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[NigelR]

Why can't I get Nvidia PCI graphics cards working in the PentiumMMX PC I'm upgrading?

Although they get recognised and install OK (I'm running WinME, & PC is 200Mhz, & has 128MbRAM), it's just like there is no graphics acceleration at all.

I've tried two Nvidia-based OEM boards - an TNT2 M64 and now a GeoForce2 board - but neither get me anything in graphics performance.

The PC is c.6yrs old. I just bought it 2nd-hand. The m/board is Asus, "430VX", based on Intel 400 series 82430 chipset. No AGP slot, so I have to use PCI graphics cards. The other 3 PCI slots have a LAN card, a sound card and a CreativeLabs DVD h/w decoder player - all that I installed and all working fine.

I've cleaned out all old drivers, and cleaned up the registry. First thing I did when I got this PC was to upgrade the o/s from Win95 to WinME, then replaced the graphics and sound cards. The original video accelerator was S3-based 4Mb thing, "Expert Color"-something.

Help! I can't think what else to try. Thanks.

I have no IRQ clashes - Device Manager is happy.

 

[allanon1965]

just what kind of performance are you expecting out of a 200mhz pentium? is it at least a 200mmx? what gameas are you trying to run? most all of the latest games will not run well if at all on a 200mhz pentium. give us some more information with details

Fat, Drunk, and Stupid is no way to go through life Son.

 

[allanon1965]

not to mention win me SUCKS! go to win98se.

Fat, Drunk, and Stupid is no way to go through life Son.

 

[NigelR]

Ta 4 yr help ... already you've told me something suspected i.e. my 200Mhz prob'ly ain't really enough.

To answers yr questions:

* How much performance do I want?
Not much, just enough to keep my kid's attention -
a bit more than the 1-2 FPS it seems I get now.
The game is "Lego Racers", from about 1999 - so it's old.
Definitely not recent fast action, 1st person. It's a
simple car racing game; viewpoint is from behind the car
you steer. Screen's just updating enough to feel like
crawling. I don't know exactly how may FPS it's
managing - don't know how to measure that.
Does that tell you enough?
BTW: running same game on my main PC is excellent
(P3-600Mhz with GeoFore4 MX440).

* CPU? Yes, CPU is MMX - Intel PentiumMMX.
'FreshDevices' reports its P55C [A80503]. The m/b has
has 512k L2 cache, 66Mhz FSB. The Intel 430VX chipset
is PCI 2.1 compliant. The HD is 6Gb, and runs in DMA
Mode 4.
When "Lego Racers" is running, in the car-racing mode,
there is no CDROM activity (all happened at game
load/start-up) and no HD activity.

Finally, I've also noticed:
1. The introductory "movie" animations (.AVI, I think)
that Lego Racers plays on start-up run slower than
their sound-tracks - need about 10-15% more time to
finish.
2. I get "Error Code 10" displayed in just one place.
Is this significant? DeviceManager shows no yellow
warnings though.
Running 'msinfo32', and selecting Components, then
Problem Devices, 4 lines "IRQ Holder for PCI Steering"
are displayed, each with Error Code 10 - one line each
for IRQ09, IRQ0A, IRQ0B and IRQ0C.
The Nvidia is on IRQ10.
No other devices is on IRQ10. IRQ11 and IRQ12 are also
single devices, but IRQ9 is both the USB controller
and the sound card.

 

[allanon1965]

what are the minimum and recommended requirements for the game?

Fat, Drunk, and Stupid is no way to go through life Son.

 

[NigelR]

Hi,

min sys reqs:
Windows 95/98
Pentium 166 MHz (or faster) processor32 MB RAM
6x speed (or faster) CD/DVD-drive
210 MB of free hard drive space
8MB Direct 3D compatible video card (capable of 800x600 resolution and 16 bit color)
DirectSound compatible soundcard
Mouse and keyboard

(from: http://www.lego.com/eng/interactive/product.asp?Title=Racers&Code=PC&ACTION=Specs)

 

[allanon1965]

i think you should put win95 or 98 on it, the requirements dont say anything about winme, i have found some programs and games that want win95 or win98 wont work properly in winme. i would personally in this instance, try win95 first, provided it is version c the last version out before win98 came out. you also didnt say what make of video and sound cards you installed. there may be settings that need to be tweaked for that system to run that game properly. also how much hard drive space do you have left? how fast is the cd-rom?

Fat, Drunk, and Stupid is no way to go through life Son.

 

[NigelR]

Don't want to go back to W95 - that's what the PC had when I bought it 2nd-hand 6 weeks ago. My upgading it is based on moving to WinME - so that I get a v. maintainable, secure platform. My kid uses it, but it's really a 2nd home PC - it's networked on a LAN to my main PC, with shared Interent access. So, it's staying WinME.

Perhaps Lego don't mention WinME in MinSysReq of Lego Racers 'cos it LegoRacers came out before WinME.

The two different Nvidia cards I've tried are both made by XFX (Pine), see www.xfxgraphics.com.

The sound card is also by Pine, it's PCI, and uses the CMedia 8738/C3DX chip.

CDROM is at least 16x, could be 48x. It's new, another part of the upgrading, replacing the 6-7 yr old CDROM.

HD has 2-3 Gb left free.

 

[Snorkius]

WinME has a crapload of problems, a ridicoulous system restore 'feature', etc. I would avoid it like the plague. If you want a maintainable, secure platform install win2000. It will work sluggishly(take a while to load), but without the problems of WinME.

<font color=blue>
The farce is ended; draw the curtain </font color=blue>

 

[allanon1965]

yea,i figured leggo came out before winme, but anything would be better than winme, winme just had sooooo many issues and to put it with a 200mhz system is adding insult to injury, if you will not consider anything other than winme(shaking my head in disbelief) better upgrade to a much faster cpu and motherboard. good luck, you're gonna need it!

Fat, Drunk, and Stupid is no way to go through life Son.