GeForce 4 Ti4600 HELP ME PLEASE!

[GoldenTiger]

Well, my great joy was quickly dampened tonight after my GF4 came in. I installed it, and it kept having problems like this:

It also was spouting out direct x errors sometimes, and in 3dmark on the high detail dragothic demo would just drop to the desktop with no error or black screen with a moving mouse cursor but no response to alt-tab, etc. It would drop out of games randomly with no message often, too. I originally tried the 28.32 drivers on a near-fresh OS install, porting in from a GF3 Ti200 that worked perfectly. After a few games, the problems began. I tried reinstalling Windows now with no luck using the 27.20 drivers, too. Same problems occur ! I'm wondering if the card is broken... the case is a well-ventilated Antec 1040b with a load temp of 48c CPU and about 31c case, so I know it's not a heat problem. In the Nature scene in 3dmark 2k1 SE, the leaves on the trees vanish and then pop back in, then vanish again many times during the demo. The other demos are exhibiting similar things with stuff popping in and out, and a couple it just crashes instantly on. One of the times I launched 3dmark it gave a DX8 error and the error.log file claims that the error was "no dx8 compatible card installed". I've thought of a few things that could be wrong:

1) I'm cursed.
2) Card's heatsink isn't mounted properly. It looks fine though and appears to be making fine contact, so I don't think this is it.
3) Card is broken.
4) I'm cursed.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to fix this? Bear in mind I have tried:

Reinstalling OS with a complete format of the drive
Two driver sets seperately on clean installs
Direct X 8.1 as well as DX8.1 repair
Cleaning AGP slot and card with isopropyl alcohol (contacts)
Swearing at it repeatedly
Many games in direct3d, no OGL ones yet
3dmark crashes at the exact same spot ALWAYS
Tried all games I own, every single one of them exhibits these symptoms

I will update with anything else I try... PLEASE give suggestions, I'm calling Visiontek up tomorrow to try and find out what's wrong if I can't solve it. I'm heavily hedging on the card being bad, though .

 

[GoldenTiger]

Ok, it ran all of the theoretical and dx8 feature tests in 3dmark fine, but the results were incredibly low, about 1/8 of what people with similar systems to mine were getting on the ORB. I will try the card in another computer tomorrow, but I really think it's broken at this point !

Stinks since I was completely ecstatic when it came in earlier today, too. My GF4 history:

Anxiously awaiting Feb 5th announcement thinking I can buy then. Gets delayed till 6th.

6th comes...

7th-10th: MX versions go on market, no word on Ti's

11th-17th: Becomes apparrent that Ti's aren't coming till March

Feb 24th: Go down to Best Buy to pick up card after pre-ordering... it turns out it was stolen !

Feb 26th: They call and say card is there. I sit for about 4 hours and they can't find it. Turns out it was stolen AGAIN! I ask for a refund. I then order from a web site who emails back quickly that it's OOS. I cancel order.

Feb 27th: I order again from another vendor and it is OOS.

Feb 28th: I order from gateway. Ecstatic, figuring it will come in soon.

(insert perpetual delays and a couple more orders of frustration followed by backorder notices, and Gateway cancelling order saying no longer available from manufacturer, then reinstatement, then doesn't come past ETA's several more times)

April 1st: At long last, I receive the card. I'm having one of the most joyful days I've had in ages.

Night of April 1st: Card determined to be dead by about 20 people across 7 forums I have posted this thread on.

. Can I have any worse luck LOL ?

 

[GoldenTiger]

Update: GF3 Ti200 is exhibiting almost all of the problems and got only 5227 3dmarks (compared to 7637 before I switched the cards). I am quite optimistic that it is just the slot that needs further cleaning rather than the card being bad... /me crosses his fingers and goes to bed, thinking on how to clean the slot better tomorrow.

 

[ShadowCat66]

I'm sure you've done this but did you use detonator destroyer when you where changing cards/drivers? Old drivers on a system can sometimes cause trouble and you started to have trouble with your other card after flopping them(just an Idea).I sure am sorry to hear about your trouble.I hope you fix it soon.Good Luck!


Also try reinstalling a game,3DMarks after you get the drivers you are going to use.I've had to reinstall some games after changing drivers.