Can't i.d. the problem

N

no2censorship

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 20, 2008
Messages
393
My pc in xp is running kind of sluggish. and the main problem i had was with the tomb raider underworld demo running unplayably choppy, and a flash of full screen graphic corruption when changing the aa setting in the games' options menu. as well as the fact that it takes like 20 seconds for the aa mode to change after clicking it.

in vista 64 i also got one of those nvkddlm or whatever errors, while playing mdk2 for about 10 minutes. it's running fine in xp.

With xp, i'm in a 55GB install (i have at least 20 GB remaining on the partition), b/c i created a new logical partition in vista then installed xp.

My drivers are 169.28. Temps are low. Stock clocks. Fan speed for 8800GT is 100% at all times.

I think I may want to determine if the memory is faulty first. What's the quickest way to test your memory in windows?

I wouldn't be surprised if my 8800GT is the problem, but I want to see if it's the memory first.
 
Memtest is complicated? download and run? Or for the MORE complicated way, download burn to CD and then reboot!

Anything else is going to be way more complicated than memtest
 
Why are you using such old video drivers? Try updating to the latest and see if it helps. And yes, Memtest is the simplest way to test your memory. There's absolutely nothing complicated about it.
 
Zero82z said:
Why are you using such old video drivers? Try updating to the latest and see if it helps. And yes, Memtest is the simplest way to test your memory. There's absolutely nothing complicated about it.
Click to expand...
Because the later ones suck.

Would bad memory cause graphical corruption?
 
Is your 8800GT 512 or 256mb? If it's 256 and your trying to enable eye candy like AA and stuff it will bring it to it's knees due to lack of memory. Much more so than the 512mb version.
 
no2censorship said:
I think I may want to determine if the memory is faulty first. What's the quickest way to test your memory in windows?

I wouldn't be surprised if my 8800GT is the problem, but I want to see if it's the memory first.
Click to expand...
...memtest...
thanks, but is there any other way? It's too complicated.
Click to expand...

um lol
So you want to test your ram but cant be asked.
That is a terrible excuse, memtest is easy.
If you think thats complicated, you're best off with a console.

You also clearly had not tried the latest NVidia driver either and your reason for not is unfounded and unreasonable.

The above might not be your problem but if you dont try anything, whats the point in asking for our help, especially when it is easy.
We need to determine what avenues to think down.
I'm sure not going to suggest anything to you that involves opening your case or god forbid, that means you might have to run something !

So I guess theres little point in suggesting anything more as you wont try it.
Baaad patient.
 
Full specs on your PC?
For all we know you could be running an ancient 2.6ghz P4 thats a huge bottleneck.
 
Nenu said:
Baaad patient.
Click to expand...

LOL!.

As Nenu and just about everyone here in this thread have pointed out so far, you NEED to do the following:
1) Run Memtest:
Download Memtest+ v2.10 or whatever the latest version is, unzip it, burn the ISO file to a CD, and then boot from it, just like you would do with the XP install CD. Let Memtest+ run for at least three hours on each stick of RAM separately as well as test the RAM together. Go for a full 24 hours if you want to be completely sure that the RAM is not a problem. If you start seeing errors, than your RAM is defective or you have incorrect settings for the RAM.

2) Update your drivers (I'm personally using the 181.20 drivers with my 8800GT and haven't noticed/seen any problems at all.)

AFTER, AFTER, AND AFTER you've updated your drivers, download a GPU stress test tool like ATI Tool. Run the the artifact scanner in ATI Tool and see if any errors popup.

3) Clean out the video card using a can of compressed air.
 
I don't have any rw discs on hand, but just checking, bad memory can't cause graphical corruption though, right?
 
no2censorship said:
I don't have any rw discs on hand, but just checking, bad memory can't cause graphical corruption though, right?
Click to expand...

Probably not. But testing the RAM just rules out another possible variable. There is a very small chance that the RAM screwed up the driver install.

Have you updated your drivers yet?
 
Danny Bui said:
Probably not. But testing the RAM just rules out another possible variable. There is a very small chance that the RAM screwed up the driver install.

Have you updated your drivers yet?
Click to expand...
Thanks. No i haven't and i'd try windows 7 beta, since I have to install new drivers, but the problem is i can't back anything up because i have nothing to back up my shit on, and I don't feel like losing everything. So for the time being, I'd say I'm sol. I would just rma my card to evga, but i don't have any money to pay for shipping to evga nor to buy an 9800 GTX+ from newegg.

I don't think it's the ram, so I'm just going to rule that out. I've never oc'd it and I've always run it at stock settings (clock speed, timings, voltage) plus it's mushkin ram and mushkin is supposed to be among the best.
 
It seems that nothing can help you by the looks of it.
If you have no cash, start testing!
 
So you won't bother running Memtest, and you won't bother installing newer drivers either. I guess you really just don't care then.
 
Zero82z said:
So you won't bother running Memtest, and you won't bother installing newer drivers either. I guess you really just don't care then.
Click to expand...
I don't have any media to copy mem test to, nor to back up my data. I only install one nvidia driver per os install.
 
So you don't have a thumb drive handy? There are several ways to make a bootable USB drive.
 
no2censorship said:
I don't have any media to copy mem test to, nor to back up my data. I only install one nvidia driver per os install.
Click to expand...

You have problems with your install. You want to solve it. You, however, have eliminated all possible contingencies for doing so.

1st - there is NO problem with doing more than one driver install per Windows installation. If you are paranoid, use a driver cleaner. That's actually what they are there for. I've done countless driver updates ON TOP OF OLD DRIVERS, and have never had a problem (this isn't the recommended way to do it, just saying it's what I've always done because I've never had an issue)

2nd - memtest isn't hard or expensive to run, if you don't have a usb stick/cdr media, go buy something. I'm sure you could find a CDR 3-pack for less than $10 or a USB stick for less than $20 - probably less than 10 minutes from your house. if you cant afford $10 to fix your PC, your PC is dead - time to get a library card, cause buddy, you're gonna be looking for new forms of entertainment (and hey, reading is good for you)

3rd - If you HAVE to reinstall windows, and have no extra media... either part company with your files, or use some partitioning software to move your data off your windows install partition. OH WAIT, that's about 1,000 times more complicated than memtest, so I'm guessing thats out. Also, be careful because you have no backups for files you cant replace - and messing with partitions CAN and sometimes WILL cause you to lose data. Don't say I didn't warn you! (but again, this is muuuch worse than memtest so I doubt you'll be playing in the deep end)

Really, what was the point in wasting our time trying to help you? We CAN be of service, and maybe even help you solve your problem in a cheap/easy way. But you have to be willing to do the leg work. I cant come over to your house and do it for you.
 
tiraides said:
So you don't have a thumb drive handy? There are several ways to make a bootable USB drive.
Click to expand...
I lost both of the ones that I had a while back.

Zero82z said:
Whatever. It's your PC. I just find your reasons a little silly.
Click to expand...
I just got some dvd-r discs; when I get home, I'm going to format and install windows 7 on a new partition.

I'll report back in a few hours and see if the latest nvidia drivers do any good. If not, then I'm going to rma my 8800gt. Now that I've been told bad mem doesn't cause graphical corruption, I'm just going to rule that out. Plus, I've always left it on stock settings (V, clocks, timings), and it's mushkin memory.
 
TEST EVERYTHING. There's always the possibility that the "problem" may have spread to other components -- and nothing is infallible. Not even Mushkin memory.
 
IdiotCow said:
You have problems with your install. You want to solve it. You, however, have eliminated all possible contingencies for doing so.

1st - there is NO problem with doing more than one driver install per Windows installation. If you are paranoid, use a driver cleaner. That's actually what they are there for. I've done countless driver updates ON TOP OF OLD DRIVERS, and have never had a problem (this isn't the recommended way to do it, just saying it's what I've always done because I've never had an issue)

2nd - memtest isn't hard or expensive to run, if you don't have a usb stick/cdr media, go buy something. I'm sure you could find a CDR 3-pack for less than $10 or a USB stick for less than $20 - probably less than 10 minutes from your house. if you cant afford $10 to fix your PC, your PC is dead - time to get a library card, cause buddy, you're gonna be looking for new forms of entertainment (and hey, reading is good for you)

3rd - If you HAVE to reinstall windows, and have no extra media... either part company with your files, or use some partitioning software to move your data off your windows install partition. OH WAIT, that's about 1,000 times more complicated than memtest, so I'm guessing thats out. Also, be careful because you have no backups for files you cant replace - and messing with partitions CAN and sometimes WILL cause you to lose data. Don't say I didn't warn you! (but again, this is muuuch worse than memtest so I doubt you'll be playing in the deep end)

Really, what was the point in wasting our time trying to help you? We CAN be of service, and maybe even help you solve your problem in a cheap/easy way. But you have to be willing to do the leg work. I cant come over to your house and do it for you.
Click to expand...
See the above post. Thanks for helping=] I'll report back after I get home, windows 7 beta installed on a formatted HD, and the latest nvidia drivers. It'll be several hours from now. I've got a paper to write.
 
no2censorship said:
I lost both of the ones that I had a while back.


I just got some dvd-r discs; when I get home, I'm going to format and install windows 7 on a new partition.

I'll report back in a few hours and see if the latest nvidia drivers do any good. If not, then I'm going to rma my 8800gt. Now that I've been told bad mem doesn't cause graphical corruption, I'm just going to rule that out. Plus, I've always left it on stock settings (V, clocks, timings), and it's mushkin memory.
Click to expand...

Ok, first of all - you should NEVER try to id a problem with hardware in beta software, especially when that beta software is the OS itself... who KNOWS what can of worms you are opening here! It could run fine, it could have problems... the hardware problems you have could in fact surface in some OTHER way that you don't see right away. Or just cause system instability.

If you are gonna test hardware, IMHO Windows XP 32bit with full windows update and the latest drivers for all given hardware is the test bed I would run. That way you know for the most part that the software is doing it's job. Any additional problems are most likely hardware.

Regardless of how you run this show, good luck!
 
tiraides said:
... And how, may I ask, did you come to this conclusion?
Click to expand...
Because windows 7 is running very fast and smoothly, and there was no graphical corruption with the driver i'm using, so I doubt it's the memory.

If, somehow, I do get a crash to the desktop during gameplay sometime in the future, then I'll use memtest, but I hope and believe I won't need to.
 
alright, my video card is defective. tomb raider didn't show graphical corruption but it was incredibly choppy, and i didn't exactly use incredibly stressful settings, either (1680x1050, trilinear no af, 8xQ aa, shadows disabled.) then i tried 2 other games and the whole image was constantly fucking up, so, it's definitely my card, since I've used 2 different drivers, one being the most recent.

This will be the 2nd evga 8800GT SC i'll be RMA'ing. I thought the problem with the last one was that it became defective because i was running it at the factory overclocks in safe mode for too long (you can't access evga precision or rivatuner to underclock while in safe mode), so i flashed this one to the stock bios as soon as I started windows with it the first time and made damn sure to kept the fan speed at 100% at all times. But, apparently, this one still went bad anyway. Does anyone have any ideas why? It was not a refurb replacement. It was brand new. but it still went bad, set to stock clocks right away.

Looks like I'm going to just have to put my x1650gt iceq in until i can sell the rma and pay the difference for a 9800gtx+.
 
Your card doesnt sound defective.

I'd get you to run some tests...
 
again, you tested on windows 7... so there could definitely be some SOFTWARE problems there.

Sure, yeah, it could be your card. But it sounds like software problems... are there any games where it does work? If so, it's most likely software. Just the fact that you face corruption in some games, and just chop in others tells me that you have an inconsistent problem... which usually means software/drivers are to blame.

My recommendation? Windows XP 32bit, latest drivers for everything, then run some games and tell us what happens.
 
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