Disaster with new GEForce4 Video Card!

[nigelgrant 4]

After waiting so patiently and soliciting peoples

[Guest Shane Strong CYHZ]

are you sure the card was seated into the slot properlythat would be my fist place i looksecond it might be a hardware incompatibility check the hardware forums see if anyone else with your motherboard has the same problem

[Guest artl]

I assume you tried reseating the board more than once? If not, it could just have been a seating problem and it might be worthwhile to just try installing it a second time around.Also, it may be possible that the card was trying to run by default in some resolution and/or refresh mode that your monitor cannot handle. Would the card boot up in Windows "Safe" mode?? If it can, boot it up in safe mode (press F8 during bootup sequence) and then check that the video settings are all reasonable and that your MONITOR is also still properly "installed"Art.

[Guest]

How big is your power supply??

[Guest]

Nigel,You need at least a 300W PSU (power supply) for a GeForce 4, did you check that? Also visit the motherboard's manufacturer's web site for updated BIOS and known hardware incompatibilities if any...---All the BestKaty Pluta

[Guest]

make sure you hear a good CLICK when you put that card into the AGP spot. that's how you know it's in right. As said before anything under a 300 watt PS and GF4 are not going to work well. I would get a 450 watt or 550 watt ps just to be on the safe side. It could always be a bad card to but that's unlikely unless you hear servel beeps from your bios during post test Capt.Richard Dillon (KATL)www.jetstarairlines.comhttp://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpghttp://jdtllc.com/images/RCsupporter.jpg"Lets Roll" 9/11 -----------------------Specs AMD 1600 XP MSI KT 266t pro2 512MB DDR 2100GF3 ti 200 64MB SBliveCh Products Yoke and Pedals(usb)Windows 2000 Serivce Pack 3

[Guest]

Nigel - It sounds like a power issue of some sort. If it's not a motherboard problem, per se, the most probable cause is a power supply fault, i.e., not enough available current to handle the GF4. Any PSU rated at less than 300W is suspect and anything at less than 250W needs to be upgraded. But, there have also been specific issues reported in the NG's for that particular board. In particular, that the original version 1.0 isn't GF4 compatible due to suspected voltage specification issues. Assuming that your PSU specs look OK, I'd call Gigabyte and see what insight they can lend.Trip

[Guest abent]

Nigel, I'm having the precise problem you are having but with a MSI 648 MAX board. I've tried many things as well. I'm leaving for Winnipeg in 5 minutes and have an appointment with techs at the computer store tomorrow at 10:00 am. They are going to fix the problem, they say.I will reply here tomorrow night and hopefully I will have some helpful info for you.Adam

[nigelgrant 4]

What great information you folks have provided, thx very much.Yes, I think it is seated okay, I have installed and un-installed it several times - I don't think that is the issue.I have a 300w power supply. I sort of wondered about my refresh rate but I doubt that is an issue in installing a new card, I did go back to the VGA default before installing it, new cards are installed all the time and there is never any mention of changing the refresh rate before changing the card, I was working on the adapter default bnefore which is a GEForce2.There is only one beep on boot up and the smearing is there in safe mode. I have messaged GigaByte but so far no response. I wonder about this mb, I have revision 1.1 and would hope that earlier problems had been resolved - but that is where my suspicions presently lie.I bought the Albatron from a computer discount shop who were not very cooperative when I took the card back for them to test. BUT they have now e-mailed me, offering a straight exchange on the LeadTek Ti4200 128MB VIVO. I was and am very tempted but I am now nervouse about the mb problem - would the smearing also occur with the LeadTek if the mb is deficient - then I would be further behind.The Albatron is currently being checked by my regular dealer who has done all my mb, CPU and drive work in the past.Any more suggestions and opinions would be much appreciatedNigel

[Guest]

I bought a Geforce 4 ti4600 PNY and installed it on an EPOX MB with XP and all it did is bring up a black screen with red dashs on it. What I ended up doing (which I know is the wrong way to do it) was I reinstalled my old card and got it working and then shut off the computer and swapped out the cards and then turned the computer back on,and then installed the right driver for that card. Heck give it a try!!

[Guest PaulL01]

Go for the Leadtek card Nigel.

[nigelgrant 4]

My computer goes into my dealer on Monday and he seems to think he can get the Albatron to work with it. The Albatron supplier has also offered to exchange it for a LeadTek Ti4200 128MB VIVO which was my second choice, but I am going to see whether we can get the computer to work with the Albatron - if my computer has a problem then likely the Leadtek would not work either.I will keep you all postedNigel

[Guest abent]

Well, mine is working great now. It was a driver conflict. The tech removed all the old video drivers and installed the latest from Nvidia. System:P4 2.4512 DDR RAMPerformance BIOS SettingsGeForce 2 Ultra 64 MB 3D Mark score: 5342With GeForce4 Ti4200 (Default memory and core clock speeds)3D mark score: 10763 :-eek Big jump!However, from my very limited testing of FS, it appears that I will not be getting a large increase in FPS. About 2 FPS faster. But I can move the sliders farther to the right without losing frames.Now on to overclocking my CPU...any suggestions before I start my research. Never done it before. Is it really worth it for the performance gain I might get vs the potentially hazardous side effects? I wasn't necessarily planning to change my CPU fan. It's the one that came with the CPU.Thanks, Adam

[Guest Stratus_Fractus]

Very jealous on your new rig Adam. ;-) Congrats on getting it.

[Guest]

Adam:Well, depending on your MoBo you will reach certain levels of success.You will need to move your FSB up as high as it will go and remain stable. You will also need to up the voltage on your CPU to compensate for your higher FSB. You should play with these settings in small increments until you have found the right mix.If your MoBo doesn't support AGP/PCI freq. locking then you will meet a brick wall because you want to keep the AGP/PCI bus as the default settings. If you overclock your FSB then you will concequentially raise your AGP/PCI clock and you will only be able to raise it to a point before you can't boot your PC.Finally, but MOST IMPORTANTLY, you need to have VERY GOOD COOLING in your system. If you have two or three fans I would suggest you not attempt overclocking anything. You should have at least 1 fan in front of your case to suck air in (at least two are recommended), at least 1 exhaust fan (2 recommended), at least 1 chassis fan, a high quality CPU fan (variable speed) and pure copper heat sink (along with Artic Silver Thermal CPU Paste). I would also suggest memory heat-sinks. This is the very basic set up you would need to achieve a decent level of success in your overclocking endeavor.Another point that most overlook is your wiring. You need to tame your wires inside your case to maximize airflow over your MoBo or no matter how many fans you have they will be ineffective. I would suggest investing in some wire ties.Personally, I have a P4 2.8Ghz running stable at 3.2Ghz and am using a Koolance water cooling system. I am interested in getting her up to 3.4Ghz and the water cooling is just not cutting it so I am going to buy a VapoChill Vapor Phase Cooling system next week which should get the cpu temp to around -15 C. As it stands now my CPU gets to around 42 C under full load. For true overclocking stability air cooling is really a thing of the past, but still can be relatively effective when there is lots of air getting in and out of your case.Right now at 3.2Ghz with a Radeon 9700 PRO I get 18,119 3DMarks. I can assume that another 200Mhz should allow me to hit the mythical 20,000 3DMarks (I hope).Make sure you have a CPU core temp monitor of some sought also because heat kills!Right now I think the only glaring weak link in your system would be your video card. It's going to hold you back from getting truly wonderful 3DMarks so you may try overclocking that too. You may want to look into changing your powersupply (PSU) to something more robust that will provide a conditioned power supply to your MoBoHope this helps a bit.Mike T.System Specs.P4 2.8Ghz @ 3.2Ghz512MB RIMM4200 RAMBUSRadeon 9700 PRO @ 324mhz core / 720mhz memoryAsus P4T533 configured for RAID 02x WD Caviar 120GB 7200 RPM DrivesKoolance Watercooling for CPU/VIDEO/MoBo (To be replaced by VapoChill Phase Cooling)Antec True Blue 480 WATT PSU w/2 fans5x Antec fansThermal Xaser II A6000B Aluminum CaseCreative Audigy IIYamaha 48x CD-RW