Not sure what's wrong with my PC, but it seems to be going downhill recently?

Hey guys I'm back,

If you remember from my other post, I was getting errors in Medieval 2 that eventually began making media players crash my PC, and break my FPS on other games.

Since then I reformatted and haven't installed M2, and so far WoW has been running fine and so have the media players.

Now, I'm beginning to get worried because since reformatting (twice) these problems have been cropping up:

1.) FIREFOX.EXE has crashed a fair few times recently (Could be a problem with the latest version, but who knows)

2.) It's not performance hampering, but since the reformat, every now and then my WoW screen will flicker and all static objects (everything that isn't the landscape) disappears for like, a flash-second - It doesn't seem harmful but it never used to do this, and it is noticable.

3.) My FPS took a sudden dump whilst playing WoW yesterday evening, and was fixed with a restart (not a reload.) Someone said my PC memory was probably running low and needed to restart to cache it - Odd that in 3 years that's the first time this PC's had to do that. (Could it have something to do with trying to make a really long Sound Recorder file and being told 'memory low' or something earlier that day, and not restarting until the problem occured?)

4.) The other night when I was PvPing on WoW this happened, until I reloaded WoW:





5.) Just now I tabbed out of WoW to post a message on a forum, when I went back in the whole WoW window was blue - I still had sound and my cursor changed icon depending on where it was, but I couldn't see anything. I reloaded but after I entered my account details it was still blue - This was fixed after a restart.

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Now, my graphics card works fine when it's not presenting these errors so I don't think it's the card still - Infact I'm beginning to wonder whether or not my HDD is dying on me?

I've used Everest HOME (I think it was called) and my PC temp was only 30-36, also monitoring my gfx card (GeForce 7600GT XFX) temperatures it was only 50-60 (That's the green zone, 69+ is yellow etc).

I've had the side of my PC off whilst gaming and seen all fans to be spinning fine (I cleaned them all when I was fighting with reformats a few weeks ago.)

I honestly don't know what's going on with this PC, but it definately seems like it's going down hill, to say it's specs:

600W PSU
AMD Athlon 64-bit 3700+ 2.2GHz
2GB Kingston DDR 400MHz RAM
GeForce 7600+ GT XFX 256MB AGP

Any guesses at what to do? I don't want to have to take it to tech support because I've got exams coming up and could do with this thing for my revision (making mind-maps etc), but also because I'm sure they'll just load it up, see the thing working in general, and just say 'We can't see a problem, £60 consultation & labour fees please.'

- Heskey

EDIT: The PC is freshly reformatted remember, so all plugins, drivers etc are up to date.

 

Dude that sounds like a straight screwed up Video card that is messing up your comp, what you should try is if you do have the other vid card you used to have try putting that back in and see if the problems still occur. To my knowledge RAM does not do that to your computer... I have never seen that before .. turst me I was playing WoW on a 5200FX man. with 1GB of ram ... So your new vid card(assuming its is new because it came out not too long ago for AGP) might have a problem. IF I was you I would check with your Vidcard maker and also Scan for Viruses and Malware man

-Frank :boxing :banghead (im that tough)

 

I scanned for virus', but didn't find any as it's a new reformat. (It only came up with stuff associated with Daemon Tools but I sorted that out)

Mmm I'm not sure about throwing my old card back in again, I did it so many times I'm wondering if it's just better off RMA'ing the new card? Whenever I keep hopping from card to card all it seems to do is cause further hassle.

I just find it strange that my card used to work, and it seemingly still does, you know - When these 'glitches' aren't cropping up.

 

I've been recommended to run Memtest and Sisoft SANDRA.

Memtest found 0 errors on my 2048MB of RAM (As I expected really - It's Kingston)

But I'm not entirely surely what to do with Sandra - I did some genral checks to the display adapters and followed a few tips (turning SS's off, wallpaper off, upping my hz to 75)

Anywho, so it's not the memory it seems, so now I need to be looking at the processor, the graphics card, the PCU and the mobo I suppose? Can anyone offer any advice, or how I should be using Sandra to best inform you?

 

Below is a list of all HARDWARE tests on Sandra that presented a warning:

Computer Overview : Warning 100 - Large memory sizes should be made of Registered/Buffered memory.

Mainboard : Warning 100 & 2540 - No APIC detected for MP system (Check bios and enable APIC)

Processors: Warning 253 - Vcore less than rated minimum - Check Vcore settings! (Apparently, unless the reading is wrong, my processor is underclocked and running lower than it should be? I did buy this processor as a 3.0ghz, was surprised when it was the same one, but only 2.2ghz?)

Physical Disks : Warning 3100 - S.M.A.R.T. not enabled; consider enabling for greater security.
Warning 3103 : Acoustic Management enabled; performance may be impaired.

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Someone has recommended stress testing the card as it may be the 256MB on the card itself that's dodgy - And if the car doesn't cripple under a stress test, I should take a look at the CHIPSET.

Now, I know Benchmark (3DMark) is a good stress tester but I can't afford to buy it, and the demo versions only work on 1280 resol, my monitor only supports 1024 (Except the desktop and WoW in windowed mode).

Can anyone recommend anything?

 

rma the card and get another one. That's what I'd do.

 

Increasingly I think this is what I'll have to do, but first off I'd just like to test the card / chipset - If someone can offer any advise please feel free to list programs and how to use them.

It does appear though that even though the card tends to work fine, these glitches are a by-product of it.

 

Run a benchmark for your GPU, 3DMark 06, Aquamark or even Prime95. Leave it running and keep an eye on it! If 3DMark kills it or displays the same problems then there's the problem. I wouldn't use Prime95 until you've ruled out the GPU and want to check the Motherboard and CPU.

Other suggestions would be updated or different drivers for your motherboard, GPU and as a last resort update the system BIOS and the VGA BIOS.

Good Luck!

 

You bought a 3.0 GHz processor and it is running at 2.2? If it is a 3700 it should run at 2.2 GHz.
Big red flag there if it should be 3.0 GHz - update your BIOS and see if it supports the new CPU.
You can up the CPU voltage to 1.3 pretty safely, 1.4 with some overclock.

Run WOW in windowed mode if you plan to alt-tab. Dump the WOW addons for a while (yes, pull out the nude patch).

Try Omega drivers.
http://www.omegadrivers.net/

 

I run WoW in windowed mode, but maximise it - Running it with mods shouldn't slow it down or be causing these problems - I've always used mods.

As for Nvidia Omega Drivers:

"Released on
04/06/2005"

Not the best choice when being told to UPDATE them, surely?

 

That 3700 should actually run at 2.4.. with a max (overclock) of 3.0.

This sounds increasingly like a PSU issue.. have you tested it? What model is it? How many amps running on the +12v and +5v rails?

 

I've tested it in the sense it's been fine since last september? How do I find out said information?

 

Find out the brand by taking off the side of your case.. there should be a sticker.. which will also show ratings for the voltages.

In BIOS, there is PC HEALTH or some such.. it will display voltages and temps.

 

On a 1024x768 resolution of 3DMark06 my results are as follows:

Return for Proxycon - Average 9-13 FPS
Firefly Forest - 15 FPS
CPU Test - 0 FPS (Assuming this test factors in no graphics card, could this report point to a mobo problem or something?)
Canyon Flight - 9-15 FPS
Deep Freeze - 15-20 FPS

The score sheet is as follows:

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/9668/resultsga1.jpg

Thoughts anyone?

- Heskey

 

Okay Guys!

I realised I've been using US drivers for my card - The Nvidia site offers international cards for diff languages, so I got the UK one.

Installing it, my FPS on wow (Which was already sub-par at 20-37 on the drivers I've been using for the past few weeks) dropped to 9.

I uninstalled them all following the correct methodology and re-installed the drivers I was using earlier.

Now, WMV takes a year to load again and close, constantly flickering as the window constructs itself, my WoW FPS was 5, and some icons were mucked up.

I'm gonna assume it's the graphics card now because 2 drivers both mucked up, and re-installing one that seemed to be working fine has caused my PC to well, break. Guess I'm looking at another re-format sometime ahead!

Thoughts?

PS. COULD be a Nvidia driver issue in general, 'cause WMV works fine with no drivers installed, yet friggs up when I have drivers installed?

Just installed it from the CD it came with, to make sure the driver is 7600GT -AGP- supporting, and same problems, so it's either something to do with the gfx card or it's drivers?

 

I downloaded Disk Cleaner, and went to remove the nForce nVidia drivers - After an hour it was 'still cleaning', and when I moved my mouse I got a string of about 6 errors with a similar gobble-de-goop before I was allowed to close the program:



Right now, my PC is void of graphics drivers and Windows Media Player works fine (Obviously, I can't test WoW )

Tomorrow night I'm going to put my ATI back in and hope my PC functions as it did before February 15th (When I got the GeForcE) and RMA the GeForce.

I am concerned however that I read on a forum, someone RMA'd the same card (Experiencing problems - But not the same as mine), the company found no problems but sent a replacement, and the problem still occured on the new card (Presumably, a fault with the card range) - My bro's have always said you'll get nothing but trouble with nVidia.

If I recieve a replacement and the problem (under-performance for value, and possibly the problems I'm experiencing now after playing around with various drivers) is still occuring, but the ATI still works (I hope it will!), I'll e-bay the card and get a new, better ATI.

- Heskey

 

I've replaced my nVidia with my ATI and Windows Media Player works - Whilst FPS is as I expected on WoW, it's performance is very delayed in terms of movement. Re-installing the drivers and even trying OMEGA drivers hasn't corrected the issue.

For those who don't understand what I mean, you could be running along smoothly, then it'll jerk a bit, then resume and shoot you forward, overshooting where you wanted to move to - Same with regards to camera turning, even with the mouse - You're panning, 1oclock, 2oclock, 3oclock *jerk* 6oclock whilst FPS is still 33 (2 above what the eye can see).

I'm sure this is a much less complex issue than what I'm experiencing with my nVidia, but helping make the ATI work fine first will go a long way to establishing that it's the card and not my PC!

Any help / suggestions you can offer?

- Heskey

 

I did a driver clean-up, and reinstalled them once more and now the ATI seems to be working fine, I even went onto CSS for the first time since reformat to see how it was. GFX for CSS (even on high) were a bit fuzzy (textures not fully developed at medium range despite being on ' *high' (* = Recommended) but the FPS was 60+ which is as I remember it for the ATI.

WoW isn't doing 'slow&speed' anymore, but the password entry is still delayed, which is a worry to me (Yeah I know it doesn't affect the game but it may be a sign relating to my PC!)

Basically, touch and go but the ATI seems to work fine, and once again we're drawn into the problem of:

1.) Is my nVidia in need of RMA?
2.) Is the production of 7600GT's broken?
3.) Is the entire supply of XFX products botched?

 

I have watched , with interest, since your previous post, your developing dilemma.I would say that the nVidia is not fully compatable with your setup, and suggest you seek a different one to replace it.
Sometines a video card driver is 'not quite' the right one, and the only other answer would be another driver if you keep it - sorry , but I cannot recommend one.

 

Any ideas on this delayed password entry on WoW, the fuzzy textures on CSS and the 'frame-by-frame' maximization/minimization of windows after playing WoW? (You know what I mean, the window grows bit by bit, very frame-y instead of smoothly after playing WoW)

Obviously over the weekend I'll be testing the card through general play and be updating you all here. I gotta thank you though baklogic for being the only one so far that's not bailed yet

 

I am sure others keep watch, and keep looking for answers, that is why we
are geeks - cannot let it beat us.
PS. COULD be a Nvidia driver issue in general, 'cause WMV works fine with no drivers installed, yet friggs up when I have drivers installed?
QUOTE FROM YOU:
Just installed it from the CD it came with, to make sure the driver is 7600GT -AGP- supporting, and same problems, so it's either something to do with the gfx card or it's drivers?

I am certain it is.

What I have done is to see what I can find regarding crap graphic displays , by M icrosoft.
Now, it is not about your game, but the links might help find the answer (drivers can be a general problem, and one fix might just work on another)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q278003/

http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs2/support_videocards.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs2/articles_performance_settings.aspx

 

NVIDIA GeForce 7 Phase 2 Review :: XFX 7600GT Card

http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/hardware/1592_6.html

They used driver version 84.17 Forceware

-----------------

latest driver is version 93.71 you can download from here
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_93.71.html

Installation instructions.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/driver_installation_hints.html

 

Thanks for your time and research baklogic; here's an update for you

I e-mailed XFX about the problem and they asked me to register the card so they could assist me better.

My brother recommended going along with it, which has meant using Driver Cleaner to clean both nVidia and ATI off my PC, and putting my nVidia back in.

After registering, I downloaded THEIR drivers and installed them - So far, it seems to be working well:

Media Players Work
CSS on recommended (v-high but not ultra high) GFX gives an average FPS of 70-140.

WoW seems to be about the same though, maybe a little better, which makes me wonder whether or not there's a compatability issue between my card and WoW.

That idea went out the window though when I remembered about the original errors I was recieving with Medieval 2 (Which I've still not installed).

So far though, so good.

 

Driver issue !!! -
It was a good idea to go to XFX, now , at least you are clean of drivers, and know what you have - Well done - I will watch this space.:clap

 

Okay, XFX said disable v-sync in the control panel, unless it causes more problems.

In a brief look, my performance on WoW (In places where my PC began to go to shit) has increased significantly!

 

Great news, nice to find the answer - sometimes too simple, and overlooked.
Scour the Web, try them all, tear hair out, then finish up with a manufacturers driver, from XFX THAT FIXES IT.

 

Well let's not be too hasty.

So I've got -some- increased FPS on WoW, I'm still seeing those split-second flashes when playing, and I'll try Medieval 2 again after exams - I really hope that starts to work because the Kingdoms expansion looks amazing.

The technician also added just now, to turn AGP Apature to 128MB and see if that helps any, in BIOS (That's half my card's RAM, why would I wanna do that? Surely that'd make it worse?)

Eitherway, I looked all over my bios and couldn't find anything to go with AGP Apature or GFX RAM so couldn't do it - I've let him know that.

 

This might interest you

http://www.myplc.com/sony/agp_aperture.htm

But, note that it is not dealing directly with your card, just about agp aperture changing.

 

You will need something like 3DMark 2001 to benchmark it - but if you try anything - wait til you finish exams.
Your technition knows what he is talking about, and it seems that lowering the ram can sometimes help , even reduce corrupted frames, depending what system Ram you have installed.

 

I used 3DMark06 and got a final score of like 3919

On Return to Proxycon I got 9-25 FPS,
Canyon Flight - 9-15 FPS
Deep Freeze - 15-20FPS
CPU Test - 0 FPS

 

Have a read up on that link, and see if it gives you any ideas

 

Lil' too technical for me just right now to be reading.

Though, these flashes in WoW're really ticking me off. I'm thinking a reinstall may fix it, but then again, I'm also not (Refer to this link for explanation: http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=286780388&postId=2865452750&sid=1#0 )

Today I was playing, when I noticed things appearing on screen, really quick for split seconds randomly. It was for intents and purposes like attack of the artifacts. Just little scars on my screen were appearing everywhere. I don't mean like when you get artifacts, they were litterally just just scars that kept flicking on and off, all around the monitor at random. Mini-artifacts that didn't seem to spring from a texture (Usually comes from the horizon, the character, a building, right? These were just random!)

They were getting worse within a minute and also occuring on character select so I restarted WoW and it seemed to be fine for the rest of the night. I'm guessing just a minor overheating issue, nothing major?

 

Someone else with games problems, found that installing a codec pack solved it, but I cannot find the post.
Another foind that a gambling game fixed his, and when I looked through, and into it, it seems that it uses a flash version 8 , or, higher, and javascript enabled- again I cannot find the post at the moment.

 

Over the last week my PC has been cutting out randomly. I assumed it was my PSU but it's just done it 2 times in the last hour, so I got SpeedFan.... Take a look xD

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3386/heatfn6.jpg

Here is the conversation which followed with me brother:

[21:25] Robert: hahaha
[21:25] Robert: 55C wtf
[21:25] Robert: dude
[21:25] Robert: that's like halfway to boiling water
[21:25] Heskey: I know xd
[21:25] Robert: your cpu is about a third of the temperature of a gas hob which need i remind you is designed for cooking stuff on
[21:25] Robert: Your PC is turning off because the BIOS is saying "Jesus christ if you run any longer you'll actually set on fire

So, my CORE is my Processor, or...?

How can I lower this temperature?!

I have a feeling this graphical flashes I experience in WoW (Terrain or Background, or UI flashing away for a split second) could be linked xD

Please help!

(Apparently 55C isn't that hot for the CORE but bro has told me to turn off Auto-Restart, which I have, and tell him what the error message is it gives me next time it happens.)

 

Well, the BSOD has happened 3 times tonight, and the error is 'n4_disp.dll' apparently.

I've googled it and this is a common BSOD error with nVidia cards, especially XFX brands. People have noted that downgrading / updating and changing drivers has not solved the problem, even after DriverCleaners.

Someone also noted it wasn't fixed after 3 XP reformats.

I originally assumed my 600W PSU was cutting out, however given that these problems have only occured since buying this graphics card I am no longer following that theory as strongly!

Eitherway, I've told all this to XFX tech support, they've been responsive so far (Not so much 'helpful'), but what do you guys make of it?

 

No one has anything to say about n4_disp.dll?

Where'd baklogic go?