TNT2 Problems

[Tyranos]

I have a Kaser branded Nvidia TNT2 M64 32mb PCI card. Its giving me some strange problems. The most irritating one is that after I use the puter for a while (more than 2 hours) and try something that loads the card, like a game or a bunch of vids, the computer will restart, like the plug was pulled and stuck back in.

The other problem, is that the display has this weird grainy look. I can also see faint waves, like a magnetic field or something in the display. They become more apparent when the cpu is under load. What is going on, and how can I fix it? I can't afford to buy a new card right now..

Puter is:

Compaq
AMD K62 500mhz (not overclocked)
384mb pc100 ram
Windows 2000 Pro

[samuknow]

What drivers are you using? How DX 8?

[YMAN]

Do you have the latest detonator drivers?
Download them here:

http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=drivers

[CrackedSKull]

i have the same card (agp version) and the wavey effect i get using only happens on high resolutions (1280x960+), but i've had the same problems on lower resolutions before and could fix it by changing the refresh rate in windows to adapter default. Actully i dont know if this is what you r talking about because what im talking about is more like a motion blur to the right, not exactly wavey.

Note-To anyone that uses windows me-if you do upgrade your video drivers don't use system restore to restore back to a point before you upgraded the driver! Down right f****d up my computer, but wasn't too hard of fix, just a lot of errors until i got the new driver again.

[YMAN]

Funny......now my comp restarts after running intense games too!

I use DX80
With detonator 12.41 drivers!
nVIDIA TNT2 M64

ABIT BE6-II - WITH ABIT SLOTKEY
800EBMhz

:( Tyranos you passed your bugs to me!!! :(

[DAppel]

The grainy look is probably a memory (video memory) overheating problem.
Since M64s lack memory bandwidth, manufacturers use cheap memory to keep costs down, but clock this mem to its edge. Try underclocking it.

The rebooting problem only occurs to me when I overclock the videocard too much (both memory and chip). So it may be a overheating problem. Once I installed ramsinks and a Cyrix 686 cooler on the chip, never had problems again. BTW, I have a EgoForce M64 32MB AGP.

The waving effect has no videocard-related explanation (as far as I know). It's common to have such problems when you monitor is too near the computer case, speakers, power supply, line-filter or any other high wattage device.

[DAppel]

Originally posted by CrackedSKull
i've had the same problems on lower resolutions before and could fix it by changing the refresh rate in windows to adapter default.

As I said on my post right above, it may be some interference from some magnetic source near the computer. Signals thru the monitor cable are subject to interference from this other magnetic source. Changing the refresh rate may have resulted in a frequency clear of interference from the surrounding area.

Originally posted by Tyranos
I can also see faint waves, like a magnetic field or something in the display. They become more apparent when the cpu is under load.

The CPU alternates its power consumption states very fast during its operation. But power supplies are not so fast and have the disadvantage of being hooked up to AC current, wich has it's own frequency. When your system is demanding too much from the power supply (running on full load), the later may generate more magnetic disturbance wich reachs your monitor cable and interferes with the signal.



But this only applies if your case is located near your monitor. If your system is far from it, then you may happen to have a bad component on the equation.
Borrow another power supply (It's a pain in the a.. if you are using a Compaq), try a different monitor and try other videocard. If your videocard is working fine, but the waving effect continues, then it may be the case to change capacitors from the video filter. It's a standard soldering procedure, and if you use capacitors equally rated to your current ones there should be no problems.

Good Luck!

[Tyranos]

For some reason the Direct X 8A seemed to be causing my problem. I installed another version of dx8.0 (earlier one) from my friends ATI cd, and things are working fine...

About the overheating, my card gets so hot in some areas that i can barely touch it.

[YMAN]

Never knew you could downgrade DX!

[samuknow]

Originally posted by YMAN
Never knew you could downgrade DX!

There are 2 ways to do that. I know of a prog that will remove DX and you can also backup up you reg b4 you install any DX.
I make a BU of my reg b4 I make driver changes or the such. Never know what's going to happen and it's easier than reinstalling windows

[Tyranos]

Serious Sam just caused the bugger to restart again. Damn I'm regretting this tnt2 purchase. Maybe a bios or mobo upgrade will do it? I think I'm getting a gforce2 mx pci. blah.

[samuknow]

Originally posted by Tyranos
Serious Sam just caused the bugger to restart again. Damn I'm regretting this tnt2 purchase. Maybe a bios or mobo upgrade will do it? I think I'm getting a gforce2 mx pci. blah.

I had a TNT and I don't remember any probs like this. I know it didn't like a high AGP bus setting. Shouldn't be the prob in your case. I am assuming that this is the OEM mobo from Compaq and it has onboard AGP video. Does it have onboard sound and nic and such? Just trying to get a rundown of your system. HEat is a prob it the Compaq systems due to the small case size and lack of airflow. Try running it with the cover off. And maybe a fan blowing on the card and lets see if that helps. Let us know

[Tyranos]

Yeah, I have the case off with a small 1'x1' personal fan blowing into it. The mobo had onboard almost everything except the modem. I disabled the onboard video in the bios also.

Hmmmm, something unusual about the last instant reboot. Right before it restarted, I saw the serious sam screen dissapear, and some sort of blue screen came on (not the bsod) with some white text up at the top. It was there like half a second, then it was gone.



(off topic, but i've been hearing about the really hot k6IIs, but as far as I can tell, the heat sink is pretty cold.. not warm at all. Even OC)

[samuknow]

The HS should be warm. You may not have a good contact on the CPU. I removed the one from my wifes machine and cleaned the stock pad off. I then applied thermal paste. Runs much cooler now. You should take a look at yours...........

[DocClock aka MadClocker]

Yea, the M64 is crap..most won't overclock,(mine didn't) and many oem's are already pushing the cheap ram, and core..btw, the mx200 only has a 64bit datapath...just like the m64...get a gts or pro..it's just a step under an ultra, and you won't be disapointed, to find out it is neutered like the m64 and mx 200.
I don't know about the mx 400...probably only 128bit datapath
The gts/pro/ultra all have 256bit path