Problem..

[dmsalem00.livejournal.com]

Alright, I have a problem that I can't seem to figure out.

I have a HP 733mhz, 192MB RAM, Nvidia GeForce2, and for some reason, my system locks up when I use 3D capabilities, for example, in games.

I've tried Reformat/Reinstall OS, I've got the latest drivers, the latest version of DirectX, and every time I start a game, I have at least 94% system memory free, and I've got no background programs running.

Any help would be appreciated, and if you want to help and need to know more, feel free to ask.

Comments

[taz98027.livejournal.com]

have you gotten the most RECENT drivers from nVidia? and what OS is it running on? make sure your drivers are for the currect OS

[dmsalem00.livejournal.com]

Running ME, and as far as I know, I'll check again(but I'm 98% sure) I got the right version of the drivers.

and yea, I downloaded those drivers last night right off the website.

ps - damn you guys are fast =D

[taz98027.livejournal.com]

how much ram does the Vid card have?

[taz98027.livejournal.com]

what OS is your machine?

[taz98027.livejournal.com]

I think honestly's with both of you guys its an conflict with your vid drivers and something else on your machine.. weather they be currupt or out of date.. or they dont like the software on your machine.. check the nvidia site for FAQ with the drivers see if there is any known bugs with your OS and or any other software

[dmsalem00.livejournal.com]

Cripes sorry I forgot to mention that, the GeForce2 has 32 megs of video RAM. More than enough to run the games I'm trying to run(shogo, NFS3, C&C:Renegade)

[taz98027.livejournal.com]

Hmm.. then i would make sure you dont have anything running in the background that is hogging resources..

[fnordx.livejournal.com]

It could very well be inadiquate cooling in your system. I know I had a problem like that and eventually had to take the side of my box off to get air flowing through the system. Of course, you could just get a new case with more fans, but I'd suggest first taking the side pannel off to see if that helps any.

[zig-mover.livejournal.com]

I really wish I had a 3D graphics card, even one that doesn't work. haha yay for 4mb of graphics memory :(

Probably running WinME is your mistake. Could also be cooling problem, or DirectX problem. Just my initial thoughts.

[dmsalem00.livejournal.com]

I'd have agreed that ME was the problem, except that I'm running it on an HP Pavilion, which seems to be just about the only system that ME agrees with.

I've got an old Voodoo2 lying around here somewhere I could ship you...functionality is kind of a moot point though.

[dmsalem00.livejournal.com]

Hrm, oh well, I've been eyeing that Nvidia card with 256MB RAM and a tv-out function anyway >=D maybe I can get one of those sooner or later..

[geam.livejournal.com]

From what I've seen in the comments, you've only tried the latest drivers from nVidia. When I had a GeForce 3 with WinXP, any driver past "40.41_winxp.exe" made my framerate drop in games. I'm thinking this is because the drivers are optimized for the latest hardware, not for GF2s and GF3s. Try using an older version (try a couple steps back, then a few more if that doesn't work). The newest drivers make new hardware run wonderfully (/me hugs his AIW Radeon 9800 Pro), but my GF3 ran like crap with any driver past 40.41.

[dmsalem00.livejournal.com]

it's a thought. I still have the original driver disk that came with it, but I"m pretty sure that was the driver set installed when the problem happened, and i tried reinstalling them already..

[wildkard.livejournal.com]

Okay first of all... "games" are not a common measurement system, quite simply all games are not created equal or use the same parts of the 3D... so before we do anything else, let's get a standard to test on... I recommend 3DMark 2003 (http://www.madonion.com/) as it will give you benchmarks and error messages if something's wrong with initilizaing/running various parts of the videocard.

Okay, now let me say that I used to have the same problem with my ATI Raedon 9000 card (more on that later) in that it would play fine for 5-15minutes and lock up for no reason. When a computer locks up, the most obvious culprit is a heating problem, as other people here are certainly suggesting. So assuming you've checked all that (a thermometer works great if you can't be bothered to log the board's own temperature gagues), you might also want to try adjusting the motherboard speed or the RAM speed to a lower value. This worked specifically for me to get running, and as I found out in my particular case, it was a conflict between my particular videocard and my particular motherboard.

Anyway, just a quick thought.

[oddball42.livejournal.com]

hrmmm i would suggest you try an alternate vid card, just to test. see what happenes. had a freind loose all 3d capabilities on his board because his agp slot/bus ided, did 2d ok until we tried anything 3d... was weird. even did that witha clean install. changed the baord and life worked. he was not happy. and i think he is currently borrowing a spare board of mine until he gets his new one... wich i have to agree is uber, i have the same baord...