Recenly built my computer and it's worked like a charm until about 3 months ago. Kept locking up during games. Then, the display in normal windows mode started to have a slight flutter (flashed back and forth just slightly, very fast) - became more noticeable with time. Discovered the problem for the lockups was dust on the video card fan (Radeon 9600 pro). Cleaned that and no more lockups, but display problem continued. Tried another monitor on the computer and had same problem with flickering. Bought a new video card (ge force 5900) but still have SAME PROBLEM. argh. so I don't think its the video card, or the monitor. i've reduced the refresh rate to 60Hz, which eliminates the flicker but sometimes causes a slow, also barely noticeable wavyness in the display. get headaches if i try to look at anything too long. going bonkers. the monitor is a brand new hitatchi CM721FB CRT and according to the specs it should be fine at 85Hz for a 1280x1024 resolution, which it was for about the first 6 months i had it. any help is GREATLY appreciated

also, i've recently put in a 350w power supply (used to be 150) which hasn't done anything to effect the situation. thanks again.

one more thing, yes, i do have the very latest drivers for the video card.

I don't know how you managed to boot with 150watt PS. If you were having overheating with your video, you should be monitoring CPU and system temps. You may have inadequate cooling. Try installing a monitoring program and run it in the tray so you can always see the temps. Anything up around 60c or more is undesirable. I am using a 2500XP and my current temps are 29c and 34c. Do you have the proper version of DX for your card? The correct AGP driver? Try backing off on the color depth to maybe 16 bit. You shouldn't run the refresh rate lower than 72. 85 is better. You may want to read the monitor specs carefully too. Sometimes the numbers aren't what they seem. When you switch video drivers you need to completely remove the old stuff. ATI has removal software for the Catalyst and Gart drivers on thier site.

youve probably ruined your whole machine by using an old 150 watt psu im very suprised it didnt just pop and send mains voltage through your whole machine. probably low voltages have caused damage to all your parts over time, i recommend a pfc tested 550 watt psu for a machine using a 5900 i would check all your current voltages and temps but other than that its probably that old 150 thats wrecked your machine

wrecked my machine...well that's encouraging. thanks for the info all the same. well the 350 power supply is brand new and the video card has only ever been run on that power supply. when you say wrecked, what part exactly do you mean? i'm trying to pinpoint the problem here, and the only thing i can think that I could possibly replace at this point would be the motherboard or the hard drive. would either of those be what's still causing this?

if you have been feeding your machine onn a 150 watt supply it will have been operating at very low voltages so i suggest you get all parts checked out