I Need some expert help from you guys.

CombatCow

ok im stumped,1 of my pc's is fubar.Ne1 know what the prob could be ( plz take quick a look )?

Specs :
Abit kt7a
AMD XP 2000+ ( palomino )
512 sd Ram ( pc 133 )
400W Jeantech psu
GF 4 ti4400 & GF4 MX 4400
1x 80 Gig Seagate
1x 40 Gig Maxtor :rolleyes:
1x smc NIC
Win 2k With no SP/SP2

Basically the problem is that the pc gives up as soon as i try to play a game - the screen sometimes flashes white 2 or 3 times then go's back to the desktop or reboots ( within 10-20 seconds into the games )

Iv try'd BF1942,C&C Generals,3D Mark 2001 se - and the problem above happens the exact same way on all games.

I had a crappy 300W noname psu and thought that the pc was'nt gettin enough power so i bought a ( heavy ) 400W psu - no diff

Iv tryd the 2 diff gfx cards i have and the same thing happens on both ( faulty agp slot ? )

The cpu temp i 35C idle in windows so im prety sure it's not overheating while in games.

I put on the Via 4 in 1 drivers that i got with the mobo and also the latest ones off the via website

I put on the 45.23 dets and the 44.03 dets - nuttin

Iv have DX8 on atm , havnt try'd DX9 - doubt it will make a differance

Iv feckkin try'd more or less everthing i can - im thinkin maybe the mobo is screwd ( agp slot specifically )

Any suggestions,slaggings,comments will be more than welcome - my bro needs it for a lan this weekend

If i cant fix it by tomorrow night - i'll have to get a new mobo,i think.

1 last thing i ran some sandra burn in tests - it passed
I also try'd prime 95 for 30min - passed the first few tests



CombatCow

BigEejit

I'd say go to service pack 3 at least ... dunno if that will help ..but it will reduce the number of possible reasons for the fault.....

spongebob

and run windows update on some of the components like the chipset (update driver option in system control panel)

M

mobby

W2k is not realy suited for games that maybe one reason have you tried the latest drivers for your Video card . Is it only games you get this problem with, is it only the games you mention don't play. Are there patches for them.

Jam

W2k is not realy suited for games

My arse, where are you getting that one from?

When was the last time it saw a fresh install of win2k? My suggestion would be that, if doesn't work after a fresh install with SP4 and updated drivers, somethings foobared hardware wise.

CombatCow

No offence mobby but win2k is perfect for games iv been useing it for the last two years and it's never given me any trouble.....the games are fine ( apart from the crashing ) iv had all the latest patches on them,and like i said in the first post iv try'd 2 different versions of the det's drivers and it dosent make any differance,and yeah it's only the games that crash,win 2k will stay stable in the desktop while using the net and stuff.but as soon as the gfx card's have to do any work it crashes back to the desktop.If i dont find the problem tonight i think its time for a new mobo.

BigEejit - thx i try'd SP4 and DX9 - same crash happens, thx for the suggestion tho

Muck - the 3d mark test actually went on a little longer but crashed after a min.thx ne way

I set the bios settings to optimized defaults / and messed with the agp fast wright,agp mode...and other stuff,no change

CombatCow

---

Jam It got a fresh install 3 times over the weekend on 2 diff Hdd's.your prob right tho...the agp slot or somthin must be fubar.Thx

jesus_thats_gre

Have you tried a clean install of the OS?

CombatCow

CombatCow

Jam It got a fresh install 3 times over the weekend on 2 diff Hdd's.

Ermm yes i have.

Shred

Maybe a long shot and you've probably tried it, but have you tried the latest driver for your sound card? I was having problems running SOF2 (and a couple of other games that use advanced sound fx) in that none of the weapons would fire and I couldn't select different weapons until eventually it would crash to the desktop. It seemed to be a graphics issue as I had sound but I resolved the problem by installing the latest driver for me soundcard (after having tried the GFX driver first) and it was fine after that.

netman

i've had that motherboard and dumped it after two weeks of trying to get it to work stable. that was about 3 years ago, and lots of things have changed.

namely, via had serious problems with soundblaster cards, and problems with data corruption during heavy i/o transfers. (ie copying data from one hard drive to another).

i believe all that has been fixed now, but there's a gazillion patches to be downloaded.

if i were you, i'd first get rid of all the pci cards in that system. (temporarily of course).

update to the latest BIOS for kt7-a
install the AMD fix for AGP applications under windows 2000 http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_756_759%5e871%5e2367,00.html
install the latest win2k service pack (apparently you've done this already). windowsupdate.microsoft.com
get and install the latest VIA drivers (hyperion 4-in-1). http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=300

if that doesn't fix the problem, try underclocking your system. i'd imagine you're running a 133 MHz bus, so try dropping that to 100 MHz and see if it fixes the problem. (or even 66MHz)

i know you got a 400w PSU, but i never heard of that brand. it could be el-cheapo power supply that just can't keep the voltages stable once both cpu and graphics card start draining the 3.3v line.

try getting motherboard monitor to record the voltages in a log file, then try 3dmark and after your pc crashes reboot and check the contents of the log file. if you see a steady drop in voltages until the crash, you know what the culprit is.

when you say win2k is stable otherwise, have you tried running any stability tests? such as prime95 torture test, or memtest ? they would stress out your CPU and memory, without testing the video card.

let us know how you get on.

MadKevo

There may be an issue with certain revisions of the KT7A and Athlon XPs

There was supposed to be a fixed BIOS but don't think it ever officially emerged. A9 is the last official BIOS for the baord - you got this already?

/MK.

Matt Simis

Can you clarify if this problem occurs in:

DXDIAG, directdraw and direct3d tests
OpenGL games (what you listed uses direct3d).

Definately follow netmans links and get the Hyperion drivers.


I would also suggest you grab hold of a PCI gfx card, Im leaning on the side of faulty mobo (AGP slot) myself. Its about time it was updated anyhow!

Its unlikely to be a compatiblity problem with Athlon XPs... I presume an XP was running for sometime in this motherboard beforehand?



Matt

MadKevo

Originally posted by Matt Simis


Its unlikely to be a compatiblity problem with Athlon XPs... I presume an XP was running for sometime in this motherboard beforehand?

Thought about this before posting, but there may be a CPU current/powering issue which may become apparent under heavy sustained CPU activity in e.g. gaming. Try running Prime95 or SETI (cli version) for a while to eliminate this from your enquiries.
/MK

swiss

Given the problem description above, I'd say it's either

a) Motherboard problem (hardware related). Not much you can do here except bios updates, and/or resetting the bios by clearing the jumpers. Have you got another motherboard you can test?

b) Overheating on the graphics card. This was a major problem for me, in fact one of the ram chips on my GF4 Ti 4200 went on fire (but that's another story). Next time your PC crashes, immediately check the RAM chips on your graphics card. If they are almost unbearably hot, then you should get ram heatsinks (either copper or aluminium) for them. Alternatively you can downclock your graphics card, and/or try shared graphics (if it's onboard) and see if the problem persists.

c) IRQ conflicts. See if your graphics card is sharing an IRQ with any other resource, in particular your sound card or any controllers on your motherboard. If you can, try setting a lower IRQ for your graphics card (if I recall correctly, IRQ9 is usually free for stuff like graphics cards). Try disabling your sound card in the device manager, and any other sound drivers you have, and see if the problem persists.

I'm tempted to go with option (b) above, because I had a problem very similar to yours (although it really only happened on games like battlefield and was about 10 mins into the game before my pc crashed). My advice is to get ram heatsinks for your graphics card anyway, if you find that it gets hot in any way.

CombatCow

Ok that sounds like some good advice lads,i'll pour over the posts when i get home and try everthing ye suggested,thx for the speedy replys.

CombatCow

CombatCow

In short i try'd the motherboard monitor voltages log for a dropoff in power,the latest via 4in1 drivers,the latest det's,DX9,Sandra,and still the same $hit,

The psu is a good enough brand and the voltage lines are very stable.it should be plenty powerful for a amd xp 2000+ 1HDD and a GF MX 4400

Thats all i have in the machine ,no nic's or sound cards nothing....and as for an overheating gfx card - not likely with this GF MX ( p.o.s ) theres a overkill 40mm heatsink and fan on it ne way.

Iv got a few pci gfx cards but they wouldent evan be able to launch the games im trying,and the dxdiag DirectDraw and Direct3D tests did run fine.

Iv never had winxp on these hdd or used it with this mobo.i also try'd underclocking the cpu to 1.3 GHz nothing changed,

Im going to draw to the conclusion that it's faulty agp slot nothing can be done about that kinda problem so the mobo is gonna go back in it's box to die peacefully.I appreciate all the helpful replys from you lads but this is a problem that cant be tweaked or patched.:rolleyes:

CombatCow

netman

if it's any consolation for you, i've had that motherboard 3 years ago. not the same problem, but similar - corrupted display, occassional freezes etc. replaced the motherboard (kt7a-raid for kt7a), replaced the cpu (two different durons), replaced the video card (geforce 256 and voodoo 3000), replaced the memory (ibm and infineon)...

after about 3 weeks of trying absolutely everything, and spending hours downloading patches, reinstalling windows and all that... i just quit and went back to my old intel rig

besides, you're probably considering an upgrade anyway, that palomino could match well with an nforce2 motherboard and some ddr memory.

MadKevo

Before you give up altogether, have a look at this comprehensive (although a little out-dated as it's not maintained any more) FAQ on the KT7, KT7A etc:

http://www.sudhian.com/showfaqs.cfm?fid=2

Re-read the thread properly this time, so saw that you ran Prime95 already, ahem.

A friend has a GF4 440MX and he has to employ some serious button-pushing tactics to get the machine to even turn on in the first place...

/MK

Originally posted by Combatcow
In short i try'd the motherboard monitor voltages log for a dropoff in power,the latest via 4in1 drivers,the latest det's,DX9,Sandra,and still the same $hit,

The psu is a good enough brand and the voltage lines are very stable.it should be plenty powerful for a amd xp 2000+ 1HDD and a GF MX 4400

Thats all i have in the machine ,no nic's or sound cards nothing....and as for an overheating gfx card - not likely with this GF MX ( p.o.s ) theres a overkill 40mm heatsink and fan on it ne way.

Iv got a few pci gfx cards but they wouldent evan be able to launch the games im trying,and the dxdiag DirectDraw and Direct3D tests did run fine.

Iv never had winxp on these hdd or used it with this mobo.i also try'd underclocking the cpu to 1.3 GHz nothing changed,

Im going to draw to the conclusion that it's faulty agp slot nothing can be done about that kinda problem so the mobo is gonna go back in it's box to die peacefully.I appreciate all the helpful replys from you lads but this is a problem that cant be tweaked or patched.:rolleyes:

CombatCow

CombatCow

I ran prime95 on it last night again and it was fine,it's not just the GF MX, i try'd a GF TI4400 aswell and the exact same crash happened.i odrerd a Abit KD7A yesteday and it waiting at home for me now,hopefully there will be no problems with it tonight.:rolleyes:


CombatCow