s3 graphics pc crash

hi, i am new to this with basic pc knowledge. my pc keeps crashing, with blue screen and the message, driver stuck in an infinate loop. gave tower to microsoft engineer, they changed my graphics card for one they had spare so i didnt have to purchase a new card. got pc back, opened messenger and crashed 4 times in under 1 hour !, made a call to repairer who said must be my mother board. reluctant to give pc back as should have corrected prob in first place, dont know what card i had originally but the messages i get now are:
display driver for s3 graphics savage / 1x 86c278 is responsible for system instability, and the driver for the display device was unable to complete a drawing operation please check with device manufacturer for a driver update.
i doesnt matter whether i am on messenger/internet/ skype, the result is the same, i cant find an update when going to the savage website and find it vey confusing. if anyone can help using simple speak and instructions i will be ever gratefull as it is getting so bad now i have to switch off tower at back and takes many attempts to bring back to life.
running windows xp pro on a desktop
waiting in anticipation !!!xx

 

Hi Sabrenx, thanks for the help, i have looked everywhere for the update and it would apear they do not do one for mine now, mine is 270 and i can only find updates for 290 onwards, i dont know if this would be any good with my slim knowledge.
while looking on sunday my pc decided to go and crash again and this time i cant get past the first black screen that says press delete to enter set up. then screen goes blank no matter what i cant enter safe mode or anything, will i have to reinstall windows and will i loose everything on pc as i cant bring anything up to backup my files?
now totally distraught !!!
thank again for your reply:

 

hi sabrenx, i went to the link you gave me and typed in s3 savage / 1x 86c278 and i got no results again, quickly loosing heart!
pc is running xp pro, what specs can i give you?
can i put the xp disc in and reinstall without loosing all my stuff?
i put it in when pc still worked and tried to repair but it asked me to insert floppy disk and i dont have one.
or is there a way to get pc to boot long enough to back up my files?
going mad not being able to do my stuff!!!
thanks again and again !

 

hi sabrenx,
sorry for not being more specific earlier, here goes....
pc first started displaying the blue screen with the message, (cant remember the exact wording or the code with all the 00000 on as this went with the pc to be repaired) driver stuck in an infinate loop, s3savmx ,told technician who said it was a video card problem and to drop it off(this is a microsoft technician,) when i finally got it back she had taken my card out and given me one she had, to save me buying a new one(i am financially embarrased at mo hence trying to do this myself now)she said the card may only be good for a few months,but she said it had been running for two days with no probs, i went straight onto msn (nothing else running on pc exept normal antivirus ect, did not have explorer open) pc crashed four times in under an hour ! with this message, problem caused by file s3savmx, problem with device itself or device driver programming the hardware incorrectly.
told tech who said it is my mother board that is shot then and to drop it back in to her, by this time i had lost all faith as the 2 days of running it was doing was not on the net or in any programs as far as i can make out, she told me to uninstall skype/msn/skype phone etc and reinstall.i did all this and a few other normal maintenance bits like scans in safe mode, de frag,and disk clean up .....
after this i got it crashing less often, once or twice every 5hs or so.
i noticed this happening most on msn(but this is probably more due to the fact that i spend a lot of time on it) but the mouse freezes first and then icant remember whether the next message i got was before or after shut down/restart, it said the driver for the display device was unable to complete a drawing operation,please check with the device manufacturer for a driver update, (the tech asked me if i was drawing anything or using a drawing program!) i was on msn!!!.
i then embarked upon the no knowledge tech side of things, she had put a file on called everest, which i got the graphics card details from, i then searched everywhere for udate for driver, got constantly confused and never actually found a download with this exact model no, (not being one to go for a near enough aproach) with pc constantly crashing (now really badly) mouse freeze, screen black, press restart on tower,black load screen half load and freeze, restart, pc ok for another 10 mins, mouse freeze.........
so kept loosing where i was in my search and getting thoroughly pissed off with the fact that i knew i was running out of time, then i ran out of time.....
pc half loads black screen ,press delete to.enter set up.... (that bit) and goes no further !! all logs ect that would help you understand problem that i have painstakingly gone through getting so i dont appear the dumb blonde that i obviously am when contacting major geeks(love this site by the way)are on my pc !!!!
earlier on in the proceedings i thought i would try to put xp disc in to do a repair but when i selected that option i was told to put floppy disk in and i didnt have one or know anything about a repair disc, never had to do this before! so i stopped there, i then thought of reinstalling my disk altogether but came to the partitian bit and didnt understand what i had to do to create a new one , was worried about doing anymore as in putting it where it said i shouldnt, as i couldnt bear to loose all my stuff.
well sabrenx at this point (if not before) you should be thinking why did i answer this post !, well if i tell you my laptop problem is now posted as that has gone caput (posted that one the other night)you can see i am in a bad way, and a nice person and i do deserve the help(a bit of good luck would go a long way too !) a good friend has now dared to lend me their laptop in order to fix my 2 pcs!!, so HELP,
Thank you for your time and patience. liz . ps, sorry no specs as without machine on i cant remember any of them i have numbers and figures all jumbled up in my head at this point in time.if you ask me for specifics it might jog my memory but never taken any notice before, pc is made by time,model 40230,000001 i think it is german or dutch, 128 i think rather than 256(tech said i shouldnt be running xp on it, never had a prob in last 2 yrs with it??) well i will go and have another cry as i wait for your reply(only half a pack of hankies left so be quick LOL)

 

hi sabrenx. sorry for causing you more confusion, this problem is a desktop, as of yesterday my laptop is down too(but thats a different story!)
funny but i tried to boot my desktop tonight just for the hell of it and the fact that i missed my black screen! (joking) and it booted up no problem! i quickly shut down all running programs and set about copying as much as i could onto memory stick, it has not crashed once all night, i got a file i am sending you which i hope will help.
let me know what else you need as i am not shutting pc down, i darent!

 

hopefully this will work!!!
the everest file is the one the tech did, the other is from today
View attachment Report.zip

View attachment FOSI.zip

 

sorry, missed your reply while uploading attachments, what does the card run? i dare not test it by running msn/skype/internet incase it crashes before i have finished getting the info i need, should it still crash solely using pc? if card is faulty/broken?.
i will go and find the update now but wait for your input from the info i sent you, i constantly run AVG/Ad-aware se personal/Ccleaner/xoftspy all done in safe mode too.
the drives listed in my computer are, c drive, a-floppy, d-cd, e-dvd.
i did do as you said the other day, took the card out gave it a quick wipe and seated it back securely, booted pc, still crashed repeatedly on black start screen so didnt try to boot again untill tonight when it went straight through the process no problem?
right im going before i forget where im upto again, very easy to get sidetracked with computers, hours pass in mins ! thanks sabrinex

 

It's obvious you have an intermittant hardware problem. I would run a RAM diagnostic and a HD diagnostic. Get rid of the video card and buy a used one at a used PC store for $10-$20. Those older S3 cards are junk and I've had LOTS of problems with them. The diagnostic tools can be downloaded right here from 'The Geeks'. You'll need to check the Everst report to determine who made the HD so you can download the appropraite diagnostic tool. Keep us updated....

hopperdave2000