I finally fixed my crashing system, Athlon 2400 with Gainward GeForce 4200 and directX 8.1, after replacing all drivers according to suggestions from this group (viaarena 4 in 1) it still was crashing my Battlefield 1942 in 2 seconds, first I lowered FSB to 100, which turned my beatifull new 2GHz procesor into 1.5 GHz then finally upgraded my power supply from 300W to 500W, now I can play all night. Funy thing, lowering speed by itself did not help, upgrading power but keeping 2GHz did not help, had to do both at the same time, now I am thinking maybe I should buy a better power supply then generic CompUSA

A friend had the same problem.

In Win98, this Pentium 1Ghz on a DFI motherboard CA64-B with chipset
VIA, card Creative Labs 3D , nVidia GeForce MX 440 was working ok.

After XP was installed, no games would work.
Failure was: crash / freeze when online gaming was used

DirectX 9 was installed and an updated network driver helped, but the problem was now crash freeze after a few seconds during loading.

start-run...- dxdiag.exe would not give problems.

All sorts of drivers (nVidia's), bios configs, VIAs 4in1, test_driver1.zip, etc, were tested. Nothing worked. Latest and older versions.

Solution that worked:

- install a fresh XP
- remove windows default GeForce drivers (after this point everytime windows booted, kept asking for graphic drivers - don't install them, click cancel everytime).
- install 4.46 4in1 drivers from via (or latest)
- install Test_Driver1.zip patch (important for Win XP on VIA with GeForce)
-Creative suggested we install XP SP1a, but it would take a long time, and a first attempt failed halfway through, so we gave it up and skipped it.
- install DirectX 9a (or latest)
- install Medal of Honor, tested ok!

Conclusion: before running to buy a power supply, try installing things in the proper order. We had most of these drivers in the system already, but probably due to wrong order, and previous 'trash', it wouldn't work.
If this problem bites you, start from a fresh XP, and install things in this order. In the end, if it fails, THEN, and only then, procede to lower cpu bus or card clock, AGP clock,etc... finally, and only then, consider the need of a better power supply.

Ok anyone havin probs with their geforce 4 card and windows restarting randomly during gameplay AND is running 512 sticks of ram with any amd mobo and a via or sis chipset here is the solution......

You need to take out the stick of 512 and replace with 2 sticks of 256..this is only if its DDR....there is a known issue with a large series of amd mobo's restarting randomly when 512 sticks are present..i have emailed AMD to request why this is but have yet to get a reply...this is the second system i have repaired with the same prob...and both times it as fixed the issue.

Hey all, i have a geforce4 mx440 128mb, i got it about a month ago, and still cant get it to work, i've tried almost everything on this site, the problem is that the monitor shuts down. i thought about the heat problem and found out that my fan wasnt working, so i plugged the card harder into the motherboard and the fan started working, still to no avail, the damn souless card won't work. i would like to update my bios as i've tried everything else. could anyone plz tell me how to find out what kind of motherboard i have, and also how to change the card into pci mode, as i heard it helped some people on this site. thx alot.

I'm not so sure about that tekkno... I have an ECS K7S5A mobo (SiS735 chipset) with a 512MB DDR RAM stick and it runs great even under heavy load with my 3dfx Voodoo5. When I put my new GeForce4 Ti4200 8x in it locks hard every time I run the video tests in dxdiag (as well as any 3d application I try to run). These same tests run like a charm with my Voodoo. I've tried infinite combinations of driver/DirectX versions and it's the same every time. I've even tried lowering my AGP bus to 4x and 2x with no luck.

With this many people having problems, there has to be some sort of compatibility issue here, software or hardware. This weekend I'm going to try installing the new nVidia Linux drivers on my Linux box and see if I have any success....

I have a Gigabyte a7vax mb with 512mb 333 DDR and a MSI G4Ti4800SE grafix card (8x agp) and running detonator drivers 43.xx (previously 41.09). I only went to directx 9 last week but for the 2 months previous to that I have had absolutely no problems what so ever. I can run a lan party for the entire weekend with games like Unreal T2003 and Ghost Recon without rebooting at all - I am very happy with my system.
Mikey

btw, I am running winXP without sp1.....

I have the same problem as Mr Bruehl. I recently plugged my GeForce4 MX440 SE (64MB DDR) in my K7S5A - with a single 256 Mb RAM stick - and whenever I try to load a DirectX-using application, I get a hard lock up.
The only thing I've yet to try is removing my sound card, a SB Live!.
I tried changing refresh rates, checked conflicting irqs, everything suggested in this thread but buying a new power supply.
The only way I found to use DirectX is to lower the Hardware Acceleration setting in the Display's Advanced configuration. If I set it to at least two notch down from the best, I stop getting lock ups. However WarZone 2100 then won't run in DX mode and keeps crashing after a few minutes of play.
You'd think that this would be an issue generalized enough that the manfucaturers would release something about it.

Marc,
After hours of pulling my hair out over this problem, I think I've found something that works. Have you tried lowering your CPU/memory clock speeds from 133/133 down to 100/100 in the BIOS? I tried this out on my K7S5A and I haven't had a single lockup since even under heavy loading. Of course, my processor is running at 1150Mhz instead of 1800 but I'll take that as long as it's stable....

An interesting side note is that while troubleshooting, I've found that using the new nVidia drivers for Linux on the exact same system (except running Linux), 3D applications run great even with the clock speeds at 133/133. Completely stable.

It's gotta have something to do with DirectX....

Hi,

Unfortunately, my Duron 1Ghz is already runnning at 100/100. Moreover I checked my power supply. It delivers a more-than-enough 350 W with sufficient amps (sufficient == according to what was written in this thread and/or other threads linked from here).
Direct3D worked in WarZone 2100, interestingly enough; however I got that ugly purple and gray garbage that slowly filled the screen as I moved around the map.
As for DirectDraw, now that I've downclocked my AGP to 1x, and the card to a lower clock speed using RivaTuner, it seems to be allowing me to run a simple game client that uses DirectDraw. However playing video clips still crashes it, although after 15 seconds instead of the 1-2 seconds I was getting before. Also disabling my onboard NIC seemed to improve the video clip playing time. I guess it does point out to a power supply problem, but I don't think it should be considered normal to need something stronger than a 350 W.
Ah, also, WarZone runs perfectly under software mode (Windows' GDI?), and so does Half-Life. I was getting garbage running Half-life in Direct3D, but unfortunately Half-life didn't allow me to use OpenGL.

- Marc

Before you go out and spend money on a mammoth power supply, just know that I tried this and it didn't make a bit of difference. I went and bought a 550-watt PSU to replace my 350-watt one. I installed the new PSU and the exact same problem continued to happen. Literally no detectable improvement at all.

This problem has cost me countless hours of frustration in troubleshooting. The worst part is nobody seems to want to take blame, which likely means that nobody is working on a fix either. All I know is that my system runs great at 133/133 using the GeForce under Linux. It also runs great at 133/133 using my old Voodoo5 under Windows. But to get the GeForce running DirectX applications in Windows without crashing, the ONLY thing I've tried that has worked at all is cutting the CPU/memory clock back to 100/100. I guess that is of no use to you if you are already set to that...

Hopefully someone will eventually step forward and take responsibility for this mess and do something to fix it....

Marc,
One more thing to try that I picked up from another forum is to try turning your DRAM timing to "Safe". I'm not sure if that's the exact BIOS term for it, but it's the setting where you can set the memory speed to Safe, Normal, Fast, and Ultra. Someone on another forum reported that switching this to Safe solved the problem with his K7S5A and 1Mhz Duron. Just like scaling back the FSB clock though, this is going to slow your memory access below the speed you paid for, but I'll take a slower stable system over a fast system that crashes any day... Good luck!

I bought the Gefarce 4 MX 400, the only problem I was having was minor glitches in the icons and I couldn't go to full-screen in games without it locking-up my system when I tried to quit. I tried it with three different motherboards, same thing on all..... Now I know why it was so cheap.... It's junk !!! I bought an ATI Radeon 7000 for the same price, NO PROBLEMS AT ALL...... I would have been p**sed if I had paid over $100.00 bucks for that GEE-FARCE piece of crap .....I think I'll be staying with ATI from now on !!

ECS K7VTA3 v3.1
ATI Radeon 7000 64 TV/Out
884 megs 2700 DDR
Win98SE
DirectX9

Hi,

I think my card might be broken; but maybe it's simply really not compatible with my computer.
I've tried setting the DRAM to safe but still get the same glitches. Worse, I messed up my configuration or my old graphics card in the process and now that I've re-installed my Savage 4, I'm getting some glitches. Augh!

I guess you're right - I'll just by an ATI too.

The real solution for me was twofold, firstly I got myself an ATI 9700Pro and then I got myself a Gamecube.

Funny how all the games run just fine...

Hahahahaha how true,
When I'm at my most frustrated with this computer, I always have my trusty PS2 and Madden 2003 to fall back on....

Hi i've had the same freezin prob in games(Usaually happends after bout 20-35 mins). All the people with this prob all seem 2 have a Athlon and Geforce2-4 card.I've been 2 many forums and all seem 2 be stumped.Nvidia and amd r in deep s**t.I don't think my system is over heating cause I've only seen it a 52*degreases.If it helps here is my spec:

MB = ECS K7S5A 1.0
RAM = 512 SD Ram
Graphics card or GPU = Nvidia Geforce 4 mx440
CPU = Athlon XP 2000+

Do i need 2 change my voltage?This is really p**sin me off plz help me.Contact me @ h.deakin@btinternet.com .

a new problem, ok ive disabled agp fast wright in bios and card works fine but on some games all of a sudden all the colours go weird and magic mushroom like, but you can still just about see the game going under it, any ideas anyone?
oh and ive all the latest drivers for my AMD 4in1 via thing

SUCCESS!!! At great expense of time.
IM quite confident that this will work for most people provided that the games you play can tolerate DirectX8.0 and dont require something newer. First my machine:
cpu: AMD 2100+
mobo: Gigabyte 7VRXP rev 2.0 Just updated bios to F12
Ram: 2 DDR sims 512MB each for total 1GB
Graphics Card: Visiontek TI4600
O/S: Windows 2000. Minimal here i still ned to do all service packs adn crits

I play Mechwarrior Mercenaries. EXperiments showed that everything was fine untill i loaded DirectX8.1 on withe Mercenaries load. Vengeance install DirectX 8.0 and everything was grat until Mercs put 8.1 on. GRRRRR. DirectX9.0a does not fix jack crap. Neither does latest drivers from NVidia or Visiotek or VIA but heh i now have the latest of everything whooopeee.
In my mind no question - its DirectX 8.1 and higher causing the problems. Believe what you will.
Note that its challenging to uninstall DirectX in any version. THank our friends at http://www.freewebs.com/firecat/ who created DIrectX eradicator. DE1.08 didnt work right for WIn2k/DirectX9 so i tried the beta 1.09 and it worked clean. I reinstalled DirectX8.0 off of Mechwariior Vengeance and all has been stable since.
Thats what i did. MIcrosoft screwed us royally with DirectX and it is reprehencsible that they dont provide and info on their site considering the MASS number of people being CREAMED by this issue.

Loki

I am currently running an ASrock motherboard 1700 XP with windows ME. I bought a Verto GEforce 4 MX 440-SE with 64 MB DDR and i am having a problem with it. When any type of drivers are installed for it, my computer won't boot up except in safe mode, i downloaded every driver for anything that might work, chipset driver, bios, video card driver. I even tried the test driver someone posted last november. Tried VIA 4 in 1 drivers, and they don't fix it, messed around with almost all settings having anything to do with video or display. Please Reply so that i can get back to my gaming...................