Losing my mind, console headaches

[Chozo4]

Well, I'm officially about had it really and am incredibly tired from and over it. I apologize if this post seems incredibly mixed up). Tried for the last couple months trying to figure this out without having to fork over cash to find out. The issue I'd already gone over in the following thread in Guru3D , incredibly helpful bunch but still couldn't solve it. I'd gone there first assuming it was purely a graphic card issue (and may still be, I'm not sure anymore ).

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?p=2931325

Everything is pretty much discussed there but for the sake of not having to type it all out again/paste the whole thread worth, I'd linked to it.

In a nutshell:

New vidcard, GeForce 6800Ultra 256mb, EPoX 9nda3-j, using the command prompt causes

-- System wide lockup for a split second during load

-- Occasionally, will randomly cause the screen to 'blank out' as if re-forcing a new resolution

-- May further cause the screen to completely blank out for 60+ seconds, during this time all actions such as sound studder to split second sound and stop every 15-20 secs, over and over till display resumes then everything is back to normal.

-- If done during while hardware acceleration is active (3d game such as unreal tournament), the display may completely corrupt all together.

There is absolutely no issues with anything else, ONLY the command prompt and any applications linked to it which is really miffing me. I can't even do my web development (or even serve my pages) anymore on this system due to the PHP interpreter using the command prompt in the background (well, WINOLDAP at least).

Killing explorer and running the prompt causes the display to not resume at all after the random blankout happens. Seems explorer is re-initializing the gui as a safeguard?.

Running a dos screen session for extended periods (a fullscreen game such as STRIFE) and closing may cause the display to 'blankout' for split seconds every 45-60 minutes on its own but without any audible system lockups while playing audio. Apimonitor shows after every instance, getclientrect() is called, etc. It blanks out upon GUI refreshes it seems (stops while using the task list using ctrl+alt+delete but occurs during scroll then resumes after closing it), etc.

I've tried:

-- Reinstalling the OS (Win98se) 20+ times, all fresh settings (due to the next 3 methods tried)

-- Tried it with MinDows(gfx drivers and not) and Windows ME (full updates and not)

-- Different settings, different updates

-- no drivers but gfx card

-- no nvidia gfx drivers at all (only time the issues vanish is without gfx drivers)

-- Butchering and changing Bios settings

-- Flashing to and trying all Mainboard BIOS versions available

-- Flashing and trying multiple BIOS for the 6800u (BFG, Leadtek, etc)

-- Flashing bios after changing and normalizing voltages

-- Underclock and standard clock on both mem,cpu, vidcard

-- Ran Memtest+ overnight, 50+ passes, no errors

-- Ran a GFX Video memory stress tester, 312+ passes, no errors.

-- Trying most nvidia gfx driver versions, starting from 7x.xx to latest

-- Trying different driver versions for mainboard chipset (Nforce3)

-- Changing GDI.exe/gdi32.dll to the one from windows 95 and updated winme

-- Different memory managers (himemx.dll, xmgr.sys, etc)

-- Changing the maxpage settings in system.ini for vcache

-- Tried USP2.1/3.0a,b/ME->98/RP7/etc

-- Taking out one of my 512mb memory sticks to physically limit ram to 512mb.

-- Bought a brand new PSU off newegg for $48.00

......Issue still consistantly occurs.

Seemingly, i can stop it for a while after fiddling with the resolutions/depth back and forth on the second screen (extended desktop) despite no extra monitor hooked up. After several aggressive resolution changes on that non-existant monitor and trying the prompt, the issue of blanking out stops (but not the lockups during load) untill you push it with too many console windows at once (during testing such as 20+) cause a BSOD in VCOND.VXD. Also returns during another display res change or refresh. Perhaps this which may indicate the card / drivers having issues with the dual-DVI monitor support on it?

All in all, I'm frustrated, feeling defeated, the whole nine yards. I really don't want to shell out for another GFX card and/or Mainboard just to find out what the cause is. It's enough that I bought a new PSU which didn't fix the issue (despite it being the suggestion both here in the hardware forum and on the Guru3D forum).

As I think back, there was the occasional issue when using even my GeForce mx4000 128mb. The command console would randomly cause a fault in address 0000:009b on its own (or something incredibly similar, all zero save for the last two bytes).

So the question remains: mainboard/gfx card incompatibility or windows software issue?

Any suggestions to fix, or even any experiences regarding console instability? Past discussion is in the link at the top for references sakes. Also, has anybody had ANY issues using an AMD 939 socket mainboard regarding such issues as the system stall during winoldap/prompt load? If you have used a socket 939 AMD mainboard and not ever had such issues, what mainboard was it and how robust is the bios as far as clocking features are concerned?

Edited January 14, 2009 by Chozo4

[cannie]

New vidcard, GeForce 6800Ultra 256mb, EPoX 9nda3-j

That card is thought for Windows XP.

I had a similar experience and at last I changed it for a lower Nvidia model, using the drivers that I found in this forum at this link:

http://www.nvworld.ru/drivers/old/WideWin9x.rar

No more problems.

[Chozo4]

That card is thought for Windows XP.

I had a similar experience and at last I changed it for a lower Nvidia model, using the drivers that I found in this forum at this link:

http://www.nvworld.ru/drivers/old/WideWin9x.rar

No more problems.

I don't think it's for WinXP only considering it's been supported on win98 since the earlier 6x.xx verson of the drivers. Wouldn't have bought it otherwise, although in this case - used. *shrugs* If only it was as easy as using newer drivers but the issue happens irregardless of driver version. The widewin9x ones (v82.69) are also a lil buggy as they seem to cause errors in nvopengl.dll under certain SUNJava Applications that use OGL through the browser on my end (been using 82.16 because of the such since).

Thanks for the input though, anything is appreciated.

Edited January 14, 2009 by Chozo4

[thydreamwalker]

i think it maybe better compatible with AMD MoBo's Only???(not just XP?/ or Vista?) i like an old Ati Radeon7000ddr card myself it's so simple to configure Check Memory requirements:video vs.all other programs for any Extreme Ram Usage Edited January 15, 2009 by thydreamwalker

[cannie]

I don't think it's for WinXP only considering it's been supported on win98.

I only remember that the card that I returned and changed was Nvidia and capacity 256 and was sold to me for Windows 98. Maybe it was a different model.

It is rather strange to find such a lot of difficulties. All video cards I used were extremely easy to install.

Are you sure that your card is not damaged?

[cannie]

Hi Chozo4!

For the record, my present card is a Geforce Fx5500 and I have no problems at all using the Nvidia drivers downloaded from the adress I said.

Good luck!

[Chozo4]

Cannie, I've been wondering the same if it's the card thats damaged but to function normally in all 3d and 2d applications aside from 16-bit console use makes me wonder it may not be the card at all. I have an mx4000 and fx5700 but both of them are too great of a performance drop difference and prevent me from playing any of the games I do on a near daily basis.

MX4000-128mb: Very overclockable, runs smoothly on lower end stuff, no pixel or vertex shader capabilities

FX5700-64mb:Hardly overclockable, budget line version, runs choppy and poor, basic vertex+pixel shader capabilities

I might as well buy a whle new mainboard and see if that has anything to do with it in the near future. If it doesn't, money wasted, otherwise a new vidcard to follow.

Thanks for the help though.

Edited February 2, 2009 by Chozo4