PC and video card help needed

Larry_OHF · 01-08-2002, 12:43 PM

I have the GeForce III, Titanium 200. I have the newest Bios for my PC, and have an A-bit BH-6 motherboard. The video card fits into the brown slot on the board. I have 384 MB memory and am running P3 450.

The trouble: My games minimize on startup, almost as though they were crashing. When they are selected to maximize from the desktop tray, they run fine after that. This happens 90% of the time. Once, I tried running a demo of a game with high intensity graphics. The first try of the sample was choppy and the sound came on and off. The second attempt proved 100% successful.
Now, I thought that maybe I should go into my Bios configuration by selecting the programming page upon boot-up of my machine. I selected to have all things returned to default setup, since I had a frined over messing with the configuation a month ago. Now, when the PC boots up, it will not go past that screen without telling me that changes have occured, and that I should either enter setup or continue on with F1. I choose F1, and Windows boots.

What the flip is going on?
I had a frined suggest to down size the video card fro 32bit to 16bit, to see if that improved my gaming trouble, but he had no idea about the Bios changes unless I needed to turn on the Plug and Play feature...

I am in unknown territory messing with this stuff. It is over my head. Any suggestions are valuable.

KDogRex · 01-08-2002, 01:02 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Larry_OHF:

I have the GeForce III, Titanium 200. I have the newest Bios for my PC, and have an A-bit BH-6 motherboard. The video card fits into the brown slot on the board. I have 384 MB memory and am running P3 450.

The trouble: My games minimize on startup, almost as though they were crashing. When they are selected to maximize from the desktop tray, they run fine after that. This happens 90% of the time. Once, I tried running a demo of a game with high intensity graphics. The first try of the sample was choppy and the sound came on and off. The second attempt proved 100% successful.
Now, I thought that maybe I should go into my Bios configuration by selecting the programming page upon boot-up of my machine. I selected to have all things returned to default setup, since I had a frined over messing with the configuation a month ago. Now, when the PC boots up, it will not go past that screen without telling me that changes have occured, and that I should either enter setup or continue on with F1. I choose F1, and Windows boots.

What the flip is going on?
I had a frined suggest to down size the video card fro 32bit to 16bit, to see if that improved my gaming trouble, but he had no idea about the Bios changes unless I needed to turn on the Plug and Play feature...

I am in unknown territory messing with this stuff. It is over my head. Any suggestions are valuable.

Hmmm, that sounds more like an OS issue. or possibly an issue between your video card and the OS. Which one are you running? BIOS updates are good, but you may want to make sure you have the appropriate drivers for your OS. eg: Win2000 drivers will *WORK* in XP, but you'd be better off going to the card manufacturer's website to see if they have any specific XP drivers. Let me know, as I have XP and am thinking about upgrading to the GeForce 3!
-KDog

Sir Kenyth · 01-08-2002, 01:33 PM

For the BIOS issue. Instead of hitting F1, enter setup, then exit and save without changing anything. It should be the last time you see that message. In windows, uninstall and/or remove all video card drivers from your device manager. Now re-boot. When Windows comes up it should detect the new hardware. Install and tell it you have a manufacturers disk. Install the driver with the .inf file on the manufacturers supplied disk. You may have to hunt a bit in the disk directory to find it. This will cleanly install the card without any extra manufacturer applications. See if things work smootly now.

Larry_OHF · 01-08-2002, 03:37 PM

quote:
Originally posted by KDogRex:

Hmmm, that sounds more like an OS issue. or possibly an issue between your video card and the OS. Which one are you running? BIOS updates are good, but you may want to make sure you have the appropriate drivers for your OS. eg: Win2000 drivers will *WORK* in XP, but you'd be better off going to the card manufacturer's website to see if they have any specific XP drivers. Let me know, as I have XP and am thinking about upgrading to the GeForce 3!
-KDog

Oh, sorry! I have 98 version...not SE...

Larry_OHF · 01-08-2002, 11:18 PM

Well, half of my troubles are over! The problem with the start up page wanting me to do F1 or enter set up proved successful upon my entry and playing around.
I do not know if I hurt anything by turning some options on that were not previously on...but the thing that helped was that I noticed that when I reset all defaults...the PC defaulted my Pentium speed down to 266 (100). I am running a P3 450, and told it so.
No more problem!
As to those other things I tinkered with. I guess it does not hurt for them to be enabled or not, as I see no noticable difference in anything.

Now, my friend told me to downsize the graphics from 32 but to a 16 bit, and see if that helped. I cannot find the feature to allow me to do that, though. Oh well...
I am sure that if I could just tell the card to do this or that with its processing speed ...I would have no more trouble.

[ 01-08-2002: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

KHaN · 01-09-2002, 03:34 AM

I suggest a large rubber mallet. Maybe of the 3 to 5 pound variety.
Brute force and scare tactics have always worked for me when it comes to mobos. You don't actually have to use the hammer...just lay it down next to your system for awhile and have the case side off so it is in full view of your mobo and vid card.

Seriously, are you asking how to change the vid card from 32bit to 16bit? If so then right click on your desktop and pick display properties, and pick the settings tab. You should see something down to the left called colors and a bitrate inside a box. Change away! Sometimes vid cards come with an option of starting programs automatically inside a window and not full screen. Just a thought.

Epona · 01-09-2002, 10:08 AM

I don't think I can be of much specific help with this problem, but I do know that my ABIT mobo has a ton of compatibility issues (ABIT KT7-RAID).
It took me weeks of fiddling to get my graphics and sound to work properly, and I still have trouble with data transfer from my DVD-ROM which I am determined to get to the bottom of eventually.
Having said that, the mobo is dead reliable once set up correctly - my system is solid as a rock and hasn't crashed once since my upgrade.

The only things I can suggest are latest drivers and latest BIOS. Failing that, you could try reformatting your HDD and a Windows re-install, then try just installing the graphics card drivers with nothing else installed and see if it works - this should determine whether there are conflicts with the mobo or OS, or whether it is other hardware or software causing the problem.

01-08-2002, 12:43 PM	#1
Larry_OHF Ironworks Moderator Join Date: March 1, 2001 Location: Midlands, South Carolina Age: 48 Posts: 14,759	I have the GeForce III, Titanium 200. I have the newest Bios for my PC, and have an A-bit BH-6 motherboard. The video card fits into the brown slot on the board. I have 384 MB memory and am running P3 450. The trouble: My games minimize on startup, almost as though they were crashing. When they are selected to maximize from the desktop tray, they run fine after that. This happens 90% of the time. Once, I tried running a demo of a game with high intensity graphics. The first try of the sample was choppy and the sound came on and off. The second attempt proved 100% successful. Now, I thought that maybe I should go into my Bios configuration by selecting the programming page upon boot-up of my machine. I selected to have all things returned to default setup, since I had a frined over messing with the configuation a month ago. Now, when the PC boots up, it will not go past that screen without telling me that changes have occured, and that I should either enter setup or continue on with F1. I choose F1, and Windows boots. What the flip is going on? I had a frined suggest to down size the video card fro 32bit to 16bit, to see if that improved my gaming trouble, but he had no idea about the Bios changes unless I needed to turn on the Plug and Play feature... I am in unknown territory messing with this stuff. It is over my head. Any suggestions are valuable. __________________

01-08-2002, 01:02 PM	#2
KDogRex Symbol of Cyric Join Date: March 5, 2001 Location: Minneapolis, MN USA Age: 55 Posts: 1,305	quote: Originally posted by Larry_OHF: I have the GeForce III, Titanium 200. I have the newest Bios for my PC, and have an A-bit BH-6 motherboard. The video card fits into the brown slot on the board. I have 384 MB memory and am running P3 450. The trouble: My games minimize on startup, almost as though they were crashing. When they are selected to maximize from the desktop tray, they run fine after that. This happens 90% of the time. Once, I tried running a demo of a game with high intensity graphics. The first try of the sample was choppy and the sound came on and off. The second attempt proved 100% successful. Now, I thought that maybe I should go into my Bios configuration by selecting the programming page upon boot-up of my machine. I selected to have all things returned to default setup, since I had a frined over messing with the configuation a month ago. Now, when the PC boots up, it will not go past that screen without telling me that changes have occured, and that I should either enter setup or continue on with F1. I choose F1, and Windows boots. What the flip is going on? I had a frined suggest to down size the video card fro 32bit to 16bit, to see if that improved my gaming trouble, but he had no idea about the Bios changes unless I needed to turn on the Plug and Play feature... I am in unknown territory messing with this stuff. It is over my head. Any suggestions are valuable. Hmmm, that sounds more like an OS issue. or possibly an issue between your video card and the OS. Which one are you running? BIOS updates are good, but you may want to make sure you have the appropriate drivers for your OS. eg: Win2000 drivers will WORK in XP, but you'd be better off going to the card manufacturer's website to see if they have any specific XP drivers. Let me know, as I have XP and am thinking about upgrading to the GeForce 3! -KDog __________________ When your email inbox contains only out of office replies, you know that others are having more fun than you...

01-08-2002, 01:33 PM	#3
Sir Kenyth Fzoul Chembryl Join Date: August 30, 2001 Location: somewhere Age: 54 Posts: 1,785	For the BIOS issue. Instead of hitting F1, enter setup, then exit and save without changing anything. It should be the last time you see that message. In windows, uninstall and/or remove all video card drivers from your device manager. Now re-boot. When Windows comes up it should detect the new hardware. Install and tell it you have a manufacturers disk. Install the driver with the .inf file on the manufacturers supplied disk. You may have to hunt a bit in the disk directory to find it. This will cleanly install the card without any extra manufacturer applications. See if things work smootly now. __________________ Master Barbsman and wielder of the razor wit!<br /><br />There are dark angels among us. They present themselves in shining raiment but there is, in their hearts, the blackness of the abyss.

01-08-2002, 03:37 PM	#4
Larry_OHF Ironworks Moderator Join Date: March 1, 2001 Location: Midlands, South Carolina Age: 48 Posts: 14,759	quote: Originally posted by KDogRex: Hmmm, that sounds more like an OS issue. or possibly an issue between your video card and the OS. Which one are you running? BIOS updates are good, but you may want to make sure you have the appropriate drivers for your OS. eg: Win2000 drivers will WORK in XP, but you'd be better off going to the card manufacturer's website to see if they have any specific XP drivers. Let me know, as I have XP and am thinking about upgrading to the GeForce 3! -KDog Oh, sorry! I have 98 version...not SE...

01-08-2002, 11:18 PM	#5
Larry_OHF Ironworks Moderator Join Date: March 1, 2001 Location: Midlands, South Carolina Age: 48 Posts: 14,759	Well, half of my troubles are over! The problem with the start up page wanting me to do F1 or enter set up proved successful upon my entry and playing around. I do not know if I hurt anything by turning some options on that were not previously on...but the thing that helped was that I noticed that when I reset all defaults...the PC defaulted my Pentium speed down to 266 (100). I am running a P3 450, and told it so. No more problem! As to those other things I tinkered with. I guess it does not hurt for them to be enabled or not, as I see no noticable difference in anything. Now, my friend told me to downsize the graphics from 32 but to a 16 bit, and see if that helped. I cannot find the feature to allow me to do that, though. Oh well... I am sure that if I could just tell the card to do this or that with its processing speed ...I would have no more trouble. [ 01-08-2002: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ] __________________

01-09-2002, 03:34 AM	#6
KHaN Drow Warrior Join Date: June 21, 2001 Location: the not to distant future, Posts: 250	I suggest a large rubber mallet. Maybe of the 3 to 5 pound variety. Brute force and scare tactics have always worked for me when it comes to mobos. You don't actually have to use the hammer...just lay it down next to your system for awhile and have the case side off so it is in full view of your mobo and vid card. Seriously, are you asking how to change the vid card from 32bit to 16bit? If so then right click on your desktop and pick display properties, and pick the settings tab. You should see something down to the left called colors and a bitrate inside a box. Change away! Sometimes vid cards come with an option of starting programs automatically inside a window and not full screen. Just a thought. __________________

01-09-2002, 10:08 AM	#7
Epona Zartan Join Date: March 1, 2001 Location: London, England Age: 53 Posts: 5,164	I don't think I can be of much specific help with this problem, but I do know that my ABIT mobo has a ton of compatibility issues (ABIT KT7-RAID). It took me weeks of fiddling to get my graphics and sound to work properly, and I still have trouble with data transfer from my DVD-ROM which I am determined to get to the bottom of eventually. Having said that, the mobo is dead reliable once set up correctly - my system is solid as a rock and hasn't crashed once since my upgrade. The only things I can suggest are latest drivers and latest BIOS. Failing that, you could try reformatting your HDD and a Windows re-install, then try just installing the graphics card drivers with nothing else installed and see if it works - this should determine whether there are conflicts with the mobo or OS, or whether it is other hardware or software causing the problem. __________________ [img]\"http://www.wizardrealm.com/images/epona.gif\" alt=\" - \" />

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