scopie

I "JUST" bought the 9800GT 512 and it crashes allot.This rig is brand new, two days old.
Heres the problem.When i test my GPU performance in devices settings, it regularly crashes with the blue desktop stating its in a continous loop.Sometimes it actually tells me the optimal settings but rarely.The first time i installed everything it actually crashed so bad i had to reformat my drive again.
My specs are as follows:
Processor: AMD Phenom™ 9850 Quad-Core Processor (2511 MHz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP, 32-bit (Service Pack 2)
DirectX version: 9.0c
GPU processor: GeForce 9800 GT
Driver version: 178.13
Stream processors: 112
Core clock: 450 MHz
Memory clock: 702 MHz (1404 MHz data rate)
Memory interface: 256-bit
Memory: 512 MB
Video BIOS version: 62.92.23.00.10
IRQ: 16
Bus: PCI Express x16
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4
RAM: 2 2 Gig sticks
Power: 520 watt
Disc: 500 Gig
[Components]
nvCplUIR.dll 1.5.2400.18 NVIDIA Control Panel
nvCpl.cpl 2.1.270.00 NVIDIA Control Panel Applet
nvExpBar.dll 1.5.2400.18 NVIDIA Control Panel
nvCplUI.exe 2.1.270.00 NVIDIA Control Panel
nvWSSR.dll 6.14.11.7518 NVIDIA Workstation Server
nvWSS.dll 6.14.11.7813 NVIDIA Workstation Server
nvViTvSR.dll 6.14.11.7518 NVIDIA Video and TV Server
nvViTvS.dll 6.14.11.7813 NVIDIA Video and TV Server
nvMoblSR.dll 6.14.11.7518 NVIDIA Mobile Server
nvMoblS.dll 6.14.11.7813 NVIDIA Mobile Server
nvDispSR.dll 6.14.11.7518 NVIDIA Display Server
NVMCTRAY.DLL 6.14.11.7813 NVIDIA Media Center Library
NVOGLNT.DLL 6.14.11.7813 NVIDIA Compatible OpenGL ICD
nvDispS.dll 6.14.11.7813 NVIDIA Display Server
NVCPL.DLL 6.14.11.7813 NVIDIA Compatible Windows 2000 Display driver, Version 178.13
NV4_MINI.SYS 6.14.11.7813 NVIDIA Compatible Windows 2000 Miniport Driver, Version 178.13
NV4_DISP.DLL 6.14.11.7813 NVIDIA Compatible Windows 2000 Display driver, Version 178.13
nvGameSR.dll 6.14.11.7518 NVIDIA 3D Settings Server
nvGameS.dll 6.14.11.7813 NVIDIA 3D Settings Server

Like i said i just bought this unit!Pretty disappointed so far.Supreme Commander is the only game i play.I really hope someone can help me with this.

temeteus82

Can you update the XP to SP3?
And could you give more information about that BSOD??

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scopie

I'm scared to update to SP3.The first and last time mi did that the problem's fix was a reformat!Sorry i'm not knowing what the BSOD is?

temeteus82

BSOD = "Blue Screen Of Death"
It's usually shows when the system crashes.

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scopie

It says that the device is cought in a continous loop and that i should go to teh device vendors site and ask whats up!Then it dumps the memory and reboots.

Knight_Breed

Why are you using 2 x 2G sticks of ram using XP?

Looks like a driver issue to me but not sure on which. Check the Gigabyte site for BIOS and driver updates I own a GA-X38-DQ6 and really happy with it.

Check NV too why do you have mobility drivers loaded? I don't with my 9600gt.

Curious and hope ya get it solved my brain cells are dead for the night but will check back in the morning bro

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scopie

Whats wrong with the ram ratio, explain please?
What do you mean mobility drivers?I have the latest drivers for the card?
I have the AMD quad core but i am running it with the XP 32 os...i should probably upgrade my os to 64 bit correct?Would that be the reason its acting crazy?

temeteus82

32-bit operating system can't candle more than 4 gigabytes of memory space, that includes the memory on the gfx card and the system ram. But I don't think that the fact that you use 32-bit Windows is the problem here. If you can try Vista 64-bit I strongly recommend you to do so. For my experience it has far less problems.

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Tipstaff

Although it looks like a specific GPU issue, my first impression is system stability issue. It could also be that your board doesn't like the specific RAM you are using. Speaking of which, you mention you have 4 gigs of ram (2 sticks). Which brand, and which line is it? Also, do you know the timings for the ram? Have you tried running the system on a single stick of ram to see if it still crashes?

Few things to try:

- It is a must that you are running bios version F14 (which you can get HERE) for that board in order for the system to run the X2 9850 stably, so if you haven't done so, update the bios. After that load the default bios settings once that's done, and redo whatever necessary settings you need.

- Second, I'm assuming you installed the chipset drivers when you installed XP, but my advice would be to download the latest chipset drivers off of Nvidias site from HERE. These are the ones for the 570 SLI AMD based boards. The drivers on Gigabytes site and on the install CD are over 2 years old.

- After that it would be a good idea to uninstall the display drivers via add/remove programs, reboot, then reinstall the drivers.

- Lastly, if you have nTune installed, uninstall it. If you have the Nvidia System Tools package (which also includes nTune), uninstall it too.

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scopie

The Ram is 2 sticks of 2 gig PC2-6400 CL5 240-PIN DIMM...
Should i trade this in and upgrade for the Intel chip?If so what board should i get.I need to make this decision today...please offer your best suggestions!
Tipstaff, thanks mate...i will do this once i know for sure if this chipset is worth keeping!!
Update i downloaded the Mobo drivers you suggested, extracted it and there are two executables in dos?Does that make sense.They both alert me to a message stating that there was an message saying "The NTVDM CPU has encountered an illega instruction.CS:0000 IP:0077 OP:f037 05 Oe 02 Choose 'Close' to terminate the application."

Tipstaff

The file is an executable, so all you need to do after downloading is to run it. It will extract itself, and run right after. If this is what you did, and that error popped up then it could be indicative of a corrupt download, which could be memory or hard drive related, or that you are having memory issues as the program is crashing while trying to load into memory.

Definitely try running on one stick of memory first, and if it crashes again try the other stick.

I'm going to be away for a couple days, so I'll try my best to help you out when or if I can.

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CDsDontBurn

to find out what the BSOD says exactly in winXP, do this:

right click on "my computer" > click "properties" > select the "advanced" tab > click the "settings" button under "start up and recovery" > remove the check mark from "automatically restart" and then just wait for the next BSOD.

This will prevent your machine from restarting the next time you receive a BSOD. I'm thinking that you are getting the nv4_disp.sys BSOD, but we wouldn't be able to know until you provide us that info. You can get a different driver version from NVIDIA's page here. If it is a driver related issue, try different drivers and see what works out best for you. Like Tipstaff said, be sure to uninstall the display driver from the control panel through add/remove programs. You might also want to use DriverCleaner Pro (free, but now unsupported but still works), or DriverCleaner.net (supported, but it's $10 USD).

If this is a memory related problem, I suggest that you run memtest86 on each stick individually for at least 2 hours minimum to see if this is a possible memory problem that you are experiencing. Now since you have an AMD processor, remember that the memory controller is on the CPU itself and not on the motherboard like Intel platforms do. So, your memory may be fine, but the memory controller might be faulty.

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scopie

I try to take pictures of the BSOD when it comes but i never can get it in time for various reasons.I have taken all my parts back to the guys i got it from and they are going to test it and see if theres somethign defunct.Stay tuned...

CDsDontBurn

alright, that works out too

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scopie

Ok so the parts check out, nothing wrong with anything they tell me.So here we go again
Tipstaff - i dl'd the bios drivers and the video drivers you told me to.Un-installed the old drivers and then installed the new.The motherboard driver is motherboard_bios_ga-m57sli-s4_f14.I haven't touched any settings in the bios.This is a new reformat by the way .The video drivers you suggested are these ones 15.23_nforce_winxp32_international_whql.They are installed right now and i am getting lag in just basic applications!!
Now i donnot have nTune installed, and there isn't any Nvidia apps in my taskbar either, which i find wierd.
The other Nvidia drivers are the GeForce Release 178 and the GeForce Release 177,should i uninstall these ones and try something new?
[COLOR=#93a5d8]CDsDontBurn[/COLOR] i will do that suggestion if i get the BSOD again.However i think this whole problem could be as simple as an underpowered machine.It generally happens when i am in Forged Alliance with high specs and allot of gpu draw!What do you think about this guys?
I coule go pick up a 600 watt power supply tomorrow?!?

Tipstaff

Just to clarify, F14 driver is the bios that has the updates for your CPU, while the 15.23 drivers I linked to are the chipset drivers. They are drivers for Windows that tells it how to see the various components of your board, such as USB/hard drive/floppy controllers, memory controller, and so fourth. These are the first set of drivers you would load after having just installed Windows. If you don't then other components may not install or work properly. The rule of thumb is to install Windows first, run the chipset drivers, DirectX, then everything else after that.

No matter what be sure you update the bios as it updates your board to support that processor you have. After that install the 15.23 chipset drivers (especially if you just reinstalled XP), then install your video drivers, as well as grab the latest Realtek HD audio drivers. The ones on Gigabytes site will do just fine as these are pretty recent, or you can go to Realteks website to grab the latest ones that were released a couple days ago.

Oh, and as for the lag in all applications at the moment, if you've done the above, and are still having this problem, be sure to check that your hard drives are running in DMA mode, and not PIO mode, which you can verify via Device Manager (I can't remember the exact location on it, but if you open up the properties for the Primary and Secondary controllers, or the main controller you should be able to find it). If your hard drive or optical drives are running in PIO mode any sound the system makes via your sound card can cause the system to sevearly lag, so this is something to check on.

As for the power supply, if I remember correctly the 9800GT requires a minimum 400 watt power supply. This doesn't mean the card needs 400 watts as it's a suggestion that includes overall power drain. Since the card draws more power during 3D applications, the fact that you are getting crashes while trying to do so can be indicitive that there is not enough power to run the system, however you would normally not get blue screens, but rather the system would simply either shut down, or restart completely. Mind you, if it is possible to try another power supply, one of higher wattage, then by all means do so. At this point it would help you confirm or rule it out as the cause. If it still crashes then you can move on to other possible causes.

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scopie

Yea great info, thanks bud.Is it possible that its the game itself??It seems to be 95% of the time when i am in it!It seems though that when the game gets really going that it can't handle it and then the comp just pops to the BSOD!

CDsDontBurn

it is a possiblity that the game itself is causing you these problems, yes. if so, the best way to find out if the game is the problem is to try another game. or, update the game too. install the latest patch for the game if a patch is available.

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Tipstaff

It is possible, and I should have realized that you did say that SC was the only game you played. It would be wise to try some other games (if you need a wider variety you could try game demos), or running 3DMark06 to see what happens with them.

BTW, remember to take note of the BSOD error. If it BSODs and resets right away you can turn that off by going into Control Panel | System | Advanced | click the "Settings" button under "Startup and Recovery" | and under "System Failure" uncheck the box beside "Automatically Restart". This will keep the system from rebooting when it BSODs.

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scopie

Yeah the game is all patched up to date..i don't have any other games.BUT i did go out and buy it again..$20.00, who cares.And i am dl'ing that software as i type Tips.I am ready for the BSOD.

scopie

WHAT!!
Game-o-Meter Result:

Either your hardware is too new, too old or too rare - we don't know enough of it to give an accurate estimation. Sorry.
YouGamers - 3DMark06 System Requirements
!!!Talk to me guys what the hell is wrong with this picture?

Display Card!: DirectX® 9 compatible graphics adapter with Pixel Shader 2.0 support or later, and graphics memory o /

Comparing your display card Generic VGA with the requirement NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200

[COLOR=#ce7676]• Unfortunately we were unable to determine your display card's estimated performance[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#ce7676]Processor: Intel® or AMD® compatible processor 2.5GHz or higher /
Comparing your CPU AMD Phenom 7700 (running @2500MHz) with the requirement AMD Athlon(tm) 64 (running @1800MHz)
[COLOR=#49d481]• Your processor is significantly more powerful in raw performance[/COLOR]
[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#ce7676]Memory: 1024MB You have 3328MB
Free Disk Space: 1.5GB You have 442.3GB

[/COLOR]

Tipstaff

I wouldn't worry with that. Even with the system I'm typing this on (an Asus Eee Box202) it comes up with the exact same results. That first page will say the same thing to everyone if they haven't run the actual utility yet. Once you do that part of the page will change.

Anyways, go down the page a bit to the download links for 3DMark06 itself as the top half of the page is useless to you.

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scopie

YEah i downloaded it..3DMark06_v110_installer.exe...it doesn't want to install.

CDsDontBurn

try 3Dmark05 then

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scopie

Well here it is ORB - World of Performance
I managed to get the 3DMark06.So based on this score would you determine it was the game thats crap...or the PSU needs to upgrade?

temeteus82

Can you post the compare link that you can see in the My Results page.
here's mine ORB - Compare

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scopie

[COLOR=#810081]http://service.futuremark.com/result...&resultType=14[/COLOR]

http://service.futuremark.com/home.action

Ok so whats the deal guys..should i upgrade the whole system?If yes to what?Within reason i guess?

Tipstaff

Just to backtrack a second here, but the fact that 3DMark06 wouldn't install is of concern to me since this is the second time you've mentioned that something wouldn't install. The other time was the Nvidia chipset drivers. This, to me, keeps pointing to a ram or hard drive issue.

Were there any other instances of errors like this one? Where apps wouldn't install? Did you have any errors during the installation of Windows, such as the installer crapping out? How about system bootup errors? Do you have any false startups where you have to try a couple times to get it to boot?

I'll be gone again for a few days, so I'll try to help when I can. In the meantime can you try a couple things for me?

First, how are you connecting your hard drive? Via SATA cable, or IDE/PATA cable? In either case, swap the cable out for a new one. The idea is to see if the cable is bad.

Second, is there any chance you can try slower ram in the system, or different ram? You have 800Mhz ram right now, so as a test you should try to see if your system just doesn't like that particular ram running at that particular speed. If you can, try 667mhz ram just to see what happens. At the very least you could try slowing the ram down within the bios from 800mhz to 667mhz.

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scopie

It was a corrupt download.I figured it out in the size of the file.Anyother instances yes..can't remember when exactly.I think it was in a past reformat.No issues with installing windows, no.
The sata cable has been swaped out once already so i think that test has been done.
I doubt i can get new ram to test it.But i can try to slow it in the bios if you like?
What do you think of the benchmarks from teh 3D test?Pretty lame or what?

scopie

Power supply swaped out..runs MUCH better>Also i think that the game was bad!?! bought a new one and it doesn't skip a beat,bizzare.The other one is almost brand new!!