At wits end - pauses and crashes

IDUBasher

Hi all,

Got me a fairly old comp with a new gcard that's given trouble since day one. Would be greatful if anyone has any suggestions that don't involve petrol/explosives or dropping from great height.

The offending system:
Athlon XP 2500+ barton w/ stock heatsink
1gb corsair ddr3200 underclocked to 333mhz
Abit nf7-s v2 mobo with latest bios v.27
Club3D 6600gt with 128mb DDR3 with latest XP drivers
2x Seagate Barracuda 80gb SATA
Maxtor 20gb 133
External USB2 Sony DVD recorder, internals make too much hotness
350watt piece of crap PSU with AUX connection to mobo(I think I need a new one)

Just installed the Club3d about 1 week ago and having annoying problems since. When running apps in windows, even simple text editing apps, my system displays artifacts (out of place pixels mostly) and eventually freezes up. Most of the time I recover from the freezes and after a few seconds can go on about my business, sometimes however comp restarts with error in syslog:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: System Error
Event Category: (102)
Event ID: 1003
Date: 12/12/2005
Time: 22:00:25
User: N/A
Computer: MAX-POWER

Description:
Error code 100000ea, parameter1 85b13da8, parameter2 85d93b40, parameter3 f7c5acb4, parameter4 00000001.

Other times, I can get a BSOD from nv_disp with codes I can't remember. These errors can be generated from doing the simplest of things. Browsing the web, checking email, typing stuff in WP and worst of all switching tabs. Strangly games seem to run ok on the system for the most part, not freezing up nearly as much as firefox or thunderbird or whatever.

Things I've tried,
Have reinstalled the OS 3 times now and installed both AVG and Avast AV to make sure it aint a virus
Have all latest updates for XP
Turned off AGP fastwrite function in BIOS as I read it causes these kinds of probs
Have tried underclocking the gcard to 4x
Have underclocked the mem to 333mhz and process multiplier to 10x
Have even upped the voltages on AGP/PCI/Proc/Mem by .1v.

If anyone has any ideas on how to sort this, I'd be really appreciative. Would prefere not to have to fork out for a new system just yet but am prepared for the worst. If I can't get the club3d sorted will have to switch back to the Asus card untill new bits can be bought. Could this be something as simple as power problems? Does 6600gt need clean power or something like that?

Cheers.

commited

Sounds like its a PSU related problem. You best order a new DECENT one.

thelad

These new cards usually need the latest service pack installed esp the Microsoft .net framework..check out the requirements for the card

SouperComputer

Artifacts, things that are most likely the cause:

Duff PSU
Dodgy graphics card
Heatsink not seated correctly on graphics card
Inadequate case cooling leading to overheating of graphics card.

Its not a software issue and sure as hell has nothing to do with .net!


Id start with a new PSU as a matter of course, it may not solve the problem, but at least you have a firm base to run your current\next rig from.

Good brands: Antec, Fortron\source, seasonic, BeQuiet, OCZ, tagan.

Avoid: Thermaltake, qtec, codegen

As a temporary measure you could dissconect any non-essential HD's

thelad

SouperComputer wrote:

Artifacts, things that are most likely the cause:



Its not a software issue and sure as hell has nothing to do with .net!

Beg to differ on that one!!! Certainly the new ATI Drivers need the .net framework installed and when I did my problem was solved (which was very similiar to first post)...maybe not all manufacturers require this but it was certainly the case with the ATI Card

Stephen

The fancy ati catalyst control center requires the .net framework, but it will tell you if you try to install it without it - thus this ain't the problem.
Current nvidia drivers do not require .net.

SouperComputer

Beg to differ on that one!!! Certainly the new ATI Drivers need the .net framework installed and when I did my problem was solved (which was very similiar to first post)...maybe not all manufacturers require this but it was certainly the case with the ATI Card

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that one.

As stephen said:

The fancy ati catalyst control center requires the .net framework, but it will tell you if you try to install it without it - thus this ain't the problem.
Current nvidia drivers do not require .net.

.net is not "needed" and is highly unlikely to be the cause of the problem. Artifacts are generally a hadrware issue.

astrofool

well, as a matter of course, people should probably download ALL the updates from Windowsupdate