Geforce2MX + DirectX = NO GO!

[Guest]

I recently bought a Geforce2MX for my P3 500 128Mb PC but all games that use DirectX freeze randomly whilst playing so that I have to reset the computer, I know this problem is not the card as it plays OpenGL games fine. I have upgraded the drivers from the NVidia website to the detonator3 drivers (20/9/2000) but the problem is still there. I have also tried upgrading to directX 8 but this has had no effect.

Any help appreciated.


Er....Thats all folks!

 

[Jakey]

not sure what it might be, but perhaps its a case of 'dll rot'? try running windows install over your current installation to renew your dll's back to their previous state, that is, if your using windows... just a suggestion.

 

[BennyBanjo]

It sounds as if you don't have enough power... The GeForce is a real 'powerhog'... A friend's computer had the same problem, and he switched his 145W PS to a 300W and it worked like a charm. Good luck!

 

[phsstpok]

Try the unofficial Detonator 3, ver. 6.50 drivers at www.nvguru.com. It has some fixes for three Micrsoft D3D games. Maybe it fixes others.

 

[Guest]

I'll try that.
One other question - when installing new drivers is it better to install the drivers then install DirectX or the other way round, or does it make no difference as long as they're both on there??

Er....Thats all folks!

 

[Raistlin]

well if you fresh install windows
do drivers then directX
if you are upgradeing it doesnt matter but i prefer video drivers first...it does sound like you have dll or windoze problems in general... try a Format C: party
break out the 151 rum, coke. lemon slice. lime slice
and be brave!

Bored,Certified Tech

 

[Guest]

God I'm glad I found this forum!

Alright, it seems that I am having a simular problem. I've been persuing it another direction though in the motherboards and cpu forum and everyone keeps coming to the conclusion of either getting a new motherboard and processor or that it is a heat problem.

Anyhow, I thought I would check out this forum and loa and behold, someone is having the same problem I am having, more or less.

I can run this damn computer all day long, but as soon as I get into some 3D games, the system will either boot me back to the desktop, or completely freeze. It can happen in five seconds or one hour, but one way or another, it's going to happen.

I've been going on the assumption that it was a component that was bad in the computer and thus I have ugraded (had to fly that one past the wife, but she finally relented after all my pouting). At first I thought it had to be the sound card, as I had more or less respectable name brands in my computer components elsewhere, except for the audio card which was Yamaha.

Since I was updating, I pulled out the Geforce Annihilator Pro card and replaced it with a Cardexpert Geforce 2MX (the wife got the Pro). I then yoinked out the Yamaha and replaced it with a Soundblaster LIVE! value card, which I had been wanting to do for some long time, and thought would be the cure to my problems. While I was there, I pulled out the three PC100 64 RAM and replaced them with PC100 128 RAM, boosting me up from 192 to 384. I was confident that all this would take care of the problem.

Here is what I currently have in my system after the upgrades.

WIN98SE
Soyo MB 5EMA+ v1.0
AMD K6+ 3D 450mhz
Cardexpert Geforce 2MX, 32meg
Sounblaster LIVE! value
384 megs PC100 RAM
Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1302
Imation CD-RW IMW040420
Western Digital 7200 RPM 13gig HD
US Robotics 56k Voice Win modem

Now I am at wits end! I've got the latest drivers, got some good hardware and I've even changed my OS twice (went from Win98SE to ME and back again, after I found that ME was a hog and slowed everything down). Of course, my last option I have been thinking of has been to replace the motherboard and the chip.

Now I'm seeing that you guys are thinking that perhaps the Geforce card is pulling too much juice, or perhaps not getting enough I should say. I currently have a 250W power supply. Is that a possibility here, or am I just grasping at straws? I don't really want to have to fork out the cash for a new power unit if I don't need it (well, I would eventually as I would need 300W + for the new Athlon chips as I understand it).

As you can see, I'm seriously frustrated and at this point, it's the principle of getting this damn thing fixed more than anything.

Oh, and I HAVE gone through and made certain that all the fans are working and are clean of lint and other such fan hazards.

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated and followed up upon.

 

[phsstpok]

Drivers first. DirectX second.

 

[Guest]

The problem for many people seems to be related to AGP. I have a solution which works for me, but it is not ideal. First you do start menu, run and then type dxdiag. This opens the DirectX diagnostic tool. You then go to the display tab and disable "AGP Texture Acleration" Your Directx games should run now. The problem with this is that they are running as if PCI. You lose the AGP speed advantage. It's not ideal, but it's better than nothing, and I hope is only temporary until a 'real' solution is found
Hope this helps
Graham Nind

 

[Guest]

I had the exact same problems on my old K6-2 system with my Geforce card. The first solution fixed the majority of the problems. I had to have the most up to date agp drivers installed. I didn't see what mobo you have, but I would definitely check the chipset homepage and get those updates.

Now that solved most of my problems for about a year, but then I started getting some new games that would freeze like before or wierder yet, run in this kaleidiscope of colors. It ended up being a directX problem. I had to try various versions to get the most stable one running. But the real key that finally solved it was to go under the directX info folder, then I had to disable the setting for AGP. After that everything ran smooth as silk, and the disabling the AGP under the DirectX folder had no impact on frames per second or benchmark scores. Go figure. Good luck.

 

[Guest]

Sussed it for me at last. I have a Gigabyte GA-5AA motherboard. I just downloaded an AGP utility from Acer, and set the AGP mode to safe (x1). DirectX works fine now. 3Dmark score jumped from 1295 to 2292 . Now it's running I'll have to tweak it. You might be able to set it at AGP 1 from the bios. Apparently if you enable sideband adressing there is not much differnece between AGP1 and AGP2 (So I'm told)
Good luck
Graham Nind