Alright, so this all started...oh, I'd say 3 months ago. It was that time again...I needed a new video card. I really wanted to step up from my horrible Nvidia GeForce MX 4000 (whoo...compatible with about 3 games!). I went shopping around, and I really didn't wanna spend a boatload, so I got a card that I figured would get me by until I get a Vista computer.
So, I eventually I bought an Nvidia GeForce 7600GS with 512 meg memory (AGP Card). Alright, so I'm like it's gonna be awesome...whoo hoo...
Alright, so I install it and whatnot...then I play a game (battlefront). Alright, so the first game I play, it looks great and runs great...so I'm having so much fun, I want to play again. But to my suprise, it comes up all "liney" and it seems as though the pixels are out of order (can't really explain it)...like there were lines going from the character to the shadows...it was just really bad looking and pretty much unplayable. See, the speed of the game didn't slow down, you just couldn't tell what was going on b/c the screen would shake, and random polygons would appear and disappear...
So yea...I'm thinking..."oh, well, my power source needs to be upgraded, and I should prob. download the latest driver"...alright, so I did both (power source more than enough 480 watts to be exact...the card needs 300 watts). So, now even with that...it still does that same thing (works first time, but sucks after that).
I'm thinking that it's an overheating problem, but does anyone have any insight? Thanks!
Specs:
Sony Vaio
Intel P4 (2.4 ghz)
1 Gig Ram
Vid Card as stated above
Windows XP Home
If you need ne more specs, I'll try to find em'.
I'm pretty sure you should check the requirements on the bottom of the back of the box
did you uninstall the old ForceWare Drivers before updating to your new video drivers??
also, are you using the VSync option in the game's video settings???
@Clonecommander
I have checked all the requirements...all checks out...
@Stingerhs
I did not uninstall them I guess......could that cause a problem (I kinda figured that it uninstalled the other drivers when it installed it)?
And I have tried it w/ or w/out Vsync and it still has the same problem...
well, you need to uninstall your old video drivers every time you go to install updated drivers. this is due to the new drivers having to overwrite the old files, and some files just simply won't be overwritten. some files that aren't overwritten correctly can be corrupted, and the ones that aren't overwritten will usually still be read into the memory on bootup which can cause conflicts.
anyways, i'd definitely recommend taking care of that before you try anything else. ;)
The person who types out those driver installation instructions at nvidia.com must feel really un-loved sometimes :D
read them! There is no end of problems that can be caused by driver 'flooding.' Drivers are a set of instructions that dicate the interaction between your card and everything its connected to. Nvidia and ATI driver sets have dedicated uninstallers, to un-register the existing drivers and install the newer set. You will notice that with each set you install, nvidia creates a folder for that in your system drive. If you ever need to go back to an older set, uninstall what you have, and install the older ones from teh folder.
93.71 are the latest WHQL set from nvidia.com for XP , though guru 3d has the 160.02 beta if you're a betajunkie ;)
mtfbwya
Alright, I'll try it out, and let you know how it goes...
Didn't work...dammit...I really do hate this card...and this piece of S!%* computer...any other suggestions?
could you post a screenshot so that we can see what the problem looks like???
Didn't work...dammit...I really do hate this card...and this piece of S!%* computer...any other suggestions?
I had that problem with my old ATI Radeon 9800 Pro. Ultimate Solution? RMA'ing it to newegg.com for a replacement.
(whoo...compatible with about 3 games!).
Had to laugh when I saw this. I've got the NVIDIA GeForce4 MX and was ticked to find that many of the games I thought about getting would not support this card. O'course I didn't initially get this computer (eMachines T3025)as a gaming platform....but it still sucks to find out the graphics card is a bit of a handicap.
Question, are you using Windows? XPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
Hm. I know that nVidia uninstalls older drivers before they install new ones. Does it do that crap for every game?
Didn't work...dammit...I really do hate this card...and this piece of S!%* computer...any other suggestions?
Having not properly uninstalled the old drivers can really mess a system up, especially XP.
If you have the time and energy, reformat :) If you dont. I suggest you have buy a console to game on instead... :(
Even if you bought a new card, theres zero guarantee this wont happen until your system is 'flushed out', so to speak.
good luck!
mtfbwya
Well, It shouldn't be too hard to re-format if I decide to...I got this 250 gig external hard drive a while back that'll come in handy for my pics and music and whatnot...I'll letchya guys know if decide to do it at all, and if it works after that...my computer probably needs it anyway...gotta lotta junk that doesn't want to delete (and for those who have their mind in the gutter...no not like that)...but thanks for all your help guys...I'll keep you posted!
if you really want to do it right, wipe the hard drive before you format. that will get *everything* off of the drive, including the boot sector (very handy if its been corrupted in any way). as with a reformat, though, make sure you backup your important files first. if not, then you can most definitely kiss them goodbye with a wipe.
just my two pennies. ;)
if you really want to do it right, wipe the hard drive before you format. that will get *everything* off of the drive, including the boot sector (very handy if its been corrupted in any way). as with a reformat, though, make sure you backup your important files first. if not, then you can most definitely kiss them goodbye with a wipe.
just my two pennies. ;)
?? Wipe the harddrive before the format? You mean, delete the primary partition. A normal format wipes the partition of all data and you will need to delete the old primary partition before you format the partition.
I find that the best way to reinstall an OS is to Keep the Windows on its own separate partition, 5-15GB is best to allow enough room for service packs and drivers. And with the remaining space you can make additional partitions for your games, Pagefile and Applications.
If your still having problems after formatting and installing the drivers you should just RMA the card, you will likely get a replacement. But in my expierience it will take atleast 2 weeks to recieve the replacement.
Wow, a simple GC problem turns into a reformat.
Lol...so...what do you suggest then? I've pretty much tried everything else...
Ah go ahead reformat, most of the time it works.
?? Wipe the harddrive before the format? You mean, delete the primary partition. A normal format wipes the partition of all data and you will need to delete the old primary partition before you format the partition.no, not really. a reformat simple resets all of the sectors on the hard drive according to the file system. any data that was on the hard drive is then usually split across the new sectors which makes them somewhat corrupted. a good recovery program, however, can still reconstruct the files. granted, your results will depend on how thorough the reformat program was when it reformatted the drive.
wiping the hard drive actually writes over every bit on the drive with a 0. basically, it makes it so that you truly are starting with a new drive, and no data is going to be recovered. its more involved, but it prevents file system errors in the future. ;)
Is wiping the drive the same as a reformat?
nope.
wiping the hard drive writes over every bit on the drive with a 0 (or no data) which completely clears the hard drive of everything including the file system.
reformatting (or simply formatting) sets up the file system on the hard drive which includes setting all of the sectors on the hard drive.
its all somewhat technical, so if you need to research it further, i know that Wikipedia has some good articles on what a file system, sectors, and clusters are in relation to hard drives. ;)
Alright...like I said, if i have the time to do it...I will...otherwise...I just wasted all that money for nothing I guess...but thanks again everyone!
hey, if you have an hour or so to watch TV, then you have an hour or so to reformat. all you need to do is to check the progress every once in a while (such as during a commercial break) to make sure things are going smoothly.
after that, you'll need about another 30min or so to reinstall Windows and the various drivers that Windows can't find. after that, you should be all set. ;)
Yeah, except all that software stuff you have to set up and configure again.
Also, I think you all should stop this reformat thing. When you install windows, it cleans previous installations. No need to format the whole hard disk.
Yeah, except all that software stuff you have to set up and configure again.
Also, I think you all should stop this reformat thing. When you install windows, it cleans previous installations. No need to format the whole hard disk.
of course, I just think stinger is trying to clarify definitions. He's a very thorough fellow :)
Something Ive always wondered... in windows setups(even Vista) you hav ethe option of a quick format and a 'format' . Im guessing that the longer format opton will do all the binary resetting biz that stinger is referring to.
Still, at the end of the day - with the newer drives especially, I doubt youd experience any significant problems doing a new installation over a wiped drive as opposed to a fully nuked one.
btw - urlucky day - did you ever get a chance to try the gfx card in another pc - always worth it - because if the gfx card is bunk, then you can save yourself a reformat/wipe/mcNugget :)
mtfbwya
I'm not gonna even bother putting it in another PC...just because any other PC I have couldn't produce the horsepower to even start any of the games I can use it for...
I'm not gonna even bother putting it in another PC...
-Put it in a friend's PC.
-Use PC Wizard to check the temperature of your graphics card. It may be overheating and thus causing artifacts.
-Return it!
-Search around for workarounds!
DO NOT LET YOUR INVESTMENT GO TO WASTE!