Help graphics problems :(

I've had my trusty GF4 Ti4600 for ages now, but for the past few days it has been exhibiting some strange behaviours.

It all started about three days ago when I woke to find a BSOD along the lines of "Page/Swap file error". Can't remember what exactly. Later that day I tried to have a blast @ FarCry...the menus loaded fine but it crapped out as soon as the main gain loaded :/ Just went to a black screen and I had to reboot. I tried several more times and the same thing happened each time. So I tried Call of Duty ... same thing menus work but no game play...

I've tried different benchmarking software to test the video card ... 3D Mark 2001, 2003 and PCMark 04. The first 2 crash instantly as soon as 3D graphics are even whispered about, but it did manage to perform a few tests on PCMark...before it hung.

I tried playing FarCry with an old GF2 MX card and although it looked and played like my ***, it did work... I also tried unistalling the GF4 completly and reinstalling with the latest drivers, but with no positive effect.

Am I right in assuming my card has given up the right to live? Everything else works 100% fine including loading windows, encoding video, all the dxdiag tests and basically anything other than 3D graphics (other than aforementioned dxdiag tests!).

Some advice would be appreciated, such as an ipso defacto method of finding out where my card is screwed or not! Thanks

Bad news first, it does indeed sound terminal.
Other thoughts, How do you cool your rig? Have you cleaned the fan recently? do you have another card in the slot right next your vid card? i.e. older cards get cranky about heat alot faster than new cards.

Also maybe the connectors in the AGP slot are getting worn, if by 'uninstalled completely' you meant removed and replaced the card, have you tried pushing lightly on either end to try to change the contact locations a tiny bit (a habit I learned from dealing with finicky RAM)

I can sympathize by the way, I love my 4600, it treated my and now treats my wife very well

DWolf

The only way I would personally consider something dead... that didnt have a giant burn mark on it, would be test it in another comp. If it gives same results, then it is a goner, 2d only in your case. But if you dont have another lyin around, I wouls still hang onto it...

DreamingWolf said:

Bad news first, it does indeed sound terminal.
Other thoughts, How do you cool your rig? Have you cleaned the fan recently? do you have another card in the slot right next your vid card? i.e. older cards get cranky about heat alot faster than new cards.

Click to expand...

I cool my card with a Zalman heatsink and fan It is attached as per the instructions and the fan is alwayset to maximum via a vantec fan controller. The rest of my system is cooled by 2 front intake fans and one rear exhaust fan on the Lan Li case plus a SP94 heatsink and tornado fan connected to the vantec for the cpu. I get very good temps even at a 3.6 Ghz over clock. I cleaned the card about a month ago when I got my new system plus I also fitted the Zalman h/sink and fan at that time. No other card in the machine!

DreamingWolf said:

Also maybe the connectors in the AGP slot are getting worn, if by 'uninstalled completely' you meant removed and replaced the card, have you tried pushing lightly on either end to try to change the contact locations a tiny bit (a habit I learned from dealing with finicky RAM)

Click to expand...

It's a brand new board so shouldn't be worn yet. I uninstalled it completely via the Hardware panel...

Buhammot said:

The only way I would personally consider something dead... that didnt have a giant burn mark on it, would be test it in another comp. If it gives same results, then it is a goner, 2d only in your case. But if you dont have another lyin around, I wouls still hang onto it...

Click to expand...

Yea good thinking, bit of a ball ache but I do have a Shuttle system here that is used as my server I could try that before spending £300 quid on a new card

Thanks for the replies