Need help with eVGA 6600GT - MB Chipset

Choots

Hey all,

I've upgraded a second machine from a GeForce 3 TI 500 to this eVGA 6600GT, but am having issues getting it to play nice with a decent driver.

Problem 1 - I installed and updated to the latest drivers and got a black screen. I rolled back to an older driver and it works now, but can't seem to play Battlefront with any speed...it's really slow, compared to the GeForce 3 card.

Problem 2 - on boot, it notifies me that my power supply may not be sufficient. I have an Enermax 330 W supply for a Gigabyte 7DXR+ MB with an Athlon 1900 XP+and 512 MB of RAM. I've been looking for maybe a 450 W power supply, but wasn't wanting to spend too much.

Obviously, I'll install a new PS...just have to decide on one. Now the other tricky part...I've seen other users helped with a MoBo chipset update, but I can't seem to find an update for my board. I've been to the Gigabyte site, but there doesn't seem to be much in the way of chipset updates. I think mine is using the M$ driver 5.1.2600 (July 1, 2001). I'm actually not sure I'm looking at the right thing...

I'm really wanting to use the card for some better gaming performance on some older games, and possibly some DVD playback to my Home Theatre using the component outs that come with the eVGA card.

Anyway...thanks for any ideas you have. I'm fresh out.

Thanks,
Choots

Choots

Anyone have any help for me? I'll rephrase my question:

Which of these two updates will make the card perform like it should and allow me to use a more current video driver?

1) Power supply upgrade (from 330W to say, 450W)

2) Mobo chipset update (although I'm not sure I can find a more current chipset driver)
- Gigabyte 7DXR+ MB with an Athlon 1900 XP+and 512 MB of RAM.
- I think I'm is using the M$ driver 5.1.2600 (July 1, 2001). I'm actually not sure I'm looking at the right thing...


I'm using the 6.6.9.3 Nvidia driver for the 6600GT- dated 10/29/2004, only because it seems stable, although there's no gaming performance. I can't seem to install somthing recent without a black screen.

Thoughts? Thanks to all who can help.

Choots

fobis

Have you tried a fresh install of windows? Or, alternatively, have you tried uninstalling all of your chipset and video drivers, using DriverCleaner Pro to clean 'em all out for good, and reinstalling new drivers?
I would recommend something newer than the 66.93 set you said you are using for video.
And as for your chipset drivers, look here: http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...1_2336,00.html

Choots

On your suggestion, I tried Driver Cleaner pro, but got an error message. I think I figured out how to clear the message and eventually complete the uninstall of the video driver, but I chose to install the latest driver and still had the black screen problem. I used system restore to roll back to an earlier date.

I'll try updating the chipset driver next, but I'm not sure how to uninstall just the existing chipset driver. Can you suggest which entry to remove in the Device Manager?

...Thanks!

Choots

Ok, now that I've learned how to use the DriverCleaner program, I can uninstall/install at will, and I've been able to:

1) Reconfigure the power supply connections, and removed one redundant hard drive. This seems to have solved (at least temporarily) my underpower situation. I no longer get that message.
2) Uninstall all vestiges of the old nvidia drivers.
3) upgrade the AGP miniport driver on my MB
4) successfully install the 77.72 (7.7.7.2?) nvidia whql driver.

Performance is much improved (significantly better in fact; I can run Battelfront at full resolution with all features and it hauls a$$). I still can't install the latest drivers, but this is better than where I used to be...at least I can now use my 6600GT!

I think I'll use this as my new baseline driver until I can find a better one. Then I'll finally be able to install Battlefield 2... I hope. Now it's over to the audio forum to figure out why my Soundblaster Audigy won't make a sound!

Choots

Choots

I seem to have fixed all the issues...

My graphics card runs great on Battlefront I...though I have yet to install Battlefield 2 and Battlefront II. We'll see how that works. Hopefully I can move up a couple notches in drivers sometime soon, but for now I'm happy.

I also had audio problems which I resolved by DL'ing the latest Creative drivers and running thier install. One bootup later, I was back to full functionality!!

Full audio, fast video performance...this feels like a new machine again! -just in time to start shopping for a new one...

Thanks,
Choots

fobis

Glad you got it all working.

Choots

So I installed BF2 last night. It took a while, but as I was watching the intro I was pretty impressed with the images...it seems all was well.

Then I selected single player and it started to load the game objects and so on. Once it reached the end of the progress bar though, my audio started to skip/repeat, and the whole game crashed out to the desktop.

I tried twice, two different levels/areas and it crashed similarly both times. Once it went out to the CD menu, and i went back in and the second time it just went back to the desktop. I shut her down and went to bed.

Any ideas?

fobis

Hmmm. that's very odd.
But of course, BF2 is not known for its stability, that's for sure.
Have you tried different audio drivers, maybe?

Choots

I haven't tried yet, but I have a little more information. When the game loads, the intro plays nicely and I can get into the options menu. Interestingly, I can click on video options and make changes there, but as soon as I clickthe audio button, it crashes to a black screen then out to the desktop.

I had previously DL'ed what I recall was the latest creative driver for my Audigy 1 card and that got it working again, before I installed BF2. Can you suggest a different Audio driver, or where I might go to find one?

Also, I've seen many people have ok performance and read a few reviews where BF2 runs alright on a 6600GT, even though it doesn't seem to be a supported card. Is that correct?

Thanks again for your help,
Choots

fobis

Hmm. I'm not too sure on where to get Creative drivers, I've never really owned one myself. But it looks like the last driver set Creative released for Audigy, Audigy2, and Audigy 4 was on the 24th of January this year. So I assume that's the one you have?

And I'm almost positive that a 6600GT is a supported card... I'm pretty sure that the recommended requirements say GeForce 6600.