Needing some help sorting out a vid card issue

[Baghr]

Hello all, I need some help sorting out some issues involving a new vid card.

My system specs: OS is XP Pro, up to date. Mobo: D865PERL with a single core P4 3.0, 2 gig of RAM, and have ran an ATI all-in-wonder 9600 series 128mb card with 8 pixel piplines in AGP format for the last four years without incident. I am able to run a 3D Mark 3 benchmark with this setup in the 2700's.

The card was replaced with a EVGA GeForce 7300GT with 512mb same 8pixel pipeline and the same AGP format. I am unable to run the sim-it will start but is very sluggish-to the point it takes about 30 seconds for the cursor to reflect the movement I have made. Needless to say the sim is unplayable. When I run the same benchmark test, it will get through the first portion, but then crashes, where I have to reboot. What I see before it crashes is a marked improvement in frame rates.

Today the screen scrambled and sent an error message "THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER" I would imagine this points to a driver issue but not sure.

I have downloaded the latest drivers from nVidia and EVGA, and installed them correctly from what I can tell. I use driver cleaner, a program to remove all old drivers, which I haveused on other applications and it works OK. I installed nTune version 5.5, which is a device to help tune the card on non nvidia mobo chipsets.

I'm a noob to this sim, and have a general knowedge about computers. I replaced my stock 300w PSU with a Corsair 520W modular, so power supply is not an issue. An interesting note is Im able to surf the web and navigate on my computer, it seems to give me probs when I put a load on it, such as the benchmark test or laoding hte sim.

HELP!!!!

[MOH_Hirth]

How many time you format and reinstall your windows? A ligth and fresh Windows help a lot the system, I sugest to you a processor Intel e6600, 1GB DDR800 and a GF7900GT is enougth to higth quality and no too expensive.

[BadAim]

Does your new card have an auxilary power connector? If it does and you forgot to hook it up you'll get exactly the symptoms you are getting. Look on the end of the card for a plug.

[Baghr]

It has a molex connector that is hooked up for power. The fan is running so Im pretty sure I have enough power to the board. I'll test the connector on a fan to make sure it good from the PSU, a corsair 520w 3 rail modular, but I'm guessing that's not the problem.

I have not done a re-install of the OS, as it has not given me any issues before this card. I have the latest updates and all seems to run well when using the other card.

As far as the upgrades, This is an older system and I know its limitations. I'm going to be doing a different build in about a year so it's pointless to put too much money into this one. Its going to be used a a media storage and web surfer for the kids after I'm done with it, which it does just fine for now. So putting much more money into it is simply not an option.

I am leaning on thinking the card is bad, but was looking at some different ideas before sending this one back to newegg.

[BadAim]

It's worth checking the connector, as the cards usually run fine in 2d (the card gets plenty of power from the AGP slot to run with no load) then crash under 3D load when they're not getting power. Another thing you might want to do is check the bios to make sure your AGP settings are kosher for your new card. I know I'm going over the obvious stuff, but (at least for me) it's usually the obvious stuff that gets missed. I would also suspect that something might not be getting cleaned up with the drivers, although I can't offer any help there.

You might want to post over at UBI's tech forum, there are some clever guys over there. (more cleverer then me anyways)

[SPUDLEY1977]

As the other fellow said...and go one more. Uninstall drivers. Turn PC Off. Remove card. Use isopropyl alcohol to wipe all the connecting pins on the card, let dry, reinstall carefully and definately connect the aux power to the card. Fire her up and reinstall the drivers that shipped with your card.

Let know if it still errors out.

[Billy885]

It sounds like to me that the drivers are not installed correctly from his discription on the mouse moving so slowly. I installed "ntune" on my computer also and had to remove it as it slowed my computer WAY down and most of the information was missing. I did not try to run the game with it installed so cant say how it behaved. Sorry.

[Baghr]

OK,

I tested the connector with a fan, and it seems to work OK. I know this isnt load testing, but I just replaced the PSU with a Corsair 520W three rail modular system because I though the card was acting initially like it wasnt getting enough power. As it acted the same after changing power supplies, I'd say that is not the issue. I didnt wipe the connector off with alcohol but I'm pretty careful not to touch the connectors with my fingers for that very reason, When I try installing the card again I'll do that.

As far as the dirvers go, I use something called Driver Cleaner Pro, which does a good job of getting rid of old drivers and also cleans cabs out too. Ive never had an issue before with remnants of old drivers, but Ive never had this problem either. I didn't install the drivers that came with the card because they are pretty out of date, but I will try that to reason out the possibility of an issue there. I'm really thinking there is an issue with the 3D portion of the card, whether its a lack of power, driver, or bad card issue I'm not sure.


The BIOS I'm not sure of, I'll take a look at it later today when I have time. I'd like to mention the BIOS on the machine is from 2004 and has not been updated or modified. I dont have any experience in changing or messing with the BIOS. I have heard horror stories from flashing the BIOS, so I havent messed with it. I'm not sure what I'd be looking for anyway. I'll take a look to see if anything looks aout of place though.

Thanks for the replies. I hate sending stuff back, and want to make sure its the card that has an issue instead of the operator.

[Baghr]

I forgot to add I have since taken nTune off the machine, but it did not show any issues in other modes of the computer, and the game ran as slowly before I added nTune, so I doubt this had anything to do with the speed the sim was running.

I have put the old card back in and it runs fine without any issues. I am able to run the sim as before.

So, I'd say that is not the problem.

If anyone could help with pointers to make sure the BIOS is running right, I'd appreciate it. As stated, I dont have any experience with changing or looking for problems there.

**edited to say I checked the BIOS, with the video options being selected for AGP instead of PCI. I'm not sure what else to check that would pertain the the video card or issues****

[Baghr]

OK, latest updates.

I went back in and load tested the power connection by hooking up two hard drives, and two fans on the same rail with the same power cable. This checked out OK, so I'm saying the power supply to the card is good.

When installing the card I made sure the conection was good with the molex connector, and all was seated and happy.

I then removed all drivers and utilities by using Driver Cleaner Pro, rebooted into safe mode to run DC Pro, and followed instructions. I removed all traces of anything to do with ATI or Nvidia.

I then installed the program from the installation CD and ran a benchmark test. Same thing happened as before. I then uninstalled the drivers that came with the CD, and installed the newest drivers, with the same thing happening. After this I uninstalled the drivers and card, re-installed the 9600 and everything worked fine. I almost forgot to say I even went in and took out the hardware acceleration to test if that would make a difference. I was able to get the game to start, but it still took a while to navigate with the cursor, which would move every 3 seconds as compared to the thirty before. In 2d mode it would work just fine.

At this point I have tried everything posible mentioned here and that I can think of to get the card running, and have ruled out power or driver issues. I looked at the system's BIOS, and it was selected for AGP cards, which is right for my application. I have concluded the 3D function of the card is not working, and will be contacting newegg tomorrow for a return RMA. I had the same luck with Seagate hard drives, going through two duds before I told them to keep them and went with a WD, which fired up from the start. And the Seagate name always stood for quality.

So, I know electronics Quality Control is just about worthless these days, and will wait for another card that hopefully is working right this time.

I appreciate the help everyone had given me, and I've learned alot now about how to trouble shoot vid cards. I hope I can help someone else like you have to me.

Thanks again, Baghr