Artifacts when running 2 or more windows

[Shigan5]

when installing new drivers its best to fully uninstall your old drivers or they could cause compatability issues.

Uninstall your old drivers
Boot into safe mode
Use a program such as driver cleaner
Install the new drivers

Thats the best way to decrease incompatability issues with drivers. And also highly recommended when installing new drivers. Driver issues are very very common.

[Thedonsquad]

with vista the above step is not needed, the best way to uninstall it is to:

open device manager, click the video card and click uninstall
check the box for deleting the driver before proceeding
open program manager and uninstall the nvidia package
reboot and don't let vista try to put the windows update nvidia package on

[Monkeymoo]

Wondering how this issue was resolved.... I'm having exactly the same problems you had in this post:

"Artifacts when running 2 or more windows
I recently purchased an Nvidia 9600gt. It is great except when I open 2 or more WoW windows I start getting video artifacts, usually in only one window. All other games run fine with no artifacts. GPU temp is at 38C which is well within the limit so I'm not sure what the issue is. I'm debating whether to exchange the card for a new one, but I've had problems with WoW and Nvidia before so perhaps WoW just doesn't like Nvidia. Any ideas?"

I just bought a 9600gt after my ati x1950pro fan blew out.

Bullet points-
I made sure I fully uninstalled the ati drivers before removing my old card, then installed the new 9600gt and put the most recent drivers on.
I am still running XP SP3 (and don't see a reason to switch until windows 7).
My temps are around 50C so I don't think cooling is the issue.
My monitor setups are a CRT 17" AccuSync70 and a Acer AL1912 19" LCD.
I get the artifacts when the second instance of WoW is loaded, regardless if the second instance is 800x600 minimum settings or 1280x1024 max settings.
The artifacts are right in the login screen. No need to login to test.
Happens in horizontal span, or even when overlapping the instances on one monitor in Dualview.
The artifacts seem to be random not centered toward any location.

Any informed advice would be appreciated!

[Monkeymoo]

Update: I did try running two instances in -opengl mode and it had no artifacts. Reinstalled the directx drivers from MS (9.0c). Still have the same issue running normally. Does that trigger any thoughts?

[Heenan]

Try deleting your config.wtf... seems like I post this every day now :P And you almost exactly created the same topic name as the existing thread.
Video artifacts when opening 2 copies of WoW

[Ellusionist]

Of course, two things cause this:

1) Software (Drivers, don't use the ones that came on the CD. Use the newest ones from the manufacturer's website. Sometimes the authentic NVIDIA/ATI from nvidia.com/ati.com won't work and you'll have to use the manufacturer's specific driver.)

2) Hardware (Heat. If the "artifacts" don't happen when you have the graphics settings cranked down, but they happen when everything is cranked up, then it's a heat issue.)

If you can diagnose whether it's hardware- or software-related, then that's 90% of the battle.

[Monkeymoo]

Deleting the config file did the trick.... Thank you!