Windows XP and Quake III/Deus Ex problems

[vulpeculla]

Hello,
I recently built a system with Windows XP and installed Quake III and Deus Ex. However, when I tried to play these two games the monitor will loose its horizontal and vertical display and just show lines. I installed the WHQL drivers for my video card however it is still not working appropriately. I also attempted to use the XP compatability for these games but did not work. I also tried to install NVIDIA refresh program but did not work. My display settings are 1280 x 1024 x60 Hz. If I go any higher or lower in the refresh rate the display becomes unstable as well. Everything else works great as far as the OS is concerned....but this video display with game play seems to be the only issue.
Current system hardware:
Windows XP Home Edition
AMD 1700+ XP
NVIDIA Gainward GForce 2 Ti 450
ECS K7s5a
256 Crucial DDR 2100
40GB 7200 Maxtor
24x10x40 Lite on CDRW
AMR Modem
300 Watt Power supply

Thanks for any input or direction
Vulpeculla

 

[Mem]

1280 x 1024 x60 Hz is a very low refresh rate for that res and you don`t see flicker? what monitor do you have?

Install the latest monitor drivers if possible.
I would try lower res like 1024x768@85hz and see if your monitor handles that ok,if you get problems still try uninstalling the Gainward drivers and try Nvidia drivers,it sounds like a refresh rate problem.One more thing if you do install the Nvidia drivers reinstall the 60hz refresh fix for XP/2K.

I`ve Quake3 and that game runs fine in XP with Nvidia drivers and my Leadtek GF2 Ti card.

 

[vulpeculla]

Thanks for the quick response,
I have done exactly as you said and still no improvement on my situation. The only factor I failed to mention earlier is that this monitor is an AST 4N monitor and it was from the old computer. Is it possible that the monitor can not handle the refresh rate since it is an old monitor from 1996 date of manufacture. I think it might be the monitor. Thank you
I'm not sure whether there are updated monitor drivers out there for the AST for Windows XP

 

[Mem]

<< Is it possible that the monitor can not handle the refresh rate since it is an old monitor from 1996 date of manufacture. I think it might be the monitor. Thank you >>



That`s a 14" right,yeah probably is so might be time now to upgrade to a better monitor.

 

[vulpeculla]

 

[vulpeculla]

I bought a Samsung 753DF. However, there is some progress with the situation. I was able to increase the refresh rate to 85 but when I try to play the Quake III or Deus Ex same old problem. I check the Direct X tool and it fails Direct X. Any patches out there for Quake III or Deus X? Or Giants Kabuto?

 

[DARRIN]

Which drivers are you using?

 

[vulpeculla]

I first used Detonator 22.5 WHQL which came with the Gainward card, then upgraded to 23.11. I also tried to run it in Safe mode, but then the Quake console message states that OpenGL could not be found and then failed to load. The system is stable under safe mode, that is it does not cause the screen to have lines, or locks up the system forcing me to hard reset. (I also want to mention that whenever I attempt to run the OpenGL 3dtext screensaver it freezes up the system). I have not tried to use the NVIDIA refresh fix for this new monitor. However, the monitor is able to handle up to 85 Mhz refresh rate now unlike the previous 14 inch monitor where it would just lock up or have lines. I dowloaded the 14.xx WHQL drivers from NVIDIA because I read somewhere that it was the most stable. I will try that as well. The odd thing though is that the games that came with XP such as minesweeper, pinball works, however, Internet checkers does not.
What suggestions do you have?


My plan is to repartition the drive with Partition Magic. Then Install Windows 98SE in the second partition and see if these games are stable under these conditions. I want to be sure that there are no inherent problems with the hardware.

 

[DARRIN]

A lot of people have problems with the 23.11 drivers. try the 21.83's

 

[Mem]

Could be a few things like old driver file still in the OS or corrupted DirectX,I would do a reformat and clean install of XP OS and see if this clears it up,you say it fails in DirectX diagnostics tools well probably is software rather then hardware but I would not rule anything out so go back to basics like leave PCI slot 1 empty so AGP is not sharing with PCI 1 slot and disable all Video shadowing in BIOS and disable system cacheable as well.

From what you said it`s only 3D games effected ,seems like both D3D and OpenGl games are not playable due to this problem.

I know for a fact both Quake3 and Deus EX will both run in XP since I`ve Q3 and my friend plays Deus EX all the time in XP.

One more thing it`s very important to remove the old Gainward drivers before installing Nvidia drivers,if any get left in the system it could cause the problem you are having,that`s why I would do a reformat and clean install of XP.

Anyway I hope you get it the problem fixed let us know how it goes.

Almost forgot to say that`s a SiS chipset board right so have you tried installing the latest SiS AGP driver?

 

[vulpeculla]

I solved the problem. I uninstalled the Gainward Expertool Utility program that came with the Gainward CD. It was causing the instability in running Quake III and Deus Ex. I was also successful in installing Giants Citizen Kabuto without a hitch. The system is stable...no more video problems. My advice to people is to not install any proprietary utility software that comes with your video cards. Thanks for all your advice and input as well.
Vulpeculla

 

[Mem]

Vulpeculla so it was the Gainward driver/software thought so ,you are right about don`t installing all that crap,I just install the official Nvidia drivers from Nvidia`a site and that so far as never given me any problems.

Anyway glad you got it all sorted and you`ve a new monitor as well so you have not done bad .