It seems there is a problem when this card is combined with DirectX 8+ and Windows XP. I have read countless forums trying to see if any one has found a fix but one thing is certain many people have this problem.

When entering anything using DirectX either the system freezes or the screen goes black. In all cases the PC has to be restarted. nVidia driver version seems to be irrelavent as does any hardware drivers or bios upgrades.

Based on my research so far it happens on systems with the following specs.

Power Supply: any
Processor: any
Motherboard: any
RAM: any
OS: Windows XP (any version)
Video: GeForce 4 (any model)
Direct X ver: 8.0 or higher
Video Driver ver: any
All other system info seem irrelavent.

Please if you get any information concerning this issue please post here. Many people are looking for a fix for this issue.

Well after some more reading I have found some people have had success by downgrading their nVidia drivers to version 29.42. I have tried this and ran the 3DMark2001 SE to see if that fixed worked for me. On the second test it just dropped out of the program. No freezing and no restarting but still no gaming : (

But like I said some people said this worked for them so give it a try. You might be one of those lucky few.

http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=winxp-2k_archive

I have msi gforce4 mx440 aslo have that problem. The worst thing is the more I troubleshoot this problem, the worst is the windows working because after system hanged for few time (sometime automatic reboot itself), I believe some files are lost. At the end, I need to format the whole system. Below are the ways I had tried, those who have not try yet, save your time, because all the methods failed.

1) upgrade ndivia dirver to 41.03
2) upgrade to msi original driver 31.00
3) adjust core freq. of video card down to 207MHZ.
4) add up ram
5) upgrade to WindowsXP SP1
6) Try AGP 2X mode

So I will suggest and to do

1) Change video card to Gforce2 of 3
2) Feedback to microsoft, hopefully the next directx will solve this problem. (Base on some feedback, directx9 beta2 also failed.)

Thanks

Well again I found a fix that some people said worked for them. It did nothing for me.

They installed the newest VIA chipset drivers. These are drivers for you AGP chipset from what I read. If you wanna give it a try heres the link.

http://downloads.viaarena.com/drivers/4in1/VIA_4in1_443v.zip

Is it GeForce 4 cards ?
i have had this prob for about a month since upgrading system to ,

WinXP Pro SP1
512 pc3200 ram
Msi KT4 Ultra Board
Athlon XP 2100
Msi GForce 4 4600 Ti
( Nothing overclocked ...all Running as standard )

Got so fed up , installed a GF2 400MX into system .......then found problems still occured on a regular basis....Skipping out of games with Loop Error. ....skipping out & system restarting.....computer freezing up :
Have tried various system drivers , & nvidia drivers,,,TO NO AVAIL !!
would like to know of any instances of this happening with ATI graphics cards

Finally I had found the solution. Thanks for given me the hints.
I done it by totally uninstall the 4in1 via bus mastering driver, and all my 3d games work fine and even the whole system work faster.
I would see it is very much via chipset motherboard related, I'm having abit kt7a ver1.3 which is using kt133A chipset with sdram. It is a not so advance system (compare to kt266 or kt333). But I was using the latest 4in1 via 443 driver which could be the problem. May be I should use the older version like ver 429. It should work for me too but I'm happy without any of the via bus mastering driver at the moment. For those who have the more advance chipset (kt266 or kt333) should work the other way round to install the latest driver.

I hope this would help.

Unfortunately I've been experiencing the same problems with my VisionTek Ti4600 and I don't have a VIA chipset. I've also read posts from many others with this problem who don't have VIA chipsets either. There's an article about it here --> http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=64 with some possible solutions. The one's I've tried didn't work.
I also don't think it's strictly a GF4 problem because I've read posts from people with GF2's and 3's who get the same 'monitor goes blank' and 'pc reboots' problems.

Well again there seems to be a fix that helps a lucky few. Removing the VIA Drivers for the AGP to CPU controller. This did nothing for me. I still run into the same problems as before. Actually a new problem. There doesn't seem to be any other drivers for the AGP to CPU controller. I tried different versions but none helped.

About this same issue with other forms of GeForce cards I have read a few reports but they may be unrelated but just have similar symptoms. I have a TNT2, GeForce 2 and GeForce 4. I only have the problem with GeForce 4. I have also tried my GeForce 4 on my Windows ME box and it works fine.

I have noticed all people reporting this problem do have an Athlon processor. There is of course a few isolated exceptions that are probably a result of some thing else.

The only common elements for every situation is:

GeForce 4, Athlon Processor, Windows XP, DirectX 8+

Im having this problem too. DiectX based software either dissappears back to dektop or my computer reboots. The same thing happens with a geforce 2. My geforce 4 has the same problem in 98se too! Im convinced its a DirectX8.1 thing coz OpenGL based games work fine!!

sys;
1.2 althon
gforce4 4600 40.71
512 sdram
xp home SP1
DirectX 8.1i

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=4474

check this out =[

CRIPES!! This is BS. After all the research Ive done on CPU's and videocards, microsoft STILL finds a way to screw me even if I dont buy any of their crap. They better fix this soon or the gaming world will be right out p**sed.

That article posted by James is interesting but I did already assume it was a Microsoft issue. In my books Microsoft is always guilty until proven innocent. It seems Microsoft solution is to upgrade to Service Pack 1. For everyone that has already done this... well... you have probably found, like myself, it doesn't help. My search continues.

I have emailed AMD and Microsoft about this issue. I will keep you posted as to what I find out. I heard in an IRC chatroom that Microsoft has a fix for this issue but only give it to people who call their phone support, which they charge a lot for. I don't know how credible that is but I will not be happy if I find this to be true.

It seems from a lot of reading I have done on this subject this has been an issue for quiet some time. A few months anyway. What I can't understand is if this problem is occuring with most people using Windows XP, Athlon processors, and GeForce cards this must be a huge issue. How is there not a fix for this???

Actually im using win98se, still same problems as everyone else. I think its more a directx problem with amd processors and geforce cards. Thanks bud let us know!

Well I haven't tried any games yet but for the first time in a long time I was am to complete 3DMark2001 SE. I have gone through it 6 time with out one lock up, reboot or freeze. All I did was installed this nVidia driver.


http://download.nvidia.com/Windows/40.72/40.72_win2kxp.exe

I was sure I had tried that one before but now it seems to work. I will keep you updated if I can or can't run games.

Note: This is a Windows 2000 and Windows XP driver only.

Nope. Still doesn't work. Tried Battlefield 1942 and Mafia. Both lasted about 15 seconds. Some one else said to try decreasing refresh rates at the resolutions that I play the games at. I got a tool called NVRefreshTool 2.0. Nice program but that didn't help either.

I found this on a webpage. Doesn't sound promissing if it is true.

"It appears that the GeForce card is susceptible to AGP line noise interference (not a problem so far on Intel-based machines). The Athlon systems seem especially prone to this due to the complexity of the chip and motherboard design.

There is a hardware fix for this, which basically entails replacing a capacitor on one of the strobe signal pins of the motherboard, or the addition of two capacitors on the GeForce card itself. This will not be done on the GeForce card, however, due to the fact that it will violate the AGP 2.0 spec, and therefore not allow the card to run at AGP 4x should you later upgrade. So it appears that the motherboard manufacturers will need to make a design revision, and hopefully offer end-users the opportunity to exchange their older revision Athlon boards for the new design.

It is also rumored that AMD has a newer version of the Northbridge (751) chipset which will also solve this problem. Rest assured that there is really no one to blame here. It is inevitable that as the complexity of systems and components rises, the incidence of problems such as these will occur.

The driver fix consequently turns off the Turbo AGP, causing the system to run at AGP 1x speeds, which results in a SLIGHT performance hit."

FINALLY A SOLUTION ! ! !

I have tried everything. BIOS upgrades every nVidia driver... well I am sure you have read enough about the things that haven't worked.

Currently I have.

Windows XP SP1
nVidia drivers 40.72
Most recent BIOS version for the KT7A-Raid
Most recent VIA drivers

The fix ended up being with the VIA drives. There is a test driver available and once installed I could play Battlefield again. Oh how I missed the killing.

The VIA drivers that seemed to fix my problem are found at:

http://downloads.viaarena.com/drivers/others/Test_driver1.zip

NOTE: These drivers alone may not be the solution. I have upgraded everything to the newest version. I REALLY hope this helps.

yeah this fixed mine too. was just about to say but looks like some1 beat me to it. cheers everyone for your help and spread the word!!!

=]

have any of you guys noticed that this problem only happens with athlon motherboards?

No you're wrong!!! I got a brand new intel P4 and the magic c**ktail Windows XP + Direct X8+ Geforce4 makes all the game crash within the minute!!! . At the beginning with the Geforce Driver none of the game launched because of OpennGl , and after downloading the Nvidia brand new driver the games launch and windows reboot or totally crash...
I've been reading about 5000 forums ans didn't suceed to find any solution....

Well got so f*****d off with games crashing etc. etc. took GF4 card out and put in older system.
Chaintech mobo ..........with AMD chip !!
athlon xp 1600
512mb pc2100
windows millenium
direct x 8.1

All running superb for last 2 weeks plus , unreal tournament 2k3 etc. , no glitches so far ......sod the new system .....it stays in this one !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Leumas X!

I'Ve been searching for a solution to this for a while now and I tried everything unsuccessfully until your post about the test driver!

Juste so it can help others, my system is Athlon 1500xp
Abit KT-7A v1.3 mobo
Abit siluro Geforce 2 MX200
Windows XP pro SP1

The only problem I still have is the damn mouse lag in directx games. I fixed this in CounterStrike by switching to OpenGL, but in newer directx games, especially FPS like NOLF2, this is really bad. I tried setting prerenderlimit to 1 but to no effect.

Thanks!