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General discussion

Weird video card problem

Sep 13, 2004 11:14PM PDT

First off here's my system specs:
Operating System: Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1 (2600.xpsp2.030422-1633)
System Manufacturer: MATSONIC
System Model: MS8157E
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) Processor, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.1GHz
Memory: 992MB RAM
Page File: 978MB used, 1460MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0b (4.09.0000.0902)

Card name: GeForce4 Ti 4600
Manufacturer: PNY Technologies
Display Memory: 128.0 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)

The problem is, whenever I try to load a full screen game, the screen goes black, the sound starts skipping, and I have to hard reset the system to get out of it. I've checked my drivers numerous times, I've got the newest video card drivers, have DX9, and I've looked through the hardware manager and there's no conflicting IRQ's. The card will display my desktop, movies, etc just fine, but when I try to play certain games it locks up. It's not even all games, I can play UT just fine, and Tribes1, but if I try running Tribes2, Everquest, Morrowind, and a few others, it crashes.

I thought it may have been overheating, so I cleaned off the fan / heatsink on the card and it still does it. I've got a CPU fan, video card fan, plus 3 more case fans and nothing's overclocked oncesoever. Any help would be appreciated Happy

Discussion is locked

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Re: That's good to read. Next...
Sep 22, 2004 4:20AM PDT

What I did wrong was in DOS I just typed:
aminf340.exe (the flash executable)
I didn't know I had to type in the name of the rom file afterwords, so I tried again and put in:
aminf340.exe 030811.rom
and after it comfirmed that the new BIOS matched and was compatable with the old one, all I had to do was hit enter, it gave me a little text loading bar, and afterwords it was done. I had to reset my CMOS settings, restarted, and the new BIOS is up and running. No crashes yet, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

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Re: That's good to read. Next...
Sep 22, 2004 4:42AM PDT

System's still hanging Sad I downloaded a program to monitor my CPU and case temp, the CPU is usually around 50

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Maybe a rewind...
Sep 22, 2004 5:27AM PDT

I think all we have left is...

1. Parasites...

A pass with Adware, Spybot, Stinger and Housecall.

2. Tests with http://www.memtest86.com overnight.

3. Another equipment list. Include the power supply Watts.

4. The output of HIJACKTHIS in a reply here.

Bob

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Re: Maybe a rewind...
Sep 22, 2004 5:44AM PDT

I ran Housecall a few days ago, it found 3 Trojans and I deleted them. I run SpywareBlaster at startup, plus I run AdAware and Spybot Search & Destroy at least once a week, all they find usually are tracking cookies. Here's the results of HijackThis:
http://hosted.tribalwar.com/slicer/hijackthis.log

I'm running a 300 watt power supply... it's going on 3 years old now. I have noticed that I get lag bursts whenever the CDROMs start reading, or when it starts reading the hard drive. You think I may be trying to draw too much power from it? I've got a floppy, 1 hard drive, a CDROM, and a CDRW drive, I rarely use the CD drives, and never use both at the same time. Think I should try unplugging one of them and see if that's the problem?

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300 Watts , years old.
Sep 22, 2004 5:54AM PDT

Time to lighten the load. Even my 1.0 GHz Athlon was fitted with a 450 Watt PSU to stay out of trouble.

At years old, it no longer does 300 Watts and can drop out.

Try removing anything that you can to lighten the load.

As it's so far under what power supply I'd fit, take no offense that I push up the power supply as suspect and should be fitted with even a 20 buck 450 Watt PSU.


In closing, the Hijackthis log does contain suspicious BHOs which I would ask the Virus and Security Forum about.
Bob

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Re: Weird video card problem
Sep 25, 2004 10:32AM PDT

Hi,
How many watts is your power supply? You should a 300 - 350 watt psu for your setup. You can try disconnecting the 3 case fans you have and see if this solves your problem. if it does then you need a bigger psu otherwise have updated the latest patches for your games? You may want patch your games. by the way Morrowwind is more taxing on your computer then UT which is one the reasons why I never played it much. I have ti 4200 64mb so ...