Hi again,

I have posted here before, and you have been awesome with help. I have a strange problem I have been trying to fix for a while now. I am at work, so I can send more info when I get home, eg: DX Diag.

I have a Compaq Presario 6010US.
CPU: AMD Athalon 1600 1.4
PSU: 400 w (Upgraded, with your help)
RAM: 768 DDR 266 PC2100
HDD: 80 GB 7200RPM
VGA: NX6600 VTD256 8x running at 4x as my MoBo is only 4x (upgraded with your help)
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live 5.1
MoBo: nForce2 (from Compaq)

The card passes all tests with numerous drivers installed. There are a few 3D games that it is not playing well. Example: The graphics of the movies and menue screens look fine, but the chars and buildings etc look as if some one took the picture and cut it into triangles then mixed up the triangles and pasted them back. The ground usually looks ok in these games too.

I tried two different versions of the 3D Mark Benchmark (2001 version and 2003 version). Both showed the same problem. The games are: Dungeon Lords, The Bards Tale, Spellforce and Expansion, Deus-Ex Invisible War.

Most of my games work flawlessly. I tried a number of things to fix this. The odd things are: Video Card and Sound card are shring IRQ 18. I tried moving the sound card, but it did no good and it insists on sharing IRQ18.

Also, I used to have an intergrated vid card GeForce2 32 MB shared mem. It shows in Bios as VGA NVidia IRQ 5. The Bios does not show the 6600 at all. Device Manager sees it though.

In Bios, the AGP aperture size is set at 64 MB. When O run the 3D Mark Bench mark, it shows the System Stats, and under AGP, it lists the Aperture size as 0. I find that strange. Is there a way to fix that?

I know this is long winded and chaotic, but I have been at this for a month or 3 now. I will be happy to anything and give you any info you need if you might be able to help me out.

Please... I am at a standstil.

Thanks,

Pystal

Just a quick initial question:

Is there a setting in the BIOS to Disable the onboard VGA?

Does the onboard VGA show in the Device Manager?

If so have you disabled it there?

Originally Posted by jephree

Just a quick initial question:

Is there a setting in the BIOS to Disable the onboard VGA?

Does the onboard VGA show in the Device Manager?

If so have you disabled it there?

Thanks for the reply,

It does not show up in the Device manager, and there is no way to disable the onboard VGA. Actually, when I look at the system info section under IRQs, I do not see the IRQ5, which in the Bios settings is the NVIDIA VGA (onboard) setting. What does show up in the System Info IRQs, is IRQ18, which is the 6600. The IRQ5 VGA NVIDIA in the Bios is set at IRQ5, but when I disable it and save changes, it is just back the next time I go into Bios.

I just tried something out tonight that is a little strange. I ran the 3D Mark 2001 again, and I found some options for it. I have three choices for D3D (Rendering Pipelines). D3D Pure Hardware T&L, D3D Hardware T&L, and D3D Software T&L. I just realized that these options are for Rendering Pipelines. I hope this means something, cuz I have no clue.

I chose each one and the first two were both Artifacting. The last choice, the Software one, ran like a dream. All of the graphics were perfect. I didn't score as high with this setting, but at least I could make out what the graphics were.

Is there a way to make this option available for other things, like the games I have trouble with? Also, does this shed any light as to what my problem may be? I am so in the dark. I just installed Riva Tuner in hopes of finding a way to tweak something, problem is that I don't know what I am doing.

I was just informed that I should try the card in another PC to see if the problem follows the card. If I can get my cousin to agree to it, what steps should I take to ensure that I swap cards in and out of his PC without error. Drivers and so forth. How do I back up the driver? or is there a better way.

I want to try my card in his PC, but I don't want to put his PC at risk. Any suggestions?

Thank you for your help. I am sorry about the long post. I am really in need of as much as I can get.

BTW... How do you like your new Water Cooling unit? I bet it works like a charm.

I am almost ready to purchase a cheaper card like a 5500 fx and try that card out to see if it works.

Thanks,
Pystal

Rendering pipeline:

In 3D graphics rendering, the stages required to transform a three-dimensional image into a two-dimensional screen. The stages are responsible for processing information initially provided just as properties at the end points (vertices) or control points of the geometric primitives used to describe what is to be rendered. The typical primitives in 3D graphics are lines and triangles. The type of properties provided per vertex include x-y-z coordinates, RGB values, translucency, texture, reflectivity and other characteristics.

http://computing-dictionary.thefreed...ering+pipeline

This could be your problem. Perhaps the card and or CPU are not up to these games.

Here is a Game scan that might help if your games are listed:

http://www.srtest.com/referrer/srtest

To try the card in another computer you would need to uninstall the drivers for the existing card and replace with the drivers for your card. Afterwards you would have to uninstall your drivers and reinstall the previous.

I am not sure about your bench marks having never used that program.

I would question the limitations that you have with 4X AGP as well as a 1.4GHz CPU.


...the liquid cooling went great; thanks for asking! I would never build another computer without it

Originally Posted by jephree

Rendering pipeline:


http://computing-dictionary.thefreed...ering+pipeline

This could be your problem. Perhaps the card and or CPU are not up to these games.

Here is a Game scan that might help if your games are listed:

http://www.srtest.com/referrer/srtest

To try the card in another computer you would need to uninstall the drivers for the existing card and replace with the drivers for your card. Afterwards you would have to uninstall your drivers and reinstall the previous.

I am not sure about your bench marks having never used that program.

I would question the limitations that you have with 4X AGP as well as a 1.4GHz CPU.


...the liquid cooling went great; thanks for asking! I would never build another computer without it

Glad to hear that your Cooling System is doing great. I am jealous.

I have tested the games and my specks out at that web site, and all is good. I tested 3 of the games that are giving me truoble and I pass all of them, way above minimum specs. I am almost at recomended specs.

As for 4x AGP, the card says I can use either 4x or 8x, but who knows, that may be the problem. I found the testing to have a strange observation. I have a Sound Blaster Live 5.1 sc, and it said "You Have: nVidia WDM Video Capture (universal)" as a sound card with 4.0.5.0 Drivers. I wonder why that is? Maybe because it has the same IRQ?

I found a positive too... It said that my 1.4 AMD is rated as a 1.6! Woo Hoo! I have an Athalon AMD 1700 laying around, I may put in. I bet that would be around 1.7 rated. Not worth the trouble of reinstalling Windows XP though. I just went through that when I installed an 80 GB 7200 RPM HDD in as an upgrade. It wasn't too bad but I had to activate XP and all.

If I can't figure this out soon, I may just pick up a GeForce FX5500 256 MB 128 memory interface, AGP interface speed of 4x/8x w/4 pipelines etc. Being an upgrade from my intergrated Video, but a downgrade from my present card, I will see if this card works like it should. $52 at New Egg. If it does work, then I will send the 6600 back for a new one and try it out in my PC. If the 6600 doesn't work at that point, I will know it is a compatibility problem with my PC. I will have to sell it to someone or send it up on Ebay or what not.

I just came back from the MSI forum and they said that the pipeline thing when the Software worked and Hardware didn't, means that the Card isn't rendering the graphics. The CPU is. Oh boy... I hope that isn't the case, but it may be. I guess that means it is unk?

I am up for any more help though. Thank you again for the help so far. You give me hope where I see little.

Take care,

Pystal

OK, Here is a quik update.

I broke down and purchased a GeForce FX5500 256 8x AGP (says compatible with 8x/4x/2x).

I skipped sleep and installed the card. Guess what? It works like a dream!

I tried out the 3DMark 2001 Benchmark and scored around a 6000+ or so. I could watch all graphics with D3D Pure Hardware L&T. I then tries out a couple of games that I couldn't use before and voila, a-ok!

I think that the 6600 was just defective. I hope it is anyway, as I am sending it packing to RMA center. If the new one works, then I will bring the FX5500 back, but if it doesn't work, I will keep the FX5500. I will just accept the fact that I need to get a new PC instead of upgrading.

Thnaks for your help,

Pystal