What the hell is going on?

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This is the problem that is slighly driving me nuts, so ANY advice would be greatly appreciated.
I bought a new processor, motherboard, graph. card...etc about a year ago. Everything worked perfectly, with no problems. Then, a month ago, I started getting veird blue lines across my screen, along with some other graphical glitches.

This would happen after the computer froze and I would be forced to restart manually because the double Ctrl+Alt+Delete wouldn't work.
So, I would restart the computer, graphical glitches turning on the screen, windows starts in 16 colors and prompts a message saying that "there is a problem with the display adapter or something similar". A visit to the System bar would reveal that my video card (Geforce 2 mx) has problems with the drivers. Okay, so I tried to reinstall them. That didn't work. So I downloaded the new drivers from NVidia's site. That miraculously restored the computer to normal. But only for a while.

I didn't use the computer for a week after installing the new drivers, because I wasn't at home. When I returned, I turned the computer on, and the same problems started again. But now, nothing worked. I tried to reinstall the drivers. Nothing. They wouldn't even uninstall from the Add/Remove programs. The computer even refused to shut down or restart to dos, because every attempt to do so would result in a complete reset of the system. Finally, driven by despair, I formatted my drive on which windows are located (the other drive has only mp3 and games on). I reinstalled windows, all the drivers, everything. That worked. Until now.
I returned home today and started the computer. I didn't use it for two weeks or so. It froze again, while I was on the net. I needed to reset - and the same shit started over. And again, nothing works - new drivers, old drivers, updating drivers. Nothing. I'm writing this at 640x480, 16 coulours and a shitload of blue stripes and several other "enhancments" on the screen.

I'm thinking about formatting the drive and reinstalling everything again, for the second time. Maybe I made a mistake by keeping the drivers from the manufacturer's cd, 2 weeks ago, when I did the first (and curently the last) format? Maybe I should have installed the new drivers immediatelly? But, they don't work now. And, for toninght, I'll need to pull the plug out, in order to shut down the computer, because it won't shut down normally...

There...I hope there isn't a problem WITH the graph card, because the warranty isn't valid anymore and I really don't have the money for a new one. I also hope that there isn't a problem with anything alse, because I really don't have the money for a new anything else...
Suggestions? Comments? Donations?
All welcome

[ July 31, 2002, 01:15: Message edited by: Elendil ]

 

Exactly, hardware difficulties ONLY occur after the warranty has expired. That the warranty has expired (probably after one year right?) plus the fact that all the software components that might contribute to the problem have benn changed/re-installed make it seem probable that the problem is indeed with the card itself (or some other hardware component).

Similar thing happened to me. I bought a computer (legally - warranty and all) and exactly one year and one week after - the scanner and the cd drive both went buggered.

 

Maybe one day it'll make a good football one day...

 

Double cad?

Sounds like you're using Winme or Win98.

You'll have to post your specs. Like your processor? Mainbord, psu rating (and brand if you remember), case fans, cdrom drive, heatsink, sound card, memory type and brand. Your bios settings are the next move; memory timings, fastwrites enabled, raid0 settings.

All that.

Barring a bad piece of equipment, the rest is usually just a driver conflict. There are a few configs that just will not work period, but that usually only occurs on off-brand mainboards or *really* cheap ones.

 

i had used to have similar problems with different computer units with different specs, and some were solved by just reinserting the graphic card or some other components into their respective slots. sort of like a case of dirty contacts or loose contacts.

hope this helps.

 

What's a Double cad?

Anyway, last night I had to manually switch off the computer, because the damn thing just kept restarting. When I woke up, I started the computer, expecting good ol' scandisk to show up, "because windows wasn't shut down properly".
But, nothing happened. And no graphical errors, which always show up at startup. Everything is normal. Windows started at 800x600, 16-bit setting - I always use it like that.

Another veird thing is that now I see the nvidia desktop manager, which comes with the new drivers, starting. And it should have started right after the first reset after the installation of the new drivers (windows prompts you to reset the computer).

The funny thing is that many of those needful resets, after the installation of the new drivers, passed without the "setup is configuring your files" message, prior to starting win. Could this be the issue?

Like I said, now everything is working fine. But, that has happened before and the problem returned. The computer would lock up, I would be forced to reset and - there it goes again.

Taluntain, I already reinstalled the os (after formatting the drive).
Nior, I tried even that. Opened the case, took the graph card, cleaned some dust and put it back in.

And ejsmith, my specs are:

Athalon 700 mhz
128 RAM, bah - and I think it's some noname
brand...how do I find out?
Manli GeForce 2 MX - I really didn't have the cash for a better manufacturer
AOpen AK73 Pro Motherboard
Creative Labs PCI 128 soundcard
LG CD-ROM
LG 1505s Monitor - it's six years old, no problems, sometimes the screen shivers and that's it

And, I don't know what is a psu-rating and a heatsink...
I wouldn't know anything about the case fans either. Should I check the bios settings?

Vukodlak (or Vukodlace ), I hope that isn't the case...

 

I highly doubt it's a problem with your RAM, monitor, CD-ROM, or sound card, although the drivers with those may be incompatible with the nVidia Detonators and that might be doing it. The only way I know of to find out on that is to delete all the drivers on your computer, then just install the ones for your video card, and see if the problem goes away permanently, if it does, then start installing other drivers slowly. Whichever one causes the problem needs to stay off and you'll need to get new drivers or replace the component.

Which OS are you using? You never told us. Anyway, I truely doubt that the heatsink and the fans would have much to do with your problem, unless you overclocked the machine, in which case, I hope you have more money than you claim to.

It is certainly possible that it is a heat issue, but the fact that your problems just started tells me that either you overclocked something, or it's not a heat issue, so don't worry about that.

Yes, although sorry, I can offer no help to fix this other than reinstalling everything (including removing every component from your computer and putting it back together). I know nothing about Manli GeForce cards, so that may also be a possibility, but you no longer use their drivers.

 

I doubt it is the incompatibility with the detonator drivers, because the problem started before I had them. After I installed the detonator drivers, everything went back to normal. But then it happened again.
So I formatted the drive and reinstalled everything. And it happened again.

I never overclocked the processor. The problem originally started after I installed Morrowind. I don't know if you are familiar with the game, but the thing was that the game would lock up when I would try and enter the first city, after creating the caracter. I would need to reset, and after a couple of such resets (I was desperate to play the game and I tried to see what was causing the lock up) the graph glitches turned up and I got the message about the bad display adapter for the first time.
THEN I installed detonator from nvidia's site. Everything started to work. Even Morrowind. But then I went away from home and when I returned, I started the computer - again the same thing. That is when I formatted the drive and reinstalled everything.

I wouldn't say it is the soundcard, because I had it for about 3 months and no problems.
Even though I seriously doubt it, there is a possibility that I got the cpu already overclocked, because I wasn't the one who put all the components together. Is there a way to check this?
But, then again, everything was working like a charm for a year...

And an update: the thing happened again 30 mins ago, after my little annoying cousin installed and tried to run SpiderMan: the Movie. He started the game, the screen went blank. No answer. I turned off the computer, vaited a bit, started again and...voila. So I'm again writing this at 600x480 and 16 coulours.

Oh yeah, I'm sorry I didn't post this before: my OS is Windows 98 SE. I don't know how I forgot to mention it...

[ July 31, 2002, 19:18: Message edited by: Elendil ]

 

1. Install the anti-virus software and run it (on any BUG cd you may find the shareware version that will at least detect if any virus exists).

2. Open the machine and check if the cooler(s) is/are working ok.

 

1. Already tried: everything clean (Norton Antivirus)...
2. Both the cooler on the processor and the one on the graph card are spinning nice and vigorously...

What the **** do I do?!

[For starters you stop swearing and go read the Forum Rules.] -Tal

[ August 01, 2002, 00:31: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

Well, first of all, in order for me to explain to you how to check to see if you are overclocked would take about 3 pages of this thread, I'll post links to a couple sites that explain the BIOS modifications done in the process. You can simply reverse engineer their directions.

Tom's Hardware
overclockers.com

As unlikely as this may sound, it might be caused by not having enough RAM to run those programs you are talking about (although the fact that it happens in Windows kind of beats this).

[Edit]Fixed an unworking link.

[ August 01, 2002, 18:11: Message edited by: Rastor ]

 

I got some senses and dug out and read the motherboard manual and I checked the jumpers and the bios: my cpu is not overclocked. It's at the normal speed...

I've decided to format the drive again and install everything anew. But this time, I'll update the drivers on the cd of the graph card immediately, with the newest detonator drivers. I'll also try with the new AGP drivers...

I don't know if all that will work, because the problems and the graph glitches mostly seem to be triggered after a reset. Does this make it more possible that the problem is about something being wrong with the graph card or some other component? But, then again, 2 weeks ago - when I formatted the drive and started installing windows - there were no glithces...
About the RAM: I think that Morrowind requires 64 minimal. And, even though the problems did start after a couple of resets, when Morrowind would lock up, later they returned when Morrowind was not installed.

Sorry Tal, my computer got the best of my nerves...

[ August 01, 2002, 18:58: Message edited by: Elendil ]

 

I had problems with my graph. board too, few weeks ago (right around Morrowind but not sure before or after), my best advice is that you take out your MX and go to friend and try it there, that should check if it is in hardware (make sure that he has it for a while (night) so that you make it sure that it isn't problem with cooling the graphic proc. (some manufacturers like to overckock their cards so they are faster but save on cooler, had similar thing with ELSA board). If that is not it by your story it is problem with drivers, you must immediately install detonator drivers because they like to "argue" with original drivers (had that problem before, for "backwards" you can try special program for removing detonator drivers). Hope it will help!

 

Yeah, I already had the thought about trying the graph card at a friends computer, but that will have to wait.
I would install the detonator drivers immediately after format and windows install, but I can't. Detonator only work as an upgrade. When windows prompts you to install the vga card, you need a disk or a cd. Detonator can come only after that...

But, what is that "special program" for removing detonator? How do I get that?

 

well wolf, not everyone has an aunt who will buy them a new computer to bribe them out of her house...

 

...hehe...

Wow! what a generous Aunt! I bet your going to live with some kickass people next year though!

 

The problem is with the vga card. I tested it on a friend's computer and the infamous blue lines appeared immediately...
Looks like I'll need to replace it. But maybe I'll manage to do that cost-free...

Thanks to everyone for your help & spam...