Geforce3 Ti500 Crashing XP

[KCMONSTER]

I am using Win XP Home and it is blue screeen crashing daily. Appears to crash during redraw functions. Not sure exactly where problem is, but starting to consider the builders didn't set-up properly. Are there special settings in CMOS or BIOS to work with this video card? Or, BIOS may not be updated. I have Award v3.0.

Motherboard: Shuttle AK31 w/Via KT266 chipset
BIOS: Award v 3.0
RAM: 512 MB DDR
Processor: AMD XP1800+
Video: LeadTec Geforce3 Ti500 w/64 MB DDR (w/NVDIA Detonator XP driver update)
OS: Windows XP Home

Using card at high res. (1024 x 768 at 32 bit??) I should be able to run at the highest res. for what I paid for this card.

 

[butchrecon]

Yes you should be able to. Question is does the card have a fan on it? Is there extra cooling fans in the system? James Collins
Field Service Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

Please let us (Tek-tips members) know if the solutions we provide are helpful to you. Not only do they help you but they may help others.

 

[KCMONSTER]

Yes, video card has fan but I have not physically checked the operation of it. Full tower Enermax case with 4 fans, all operational. Motherboard with AMD fan and smaller fan for some other chip not sure of.

 

[butchrecon]

Take the colors down to 16 bit. Does it still lock up. Honestly Running Windows in 32 bit color is no good since you will not display even a third of total colors on the desktop. James Collins
Field Service Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

Please let us (Tek-tips members) know if the solutions we provide are helpful to you. Not only do they help you but they may help others.

 

[KCMONSTER]

Will try changing to 16 bit as well as check the fan issue. System passed QC check but no guarantee on something that simple.

 

[butchrecon]

Never rely on QC checking your system. Always check EVERYTHING yourself. Thats the best way to see if something is working right or not. James Collins
Field Service Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

Please let us (Tek-tips members) know if the solutions we provide are helpful to you. Not only do they help you but they may help others.

 

[KCMONSTER]

I hope everything is working because my lifetime tech support from the company doesn't answer the phone.....ever! So much for support after the sale. Gotta go at it alone.

 

[butchrecon]

Thats what we are here for! If the true tech support wont answer, we WILL. James Collins
Field Service Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

Please let us (Tek-tips members) know if the solutions we provide are helpful to you. Not only do they help you but they may help others.

 

[KCMONSTER]

Got you bookmarked at work and forwarded to home. Will try your advise tonight. Thanks for being here.

 

[butchrecon]

No problem James Collins
Field Service Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

Please let us (Tek-tips members) know if the solutions we provide are helpful to you. Not only do they help you but they may help others.

 

[KCMONSTER]

Checked video card and fan is running. Changed to 16 bit and still crashing. Windows message states problem during redraw and NVIDIA Geforce3 driver appears to be the cause for the instability. I've got Norton Antivirus acting funny, won't shut down when I log off and its causing errors. Everything seems to be casuing some part of the problem. PC manufacturer tech support advised to uninstall all programs and use their recovery disk to reinstall XP. Is this an advisable thing to do? Sounds kind of dangerous and with my luck will bring new problems.

 

[butchrecon]

Did the system come with the Georce3? If not it could be a bad card. Can you get it replaced? James Collins
Field Service Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

Please let us (Tek-tips members) know if the solutions we provide are helpful to you. Not only do they help you but they may help others.

 

[KCMONSTER]

Yes, system came with Geforce3 already installed and supposedly passed by QC. A lot of weird things are starting to happen with XP though. Was trying to remove each application that I have installed to get back to a clean slate. One particular program will not uninstall, says that an uninstall file is corrupted and program can not be removed. Even tried to reinstall the program to no avail. Everything else uninstalled just fine. Starting to believe I do need to use recovery disk but am afraid of what is going to take place.

As for the video problem, I think I will open the tower and make certain the card is properly seated. Could have wiggled loose during shipment. Still some pretty questionable activity going on with this unit.

 

[KCMONSTER]

Resolution to my woes. AOL has been the root of my problems. Fully un-installed AOL and haven't had a problem since.

Wasn't going to keep AOL anyway, just temporary till I could convince myself to spend 44.95/month on Road Runner. Lesson learned.

 

[Guest_imported]

Hi, this sounds very familiar, i have the identical system bought from (sounds like)the identical place. The only thing that differs from our systems is i have the Geforce 3 TI200. I have been getting the same problems. So far I upgraded the Video drivers, reconfigured the IRQ setting so that the Video Card is not sharing and upgraded XP with the latest patches and dl's. I have heard a rumor that some motherboards have issues with the Geforce series. Thats the next step. Then I may try wiping Windows XP and replace with Window's ME. If that doesn't work then EEEEEEEEEEEK.

 

[KCMONSTER]

I am extremely discouraged with my purchase, but I feel like I have spent enough time on my problems to say that it's not XP and it's not the Geforce3. I think the problem is an overall new technology issue (i.e. DDR ram, AMD XP processor, Via chipsets, BIOS) working together. I started downloading driver after driver to no end and no help. Then, I reset my motherboard to "optimized defaults" and all of the sudden I have no more fatal crashs (tells me there is a definite conflict on the motherboard somewhere and the Shuttle AK31 is supposed to be an overclockers dream - you can't run past optimized defaults without problems). I am still having daily errors that are not linked to anything I can understand and MS Crash Reporting response replies that no answer can be found.

One big discovery to think about.....AMD XP processors, I hear, will act very badly at times when you are using a power supply not "recommended & tested" by AMD. Go to AMD web site and you will see all the recommended stuff. I am using an Enermax full tower with a 330 watt Enermax power supply. AMD has only tested a 300 & 400 watt Enermax supply.....Enermax doesn't even show a 330 watt available on their web site...makes you wonder how much expertise went into this production line power supply and could very well be the root of my problems. I will never get my vendor to admit to this problem though so I will have to flip the cost myself.

Kind of frustrating to be used as a test platform, but I have nobody to blame but myself. Try to save a dollar and you get what you pay for.

 

[3dmax]

Hi, Your systems configurations sounds very familiar to me, I am about to buy a PC from what it seems to be the same place you did, (but I am not sure), now I think I need to reasearch more about power supplies and compatibility issues with GE Force 3.
I would like to know if possible if we are talking about the same place.
I am planning on getting my computer pretty soon. Any suggestions for congigurations to try to avoid(the pc will be used to raun 3d max basically and other applications)
Thanks
MAX4

 

[ddlink]

I got this problem on both my VIA-based Athlon 1,333Ghz and my Dell Inspiron 8100 portable (intel 815m based). The VIA based using a Geforce2 GTS and the Dell Inspiron 8100 Geforce2Go.

http://forums.viaarena.com/messageview.cfm?start=1&catid=13&threadid=3759

Huge forum with alot of people with the same problems

http://www.theddrzone.com/news.asp?id=404

An early explaination to the problem, I have yet to see an official statement either from nvidia, Microsoft or a manufacturer.

 

[KCMONSTER]

3dmax:

I had my computer built by Cyberpower, however I specified all the components to be installed. In other words, not a "prepackaged" system. I wanted all non-integrated components but man I didn't want all these problems. Cyberpower techs are telling me they are not getting any calls of any particular configs crashing......I find that hard to believe unless mine is the only one they have built since XP was released. I called them yesterday about the power supply idea and got the response I figured I would get: "the power supply is approved by AMD and all components are compatible with WinXP". In other words, shuck any responsibility to help out a customer, deny any liability and poor customer you are on your own!!! Their default fix is to put in the recovery disk and reinstall, which I have done to no avail. I checked the AMD web site and my power supply is not on the list.....don't know whether it means anything or not but it is not there. Tech support can't provide me any proof that it is a tested and recommended power supply. I wonder what folks are running into buying the AMD XP2000.....AMD doesn't even show any recommended components for that CPU yet.

Again, I don't feel like it is any particular computer builder and I was extremely pleased with the overall quality of the work from Cyberpower and the price was unbelieveable. I think the biggest problem is new technology with serious bugs. You don't see these problems on forums from folks that use a P4 with RDRAM. All problems seem to revolve around AMD CPUs. I am going to flip the cost of a new supply to satisfy my need to find the answer to my problem. Funny thing is that most power supplies have a sticker that says "P4 ready". I think Intel is, or has been, the "standard" that all components are built to work with and now there are these extremely needy AMD CPUs coupled with DDR ram and new BIOS configurations to support DDR and XP......blah, blah, blah.

My advise, at least for the immediate future, is to go with the tried and true P4 with RDRAM. I am very happy with my performance with the AMD 1800+, but until all these problems are worked out, spend the xtra money.

 

[3dmax]

I knew we were talking about the same place. The problem is that they don't provide with too mnay options for the motherboards. I checked AMD site, and the shuttle mb is not recommended.I wonder if that could be the problem.
As for non integrated components, How do i customize one with integrated components then??
The athlon processor choice seems to be the right choice for the applications I am going to use and for the price too. But if it crashes it doesnt help anybody. How can I get or configure and AMD with integrated components that have been tested together?

Thanks a lot