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Alright, I'm not sure if this is a hardware-related problem or a driver-related problem, but here's the deal.

Before I wiped my computer the first time, I was able to watch videos and play games with no problem. Then, I wiped my computer and did all the updates over again. I'm not sure if the video card driver was updated since I had downloaded it last, but after updating my computer after the wipe, I found something- I was unable to watch videos without extreme lag, and when I try to play games, there are often white lines/rectangles on my screen. Thinking this was due to some missing files that had trouble installing with the wipe, I wiped my computer again. This time, no errors, but I 'STILL' had the same problems.

Can anyone tell me what to do?

I've done the following things:
1) Updated my drivers.
2) Updated my BIOS.
3) Checked HijackThis! for any problems- none.
4) Tried Memtest86- couldn't get it to work right, but I don't think I'm having memory issues.

This problem happens with ALL games, and the videos won't work with any form of video player or any format of video file.

Please help- this has been happening for too long, and I need it fixed.

Is my video card just dead?

start > run > dxdiag > display > device name, go to the mfg's site and get the latest drivers and install them. Can't hurt; the worst you could do is overwrite what you currently have. The problems you are experiencing sound like a driver issue, but the question is whether or not you have an onboard video card, or a 'real' video card.

If it's onboard, all you need to do is get the mobo info and d/l the video drivers from THAT mfg....

but it definitely sounds like a driver issue.

What's the difference from an "onboard" video card and a "real" video card?

Anyways, I updated the drivers before I came here, just to make sure. But nope, it's still messed. :P

You can check my stuff under the My PC thing- I actually have that filled out.

onboard is integrated into the motherboard.......you buy a prefab machine, it comes with onboard graphics, so you an actually see something on the monitor. However, a lot of today's higher end games require more oomph than those onboard video controllers have, so you need to get something 'real'; for instance, I have an ATI with 256 memory for my AGP slot. Not the best, but it makes an onboard card look like a 68 VW with cancer of the rocker panels.

What was the name of the driver you updated? I just want to compare it to what I find on the nvidia site.

was it this one?

ForceWare Windows XP/2000 32-bit

Yep, that's the driver right there that I'm using.

well, that's the right driver....first thing is to try a known good monitor. Most people don't have those laying around, but if you do, test it with that first. A lot easier than step two, which is below.

.how comfy are you cracking the box and reseating it? Make sure the cord is unplugged, you are grounded, be sure to touch metal (I always touch the case before any internal parts) and then pop it out and reseat it. Check to make sure the cables are good and snug, and see what happens.

Bottom line, if you are not comfy cracking the case and getting into the machine, don't do it. It is not difficult to make a paperweight out of these due to static electricity. This is spoken from experience, btw.