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Hangups attributed to NVIDIA graphics card?

H

Huntr3ss

Junior Member
Okay, I'm going to describe a problem I'm having with my computer, and I would appreciate some input on what any possible solutions may be. As a prelude to this, yes this is my first post on these boards, I've been lurking for a few weeks now and I consider myself moderately knowledgeable about computer hardware and software, but I LOVE to learn more!

I'll start at the beginning here. I had a Gateway Performance 550 computer that was bought about 2 years ago. It had a 550 MHz PIII processor and an Intel motherboard. I bought a new motherboard, processor and RAM, an Elitegroup K7VTA3 with an Athlon Tbird 1.4 and 256 MB DDR RAM. Ever since I bought this board, installed it, and put Windows 98 on it, it had been hanging after about 15 minutes of using IE, AIM, or most other programs online. I at first attributed the problem to my network card because it did not do it when I was not online, but then I installed Windows XP and it all worked, and then did the exact same hangup thing. Only XP automatically restarts, and then came up with an error message when it started again. It said that the drivers for my NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 (the graphics card that came with my Gateway computer) were not able to complete a drawing operation and this is the cause of my system instability. I tried to download the Detonator XP drivers from NVIDIA but that seemed to only cause more frequent hangups, if THAT'S even possible! So now I have a new idea of what could be causing the problem, only I have no idea how to fix it. If anybody has any ideas I'd greatly appreciate either posting them here or emailing me at Artemis@clanxvi.com.
 
The first time this happened when I first started up my computer I attributed it to the power supply, which at the time was 250W, and I figured I should get a new one anyway. I have since acquired a 400W power supply that was just used by someone with an AMD Athlon 1.4 overclocked and way more peripherals than me with no problem. I am running at the moment in safe mode with networking support and it is doing fine right now, been running for longer than it usually will with IE.

All of this leads me to believe that my power supply is not the problem.

And that it gives me a message about my drivers every time.

Also I have tried to go into the BIOS to change the AGP settings but it has not worked...the menus come up blank and I cannot press Enter or ESC.

Thanks though...

 
Well, I would think that you have now eliminated your Video Card(since it's the latest from NVidia and noone else is having these problems) and also the Power Supply. I would now consider possible driver updates for your motherboard(not sure this applies, but I've seen lots of people who installed the Via 4 in 1 Drivers and solved their problems.....this may be for Via mobos only though....but just a thought). You might also want to try switching out your ram. It obviously isn't an OS problem, otherwise reinstall XP or something. Or maybe even try just booting your computer with NOTHING bu the fundamentals. Video, Ram, Hard Drive, Floppy, and your CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive should be ok too. Do the process of elimanation and see where it gets you. Hopefully you'll have some extra ram sitting around. Good Luck
 
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