wtf is wrong with my computer.....

[Screech]

I recently went from

athlon 1800+
some socket A ECS mobo (k7somethingsomethingsomething...65a perhaps)
generic 512 mb of pc2100 ram
geforce 5500 128 meg, drivers 77.77
WD 80 gig

to

athlon 64 3000+
socket 754 ECS mobo
512 mb pc 3200 ram
same graphics card, with which I have tried both a 69.xx driver and the 77.77 i now have installed
WD 120 gig as a windows boot, and the 80 gig is a slaved linux drive running SuSE 9.3 x86_64

problemas:

At first I thought it was image tearing, although now I am not completely sure what it is. regardless, I get weird flickers when playing ut2004 on both linux (in 32 and 64 bit) and on windows. Comparing windows to running the game 32 bit in linux, there are much more distinct lines and black spots that appear, but running 64 bit ut2004 in linux is horrendous, where the whole screen flickers an odd color every few seconds and parts of the level appear and disappear for no reason. In addition, I tried running the doom 3 demo in windows (it is XP) and I have the same tearing/flickering/WTFing problems there.

Also, when I am playing ut2004 (in windows, neevr tested thoroughly in linux) the higher I turn my resolution, the more laggy it gets. Now obviously the higher my resolution goes, the FPS will drop accordingly, but this isn't that. Rather, if I go from 640 x 480 to 800 x 600, i get perhaps 100 milliseconds more lag. turning up the quality settings has a similar effect.

Also, I have had reboots when exiting ut2004 in windows. Linux has crashed in a couple spots but that is likely because I am an idiot trying to figure out how to run it, so take that with a grain of salt.

I had a few times before upgrading where the computer would simply reboot for no reason, but other than that, i didn't have any of these problems before upgrading.....although the frames were flying much slower.

so.......

edit: forgot to mention it, but turning vsync to ON rather than application controlled simply reduces the frames a good deal without reducing the flickering problems.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

When you upgraded did you re-install Windows clean, or did you keep your old OS install? If the later then did you perform a Windows Repair Install? You CANNOT just swap mobos and boot up and expect Windows to properly detect all the new hardware. Doesn't work that way.

I would suspect that this is what happened because what you're describing could be explained by the fact that your PCI Bridge or some other mobo driver was not installed correctly or is being interfered with by the old driver.

You must perform a repair install which will wipe the device manager and force Windows to re-detect all hardware as if it was a new install. You will not lose any data or apps. You will need to install all the latest drivers afterwards (Windows will only install it's own generic drivers - same as a new install). You'll also need to install all the latest windows updates since the OS files will all be reset to the versions on the Windows XP CD you use for the repair install (including the version of the service pack on that CD).

Instructions here: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Hope this helps...

 

[Screech]

When I upgraded, my 80 gig WD HD had had the windows install on it. I took out the 80 gig, and put in a new 120 gig hard drive on which i installed a clean install of windows. After windows was installed on that, I hooked up the 80 gig as a slave with all the info I needed on that, before copying over all the docs etc from that hard drive to the newer 120 so that I could format the 80 and install SuSE 9.3

on the windows, I have installed

the mobo drivers
the sound blaster drives, as I actually have a real sound card (sound blaster live)
the nvidia drivers, both a 69.xx revision that came with the card, and the 77.77
the mobo's VIA RAID, even though I don't use that....

The fact that I am getting simlilar problems on clean installs of both linux and windows is making me think it is a hardware thing, except I have no clue what it is...

 

[mechBgon]

What power supply brand/model? Something respectable?

 

[Screech]

I think it is the generic 350 or so that came with the box....ill take a look....

It worked fine with the athlon 1800+ though (I installed the new comp in the same case).

 

[mechBgon]

On the PSU's label, grab the 12V amperage rating for us. The old K7S5A powered stuff more off the 3.3V and 5V lines, but your new rig is going to be doing that stuff off the 12V line, video + CPU. If in doubt, run out and grab a new quality-brand unit like maybe an Antec SL450 or something.

 

[Screech]

+12v
14A

+3.3
16A

+5v
25A

oops, forgot to mention: This is an enermax 350W.

 

[mechBgon]

Ok yeah, I think I would replace it. Current Enermax single-rail units generally have like 26A on 12V at the 350W area.

ATX 2.0 is the new standard and the features include a 24-pin main ATX cable, usually made in a 20+4 fashion like this pic so you can still use it on a 20-pin mobo. They have two 12V sources too. If you want to plan for the future then this is what you'll need down the road.

 

[Screech]

should this be good? From my ....limited understanding of power supplies, the amperages look far better than my current one.....in addition my bro works at that store so I can get a good deal on it through him...

 

[mechBgon]

That brand is unknown to me as far as its reputation goes, in which case I always suspect the worst :evil: Cheap trash! Run away, run away! :Q

Good brands include Fortron, Enermax, Seasonic, Antec and Zippy, if that helps.

 

[KarenMarie]

Globalwin Sapphire 520 is the best PSU I have ever owned.

Looks nice in a case, too.

 

[imported_hanza]

sorry for the double post, saw this same entry from flyingpenguin in another post and I just wanted to get a better chance of it getting replied to. I'm curious though, I'm interested in doing this repair install but I'm not quite clear on a few things. I've obtained a dell dimension 8400 and I want to change the case, mobo and hs/f but I don't want to purchase a new copy of windows. The original dell install of windows is already on it. When I perform the repair install do I have to reactivate? Because i'm under the assumption that this oem version of xp pro is locked to the mobo.

 

[mechBgon]

If you're changing that stuff out, you're obligated to re-license if you have WinXP OEM. In the case of your Dell, it's probably also locked to that motherboard using the technique described on this page at Microsoft's site.

We expanded and integrated the existing OEM CD BIOS locking mechanism with product activation, and call this method of protection "System Locked Pre-installation," or SLP.

Successfully implemented, SLP uses information stored in an OEM PC's BIOS to protect the installation from casual piracy. No communication by the end customer to Microsoft is required and no hardware hash is created or necessary. At boot, Windows XP compares the PC's BIOS to the SLP information. If it matches, no activation is required.

Every single piece of hardware could be changed on a PC with SLP and no reactivation would be required ? even the motherboard could be replaced as long as the replacement motherboard was original equipment manufactured by the OEM and retained the proper BIOS. In the unlikely scenario that the BIOS information does not match, the PC would need to be activated within 30 days by contacting the Microsoft activation center via the Internet or telephone call ? just as in a retail scenario.

If you anticipate upgrading your mobo/CPU several times before moving on from WinXP to something else, and want to stay compliant with your license, then retail-boxed WinXP is your best bet in the long run. Unlike OEM, it isn't legally perma-married to the first system you install and activate it on, it's licensed to you to use on any single computer of your choice. Yeah, you'll have to call and activate when the hardware is way different, but that's your right if you have retail-boxed WinXP.

If you had a standard OEM WinXP from Newegg then Microsoft probably would not freak out if you swapped core hardware, they would give you a new activation code over the phone. But that would be fudging the license agreement on their part if they do that.

 

[imported_hanza]

I kinda figured it was like that, just thought i'd ask. Thanks man!

 

[Screech]

update:

I had the power supply tested with 2 different testing-thingies, but it turned out to be fine according to them, which left me with a faulty mobo. I went to Fry's and got it exchanged out almost instantly, which surprised me a bit, but I sure as hell didn't complain . I got home, put it back in with everything, and now the tearing and crashing problems are gone

linux problems fixed as well

Thanks for the help, mechBgon :beer:

 

[mechBgon]