[RESOLVED] Nvidia Geforce 256 and 3D game woes

[JaH]

I am currently working on a Intel Pentium 3 700MHz computer running on a VIA based board with 256Mb of PC 133 RAM. The operating system is Windows 98SE. I am using Nvidia's 6.50 reference drivers and I do have VIA's 4.29 chipset drivers and running DirectX 8.0a. The machine locks up in any 3d game whether it is being ran in OpenGL or Direct 3D modem. Some games lock up sooner, such as CounterStrike, but in the regular Half-Life game it takes a little longer for the machine to freeze. I have updated the v-card's BIOS and it didn't really help it. The motherboard's BIOS is also the latest. Anybody have any suggestions or hints? Thanx in advance. -JaH

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I only dream in black and white to save me from myself. -Iron Maiden

[CobraTekMax]

Okay, two things. First off, are you using a decent power supply? The Geforce sucks a lot of juice, and though it work in a 250W or less configuration, when you have a high-end processor and/or a lot of add-in devices in your system, it will have these lock-ups you describe. I'd recommend a 300W PS.

The second thing I'd look at since it's a VIA chipset, is getting the last VIA USB filter driver (it's NOT part of the 4in1 drivers). If if you're not using any USB devices, for some reason, the VIA USB controller will flake out in 3D applications and lock up. Of course, if you have no USB devices at all, you could just disabled USB in the BIOS and be done with it.

Other than that, I'd check the AGP aperture (half of your system memory is the general rule of thumb, but individual mileage may vary). Also, disable AGP4X if it's enabled, and also disable AGP fast writes if enabled.

Check out www.geforcefaq.com if you need more suggestions.

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You all up in de Kool-Aid but you do not know de flava!

[mahdi]

I was going to suggest that for GeForce questions also
The 300w Power supply is a good idea, but not nesscesary, I have a 250w powering 1Ghz T-bird, geforce 256, 2 HD's, CD-RW, CD-ROM, floppy, 2 network cards, modem, sound...and then some...haven't had any problems due to lack of power.
This is another good source to check out
http://www.tweak3d.net/tweak/geforce/
They have some good straight forward BIOS setting suggestions (the geforce is a picky card, gotta give it what it wants and don't give it what it doesn't want)

[JaH]

Thanx for the suggestions... but I believe I have narrowed down the problem. The fan that is on the card itself is not turning, and in the games it locks up, in my opinion due to heat. And it also locked up on me today just at the desktop. My supplier is going send me a replacement card for the fan at their cost, but atleast I know what to look for if a similar problem comes up, and I can have a few varibles to work with. Thanx again for your help. -JaH

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I only dream in black and white to save me from myself. -Iron Maiden