GF4 Ti 4600 Problems

[scriptasylum]

Well, I went out the other day and bought the Visiontek Ti 4600. But it simply crashes windows whenever it feels like it. Seems random: sometimes I'll be playing a game, sometimes I'll just be doing something online, sometimes I'll leave my PC for a few minutes and come back to find it on the logon screen.

I previously had a gf2 gts with no problems. Before I installed the new card, I removed the old drivers, shut down, removed old card/installed new card, booted up, and installed the new drivers.

I've done everything the Visiontek FAQ states and called their "tek" support. They say this board *MUST* be on IRQ 11 and this IRQ cannot be shared by anything else. OK, well I did what I could: re-assigned what I could in BIOS, tried moving other cards to another PCI slot. XP wont let me change IRQ settings within windows. Whatever I try, the gf4 is always sharing an IRQ with something. Arrggg.

I've tried the drivers the card came with (27.50), newer drivers on their website (28.30), and the 28.3 on nVidia's site. All have the same effect. I really don't think its a driver issue, but a hardware issue. Once windows reboots, it tells me the system recovered from a serious error. When I submit that error, MS can't find the reason why. The event log simply shows a system error too (not video or application error). I have even tried updating the AGP miniport drivers from AMD.

ANY help would be appreciated. I am to the point where I am going to take this card back and get an ATI instead. I have been a Geforce fan since the old 256 and don't want to go to another brand.

 

[Sazar]

turn off the autorestart feature on system failure or whatever... xsiv says this all the time...

basically then next time there is a failure... there will be a message or a blue screen and just copy down what it says there nad poist it here so the brainy lads can help you out..

EDIT...

AND LASSES... sorry jewellz... I know yer the cleverset/lubliest/smartest/most interesting/most glib of them all...
I woulda wrote more but my fingers hurt from spear tossing...

 

[Iceman]

u might try the 29.40 drivers from nvidia or the latest ones if they have higher.

 

[scriptasylum]

Here's my "blue screen". Not very helpful I'm afraid.
I'll try downloading those beta drivers, but i hate to use betas.

 

[Iceman]

oh I agree, I hate beta drivers myself, but than again, I hate blue screens even worse

 

[wyrlwyn]

not to dis nvidai, but i've heard alot of bad things about th g4ti4600s... read about it on virtual-hideout.net, aparently, g4s don't like pentium 4s...

 

[wyrlwyn]

i think nvidia killed them selves with the release of this thing... i'm planning on buying a g4 ti 4200 from gainward, i wouldn't attempt to try a g4 ti4600 from all the stuff i've heard about them.

what kind of ram/mobo/cpu do you have?
i'm guessing the maker of the card is visiontek? can you return it and try another one... maybe a g3ti500

 

[Iceman]

search the threads on that ti4200, fellow just bought one the other day, same problems

 

[Friend of Bill]

Are you sure you have an adequate power supply (i.e., 300W +)?

 

[scriptasylum]

Yeah, I read that other thread on the 4200. I was hoping it was an isolated issue. PLus sometimes similar problems are caused by different things.

My basic system is in my signature. I have a 400w PS.

I just finished d/l the beta driversand will try them. I'll let everyone know in a while how it turns out...

 

[scriptasylum]

Arrgg! I tried the new beta drivers and I get the same result.

The blue screen shows the same error as before with an additional error: "Fastfat.sys".

I guess this card is going back to the store

Anyone know how the Radeon 8500 128MB DDR All-in-wonder performs? The only review I can find is at TomsHardware and that is for the 64MB version. That is my next choice i guess. Or should I just stick with my old GF2 GTS for now until nVidia irons out any issues they may have?

 

[wyrlwyn]

still think the g3 ti 500 is the best nvidia card made... but then again, people have problems with them also... gona try a g4 ti 4200 in my new msi k7n420 mobo... would be funny if an nvidia board doesn't work on an nvidia chipset...

 

[SilverBack]

I have a VisionTek 4600 in this box I'm on.
It's an AMD system XP 1800+ cpu at 2000+.
I have an Antec 400w supply.
I haven't had any of the problems that you are having.

The dump that you show in the jpg I wouldn't necessarily believe that it's the video card.

A previous poster may have it correct by saying that it is a power supply problem. With all the hardware that you have in your machine adding a higher clocked 4600 ( uses more power obviously ) could be the culpret.
Other possibilities:
In your BIOS
Turn OFF video caching and Video shadowing, Nvidia cards do not need these tweaks and may even cause instabilities as you describe.

 

[scriptasylum]

Well, I seem to have solved the problem (I think??). I flashed the mobo BIOS with the latest update. The only part I don't like about this "too-easy" fix is that the BIOS release notes on the giga-byte site said the update resolves something to do with the XP processor but theres no mention of any AGP fixes. Even though I don't even have an XP processor, I thought I'd give it a try.

To make sure this was actually the resolution, I re-installed the original 27.50 drivers. I re-set the IRQ settings in the BIOS back to "auto" and put my modem back in the PCI slot it was originally in (I tried moving it to another slot because I couldnt get it to not share the vid IRQ). So far I haven't had any more resets. I will really test it out tomorrow but the PC has been on for several hours where it wouldn't go one full hour without resetting on me. Plus I've been playing a few games to test the 3d part.

I would think it may be the PS too except for two points:
1: I have a 400w antec.
2: About half the time my PC reset, the system was essentially idle. No great CPU load, or HD activity. Other times I was doing something, but never really taxing anything.

The hardware antialiasing setting is cool by the way, makes older games look quite a bit better. I dont know if GF3 had this, but I know my gf2 never did.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and comments. Whatever the outcome, I'll post the results of my further tests when done.

 

[scriptasylum]

Well, I STILL had problems with the 4600 so, I took it back and swapped it with a Visiontek 4400 instead. So far it has been really stable (3 days no reboots or lockups). And with the money I saved I was able to almost cover the cost of the Lian-Li case I've been eyeing for a while.

Just a thought: Is it possible the AGP port on my mobo cannot continuously supply the power for the 4600? I havent found a documentation to support this, but it's the only explanation I can come up with. I basically have the same card ("clocked-down" sorta), therefore less power consuming and the same version drivers. Any ideas? (I dont think its my PS: its an Antec 400w).

Oh, and FYI: Most (5 out of 7) of the FreshDiagnose Video benchmarks are better with this "slower" 4400 card than with the 4600 (same brand too)! Weird.