NVidia + Win2k crashes

[GRiMMi]

Hi..
I'm having some trouble, I thought I'd try here...
Firstly, my system :
Asus A7V-E (VIA KT133).
AMD Duron 800@800 (for the moment) with proper cooling.
3D Prophet II MX @ default clock rates (for the moment) with default bios and proper cooling.
SoundBlaster Live 1024.
256mb no-name pc133.
Most recent A7V-E bios.
Detonator 12.90.
VIA 4in1 4.32

I have had most the issues people with this system are experiencing, and fixed most of them. I've had what they call the 686b bug - for the KT133, which made me unable to burn cds, copy large files, made my sb live crackle and pop and so on. I have also reinstalled Win2k using the "Standard PC" driver instead of the ACPI ones.
The only irq sharing/conflict in my box is my USB and network card - shouldn't affect this at all.

However, I'm still experiencing crashes in 3d games.
MechCommander 2 reboots when I start it - and sometimes, when I actually get it to run, it has random lockups.
Half-Life and it's mods has random crashes - usually within 2 hours.
Operation Flashpoint seem to be running pretty good..

In addition to this I experience some weird graphical bugs - like a block around the mouse pointer, or coloured lines on the desktop at startup, which goes away after a while.

I'm using AGP 4x, with FastWrites and SBA OFF. AGP 4x usually worked fine in WinME, even with FW.
I have tried reducing the hardware acceleration levels of the Geforce, and the sound card to no succes.
I have tried most the settings I could think of in the bios, and I have verified a lot of settings with WPCREDIT.
My system looks like it's in tip top shape - until I play a game.

I only have a 200watt PSU - but I never had those problems in WinME or 98, so that should not be the problem either.

I'm thinking I might have damaged the 3d prophet RAM chips - but then again, would it even run.. ?

I hope some of you might have some tips - as I have tried everything I could think of. I've also tried most the suggestions in the geforce faq (www.geforcefaq.com).

Thanks.. :\

 

[Pinky]

Well, that was very detailed, but I didn't see a mention of which drivers you are using... direct X version...

It doesn't sound hopeless, possibly heat related.

If it runs fine all the time, but while gaming, I'd say try some new drivers and make sure if you're using driver 12.00 or newer, be sure to have directx8 installed.

 

[GRiMMi]

DX 8.0a
Detonator 12.90
It's not heat related - I had it GREATLY overclocked in WinME without problems - I also have a temperature sensor on the memory chips - about 40 C

 

[Pinky]

Besides being AMD, we have very similar setups. I use the same drivers, OS, similar card, etc etc

I am at a loss. If I were you I'd backup my files, put on a pot of coffee, and try a fresh install. That's what I have done in the past when the gremlins get rowdy, and that fixes them (for a while). Can always write Microsoft and complain about their error prone, data corrupting OS.

 

[GRiMMi]

You know I just did that last night
No help in it..

 

[Pinky]

GRiMMi (Jul 19, 2001 11:11 a.m.):
You know I just did that last night
No help in it..

I'd see about borrowing another Geforce 2 card from a friend and see if it works, that would eliminate the video card . Otherwise, my diagnosis, b-bye video card.

 

[Jon]

Are you using Service Pack 2 for Win2K? If not, get it and try that. It has the Via AGP port patch built into it.

If you are using it, try to lower your AGP to 2X. I had to do that on my Soyo board. 4X runs perfect on my VP6 but always had lockups on the Soyo. It really makes no difference in performance. 5502 with 4X on...5498 at 2X in 3DMark2001 for me.

If none of that works, you may just have a bad card.

 

[GRiMMi]

Yes, I have SP2. But it didn't install the AGP patch - as the name is still VIA AGP sommit instead of VIA Tech AGP sommit.
I thought about lowering to agp 2x, and I know it doesn't make much difference. I'll try it, thanks.
Other than that I don't have any friends with a geforce 2 :\

 

[Jon]

SP2 includes the AGP patch. Is why I was wondering if you had it installed.

Let us know how dropping to 2X does...

 

[GRiMMi]

I don't know if you catched it, but I do not have the agp patch from sp2 installed. I read somewhere that the drivers in that patch are named VIA Tech instead of just VIA like in the 4in1s. Mine is named only VIA.
I'll try 2x now tho.

 

[GRiMMi]

I tried lowering to AGP 2x and setting the AGP Driving Strength to EA - but it didn't help.

 

[Pinky]

GRiMMi (Jul 19, 2001 03:14 p.m.):
I tried lowering to AGP 2x and setting the AGP Driving Strength to EA - but it didn't help.

I still say you will have to swap the video card out to know for sure. It's likely your video card's the problem, after all the time you're invested there comes a time you need to start reapproaching your problem. A fresh install of w2k should have cured any conflicts or corrpution issues that might have been causing the problem. Unless your CPU, memory, power supply, or motherboard are faulty (which would be showing up in more than just 3d gaming), it's gotta be the video card.

You're sure the card's cool enough, the fan works on it? What did you mean you might have damaged the memory? Overclocking alone is the hardest way to damage memory.

 

[GRiMMi]

The card worked in WinME - that's why I don't think it's the card.
I might have damaged it when scraping some super glue off the memory chips with a razor blade - but honestly I don't think I damaged it either.

 

[GRiMMi]

I fixed my crashing probs I think.
WiNC from VIAHardware.com helped me, and we found out that it was my memory - I have so called "no-name" memory, and I had it set at 4-way-interleaving. Setting it to 2-way-interleaving with wpcrset fixed the problem.
Thanks for the input guys!

 

[GRiMMi]

I'm afraid it didn't quite fix it...it helped for some games, but I'm still having crashes