So this has been happening for a while, but I'm at the point where it's really starting to bother me...



When I'm in Sketchup (SU7 in this case, but SU6 did it too, and so does a portable version of SU6 Pro that I have), specifically when I'm highlighting something or drawing a line (though it does it at other times too), I get these weird pixel-y lines running across the screen, almost like the image has been shifted and is trying to appear through itself.


System:
Sager 17" Laptop
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
XP Pro X86
4GB ram installed (3.xx recognized [x86])

This happens on the laptop screen and the external screen, though maybe it's just me, but it seems to happen more on the external even though it's running 1680x1050 and the laptop screen is 1920x1080.

It DOESN'T do it ALL the time.

It doesn't seem to do it more or less based on the size/complexity of the model.

It doesn't seem to change based on processor load at the time.

I don't game, and I don't even render ALL that much, so this processor and video card have in no way been pushed to where either should have a problem. I have no problems when doing any other processor- or video card-intensive tasks.

I have reinstalled Sketchup and also updated to a newer version since this started.


WHAT COULD THIS POSSIBLY BE? If somebody can help me solve this really annoying problem that I have tried to learn to live with... I would appreciate it more than you could know. I use Sketchup a LOT.

1/19/2010 1:01:47 AM

It's your video card. Update the driver (which will likely require you to upgrade to Vista or Win7)

1/19/2010 1:49:46 AM

Damn, I was afraid of that. I really like XP.

1/19/2010 2:00:40 AM

I meant to include in the above, the Video card is:
NVidia GeForce 9800M GTX

If that makes a difference.

1/19/2010 2:02:36 AM

99% of the time you see artifacts it's usually due to your video card overheating or driver issues like Noen said.

1/19/2010 2:26:49 AM

the video card might have corrupt memory as well. an ati card I had a while back did that and it was a known defect so I ran some benchmark I found online and it confirmed the video mem corruption and sent it in for an rma.

1/19/2010 6:58:45 AM

Updated the NVidia drivers and so far no trouble...

Noen, THANK YOU!

And no OS upgrade was required.

[Edited on January 19, 2010 at 1:56 PM. Reason : .]

1/19/2010 1:55:31 PM