Unstable nForce2 System

[ZeFyre]

Hi Guys & Gals!

I'm having severe problems with my system getting very "iffy" when it is under heavy disk or CPU load. For instance, when I am installing a program from CD-ROM, my mouse pointer will skip across the screen (also happens with BIG installations from hard disk.) Also, sounds on my system will periodically hiccup, and will get worse under heavy load, and, my games will frame-skip at random for no apparent reason.

Here's my configuration:

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2400 @ 2.0GHz

Mobo: ASUS A7N8X Deluxe

RAM: 512MB Kingston PC2700

HDD: 40GB Maxtor 7200RPM IDE

Video: MSI Personal Cinema GeForce FX 5200 128MB AGP 8x

Sound: Creative Labs SB Live! 5.1

I have tried the following in the way of troubleshooting:

1. Tried nForce drivers from both nVidia and ASUS (the ASUS drivers are horribly out ot date, BTW.)

2. Updated my GeForce drivers (both for Display and WDM capture,) to nVidia's latest version.

3. Made sure that my Creative drivers are at the latest version (which they are -- they're barely newer than the ASUS nForce drivers.)

4. Tried using my onboard nForce audio to only see the same results.

5. Tried using a stick of Atlas Precision PC2700 RAM I had sitting around, again, only saw the same results.

My instincts lead me to believe that these issues are either caused by having crappy drivers or by the fact that my BIOS is incorrectly set up (I am beginning to believe that is actually not the case.)

If you guys have any ideas on how to get my system up and running smoothly, I'd really appreciate hearing them! I'll be glad to give any possible fix a try.

Thanks in advance for any help you may have to offer!

Thanks again!

-- Quinn

[Aaron]

I don't personally have an nForce board, but I've heard that the nForce IDE drivers are very bad. So as you explained problems occur when doing large installations, its most likely pointing to IDE drivers.

Try reverting back to Microsoft drivers on Primary and Secondary IDE Controllers in Device Manager and see if this resolves the issue.

[ZeFyre]

Aaron,

Thanks for the info. I've uninstalled the nForce IDE drivers, and will post back later after I've had time to play around with the MS drivers.

Thanks again!

-- Quinn

[ZeFyre]

Aaron,

You were, indeed, right about the nVidia IDE drivers being the cause of the problem -- since I uninstalled, I'm able to install software, and play games, without a single hitch.

Thanks so much for your help!

-- Quinn

[Aaron]

[bjorland]

Very interesting. I also have 'n n-force 2 mobo, and have a lot of trouble with my ISDN USB modem dropping my internet connection when doing something on the pc. Wonder if it also maybe has something to do with the nvidia n-force drivers.

[Unwonted]

Might I chime in with the same sentiment? NForce IDE drivers are horrible. The rest of it is fine, but the IDE drivers have caused problems since the beginning, and it's no different for the latest ones (3.13).

[SupaFly-TNT]

It's funny too, they have yet to really acknowledge that those SW IDE's definitely BREAK some windows installations (Unless you use the recovery console and delete them manually). It's so bad. I went through the same problem, install Nvidia IDE SW drivers, reboot, windows refuses to start. Delete those two files and windows starts fine. It's poo!