzY said:
Thank you. I have got BlueScreenView. It doesn't show any drivers etc (0 Crashes). I guess that I need to wait for it to BSOD again?

I will try memtest now.

That is strange if you did get a BSOD then it should so it the program in red.

Run Memtest for couple complete 100% passes. it can take over one hour for one pass.

shankly1985 · 28 Jan 2013 at 10:50

Have you installed the new driver 13.1?? if so I would try and find driver 12.8 or 12.10 and install that and see if that helps.

Am sure from driver 12.11 and above there to be used to 7000 series cards and 6000 series gain no benefit from installing theses.

Worth a try.

SoAdCrAzY · 28 Jan 2013 at 11:40

shankly1985 said:
Have you installed the new driver 13.1?? if so I would try and find driver 12.8 or 12.10 and install that and see if that helps.

Am sure from driver 12.11 and above there to be used to 7000 series cards and 6000 series gain no benefit from installing theses.

Worth a try.

Thank you. I installed the 12.8 drivers but it didn't work. I am running memtest now. I'm on my phone. I'm thinking of letting a local repair shop look at it. I would happily get a new gfx card if I knew that would fix it.

SoAdCrAzY · 28 Jan 2013 at 15:00

*bump* I have just finished scanning with memtest (I stopped it at 257%) and it found no errors.

I am going to take it into a shop for them to look at it but I hope it is just the graphics card that has stopped working. It had always had problems since the first day such as requiring adjustment as the screen sometimes wouldn't fit the monitor.

[EDIT] Ok, I don't want to speak to soon but I am playing 'Looper' and it is working.

I went out for dinner and completely opened my computer to let it get some air for a few hours. I reassembled it when I got back, and it's working. I'll try some more...

SoAdCrAzY · 28 Jan 2013 at 23:32

I just got BSOD. It has saved the codes.

The main file in red that caused it is called 'hal.dll'.

012813-35880-01.dmp 28/01/2013 23:24:24 IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL 0x0000000a fffff880`080a7ff8 00000000`00000002 00000000`00000001 fffff800`032231ae hal.dll hal.dll+1d1ae x64 ntoskrnl.exe+7efc0 C:\Windows\Minidump\012813-35880-01.dmp 4 15 7601 318,232

hal.dll hal.dll+1d1ae fffff800`03206000 fffff800`0324f000 0x00049000 0x4ce7c669 20/11/2010 13:00:25

ntoskrnl.exe ntoskrnl.exe+253d0 fffff800`02c1e000 fffff800`03206000 0x005e8000 0x503f82be 30/08/2012 15:11:58 Microsoft® Windows® Operating System NT Kernel & System 6.1.7601.17944 (win7sp1_gdr.120830-0333) Microsoft Corporation C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe

bremen1874 · 28 Jan 2013 at 23:38

An obvious point, but have you removed any overclocks you may have running?

SoAdCrAzY · 28 Jan 2013 at 23:47

bremen1874 said:
An obvious point, but have you removed any overclocks you may have running?

No overclocks on this system.

[EDIT] On googling the hal.dll problem, I came across this advice:

In the interest of ensuring that these problem threads eventually conclude with some good results, I offer this advice - courtesy of the awesome Heiler (from the Major Geeks community):

The problem is due to a problem with the motherboard wherein the front side bus - running at full speed - creates a fatal error of some kind.

The solution is to underclock the front side bus ever-so-slightly. Per Heiler's instructions, I downloaded and installed Systool. The program doesn't immediately know what motherboard I'm using, so I take the following steps:

(1) Select CPU Overclocking from the list, then (2) within the Clock Generator drop-down, select "nForce4". Next (3), click the Read button. (4) Slide the FSB: slider down to at least 190.00 (I have tended to use 180.13). Also, (5) check the FSB limit and enter 190. Then (6) click on the Write button.

Presto, the FSB is underclocked and my blue screens go away. If only I could figure out how to do this automatically upon start-up, I'd be all set. At the very least, I could write a MacroExpress macro, but I will perform these steps by hand for the near-future.

I hope this is helpful.

And:

How To Fix Hal.dll Errors in Windows 7, 8, & Vista

Restart your computer. While not very likely, the hal.dll error could be caused by a temporary problem that a reboot might take care of. It's worth a try.

Check the boot sequence in BIOS. If the BIOS is configured so the boot order first lists a hard drive other than the one with your usually-used copy of Windows installed on it, that might be the problem.

Note: If you've recently installed an internal hard drive, plugged in an external hard drive, made changes in BIOS, or flashed your BIOS, be sure you give proper weight to this possibility!

Perform a Startup Repair. The Startup Repair process in Windows 7 and Vista is an automated Windows startup fix-it tool and will often fix hal.dll issues caused by corruption of the hal.dll file itself.

Update the volume boot code to use BOOTMGR. If the volume boot code has corrupted or is configured for a boot manager other than BOOTMGR then you might see a hal.dll is missing error.

Note: An issue with the volume boot code is the most common cause of hal.dll errors in Windows 7, 8, or Vista. The reason I list it as the fourth troubleshooting step is because the first three are so simple to try. However, if you're comfortable working with advanced tools in Windows, feel free to give this one a shot first.

Test your hard drive. It's possible at this point that the problem could be hardware related.

Replace the hard drive if the test you run on your hard drive fails and then install Windows 8, 7, or Vista again on the new drive.

Complete a clean install of Windows. This kind of Windows install method completely erases everything on your hard drive and installs a new copy of Windows.

Important: A clean install will fix any software-based (corruption, etc.) cause of any hal.dll error you're seeing, but it's something you should only do if you're sure your hard drive is physically working properly and you've tried all other software troubleshooting.

What do you think?

shankly1985 · 29 Jan 2013 at 09:59

Do you have any system restore points to go back to when you think the system was working fine?