The video card came in....

Akiakaiu · Post by **Akiakaiu** » August 29th, 2007, 22:37

The I got a RMA number. The fans on the card run, so it has power, but I get nothing to the monitors. Most likely it's not compatible to AGP 2.0, unlike alot of the AGP 3.0 cards...

Just trying to update my pos has shown me how much I need to build a new one. It is 4 years old so it is at the end of it's life, but I was hoping to keep her going till next year. At least the RAM helps some.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » August 29th, 2007, 22:48

Try resetting the bios, try different cables on the PSU, swear a bit.

Akiakaiu · Post by **Akiakaiu** » August 29th, 2007, 23:21

Did all those and threw a few things too while I was at it. I'm just going to send it back and forget about a new video card for now.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » August 29th, 2007, 23:23

Yeah, s'annoying, but seems wise.

Post by **HereComesPete** » August 29th, 2007, 23:42

Yup, if you've fettled it as much as you can and its not playing, rma it, you'll need the money for the new rig!

Akiakaiu · Post by **Akiakaiu** » August 30th, 2007, 0:05

Now I get this message

Code: Select all

GLW_StartOpenGL() - could not load OpenGL subsystem

When I try to play any of my Id games.

I think I'm gonna go to sleep, and work on this tomorrow.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » August 30th, 2007, 0:06

reinstall drivers probably.

Post by **HereComesPete** » August 30th, 2007, 0:16

I had a quick google for you. This is the first thing I looked at- Linkeh, could need to scout further, there's a web link to a microsoft help (ahaha, ms help?! Laugh? I nearly started!) that might also be of use.

Akiakaiu · Post by **Akiakaiu** » August 30th, 2007, 2:33

I couldn't sleep so I uninstalled the newest drivers I had just DLed from ATI/AMD's site and rooted around for a few minutes in the attic for the installation cd. Everything works ok now, for the most part. So I shot a few nazi's and feel a bit better. Time to start saving for the new rig.

Akiakaiu · Post by **Akiakaiu** » August 31st, 2007, 23:37

Ok, so I got another version of the x1950 and this one works, kinda. My PC seems really sluggish now, and locks up when I try to play a game.(Only tried Doom 3 and Bioshock so far.) I only have a 420w psu so I'm thinking that's why it's acting funny.

So before I go and spend a few dollars more on this dated machine, think this is the problem?

Post by **HereComesPete** » September 1st, 2007, 0:52

I take it you've put extra power leads into the card if it needs it? Most psu's don't push enough power through one rail for there to be enough. My rig has a 580 watt psu, but under load it draws at the very most 400w and around 3 amps, so I think you are ok with the psu, unplug any case mods/spare drives, usb fans etc and see if it makes the slightest bit of difference.

Could be driver side, fettling the card, making sure the old ones are gone. May need a bios flash to work with the card, but WARNING, this is usually not the case and a bios flash is not undertaken lightly, so don't do this without further consultation unless you really want to take your rig and balls in hand.

Akiakaiu · Post by **Akiakaiu** » September 1st, 2007, 2:56

Well after a bit of messin around it turns out the newest drivers were to blame. Somehow they messed up the dx on my card. o.O Installed the newest driver from the HIS site and works fine now. On the cd there was a link to download the newest driver and it took me to the ATI/AMD site for drivers. So bad driver from ati was the problem. Lets hope everthing thing else works now.

Akiakaiu · Post by **Akiakaiu** » September 2nd, 2007, 5:20

Akiakaiu wrote:Well after a bit of messin around it turns out the newest drivers were to blame. Somehow they messed up the dx on my card. o.O Installed the newest driver from the HIS site and works fine now. On the cd there was a link to download the newest driver and it took me to the ATI/AMD site for drivers. So bad driver from ati was the problem. Lets hope everthing thing else works now.

All lies! Or wishful thinking on my part. I'm still having problems with this new card. I've updated everything I can, tried a few different drivers for it, and it seems the only game I can play is FFXI. Every other game locks up during the initial loading.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. I've updated my x-fire profile if that helps anyone.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » September 2nd, 2007, 5:30

First step should be checking the graphics card is ok.

Grab Atitool and run the scan for artifacts thing, it'll get the card fairly hot, and check stuff isn't going wrong there.

May also be worth using some voltage monitoring app (this'll let you know if the PSU is fail) either mobo maker's or everest should work.

Also worth giving everything a poke with <a href="http://hairy-arse.com/Driver Cleaner.NET.rar">drivercleaner</a>

Akiakaiu · Post by **Akiakaiu** » September 2nd, 2007, 7:56

No artifacts after 10 minutes, all my voltages are within .3v of what they should be. I took everything ATI off my pc with drive cleaner and reinstalled the newest HIS drivers for my card and it still locks up on every game besides FFXI. I have the newest bios for my mobo, newest agp drivers, I've run out of ideas. Am I destined to keep the firegl?

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » September 2nd, 2007, 8:00

Poke it with a stick?

What kind of locks are you getting? BSODs, games crashing to desktop or?

Also, as much as it pains me to say this, maybe hassle alienware, they're likely to have some idea if this is a common issue.

Also, update your mobo drivers if you can, if you're unsure what it is (I dunno if alienware use custom or off the shelf) use This majicks and post the output here.

Akiakaiu · Post by **Akiakaiu** » September 2nd, 2007, 8:16

It hangs, nothing works but the reset button then. This is what the majicks gave me. I'm fairly sure I have the newest for my mobo, maybe there are newer bridge drivers, never really looked into them.

CPU-Z 1.40.5 report file
Processor(s)
Number of processors 2
Number of cores 1 per processor
Number of threads 1 (max 1) per processor
Name AMD Athlon MP
Code Name Barton
Specification AMD Athlon(tm) MP 2600+
Package Socket A (462)
Family/Model/Stepping 6.A.0
Extended Family/Model 7.A
Core Stepping
Technology 0.13 um
Core Speed 2000.2 MHz
Multiplier x Bus speed 15.0 x 133.3 MHz
Rated Bus speed 266.7 MHz
Instruction sets MMX (+), 3DNow! (+), SSE
L1 Data cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache 512 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line size
Chipset & Memory
Northbridge AMD AMD-762 rev. A0
Southbridge AMD AMD-768 rev. 05
Memory Type DDR
Memory Size 2048 MBytes
Memory Frequency 133.3 MHz (1:1)
CAS# Latency (tCL) 2.5 clocks
RAS# to CAS# (tRDC) 3 clocks
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 3 clocks
Cycle Time (tRAS) 7 clocks
Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 10 clocks
DRAM Idle Timer 8 clocks
System
System Manufacturer alienware
System Name Unknown
System S/N
Mainboard Vendor TYAN
Mainboard Model S2466 TIGER MPX
BIOS Vendor Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
BIOS Version
BIOS Date 04/11/2003
Memory SPD
Module 1 DDR, PC2100 (133 MHz), 1024 MBytes, PQI CORP.
Module 2 DDR, PC2100 (133 MHz), 1024 MBytes, PQI CORP.
Software
Windows Version Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
DirectX Version 9.0c

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » September 2nd, 2007, 8:30

Hmm.

I've had a quick look for mobo drivers, and there's little, or nothing about.

You might do well to ask on www.2cpu.com they're kinda good at weirdy stuff involving obscure mobos and many CPUs.

But, I suspect, while it should work, it might just not, for some random reason. Tech support may be your best bet here.

eion · Post by **eion** » September 2nd, 2007, 9:04

This kind of thing is a known problem with the MPX boards, otherwise lovely as they are were. Try disabling fast writes in the BIOS.

Akiakaiu · Post by **Akiakaiu** » September 2nd, 2007, 18:29

Fast write has been off. But thanks for that. In my research it maybe the PSU. They are saying not to use the 4 to 6 pin converter (even though it came with one) and use a real 6 pin pci-e power rail. Also it says 450w and I have a 420w. I have a ticket in to HIS, maybe they will have something to try.