Xentor32 spiderwebbing due to overheating- problem solved, Thanks Adul!!

[John P]

I sent my Xentor32 back to Guillemot because it locked up on all 3 of my computers. I got a brand new one (supposedly) today from them and it locked up the first time I ran 3DMark 2000. Before it locked up it showed all these weird white diaganol lines in the helicoptor part of the demo. I'm running on a brand new computer too, an Abit KT7 and TBird 750. When I run the Quake III demo it also gives me weird diaganol lines on the screen. The Xentor32 I had before worked flawlessly for over a year on my Abit BH6 before it started doing this flaky stuff so I can't imagine it's anything weird in my BIOS. How in the world can the new card they sent me be bad also?? What is going on here?? The system works fine in all 3D games with a Voodoo3 2000 PCI installed.

 

[KarayaOne]

Which drivers are you using? I've never experienced the problems you are having. Actually, I've never had any problems with my Xentor.

Believe it or not, I find the 2.08 Detonators to be the fastest and most stable with this board. I've tried many Det versions, though certainly not all of them. But I have yet to find more stable drivers than the trusty old 2.08's.

Living in the dark ages, Iknow.

Perhaps it's related to your new mobo since it seemed to work fine on your BX mainboard.

 

[John P]

I'm using the latest Guillemot drivers. Before I sent the card back to Guillemot the first time I troubleshot the it for a week. I used the detonator drivers, Guillmeot drivers, checked BIOS settings, stripped the computer down, blah, blah, blah... When I determined it was the video card I tried it on my 2 other systems and had the exact same problems. In one system an ATI All in Wonder 128 works great, and the other my Savage 4 works fine. So, why am I having so much bad luck with these cards!!!!

 

[Adul]

My card did the same in my moms comp(duron 650, MSI K7T PRO) running 3dmark. Dunno why, but have you tried underclocking it to see if it is more stable? I used the references and guilemots drivers 5.22. I think the 3.68 was the best ones I have used, but diablo 2 doesn't like them.

 

[John P]

Adul, you were correct:

I called Guillemot tech support and got a different rep this time. He said the "spiderwebbing" is a very common problem due to the card overheating, he had me download a utility to adjust the clock speed on the card. I cranked the core memory from 175mhz down to 155mhz and the card seems to work fine. I sure wish the first tech rep I talked to at Guillemot (or even one of you guys!!) had told me this!! It would have saved me a lot of hassle!!!

Thanks Adul!!

 

[KarayaOne]

Well, I didn't think it would be caused by overheating simply because you didn't mention overclocking. You shouldn't have to underclock your card, should you? I've been using PowerSprinter for about 8 months now. My Xentor runs absolutely stable up to around 180 core/200 memory. I've had it as high as 185/220. But that's not stable for long. If you are happy that you have *fixed* your problem by lowering what should be trouble free operation at stock speeds, then good for you.

 

[John P]

KarayaOne,

Nowhere did I say I was happy about underclocking my card!! I am happy that my computer is now stable. Why does there have to be a know it all critic in every single thread on this board?? Where were you when I originally had the problem?? I didn't have the board overclocked to begin with, I had it set at default. I'm not going to lose any sleep if I lose a couple of frames per second to underclock my card so please don't worry about it.

BTW, since the default for the TNT2U is 150mhz the card is still "technically" overclocked, not underclocked. But for sake of argument we can call it underclocked from the Guillemot default. Anyway, hopefully this thread can help others who may have the same problem, which was the original intent of me refreshing this thread.

 

[Adul]

Now to find the reg key or ultility that will alow me to underclock my card in win2k. Guilemots ultility does not work in windows 2000.

 

[LXi]

My Xentor32 retired a few months ago. Since it never worked for me. Every game will crash within 5 minutes, and I do get those white spiderwebs. I tried everything, different versions of detonators, guillemot drivers, BIOS flashs that downclocked it to 150, I even manually downclocked it to 125 but it's still overheating. Ok, I guess putting a TennMax cooler will solve the problem, guess again. Nothing goes. Should I just send it back for a replacement? Did I void my warranty by replacing the hs/fan?

 

[Adul]

Ouch to late on the waranty unless you can make it look like has it did before. From the sounds of it, I'd say your card is a dud. What about the memory? Did you underclock that has well? Wouldn't hurt to try. Good luck, sorry I couldn't be much more help.

 

[LXi]

The original hs/fan was installed with two rubbers, if you're familiar with what Im talking about. The only way to remove the hs/fan is to cut those rubbers, and there is no way I can find identical rubbers and install the hs/fan back. I downclocked everything, including the RAM, it was at 183, I tried 150, 140... no go.

 

[John P]

The card has a 3 year warranty, may as well call the Guillemot tech support hotline, give them your story, and see if they will give you an RMA number. It's worth a shot if the card is fried.

Adul, here is the Coolbits clocking utility for Win2000:


Go to www.geforcefaq.com, scroll down in the index and click on the Overclocking link (it's 3 lines above "Software Questions&quot. That will take you to a link for the Win2000 OC utility. You want to open the file from it's original location, not save it to disk.

 

[LXi]

Yea, I guess Ill do that. But the card is definitely not fried, everything in 2D works brilliantly. But 3D is nothing but horrible.

 

[shabby]

3 years warranty? Woohoo i thought it had a 1 year warranty
Hopefully when ill send my back they'll mix up the rma order and send me a 64meg gts2

 

[LXi]

Dont count on that to happen.