4 bit color that just won't go away

[Travenous0397]

I just put together a new system:

Athlon64 X2 4000+
Biostar TF560 A2+
MSI NX8600GT-2D256E OC
2x1Gb Geil DDR2-800

After I install Windows XP Pro, everything seems to be fine. At some point, and seemingly without reason, I will boot the system and the display settings are 640X480 and in 4bit color. Reinstalling the video drivers seems to have no effect and if the system is rebuilt from scratch it is fine again for a while and then does the same thing. I have no idea what triggers this and can't find a way to change the settings back. Also, the overclock utility for the video card that came on the install CD (I haven't touched the settings yet) give an error when booting into Windows once the video settings tank. Anyone have any ideas on this one?

 

[sailer]

I can think of two things offhand. First, you might need to go into the control panel, open "Display", click on settings and manually put in which settings that you want. If that doesn't work, you may have a bad video card and need to RMA it.

Second, your PSU may not be delivering enough power for the video card. You don't list the make, make and wattage of your PSU, so that's only a guess at this point.

 

[Travenous0397]

The PSU is an Antec Earthwatts 430W. I have already tried to change the display and there simply are no options to change the screens resolution or color density. Thanks for the thoughts though!

 

[evongugg]

Go into the monitor settings (within the monitor). See if anything is out of place there.

 

[sailer]

The PSU is an Antec Earthwatts 430W. I have already tried to change the display and there simply are no options to change the screens resolution or color density. Thanks for the thoughts though!

That PSU should power your system fine. That leaves some problem within the card itself, though you might try the monitor settings as evongugg suggested. Also try calling MSI and see what they have to say. But this sounds more like a need for an RMA at this point.

 

[evongugg]

Load a Linux LiveCD and see if the problem is still there.
Could possibly be a software problem.

 

[Travenous0397]

I believe the video card itself is OK. As I should have made clearer above, reinstalling windows fixes the problem. I think I have narrowed it down to it being a DirectX issue, since it seems to crap out once I install the DirectX version that comes with Nero 7. Are there any known problems with DirectX 9.0c and the 8600GT series? When I try to reinstall DirectX from the driver CD that came with the video card it doesn't seem to help anything. Any ideas on fixing this?

 

[Kraynor]

Try downloading DirectX, that'll make sure you have the latest version. Also download the drivers for your video card from the nvidia site and try them. If that doesn't work and you end up having to re-install windows again, save the drivers and directx setup files so you can put them on a fresh installation without any influence from other programs.

 

[sailer]

I believe the video card itself is OK. As I should have made clearer above, reinstalling windows fixes the problem. I think I have narrowed it down to it being a DirectX issue, since it seems to crap out once I install the DirectX version that comes with Nero 7. Are there any known problems with DirectX 9.0c and the 8600GT series? When I try to reinstall DirectX from the driver CD that came with the video card it doesn't seem to help anything. Any ideas on fixing this?

The light has suddenly come on! The card runs ok and everything is fine until you install the DX 9.0c from Nero 7. Ok, since this is a DX10 card that you're using, why are you installing a DX9 driver in the first place? DX10 will run anything in DX9 to start with. When you replace the DX10 driver on your card with a DX9 driver, the card may loose its ability to function properly and then you go to a default VGA color/resolution.

If Nero won't run on a DX10 driver, but will only run on its own driver, than Nero has a problem and you're best off forgetting about it.

 

[Kraynor]

he's using winxp pro, which doesn't have dx10 support... also dx10 isn't installed onto the card, it just uses features already on the card so that wouldn't change anything. My 8600 GTS worked fine under dx9.0c and is also running fine under Vista's dx10.

 

[cfvh600]

Monitor?

 

[Travenous0397]

What I don't understand is that every piece of software that wants to install DirectX says that it is installing DirectX 9.0c. I can only assume that all DirectX 9.0c installs are the same. Are there different versions of this?

Kaynor - reinstalling the driver or the latest DirectX version from Microsoft seems to have no effect on the probelm.

I'm guessing that this is going to happen more than once throughout the PCs life as I keep installing more software. Is there a simple way to restore or rollback DirectX installations?

 

[Kraynor]

there are always hotfixes for little things in DirectX, downloading directly from the MS site is always the best option. As far as restoring and rolling back, I don't know because I haven't had a need to. Sorry I can't help more

 

[sailer]

he's using winxp pro, which doesn't have dx10 support... also dx10 isn't installed onto the card, it just uses features already on the card so that wouldn't change anything. My 8600 GTS worked fine under dx9.0c and is also running fine under Vista's dx10.

My bad. I forgot that he is using XP Pro. At the same time, I still think that if everything works fine until the Nero version of DX9.0c is installed, then the installation of Nero's DX9.0c should be avoided. One of my computer's does use Nero 7, but I was not required to install DX9.0c when I installed the program. I already had DX9.0c from Microsoft and Nero accepted it just fine.

Travenous- I run into the problem of programs wanting to intall their own versions of DX9.0c rarely, and they almost always have that as an option, not a requirement to use their program, so I just uncheck the box for the install. So far I've only had one program that refused to run or make an install without its own version. That doesn't mean there aren't others out there that would refuse to run or install, just my own experience. For the record, I only run a DX from Microsoft, as I have learned not to trust some buggy software that comes out of the software companies.

 

[Travenous0397]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. Hopefully I can get this resolved!

 

[Kraynor]

Let us know if you managed to resolve it, always helps to share new knowledge with people, and good luck!

 

[cpburns]

i've had this problem myself when using the nvidia drivers (for a geforce3) that downloaded from microsoft update. what i did instead was downloaded directx 9.0c (the latest) from microsoft separately, and went to nvidia's site and downloaded the drivers for my card straight from their site. i never use anything that comes on discs from manufacturers if at all possible. something newer and (hopefully) better will be available from the original manufacturer's site. i never go to third party vendor sites either. this includes evga, biostar, etc. if it's a geforce or a radeon, i go straight to nvidia or ati's site. if it's an X38 or a nforce, i go straight to intel's or nvidia's site as well.

i'm not sure if my suggestion will help, but all i can say is i've had similar problems. nero 8 tried to install its own dx9 and i let it without problem. i had this graphic problem when i allowed microsoft update's geforce driver to install. repealing the driver change and installing nvidia's from nv's site fixed it. good luck!