Weird graphical problem while in game

[Flakvin]

Right this is the problem I have.

When I play UT2004 or Painkiller, sometime's the game will just crash with a weird blue chequered effect over the entire screen. (Pictures on the below links ** Warning: Large JPEG files **).
It doesnt happen all the time, 2 times in the last 2 days in UT2004.. and 2 times in about 5 plays of Painkiller.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this crash? Could it be a software or a hardware problem?

Image 01 (400kb+)
Image 02 (Alternate) (400KB+)

System Specs: (Nothing Oc'ed)
AMD Athlon XP 2000+
Crucial 512MB DDR
GF4 Ti4200 64MB
ABIT NF7-S V2.0
WinXP SP2 RC1

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

[streetster]

what make is the gf4? what drivers?

[mike_w]

What are the temperatures as well?, although it does sound like the graphics card has broken. Also, did these problems start recently without changing anything, or have you always had these problems in UT2004 and Painkiller?

[Flakvin]

The make of GF4 Ti4200 is a Leadtek A250. I'm using NVIDIA 56.72 drivers, but get the same problem with 53.04's.

And to answer the other question, I cant measure temperatures on my GF4 (Leadtek's WinFOX utility doesnt allow temp readings for some reason.. temp reading are blanked out).. CPU temps are fine, 47c 'full load' on my 'Palomino' XP.
I have only had UT2004 for a couple of days, and the problem seems to have always been there with it.. same with Painkiller (but the problem isnt so frequent as UT2004).

I also get some other weird screen corruption when playing UT2004, but it doesnt crash the system, just seem to stay there until I come out of the game.

[streetster]

www.memtest86.com just get that, and make sure its not a problem with your ram, but i'm thinking it might well be an issue with your graphics card - i'm only suggesting a ram issue because on our old computer we had a duff stick of ram which made some games go completely screwed up - but just windows was fine and completely stable..

[iMc]

had something similer happen a couple of years back on my bro's voodoo4. iirc it was blue lines across the screen. only way i got round it was to buy another gfx card.

not a very optimistic point of view but i think ull be buying a new card .

[Flakvin]

I've run Memtest.. and no error's occured.

I've been thinking of buying a new graphics card anyway (this'll just confirm the need to buy a new one now), performance of my GF4 isnt that great anyway, especially in UT2004.

Had the graphics card for coming up to 2yrs, so, it's had a good run.

[mike_w]

If you're going to buy a new graphics card, I'd say wait a month or two for the next generation to arrive. That way, you can either get the next generation of cards, or get one of the current generation at a lower price.

[Flakvin]

Yeah.. I am gunna try and hold out for an NV40 or R420 based card if I can.. But if the problems get very bad, i'll probably end up getting an FX5950U or R9800PRO.

[blockers]

Have you tried increasing the voltage going to the AGP card in the BIOS? as that may help...only by .2 or so....

[Flakvin]

I havent tried that .. I'll try it the next time I restart my machine

[5cupa]

had a similar problem with 2 GF4 and iwill mobo's i had to cut down all the agp boosts etc in the bios and it worked fine

[Ravens Nest]

Check your video-card's fan to make sure it is not blocked up with fluff, if it is unscrew the fan and pick it all out, also check your 80mm fans on the front and back of the case as well.

It could be an over-heating problem.

Also if that doesn't work then remove the video drivers and re-install them again or get the latest, as a last resort see if there is a newer BIOS for it.

Here's a link (To the driver and BIOS files)
http://www.leadtek.com.tw/support/do...?pronameid=237

[Flakvin]

I've tried increasing AGP Voltages, but that hasnt helped.

I've checked the fan, not fluffed up. All case fans are fine.

I've tried reinstalling drivers... still didnt help. And I have the latest BIOS.


As a final resort (before I think about buying a new card), I'll try a fresh install of WinXP. Ya never know, it might help.


Anyone else wanna try suggesting something?

[mike_w]

Long shot, but try changing the AGP speed from 8x to 4x, appraently that can occasionally cause problems with some machines.

[Flakvin]

Long shot, but try changing the AGP speed from 8x to 4x, appraently that can occasionally cause problems with some machines.

Yeah that is a bit of a long shot considering my graphics card is an AGP4x card, and not the slightly newer AGP8x card. DOH!

Thanks for the suggestion anyway.