Please help before I shoot myself!!!

[blackinches]

i just formatted my computer, and i can't seem to get any games to work. all other aspects of windows seems to work fine so far, but anytime i try to play a game (dark age of camelot, freelancer, splinter cell are just a few) it either crashes to windows, blue screen, or just restarts my computer.
i am running a athlon 1.2, iwill kk266 plus, geforce 3 ti500, audigy, d-link nic, 512mb sdram, windows xp professional. i am also running the newest versions of drivers and newest bios for my mobo.

 

[Varsh]

Windows XP only blue screens if there's a hardware fault (I'm excluding the "please insert vol blah blah of whatever drive" hmmk ), what exactly does it say?

 

[Shagga]

Have the games been reinstalled since you did the format?

 

[bacillus]

Please help before I shoot myself!!

am I too late?? :Q


sorry couldn't help myself!

 

[blackinches]

you're not to late to help!

yeah after clean format and install of xp i reinstall the games and tried them again. no dice.

 

[BD231]

Get a different motherboard.

 

[TDSLB]

Mabe check your drivers. I honestly doubt it but you might check IRQs. Any basic stuff hardware related. Especially check your Nvidia drivers. Run off the ones that came with the card. I really wouldn't recommend using their 'XP' drivers. Those things always give me trouble.

 

[blackinches]

i went through a couple versions of the detonator drivers. currently trying out 43.00. haven't checked my irqs though, i'll try that.

it's just so weird that i was running xp fine before the format and now its not giving me any love.

and i can't afford a new mobo boo hoo!

 

[IanthePez]

run all windows updates, etc...

couldn't hurt

 

[TDSLB]

Ya, Those detonator drivers are wothless as far as 2000 goes. I'm honestly not sure about XP though. I would really recommend installing the drivers that came with your card. and see what that does. Often they're slow but stable drivers.

Another thing you might try. See if any of your games will run on something besides DirectX. I've noticed Nvidia and DirectX can some times not get along to well

I keep thinking OpenGL but that's 3dFX.... anyways try somethng different then DirectX if you can

 

[AsianriceX]

Originally posted by: TDSLB
Ya, Those detonator drivers are wothless as far as 2000 goes. I'm honestly not sure about XP though. I would really recommend installing the drivers that came with your card. and see what that does. Often they're slow but stable drivers.

Another thing you might try. See if any of your games will run on something besides DirectX. I've noticed Nvidia and DirectX can some times not get along to well

I keep thinking OpenGL but that's 3dFX.... anyways try somethng different then DirectX if you can

OpenGL isn't 3dfx. 3dfx had to develop their own version called GLide, that may be what you mean.

 

[blackinches]

i made sure to run all updates, but i can't find the cd that came with the vid card.

hmmm an opengl game eh? the only one i can think of that i might own is quake 3.

i'll go give it a shot.

 

[crisp82]

Downgrade you Nvidia drivers to anyting below 41.09 and run a game. I think the 43.00 drivers are beta, and I know alot of people had trouble with the 41.09 drivers.

 

[blackinches]

tried the older nvidia drivers, and it hasn't helped. i'm starting to worry. i hope it's not a hardware problem.

 

[Gibson12345]

I had that happen to me a few weeks ago, and it turned out that my CPU fan was broken. Check that out.

 

[Boobers]

What version of DirectX is currently installed? (Go to Start->Run and type "dxdiag" and it will tell you). The DirectX Diagnostic Utility will also allow you to test the DirectX installation. If you run the tests and it crashes, it's time to re-install DirectX.

Make sure you have DirectX v8.1 and use nVidia driver v30.82 and you should have no problems. The newer nVidia drivers (v40.xx and v41.xx) really only add features for DirectX v9.0, which a GF3 can't use anyway.

Are you using "cool-bits" to OC this card? If so, set the clock speed to stock and see what happens.

I'm running 2 Athlon 1.4 T-Bird systems with the KK266R boards and GF2Pro's, and DX8.1 with driver v30.82 seems to work the best and gives the highest 3DMark2001SE scores (~4700). I've tried it with DX9 and driver v41.09 and it was actually a bit slower. The latest and greatest drivers are not necessarily the fastest/best, especially with old hardware..YMMV.

 

[grifterspawn]

did you install the via 4 in 1 drivers? or hyperion as they are called now i think...really hope from memory that is a via board...

 

[blackinches]

yeah it is a via board, but i haven't really been installing 4 in 1 since i started using xp. but i'll give that a shot.

i'm using directx 9 because i have to. freelancer and splinter cell require it. hope there aren't any conflicts with v30.82 and directx 9. and i'm not OCing the vid card.

 

[blackinches]

30.2 didn't work either. i really appreciate the help guys. but i can see the headlines now "Anandtech User Shoots Himself Because of Computer Malfunction."

 

[BmXStuD]

Did you re format again, if not you should.
(SHAME WHAT OME PEOPLE DO OVER A GAME :/:"before I shoot myself!!!")

 

[blackinches]

yep formatted like 5 times. it's not just the fact that games don't work, it's the fact that something is wrong with my pc and i can't fix and it's driving me nucking futs.

 

[Boobers]

Shot in the dark-

What is your AGP aperture set to in the BIOS?

 

[chizow]

Could be a sound card issue. You have the latest drivers installed for your Audigy? Disable the splash screen? Try yanking the card and disabling anything in your BIOS that you aren't using (serial, parallel, onboard sound etc.) so you can isolate the component. Is there any error msgs like "nv4disp.dll" or anything with "ct" in it? Back track and think of any changes you made to your system other than the re-format, re-installation. Also, are you running SP1 and did you get all the Windows Updates?

Chiz

 

[blackinches]

my agp setting is at 64m. i made no hardware changes recently, i also don't get any error msgs. i also have all the windows updates. i tried the games before and after the updates and it's the same deal, still crashes. i am using the up to date audigy drivers from their site, and have the splash screens and stuff disabled.

 

[chizow]

What are your system/cpu temps? Is the fan on your GF3 working? How about airflow? Try leaving the side panel off and see if that helps. Also, what do your voltages look like at both idle and under load? Load is much more important obviously, but get a monitoring program like MBM (motherboard monitor) and see if your voltages drop when you run a game.

Chiz