GeForce FX5200 troubles

[Cornbread]

Things aren't running the way they should. I just installed a 128MB nvidia GeForce FX5200 AGP card in my PC. Some of the video looks better but machine has became somewhat unstable. Locks up mostly in "Vice City". I've played the game on roommate's PC with 1/2 the video memory and it was much smoother. Bullet's just not spraying out of the minigun like they should be!

Anybody got any suggestions?

the box is a 1.13 gig AMD CPU, Asus A7V133 with 384 PC133 RAM

will some more RAM fix it, or should I just build off a new MB/CPU/RAM combo?

Corn

[BigBlue66]

Did you install drivers for the video card? Did you install DirectX 9, or a version thereof, after you installed the video card?

Is your friends's computer faster than yours? I mean, does it have a faster processor? More RAM?

Your system is probably really pushing it for the requirements to run Vice City effectively. My son plays it all the time on a system with an XP 1800+, 512mb SDRAM and a GF4 Ti 4200.

I like your idea of building up a new system with mobo/CPU/RAM. Adding more system RAM may or may not help in this situation.

[Cornbread]

No, our computers are the same motherboard and CPU. his box has 512 of RAM, mine 386.

Also, I didn't personally load directX 9. I'm not really sure where to find if I am or not

[LadyGrey]

I just installed the FX 5200 128mb agp card. The disk that came with it had all the drivers and DirectX 9 on it. Yours should too. Give a browse to the CD that came with your card. I haven't had any trouble with mine and I'm only running 256mb of RAM. I play Morrowind a whole lot and don't have much trouble with it at all. My system is not set up for gaming per say but it hangs in there. There is a DirectX version A and B also I think?. Someone correct me if I'm wrong bout that. Don't really know what the differences are, I'm sure some of the guru's will know. LG;)

oh yeah, check your pixel shading too. If it's off turn it on. Makes a big difference. LG

[Variable]

Well you shoudl try new drivers first off. You will see a big gaming improvement with a new motherboard and the biggy, faster RAM. FPS should improve a lot. Nvidia's card like to lock up sometimes, till you find the right driver combo. If your friend has the exact same mobo and cpu and ram then I would just check his driver version. You sure he has pc133?
V

[saphalline]

Also, I didn't personally load directX 9. I'm not really sure where to find if I am or notJust go to Start, Run, then type 'dxdiag'. That will tell you the exact version number of the DirectX installed on your system.

Also, what video card were you using before? If it was an ATI card, that would be your problem right there unless you completely removed all traces of the ATI drivers. If it was an older NVidia card (GF3 or older) then your problem could simply be out-dated chipset drivers and/or BIOS. Definitely try the latest chipset drivers before you go messing with your BIOS.

Finally, check online for patches/updates to the game itself.

[Cornbread]

well a lot of what you just said makes sense. I ran "dxdiag" and I have directX 9 on here. Also, I DID in fact have an ATI card in here before, and I'm almost positive that all traces of it have NOT vanished. It was a radeon VE card, built to support 2 monitors. I uninstalled everything I could, but the PC think there's still 2 monitors. I tried deleting one off of device manager but it just reappears.

After installing directX9 from the included driver disk, the first game I tried to play was Vice City and it told me it couldn't find enough video memory. I called the video card manufacturer and told them about it, they suggested newest card driver and newest motherboard drivers. Done. Same problem still exists. What the hell is going on?

[saphalline]

The problem is that Windows is hell for changing video drivers. Since video is such a core capability (far more important than having sound) it's installed deep inside Windows. This isn't a problem when you upgrade to the same manufacturer video chipset (such as NVidia to NVidia) but going to a totally different set of drivers is hell!! :(

To put things simply, you'd have to do a lot of work to remove all traces of ATI out of your system, utilising many reboots. You willing to manually remove things in safemode?

Not knowing which version of Windows you use, and never having tried it out myself, I can't say for certain the exact steps. However, if at all possible, my advice is to back up all your data and start over. Reformat the hard drive and reinstall Windows using the NVidia drivers and all other updated drivers for your hardware. It may seem like a lot of trouble over a little thing, but that's the point - this isn't a little thing! :rolleyes:

I remember someone posting the non-reformat fix to this problem a few months ago... Look it up if you don't want to (or can't) reformat.

[Variable]

I've never heard of this kind of problem Saphaline. Getting rid of the old drivers is pretty straightforward. Where are these type of problems listed Nvidia web site or some other forum?

Cornbred, look here before you reformat

http://www.guru3d.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=43125


Variable

[saphalline]

I've never heard of this kind of problem Saphaline. Getting rid of the old drivers is pretty straightforward.I too first heard about it recently, here on the forums when someone had a nasty problem with switching from ATI to NVidia. Apparently, the ATI drivers they used had a slight bug when it came to installing that made it very difficult to uninstall.

Could just be a fluke, but that's not the only video driver horror story I've heard (especially related to ATI's pre-Catalyst drivers which were notorious for being imperfect).

[Cornbread]

Well, the agony is over. I decided that in all my futile attempts to render my new video card operational, that it was time to try something desperate. Saphalline was right, the old drivers were dug in like an Alabama tick. However, I didn't have to reformat the HDD; I upgraded from win98SE to XP pro and all my problems disappeared. Not only does the video card work beautifully, the PC itself just seems happier.

I appreciate all the feedback, gents.

Captain Cornbread