Attention Shoppers: We have a Code 12 in the Nvidia isle

[Lyniaer]

So, yeah. Google 'Nividia' and 'Code 12' and you get...everything! I am not kidding. So many have had this problem at one time or another. I'm only baffled that Windows can't seem to handle it when something along the lines of what I experienced happened.

Not too many IT pros get to experience a surged computer. I happen to live in a house with knob-and-tube wiring and 85% of the outlets have no ground. I built my grandfather a computer out of old parts a year ago to...damn near 'this day'. Finally got what it deserved; a shock to the system. Exploded the video card and shorted out the 5v stand-by on the ATX and the operating system crashed hard. Many drivers were lost and the kernel32.dll was corrupted. Well, all of that's been fixed since. One tiny caveat; Code 12.

I suppose I made the mistake of replacing the exploded Nvidia Geforce 6200 with another Nividia Geforce 6200... Mr. Computer apparently doesn't recognize the similarities. The original drivers do not work and the IRQ channel is tied up with the old video card. Can't exactly stick the other one back in and remove it from Device Manager, now, can I?; thank you for the wonderful tip Microsuck.

I have gutted all reference to Nvidia and ATI from the registry, system files and other pertinant locations and reinstalled from disk, from MSUD and from Nvidia itself. Erased CMOS and reflashed the BIOS. Nothing...is...working. I still have the same crappy graphics that looks like some 6-month old puked up on his HDTV.

Is there no way to fix this thing without formating? XP is not fun to reinstall ever since I've been spoiled by 7's 15-minute Wipe-'n-Ready(tm).

 

[tigsounds]

You can try to remove the old video card... maybe. It will be a trick since you put another one just like it back in place of the failed one.

Make hidden/old hardware show up in device manager and see if your old card is there. If it is there, right-click and delete/uninstall it.

You enter the parts below in red...

Start>Settings>Control Panel>System>Advanced>Environment Variables>"User Variables for...."(logged on user)>New>Variable Name>devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices>Variable Value>1

Now go to: Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager>View>Show Hidden Devices.

Bad, old, duplicated hardware is slightly grey'd out.

Just an idea....


EDIT: Or you can uninstall every instance of your video card, good, bad, or indifferent and let Windows "discover" it again and load the driver for the one it finds.

 

[davcon]

Download and install Driversweeper
Run in safemode
Check off Ati and Nvidia Display
Analyse and clean
Restart normal
Download and install appropriate drivers.

 

[Lyniaer]

Download and install Driversweeper
Run in safemode
Check off Ati and Nvidia Display
Analyse and clean
Restart normal
Download and install appropriate drivers.

Done did that days ago, my friend. Driversweeper doesn't get rid of everything, though. I ripped out all references to Nvidia myself; didn't do any good. Gonna have to format and reinstall. No other way around it.

 

[Lyniaer]

Did a full fricken format and reinstall of windows and still having the same problem. What the hell else is there to do?! What could the surge have possibly done that causes such a specific problem whereas everything else is functioning just fine? The RAM even checks out and no BSODs. All my years in this field never seen such a specific failure. What kind of hardware failure allows the video card to work but wont allow the drivers to function??

Sorry for the grammar, posting through an iPhone.

 

[tigsounds]

What kind of hardware failure allows the video card to work but wont allow the drivers to function??

Ummm... maybe this is it...

a shock to the system. Exploded the video card and shorted out the 5v stand-by on the ATX and the operating system crashed hard. Many drivers were lost and the kernel32.dll was corrupted.

I'm not real sure on this one, but burnt toast isn't usually recoverable... completely.

 

[Lyniaer]

Of course it's not... That's why it was replaced. You forget?

I suppose I made the mistake of replacing the exploded Nvidia Geforce 6200 with another Nividia Geforce 6200...

I'm talking about the AGP slot being damaged; but such an insigificant malfunction that it allows the video card to work, but the drivers won't load. Also, take into account that the computer, at the moment, is recognizing the 6200 as being on (and requesting resources from within) the PCI Bus. Could someone confirm for me if AGP is a variation of PCI-E or maybe even SCSI? - I'll honestly say I'm not sure what AGP is a dirivitive of but, of course, in alliance with it's name it's sole purpose is to support Graphics Processors only whereas SCSI and PCI have a broad range of applications. If it's its own entity then that fans out where the Code12 could possibly be coming from. If AGP shares the PCI Bus for resource allocation then I'm no further along in this mystery.

Bottom line is, I've never seen a surge knock down one domino without bringing down the rest. Surges lay down an obvious trail of destruction; they don't leave gremlins behind... Besides, the system was 'off' during the surge. It overloaded the capacitors on the video card (and, of course, shorted the 5vsb), but everything else tests out fine because nothing was running at the time. I'm completely at a loss, here, gentlemen. I'm weighing a DOA Graphics Card versus a FUBAR AGP slot in such a slight way that it renders the computer 'inconveniant' at worst.

 

[tigsounds]

I saw you replaced the video card, that was scraping the black off the toast. The entire machine took a hit.

Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) was made in 1997 to allow a video card to access and use system memory itself to store frames, textures and the like because the Pentium II was such a slow slug it couldn't keep up with the new 3D accelerated graphics of the day. Software could out-perform hardware, Graphics cards could out-perform the Intel P-II, so AGP smoothed-over the mess. AMD came along with the K6 processor and pissed off everyone at Intel with their "3D Now!" architecture that optimized the AGP, leaving Intel behind to eat dirt. AGP is not PCI, not SCSI, not PCIe, it is AGP, made for crappy slow processors like the P-II and all Celerons ever made.

You also have a Northbridge and Southbridge chipset that may have been affected by the 10,000 jigawatts of power that went through your board. Toast is toast, scraping off the burnt black charcoal isn't going to make it fresh bread again.

Try that new card in another computer and see how it does, and get a known good vid card from another computer and try it in your toasted MB and see how it does there.

You must remember this: Everything, and I mean everything electronic ever made, runs on internal smoke. If you let the smoke out, the device will fail to function and must be replaced.

 

[Lyniaer]

No smoke involved here, no toast. Because of the lack of a ground, the many many restarts performed that night to fix the Kernel and who knows how many other variables the graphics card discharged through the caps. They overloaded. This is the only conclusion I can come to thanks to the fact that there's no other damage to the system. I'm even starting to doubt that the PSU was 'taken out' because I started bench-testing it in another system. The only flaw is after pressing the power button it takes a full ten seconds to take the Processor out of standby and boot (which makes perfect sense considering the results of my PSU tester).

I do appreciate the history on AGP, though. Here's some images that might interest you.

Anything there spark some interest?

 

[tigsounds]

Anything there spark some interest?

Actually...... yes.

How are the PCI (IRQ) resources managed in the system BIOS? (make them "auto" so windows assumes control)
Is the primary display mode set to AGP or PCI?
Do you have at least 8MB allocated for the AGP (if set to AGP)?
Is BIOS setting "Plug & Play OS?" set to "yes"?

Did you ever do my method of showing dead/deleted hardware in device manager and get rid of old junk?

 

[Lyniaer]

Did you ever do my method of showing dead/deleted hardware in device manager and get rid of old junk?

Yes, I did. Prior to formatting and reinstalling windows. There was nothing of interest.

How are the PCI (IRQ) resources managed in the system BIOS? (make them "auto" so windows assumes control)
Is the primary display mode set to AGP or PCI?
Do you have at least 8MB allocated for the AGP (if set to AGP)?

See images below. These images reflect changes I made after having reset the BIOS after the reinstall. (I purposefully set "Init Display First" to AGP because standard BIOS setting is PCI). I did not make any changes yet. 64KB is 8MB (derp derp, we both know that) and is default.

Is BIOS setting "Plug & Play OS?" set to "yes"?

I do not see this setting unless it is the "Resources Controlled By" which is set to AUTO.

 

[Lyniaer]

Also, just to add, I don't have another board with AGP. I might just take the video card down to the local PC Shop and ask for a bench-test. If they don't get the drivers to load, I'll have my answer. If they do, then I have a 775 board and processor I can use, all though I'm gonna have to foot more cash for another video card. Fresh out of PCI-E cards since I gave one away to a friend in desperate need.

 

[tigsounds]

I have a newfound respect for Vizio TV/Monitors.

I agree with all your settings.
I'm searching for an article I saw a few months ago here at Tom's concerning power supplies.

AGP cards should be easy to find at second-hand stores, surplus electronic stores etc..
Maybe you can get an old S3 card for next to nothing just to put the AGP port to the test.

 

[Lyniaer]

Just a few blocks down there's a warehouse packed FULL of recycled computer parts. Mostly old Dells, Pavilions, Gateways and Fire-Hazard eMachines... I might find an AGP card or two there for a couple bucks. I could honestly go through that place with a shopping cart... Still I think I'll take this video card for a bench-test first. Can't hurt to be 100% sure. Thanks for all your help. I'll let you know how I make out.

 

[hyy]

Done did that days ago, my friend. Driversweeper doesn't get rid of everything, though. I ripped out all references to Nvidia myself; didn't do any good. Gonna have to format and reinstall. No other way around it.