Compaq S3300NA & 128MB Geforce4 MX440

[Guest]

Greetings All,I am considering buying the above Compaq as my upgrade of my Gigabyte GA-7TXVE motherboard didn't work out. I had a Athlon XP1700+ (512mb, VIA KT266a chipset, 300 watt power supply, SoundBlaster Audigy. I flashed the BIOS to the latest version and upgraded to an 2100+ processor.Unfortunately while the computer runs most applications ok it refuses to run my 64 MB GeForce2 TI for newer DirectX games (read FS2002, CBFS2, FS2000). Via 4in1 drivers, power supply, BIOS Version, SoundBlaster card, etc is not the problem. 2D and old DirectX games appear to be ok. I even did a clean install of Windows 98SE and software to no avail. Tried DirectX 8.0a and 8.1b and different versions of video drivers (currently 41.09 & DirectX 8.1b)Anyhow I installed the Creative Labs 32 MB TNT2 Pro from my other system and the system runs sort of ok but still freezes on FS2002 or experiences "a problem" so I am looking at teh Compaq as a FS2002 system.Incidently the GeForce2 TI video card runs fine on my older Athlon Slot A, Athlon 750 chipset - MSI motherboard with a 250 watt power supply, 512MB Ram, and Soundblaster PCI512 using the same operating system and drivers.The Compaq has a GeForce4 128 MB MX440.My questions is: is it true that I will not be able to enable reflections, detailed water, etc in FS2002 or has this problem been resolved with new MX440's and newer Drivers?I know this is not the greatest video card but the Compaq S3300NX appears to be a reasonable value, although very marginal on the power supply (only 200 watts)I appreciate any comments relating to this post and thank all in advance.Regards to all...............S

[wsieffert 0]

When you flashed the BIOS, did you make sure to reset the CMOS ram so that it didn't have any of the old BIOS left in it banks. Usually there is a jumper that needs to be moved removing the MOBO battery from the CMOS. Sometimes the large MOBO power connector must be removed also to make sure the powersupply capacitors don't keep the CMOS charged.If you didn't do this step, then reset the parameters in BIOS, that may be the problem with your computer.Also your MOBO may have other problems supporting the 2100XP cpu, as only certain versions of the MOBO could support it.

[Guest]

Thank you for the response.I had it done by the dealer as I didn't have a floppy drive in that system. I assume he knew what he was doing. I have gone through the BIOS to ensure all settings are correct. The motherboard will support 2100+ with the K7 BIOS and up to 2600+ (133 FSB) with the K9a BIOS upgrade which I have.After doing more research I am beginning to think I will have to live with it and think it may be the infamous VIA "infinite loop problem".I have replace the power supply and removed the SBlaster Audigy and will try the other obvious things like AGP 2X instead of 4X and will try different memory slots etc.Any how, thanks again, and by the way the 32MB TNT2 Pro actually works pretty good!

[Guest FPSFREAK]

If you feel you are suffering from the Via Inf. Loop, check out this article along with a driver patch that may help your situation.http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=64BobbyP.S. This is just my advice but if I was you I would stay away from the compaq. Do a search of some hardware forums and you will see what I am talking about. JMO

[Guest]

Thanks Bobby,I tend to agree. I believe I will wait until Dell has a deal again on the Dimension 8250 P4 with RDRAM and the ATI 9700TX or PRO.Regards............S