Video card problem?

[Pete]

i just have to say, look before you touch.

Heh, good point. Just bring a flashlight or hover your hand over the fan to feel for a breeze, no need to actually touch it. If you do want to touch it to check for spin, maybe you can check by just putting a forefinger in the middle of the fan, on the fan label.

also, i just noticed you have a 9600XT. that thing should be able to give you a temp reading. so you can even test it without opening your case. there is a temperature gauge in the overdrive panel of the catalyst control center.

Good idea. Checking the P4 temp should be similarly simple with some small piece of software. If the MB didn't included a temp reading program, try something like Speedfan.

Good luck, kruk. Hopefully lowering hardware acceleration solves the hiccups, in which case you can just try installing a new video card. Otherwise let us know what the results are, if you're still willing to put in the time.

 

[kruk]

Fans are all running, temps seem to be good. I adjusted setting in hardware accelerations, and played around with many adjustments in ATI catalyst, including turning off fastwrites. I did not document every experiment. :/



I still get a skip every 4-5 seconds playing the same games that have been intstalled on my system for years. I'll keep trying if there are some ideas out there. Thanks all.

 

[see colon]

just to clarify, when you say "Unreal Tournament 2001" you are talking about either the classic UT release or the Game of the Year edition, and now 2003 or 2004, right?

 

[kruk]

just to clarify, when you say "Unreal Tournament 2001" you are talking about either the classic UT release or the Game of the Year edition, and now 2003 or 2004, right?

Game of the Year Edition.

 

[see colon]

try running ut in software mode, at a low resolution (320*240 should do it). if it still hitches, it's not your video card but it's something else. if it doesn't hitch, then it's probably your video card.

 

[kruk]

try running ut in software mode, at a low resolution (320*240 should do it). if it still hitches, it's not your video card but it's something else. if it doesn't hitch, then it's probably your video card.

Still hitches. I managed a good killing spree anyway, lol.

 

[see colon]

interesting. now turn your head and cough.

just to verify, you changed the "video driver" to "software renderer". it should have brought you out of UT to make the change and restarted UT after you did.

 

[kruk]

interesting. now turn your head and cough.

just to verify, you changed the "video driver" to "software renderer". it should have brought you out of UT to make the change and restarted UT after you did.

Yes, that is correct.

Just out of curiousity, I played a dvd in to see the video quality. Guess what - hitch! It wasn't as easy to notice, but was there every 4-5 seconds.

 

[see colon]

yep. that's actualy kind of expected at this point. there's something going on with your system. normaly i would assume it's some wort of malware or spyware, but you said you've gone through all of that already. i'll admit i'm stumped for now.

is it noticable at all in windows? like when you are dragging open windows around? and out of curiosity, you wouldn't by chance have a web page for your desktop wallpaper, would you?

i'm assuming you have windows XP. is it home or pro? also, you haven't changed any of the virtual memory options?

what soundcard do you have? have you tried running games without sound?

did you get any new hardware lately? external stuff like a scanner, webcam, game controller, new mouse or keyboard even?

 

[kruk]

yep. that's actualy kind of expected at this point. there's something going on with your system. normaly i would assume it's some wort of malware or spyware, but you said you've gone through all of that already. i'll admit i'm stumped for now.

is it noticable at all in windows? like when you are dragging open windows around? and out of curiosity, you wouldn't by chance have a web page for your desktop wallpaper, would you?

i'm assuming you have windows XP. is it home or pro? also, you haven't changed any of the virtual memory options?

what soundcard do you have? have you tried running games without sound?

did you get any new hardware lately? external stuff like a scanner, webcam, game controller, new mouse or keyboard even?

It is noticable when I drag a window around. I do not have any desktop wallpaper.

Windows XP home. I have not changed any virtual memory settings.

Audigy 2, have not tried running without sound.

No new hardware added for a long time.

 

[see colon]

hmm.....
open up task manager and go to the processes tab. sort by CPU and see if anything is spiking every 4-5 seconds.

other than that you could try some system benchmarks programs that test cpu, ram, and drive speeds and see if anything looks out of the ordinary.

 

[kruk]

Didn't notice anything significant. If there are some good tools to clean things up some more I can try them.

 

[see colon]

does your hard drive access when there is a hitch?

 

[{Sniping}Waste]

Have you tried Spybot yet? Its free and they update there tables all the time.
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
This program finds about 98% of the things out there. The other thing it could be is a rootkit and you will need a program to find them (spyboot will not find rootkits at this time).

 

[kruk]

does your hard drive access when there is a hitch?

How can I tell?

 

[kruk]

Have you tried Spybot yet? Its free and they update there tables all the time.
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
This program finds about 98% of the things out there. The other thing it could be is a rootkit and you will need a program to find them (spyboot will not find rootkits at this time).

Yes, but I will update and run it again.

Not sure about rootkits, must read up on it first.

 

[see colon]

How can I tell?

the access light on your computer should blink, and you may hear the drive making a light, grinding noise.

 

[kruk]

the access light on your computer should blink, and you may hear the drive making a light, grinding noise.

I tried dragging a window around, which stuttered every 4-5 seconds, but the hd light had no activity and I could not hear the hd being accessed.

 

[Pete]

Fans are all running, temps seem to be good. [...]

69ºC?! Temps not good! That little flame icon is right, you've got a fire on your hands. 69ºC is way out of line for what I expect is an idle reading (at the desktop, not crunching any #s like Prime95 or Folding@Home or SETI), even for a P4.

An overheating CPU would explain the pauses with every operation. What's happening is that the CPU senses it's overheating and inserts a "halt" operation every so often to try to reduce its workload and so heat production. You could confirm it's the high heat by seeing if taking the side off the PC and pointing a room fan or even an AC at the CPU reduces the temp. IIRC, 69ºC is about where throttling occurs.

I'd rule out insufficient case airflow or super-high room temps b/c your MB temp reading of 27ºC is pretty low. If the CPU fan's actually spinning, it's likely the heatsink isn't making good contact with the CPU, either because it's been knocked loose or b/c the TIM (thermal interface material) has degraded/evaporated. You'll need to ensure the heatsink's still well secured to the CPU socket or the MB, or that the TIM pad (that's common with retail CPUs) hasn't disintegrated or something (I'm guessing this is less likely, but I'm only basing this on the handful of systems I've worked on).

Measure the space around the CPU to see what aftermarket CPU cooler can fit if you want to replace the stock HSF (heatsink fan, aka cooler) with something more effective and (most importantly) quieter. I'm not up on the latest coolers, but you probably can't go wrong with something like the Zalman 700AlCu or whatever else SPCR recommends for quiet, effective cooling. Then again, there are far cheaper, decent solutions. I think Arctic Cooling makes some good, cheap aftermarket HSFs. Maybe they're listed or even reviewed over at SPCR.

 

[kruk]

The good news is you are probably correct. I didn't think 69c was out of range for a P4.

The bad news is I removed the HSF, cleaned it with air, and replaced it and now the system will not boot (power comes on, fans work, disc drives operate, no OS loads). The HSF appears to be seated correctly and is tight. I was very careful when doing this, had the power disconnected, and was conscious about static charge. I checked to make sure no other cables were loosened or disconnected during this process. I will double check all wired connections.

FFS I am not sure WTF happened. I'm a n00b at this and if I screwed up it aint the end of the world, a new machine is in order anyway. I would like to figure this out if you good people are on board to continue with this.

*turns head, coughs*

kruk