video card crashes

Jofus · Post by **Jofus** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 9:54 pm

Hi Everyone,
I just bought an nvidia Ge-force FX 5600 card because Bloodmoon was taxing my other card too heavily. I installed the latest drivers and fired her up with expectations of good framerates and a more enjoyable gaming experience. Instead I got and endless series of crashes, some would crash windows while most of them just crash the game. I did manage to get about 1/2 hour of gameplay in between and was happy with the performance of the card but the card ain't worth diddley if you can't play the game. If anyone has had this problem I'd really appreciate your suggestions. TIA

Albromor · Post by **Albromor** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 12:11 am

Jofus, the very best advice I could give you is to directly talk to Bethesda's tech support. I speak from experience. Tell them exactly what you are running into. Give them your computer system specs. They will write back asking you, most likely, to send via attachment a DXDiag information. Don't worry, they'll give you step by step instructions on how to do this.

Also, contact your video card manufacturer and tell them how it has been crashing Windows. By the way, are you using Nvidia drivers and did you disable the old drivers before installing the new ones?

Jofus · Post by **Jofus** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 3:57 am

Thanks for the reply Albromor but I found the problem. When I installed the card I also installed a stick of 512 memory for a total of one gig. My nephew told me to take it out, so I did. That fixed the problem. Too much RAM? Maybe I should check to see if they are the same speed

Albromor · Post by **Albromor** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 10:09 am

Hmmm, interesting diagnosis! I wonder, then, if it is a motherboard issue. I have a great ASUS Pentium 3 motherboard (very stable), but it is only designed to take up to 512 megs of RAM. Yet I have another slot in it that I could add more. So it wouldn't surprise me if was the motherboard itself and too much RAM. By the way, glad it worked out for you.

P.S. - Did he say why you should take out the stick of 512? How did he surmise that this was the problem? Maybe it wasn't your motherboard but your operating system. The reason I ask is because I am always trying to learn. Thanks.

Jofus · Post by **Jofus** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 11:53 pm

Sorry for the unresponsiveness. I got pissed off at my computer and have'nt turned it on in a few days. To answer your question I did'nt really ask him why he said to take out the RAM cuz I was in a hurry and I have'nt talked to him since. I did take the RAM back to the store to have it checked and it was OK but they said that my mobo (ASUS A7N8X) was finicky about memory and suggested that I get the Kingston brand which was a little more expensive. So I traded in for the Kinsgton which did'nt make the crashes anymore... but, the frame rates on Bloodmoon did'nt improve, in fact they were worse than with my old ATI 7200. So I took out the RAM again and re-installed the drivers but it did'nt help so I said to hell with it and quit playing for a few days. But now I want to get it fixed so I will have to take it in to the shop or have my nephew come over and tweak it. Damn comp's can be so frustrating

Albromor · Post by **Albromor** » Sat Jun 21, 2003 9:45 am

I am curious, Jofus, do you have framerate problems with any other game? Your ASUS motherboard has a high rating across the industry. There is a great community forum over at http://www.resellerratings.com that you can do a search on your motherboard. They also have forums for all kinds of issues: video cards, sound cards, operating systems, etc. Also, check out my first reply where I suggested contacting Bethesda's Tech Support. I suggest going this route first before hauling your computer to a shop.