Gainward GeForce 4 4400 problem

[GMC]

I purchased a Gainward GeForce 4 TI 4400 golden edition and ran into a major snag. When I installed it on my Asus K7V133a board I had major display problems. When the computer started up (even before it finished POSTing) i had vertical bars of flashing random text. I would then get random colors and blocks of garbage at the windows startup screen. Windows would freeze and then I would have to restart I would load in safe mode but with a bad display. Because I have an old GeForce DDR card I could load the Nvida drivers, but that did not change the display at all. I called up Gainward service department and they said that the card was defective. I returned the card and recieved a new one. The new one was working fine while i tried to get the drivers and settings to my liking. Then on one of my restarts it started happening again. Because this problem is present during POST (before any of the drivers is loaded) and the OS loads it seems to be a hardwear problem. It also seems to get worse with time so I am wondering if I have a motherboard that has a bad AGP slot. My computer works with my old GeForce card so i'm at a loss. I'm afraid to continue to work on it if i end up destroying the card and having to get a new one. Any help would be appreciated.

GMC

 

[BMW330ci]

<< I purchased a Gainward GeForce 4 TI 4400 golden edition and ran into a major snag. When I installed it on my Asus K7V133a board I had major display problems. When the computer started up (even before it finished POSTing) i had vertical bars of flashing random text. I would then get random colors and blocks of garbage at the windows startup screen. Windows would freeze and then I would have to restart I would load in safe mode but with a bad display. Because I have an old GeForce DDR card I could load the Nvida drivers, but that did not change the display at all. I called up Gainward service department and they said that the card was defective. I returned the card and recieved a new one. The new one was working fine while i tried to get the drivers and settings to my liking. Then on one of my restarts it started happening again. Because this problem is present during POST (before any of the drivers is loaded) and the OS loads it seems to be a hardwear problem. It also seems to get worse with time so I am wondering if I have a motherboard that has a bad AGP slot. My computer works with my old GeForce card so i'm at a loss. I'm afraid to continue to work on it if i end up destroying the card and having to get a new one. Any help would be appreciated.

GMC >>




What kind of motherboard are you using and does it have the latest BIOS? I have experienced the same problem with my Gainward Ti4400 and have sent it back to Gainward for a replacement. I have included a note for them to test the replacement card prior to shipping it back to me (recommendation from the Gainward Tech Support Rep.)
I installed this card in another system and the same exact thing occured (screen garbage). It appears there are some defective Gainward cards on the market.

 

[Instagib]

I thought you had a Leadtek BMW?

 

[Instagib]

<< I purchased a Gainward GeForce 4 TI 4400 golden edition and ran into a major snag. When I installed it on my Asus K7V133a board I had major display problems. When the computer started up (even before it finished POSTing) i had vertical bars of flashing random text. I would then get random colors and blocks of garbage at the windows startup screen. Windows would freeze and then I would have to restart I would load in safe mode but with a bad display. Because I have an old GeForce DDR card I could load the Nvida drivers, but that did not change the display at all. I called up Gainward service department and they said that the card was defective. I returned the card and recieved a new one. The new one was working fine while i tried to get the drivers and settings to my liking. Then on one of my restarts it started happening again. Because this problem is present during POST (before any of the drivers is loaded) and the OS loads it seems to be a hardwear problem. It also seems to get worse with time so I am wondering if I have a motherboard that has a bad AGP slot. My computer works with my old GeForce card so i'm at a loss. I'm afraid to continue to work on it if i end up destroying the card and having to get a new one. Any help would be appreciated.

GMC >>





Time to RMA

 

[BMW330ci]

<< I thought you had a Leadtek BMW? >>



I did. I recently bought the Gainward Ti4400 too. Two bad GeForce 4s. I was extra extra careful with the Gainward after the bad experience with the Leadtek.

 

[Instagib]

Man that blows dude. So what now?

 

[BMW330ci]

<< Man that blows dude. So what now? >>



Well, both are going to be replaced by the manufacturers - Leadtek and Gainward. Gainward immediatley said it was defected after I explained the problem. Leadtek issued an RMA despite having one of the fans disconnected (it most likely didnt overheat due to only 1 disconnected fan) I'm thinking about buying the ATI Radeon 8500 to accompany my new Samsung 171P since I hear all positive remarks with its 2D image display.

 

[Instagib]

Yeah you got screwed on two of the best GeForce cards available in the U.S. Well good luck.

 

[BMW330ci]

<< Yeah you got screwed on two of the best GeForce cards available in the U.S. Well good luck. >>



Thanks for your concern!

 

[JHMirage]

Well... at least this should make you feel better... I am now waiting for my third Gainward GF4 Ti 4400 from Newegg.

I'm not kidding.

I got two defective ones in a row. (Both with the exact same symptoms you describe.)

Sounds like there are more than just a few bad ones running around.

Have any of you had any bad experiences with Gainward Ti 4600s? I'm starting to wonder if it might be worth the extra $$$ after all.

 

[BMW330ci]

<< Well... at least this should make you feel better... I am now waiting for my third Gainward GF4 Ti 4400 from Newegg.

I'm not kidding.

I got two defective ones in a row. (Both with the exact same symptoms you describe.)

Sounds like there are more than just a few bad ones running around.

Have any of you had any bad experiences with Gainward Ti 4600s? I'm starting to wonder if it might be worth the extra $$$ after all. >>



The Gainward Tech Support Rep. informed me that even the 4600s may run into problems.

 

[Instagib]

<<

<< Well... at least this should make you feel better... I am now waiting for my third Gainward GF4 Ti 4400 from Newegg.

I'm not kidding.

I got two defective ones in a row. (Both with the exact same symptoms you describe.)

Sounds like there are more than just a few bad ones running around.

Have any of you had any bad experiences with Gainward Ti 4600s? I'm starting to wonder if it might be worth the extra $$$ after all. >>



The Gainward Tech Support Rep. informed me that even the 4600s may run into problems. >>



I got lucky when I bought my Gainward I guess.

 

[Osprey]

Same thing happened to me... just today. I get video corruption in everything (BIOS, POST, Windows...). My PNY Ti4400 worked fine for two weeks... until I upgraded to a Biostar M7VIF motherboard. The motherboard turned out to be bad, since my idle CPU temp was consistently 53C (whereas same CPU on my old Epox board gives 38C). The worst effect, though, was that I immediately saw video corruption when the GF4 was in the Biostar, and, worse yet, the corruption stayed after putting it in various other computers. So, I have to conclude that a flaky motherboard ruined my nice, new GF4. It was most likely helped tremendously, though, by the apparent low quality and failure proneness of these GF4s. Anyways, so I would recommend to everyone that they buy their GF4s from places with good return policies and that no one buy Biostar motherboards (at least the M7VIF/KT333 one). This has been hell week for me... and Monday will see me trying to return two defective pieces of hardware <groan>.

 

[BMW330ci]

<< Well... at least this should make you feel better... I am now waiting for my third Gainward GF4 Ti 4400 from Newegg.

I'm not kidding.

I got two defective ones in a row. (Both with the exact same symptoms you describe.)

Sounds like there are more than just a few bad ones running around.

Have any of you had any bad experiences with Gainward Ti 4600s? I'm starting to wonder if it might be worth the extra $$$ after all. >>



What type of motherboard were you using with the 2 Gainward cards?

 

[JHMirage]

<< What type of motherboard were you using with the 2 Gainward cards? >>



Take your pick:

[*]Brand New Asus P4S333 (tried it with both the original BIOS and the P4S533 rev 1006)
[*]Moderately Old Asus CUSL2
[*]Really Old Micron P2/450 (don't know what brand/model of MB)

Same behavior in each and every system. Pretty conclusive that it's a vid card issue, I feel. I would love to hear someone tell me that I was just really unlucky, because I'm desperately hoping that the third time is the charm.

On a somewhat releated note: Have any of you had any luck convincing Newegg to cross-ship or overnight replacements in unusual situations like this?

 

[BMW330ci]

<<

<< What type of motherboard were you using with the 2 Gainward cards? >>



Take your pick:

[*]Brand New Asus P4S333 (tried it with both the original BIOS and the P4S533 rev 1006)
[*]Moderately Old Asus CUSL2
[*]Really Old Micron P2/450 (don't know what brand/model of MB)

Same behavior in each and every system. Pretty conclusive that it's a vid card issue, I feel. I would love to hear someone tell me that I was just really unlucky, because I'm desperately hoping that the third time is the charm.

On a somewhat releated note: Have any of you had any luck convincing Newegg to cross-ship or overnight replacements in unusual situations like this? >>



I wouldn't suspect it's a motherboard related problem then. Perhaps just really fragile videocards. If the third card fails, I would recommend you sending it back to Gainward for the replacement but have Gainward test out the card to ensure it works before shipping it back.
I'm sort of afraid to test the replacement Gainward in case it fails again. I'm thinking about going for the ATI Radeon 8500 128MB.

 

[BMW330ci]

<< Same thing happened to me... just today. I get video corruption in everything (BIOS, POST, Windows...). My PNY Ti4400 worked fine for two weeks... until I upgraded to a Biostar M7VIF motherboard. The motherboard turned out to be bad, since my idle CPU temp was consistently 53C (whereas same CPU on my old Epox board gives 38C). The worst effect, though, was that I immediately saw video corruption when the GF4 was in the Biostar, and, worse yet, the corruption stayed after putting it in various other computers. So, I have to conclude that a flaky motherboard ruined my nice, new GF4. It was most likely helped tremendously, though, by the apparent low quality and failure proneness of these GF4s. Anyways, so I would recommend to everyone that they buy their GF4s from places with good return policies and that no one buy Biostar motherboards (at least the M7VIF/KT333 one). This has been hell week for me... and Monday will see me trying to return two defective pieces of hardware <groan>. >>



That is very unfortunate that the motherboard damaged the videocard. With my Gainward card, I only saw video corruption during the Windows XP startup and Windows desktop but not during Post or BIOS. I tried different drivers and on another computer with the same problem.
XP would then automatically reboot after loading up. It does appear that the GeForce4s are prone to defects. The Gainward Tech Support Rep. even mentioned it (the 4400 and 4600 for that matter)!

I'm thinking about using the ATI Radeon 8500 128MB. Does anyone have an idea how prone they are to failing with comparision to the GeForce4s?

 

[sansoora]

I had a smiliar problem with my Inno GeForce 4 440 MX card. Just this morning I downloaded the 28.32 drivers from the NVIDIA site. All seems to be ok now. Give these a go! Good Luck!

 

[GMC]

Well I RMA'ed it and recieved a new one. Guess what, same problem. It's not as bad this time but it still happens. I tried the latest BIOS (1009 on my Asus a7v133), latest 4 in 1 drivers from Asus, fresh install of windows (98) and new nvida drivers. Still nothing. I am weary of sending it back again. I'm wondering what it the problem is. Is it motherboard (chipset), video card, or a compatibably issue in the AGP slot. Unfortunatly I don't know anyone around here who has a working Geforce 4 to test my card on. I'd think that testing a bad card on a system that works would tell us if it's the card (if it's still bad) or motherboard (if the card works). Either that or buy a new motherboard and hope it works. Other then that i'm at a loss to do. Such is the life of new computer products.

GMC

Athlon 800MHz
Asus a7v133a
256 SDRAM
BIOS rev 1009
4N1 drivers 4.37
Nvida drivers 28.32

 

[BMW330ci]

<< Well I RMA'ed it and recieved a new one. Guess what, same problem. It's not as bad this time but it still happens. I tried the latest BIOS (1009 on my Asus a7v133), latest 4 in 1 drivers from Asus, fresh install of windows (98) and new nvida drivers. Still nothing. I am weary of sending it back again. I'm wondering what it the problem is. Is it motherboard (chipset), video card, or a compatibably issue in the AGP slot. Unfortunatly I don't know anyone around here who has a working Geforce 4 to test my card on. I'd think that testing a bad card on a system that works would tell us if it's the card (if it's still bad) or motherboard (if the card works). Either that or buy a new motherboard and hope it works. Other then that i'm at a loss to do. Such is the life of new computer products.

GMC

Athlon 800MHz
Asus a7v133a
256 SDRAM
BIOS rev 1009
4N1 drivers 4.37
Nvida drivers 28.32 >>




Try your Gainward GeForce4 on another computer(s). I just bought the Radoen 8500 128MB and it works perfectly with my Asus P4S533. Looks like my replacement LeadTek and Gainward GeForce4 is going up for sale.

 

[Satoshithegnome]

I have the same problem as you!
I got my card, and all these blocks and windows came up and I don't know what to do. Took me forever to find this forum with this info, thought I got the one and a million.

I just bought a new comp cause I thought my old one couldn't support it but I guess it's just defective.
Hmmm, I want the VIVO so bad, but Gainward is the only seller of the VIVO GF 4's so I'm not sure what to do, because I definately don't want to get another defective card.

Any ideas?...
Thanks

 

[JHMirage]

UPDATE
This is absolutely incredible.

I have now received three consecutive faulty Gainward ti 4400s. I thought about taking the advice of many here and shipping it back to Gainward for a pre-tested replacement, but at this point, I don't believe Gainward will ever see my business again.

This card had chips and one of those funky red heatsinks floating completely loose in the static bag when I got it! What the hell kind of quality control is going on at Gainward?

Thankfully, Newegg was willing to give me a full refund and waive the overnight shipping charges on a brand new VisionTek. I've heard the 2D quality is comparable to Gainward, and that's the big reason I was after the 700XP, anyway.

<sigh>

 

[smokeslikeapoet]

I've the same problem with my Gainward 4600 750xp. I tried to get in touch with Gainward tech support Friday, but they never returned my call. Looks like I'm going to take the RMA route. So, should I just get a different brand or try Gainward a second time?

 

[JHMirage]

Earlier, I said:

<< Thankfully, Newegg was willing to give me a full refund and waive the overnight shipping charges on a brand new VisionTek. I've heard the 2D quality is comparable to Gainward, and that's the big reason I was after the 700XP, anyway. >>


An update to my update:

For those of you experiencing continued troubles with your Gainward, I'd recommend going with VisionTek. I had a Ti 4600 sent overnight from Newegg. Plunked it down in my Asus P4S333, and it fired up strong and true out of the box. (Which, frankly, is what I've always taken for granted before this experience.)

Got a 3DMark of almost 11000 out of the box. See my complete scores below. (No overclocking on the VisionTek so far... I'm going to push it a little this weekend.)

Now... on to Morrowind...

Edit: Forgot to mention... 2D quality looks great all the way up to 1600x1200 on my VisionTek. Crystal clear and bright on my Sony Trinitron.

 

[iwearnosox]

I purchased a "refurb" Gainward 4400 vivo from newegg for $210 last week, and had the same problem. "boxing" and other weird screen garbage upon bootup, clearly not an OS related issue. Instead of sending it back to newegg, though, I contacted gainward. Make sure you're talking to them at support@gainwardusa.com - I'm not sure if they answer on other channels.

This is my second time dealing with Gainward support, and they again came through for me with flying colors. I sent my card back on tuesday and received a brand new one via UPS today, stellar turnaround. I just popped the card back in and it works perfectly- so clearly there's no incompatbility between it and my setup, as some had suggested to me. I suspect the board has gone through another revision and the early ones may have had issues. Who knows.

Anyway for those of you with gainwards I would recommend not RMA'ing them to newegg, but rather gainward. You're sure to get a new, recently manufactured board in return.