Tyka

INTRO
Okay, here's my story. Sorry this post is so long, but I wanted to explain the entire situation in hopes that someone out there can help me. I am at my wits end here.

BACKGROUND
My husband and I are serious Everquest gamers. We had been sharing an EQ account on an old Celeron 600Mhz with 512MB RAM and a GeForce 2 MX video card. We were wanting to get another account and new computers so that we could play EQ together in all its splendor. So we ordered 2 custom built computers from Cyberpowerinc.com. My brother had recently ordered a custom built computer from them and was happy with the product and service he received. The computers we ordered were identical to each other (so there was no arguing over who had the better computer :P) except for the fact that mine was beige in color and his was black.

SYSTEM SPECS
Motherboard: Albatron NForce2 Ultra KX18D Pro
Processor: AMD Athlon XP 2700 333FSB
RAM: 256MB DDR PC3200 Memory PC400 (2 sticks for 512MB)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce FX 5600XT 256MB AGP8X w/CRT
Sound: AC97 Onboard Sound with 600watt speakers PMPO w/ subwoofer
Hard Drive: Hitachi 120GB 7200
CD Rom: Pioneer 107 8X DVDRW
Floppy Drive: Mitsumi 1.44
Monitor: Optiquest Q95-2 19" .27 MM
Mouse: PS2 internet mouse w/ wheel
Keyboard: PS2 internet keyboard
Fans: AMD Athlon CPU Fan XP-3200, side intake fan with top outtake fan, intake and outtake fans in the rear
Heatsinks: CPU and video card
Power supply: 350 watt
OS: Windows XP Home Edition

COMPUTER 1 - BLACK - HUSBAND
When the computers arrived, I set up my husband's black computer first. It booted up and everything appeared to be running fine. Since I am an EQ addict, I immediately downloaded all the Windows updates, DirectX9.0b, and the newest drivers for the mobo and video card and installed EQ. While installing EQ from the CDs, I encountered an error. I rebooted the computer and found that it would not boot up. So in the recovery CD goes and I reinstall Windows. Okay, back to where I was. Afraid of messing up the computer further, I leave it alone until my husband comes home.

Hubby comes home and starts running tests on his computer. When running any Direct3D test, the computer crashes with a BSOD or freezes up. After one such occurance, when he rebooted the computer, it failed to boot up, stating that a file had been corrupted. At this point, we assume the video card may have problems and possibly the hard drive. So, we RMA the entire tower and ship it back to Cyberpower (out $50, thanks FedEx), including a statement of what we had done and what had happened.

A couple of weeks later we get his tower returned. No statement about what they did nor an invoice nor any documentation at all. We peek inside and see that the GeForce FX 5600XT video card has been replaced with a GeForce 5700 LE that has a fan on it. How nice of them (damn, his computer is better than mine now! :P). Must have been the video card that was to blame. My husband was afraid that if he changed anything, he might somehow mess the computer up, so he hasn't installed any Windows updates or drivers. The new computer is running smoothly, except for the floppy drive, which is not recognizing disks, but my husband does not seem concerned with this. He does not wish to send the computer back again and is fine with not having a usable floppy drive. EQ plays flawlessy and I must say, it's quit a different game with all the models, animations, textures, particle and spell effects on. So, yay for him and his wonderfully working comp. I have been putting some good EQ time on it myself.

COMPUTER 2 - BEIGE - WIFE
After deciding to leave my hubby's computer alone for fear of breaking it further, I proceed to set up my own. It boots up and runs without a hitch. So, I download and install the Windows updates, Directx9.0b, mobo drivers and video card drivers. Since installing EQ off of the cds went awry with hubby's comp, I download the patcher and patch the entire game. I load up EQ and there is Norrath in all it's glory! I run around for a few minutes and then my screen freezes. A box pops up stating that Everquest has detected that my client has crashed. Hmm. I reload EQ and try again. Immediately after getting into the game, I get the same error message. After trying to play EQ many more times, I came across all kinds of issues from lockups to BSODs to graphic glitches.

Frustrated, I head over to the Everquest Live website. I follow and try all of the information and guides in their knowledge base about troubleshooting and nothing fixes my problems. Going to the EQ Live message boards, I read some of the posts from other people and see that quite a few people are experiencing client crashes and lockups. I make a post following all of their requests, posting my system info and my dxdiag and my Everquest dbg text file. Eventually a Tech Support Representitive replies with a suggestion. I try it and it does not fix my problem. I reply to my post stating this and no one ever replies. So, looking around the EQ Live site for help, I find a link to talk to a Tech Support Representive live. Maybe he can help me. Well, he didn't have a solution for me then, but directed me to email him my system info and such and he would get back to me. I emailed him my info on April 12th and have not heard from him. Great customer support, eh?

After spending so much time on the EQ Live message boards, I run across this fellow Tebos who is offering to help people with their EQ related problems. I shoot him an email and he asks for my system info, dxdiag, dbg file and my minidump files. I send him all the requested files. By looking through my minidump files, he conclued that I am a victim of the loop/lockup bug. When playing 3D games, my video drivers are running in a constant loop, causing the freezes and BSODs. We try several things to eliminate the problems. I try disabling the sound: no go. I try different video and mobo drivers: no go. Reformat and reinstall everything: no go. Then he suggests that I swap out the video card and replace it with the old Geforce 2 I was running in my old system. After swapping the cards and turning off all the pretty options in EQ, I am able to play EQ fine. No crashes, freezes, BSODs, or graphic glitches. This leads us to believe that my problems were caused by a faulty video card. So I RMA the card (another $10 in shipping) and wait for a replacement to arrive.

Well, the replacement arrived a few days ago, and sadly the new card exhibits the exact same problems as the old card. So what is the problem here? Two different GeForce FX 5600XT cards causing the same problems but the GeForce 2 works fine. I call Cyberpowerinc.com and explain my situation to tech support. I am told that the 5600 cards have a known defect and it's not their fault so I should contact the manufacturer of my card. I call EVGA and am told I will be on hold for at least 30 mins so I hang up and go to EVGA.com. I send them a message explaining my situation and am told that since I experienced the same problem with 2 different cards, that my computer must be to blame. The TSR tells me to download MemTest86 and run it and let him know. Well, I let MemTest run overnight and zero errors were found. I emailed EVGA that info this morning and am awaiting their further instruction.

Some other things that I have tried - My brother turns me on to Omegacorner.com. I installed the Omega drivers for my Nvidia card and they seem to alliviate the loop/lockup bug. However, I am still experiencing graphic anomolies and what appears to be texture corrpution. I revert back to the 56.72 Nvidia drivers and install a GeForce FX 5200 card my brother has lying around. This card exhibits the same loop bug as well as the graphic glitches. Okay, maybe it's a problem with the FX series. I install my hubby's GeForce 5700 LE card. Guess what? That card exhibits the same problems! So, 4 different video cards: 2 different FX 5600XTs, a FX 5200, and a 5700 LE all exhibiting the same problem. I have tried resetting my BIOS to the default settings: no go. I edited my BIOS settings to match my husband's BIOS and that caused a new problem, heh, so I quickly undid those changes.

I have read every website, article and message board I have found on the loop/lockup bug and just can't seem to figure out what is wrong with my system. My case has 4 fans as well as one on the CPU (which is running under the max temp) and I have an adaquate power supply. The RAM has been checked and is fine. What am I overlooking? What is causing all of these issues? I am at my wits end here. I just want to play some Everquest, lol. If anyone has any ideas, suggestions, or insight to offer, please email me at Tyka@cox.net. I thank you for reading my story and for any help you may have to offer.

SpYDeR27

all i can say is wow, sorry that you have to go through ALL of that it must be a pain int he ass... good luck with any solution you can get... if i could help i would... my suggestion though... new video card.... maybe a ti4800 or something... seems the FXs arent going too well for you ;-/ maybe theres another conflict somewhere, sigh ... either way, good luck!

The_Neon_Cowboy

ask them nicely to take back tha 5600xt video card and request an exchange for a 5700le(offer to pay the differance) explain the troble you've went through and you know it's a card problem.


(I know how alot of these companies work and it isn't pretty more then likely they got you 5600xt tested it and said it was good more then likely you got the same card back)

__________________

Tyka

Thanks for your sympathy and your wishes of good luck.

Something that has occured to me since I posted is that the 4 video cards that exhibit problems in my system (2 5600s, a 5200, and a 5700) are all AGP cards. The one card that exhibits no problems (a GeForce 2 MX) is a PCI card. I don't know if this points to a specific problem, as I am not that tech saavy. I am open to any ideas.

Tyka

Thanks Cowboy, but as I stated, I have tried a GeForce 5700 LE in my computer already and it exhibits the same problem as all the others.

The_Neon_Cowboy

what drivers are u useing?

for you video card and chipset?

__________________

Necrosis

How does your IRQ tables look..plus have you tried changing your AGP aperture size? If you haven't checked your IRQ tables, compare your's to your husbands. I also recommend maybe downloading one of the 3D benchmarking suites to see if these have a similar issue. You can loop these to stress to system to make the problem easier to troubleshoot.

Tyka

I am using the Nvidia Nforce Unified Driver 4.24 released on May 10, 2004 for the chipset. I am using the Nvidia Forceware 56.72 drivers released on April 1, 2004 for the video card.

Here's my IRQ information:

[IRQs]

Resource Device Status
IRQ 9 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 11 NVIDIA nForce PCI System Management OK
IRQ 21 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller OK
IRQ 21 NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller OK
IRQ 22 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller OK
IRQ 22 NVIDIA(R) nForce(TM) Audio Codec Interface OK
IRQ 20 Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller OK
IRQ 14 Primary IDE Channel OK
IRQ 15 Secondary IDE Channel OK
IRQ 16 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600XT OK
IRQ 0 System timer OK
IRQ 8 System CMOS/real time clock OK
IRQ 13 Numeric data processor OK
IRQ 6 Standard floppy disk controller OK
IRQ 4 Communications Port (COM1) OK
IRQ 3 Communications Port (COM2) OK
IRQ 12 PS/2 Compatible Mouse OK
IRQ 1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard OK
IRQ 10 MPU-401 Compatible MIDI Device OK

I have tried changing the AGP aperture size. I tried 256, 128 and 64, all resulting in the same BSOD.

Tyka

I am noticing this:

IRQ 22 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller OK
IRQ 22 NVIDIA(R) nForce(TM) Audio Codec Interface OK

The USB controller and the sound driver are being named as causing the problem in my minidump files. Since XP automatically assigns the IRQs and both of these are onboard devices, how would I go about assigning one of them a different IRQ?

madx

There is so many things that could be wrong Motherboard, chipsets, AGP slot problems, IRQ sharing causing conflicts, Power supply problems, Bios setup, Overheating, I suggest taking it to your nearest A+ certified technician.



Warning Troubleshooting is Hazardous to your Sanity

Necrosis

Hmm..this could be rather complicated doing via the OS. I recommend you turn off any ports (in the bios) like your serial ports to free up IRQ's. Turn off anything you don't need. Do you have any USB devices connected? If you think about it you're playing an on-line game, and your built in networking device is sharing an IRQ.

Try an experiment. Disconnect all the USB devices on your computer if you can then see if it will lock up. You also might think about using a usb keyboard & mouse as well. Just make sure you reset your IRQ tables in the bios. I can never remember what this is called exactly but it's listed in the same area as your IRQ's in your bios. If memory serves me right it's like "ESCD" or something like that. You also can force the OS no control over the IRQ's but we'll worry about that later until we know for sure it's an IRQ issue.

The_Neon_Cowboy

It's not too difficult but not the best idea it can be done useing the device manger.. clicking on the device.. and click the resourses tab.... but i'd try some other stuff first

make sure in you bios options that if is asks plug and play os installed that it's set to"yes" other wise your bios sets your irq's no your os (xp) and xp does a decent job of it.

try turning off anything you don't use wich could be things like like usb ports, parellel port, serial ports anything like that u don't use set to disabled in your bios.

but on my system

IRQ 22 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
IRQ 21 NVIDIA(R) nForce(TM) Audio Codec Interface
IRQ 21 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller

I haven't any probs

by the way Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller are your usb 2.0 ports if you not useing usb try turning it off

look for an updated bios for your board too
that can make world of diff when your haveing wierd problems

__________________

Tyka

I just installed the latest BIOS from the motherboard manufacturer last night and noticed no changes in my computer's operation.

I am not using any USB devices, so I will try disabling them and see if that helps.

Thanks!

madx

ESCD ( Auto or Manual ) Allows you to Individually assign the IRQs and DMAs to the ISA and PCI devices. Set it to Auto (ESCD) will enable the Auto-configuration function