Gainward 4200 problems! need help!

[Nyconx]

I have a gainward 4200 64mb GF4 and it freezes in warcraft 3 and bf 1942. I am running windows XP. when I tried updating drivers it gets even worse and freezes immediately when entering games and colors go wacky. Anyone know of a work around or problems with the gainward and windows xp?
Thanks

 

[Nyconx]

bump

 

[Bovinicus]

First, try disabling Fast Writes in your BIOS. Next, try installing the latest drivers only after uninstalling the previous set of drivers. Next, try getting any OS updates that are available to you. Next, try updating your BIOS. Next, try updating your chipset drivers. If none of this solves your problem, I would suggest trying to get ahold of another video card and trying it out before buying a different one. Make sure the problem lies in the video card itself and not some incompatibility or something related to another component. If all else failes, try RMAing the card. See what it does for you. If all else fails, and that fails, then try a format of your HDD. That will do wonders.

 

[Nyconx]

My bios doesnt have a place for fast writes to be disabled I am running a ECS k7s5a. I unistalled the original drivers then installed the new ones which screwed it even more. The video card worked great when used in win 2000 but upgraded to xp and now it has these flaws. I tried a different card and everything works fine so I know it has something to do with it being set up or something.

 

[Nyconx]

bump

 

[CraigRT]

remove ALL drivers and start over again.

games freezing, unless hardware failure, is almost always incorrect driver installation.

remove your drivers, re-install directx, and re-install the drivers.
that has worked for me in the past on fixing ppl's computers.

 

[baneonrt]

It seems there are alot of Gainward GF4 64mb boards that are going bad. Mine was doing the same. Apparently Gainward is being pretty good about replacing them under warrenty. If you bought it in the past year you can also try to return it to the place of purchase. I bought mine from Newegg and they were willing to replace it. There is a thread on this subject over at the overclockers.com message forums.

Steve

 

[SpyKey]

A friend of mine has a peculiar problem with exactly same model. He had it running in one PC when it started showing some interesting artifacts: the screen would kinda break into blocks in some green and yellow hues, but we were able to see what was going on the screen for awhile, then 5-10 sec. later it would freeze.
He built a new PC with totally different specs, but the same card, and problem reappeared again.
He exchanged the card (egghead was great about it) for the same model, and it is doing the exact same thing.
The only choice now is to look for a different card. I feel especially bad about it this since I recommended Gainward to him.

 

[Mockmaw]

The Gainward 64mb cards had problems from the factory (or whereverr they're manufactured.) It's a common problem (just search for gainward in the Video forum). To get it fixed, call up Gainward's RMA department and ask for an RMA. Tell them about the artifacting and they'll be happy to replace it. They were fast for me, less than a week turnaround time.

 

[Copperpipe]

Mockmaw:

Did Gainward's RMA fix the problem for you? I've heard that their RMA replacements were as bad as the original...and sometimes even worse.

 

[Mockmaw]

Well, the first one they sent me didn't work at all, but it was a 'different' card.. heatsink was a little larger and a little heavier. I didn't get any video signal from it at all. Called their RMA department, they had another card (a brand spankin' new one in retail packaging) to me the very next day and had UPS come the next morning to pickup the broken one at their expense.. all without me having to say a word.

At first, I was a little frustrated at getting a bad card, but I realize that things can happen from time to time, and I was beyond impressed with the way they dealt with it. The new one works perfectly, so I'm content.

 

[cockeyed]

From the posts I've read in the past, it seems, as others have mentioned, that the problem was in the 64mb cards, which use different memory from the 128mb cards. I have 2 Ti4200 128mb GoldSam's that have performed without problems. Either do an RMA for another 64mb card and hope for the best or try to swap for a 128mb card.

 

[CurtCold]

My friend also has the Gainward GF4 ti4200, and his card Freezes during mohaa, usually after we play for about 30 mins. Just started doing this recently. I helped him go through the basic routines of driver checks, and updates, but still seems to the card. It was working fine for about 3 months, doens't seem to do this on any other game though, with the exception of spearhead, but runs Q3 fine in openGL.

 

[Antoneo]

Mockmaw, baneonrt, and others who have gotten RMAs from Gainward... could you tell me when you bought your video card and how long ago did you did the RMA? What was the speed of the ram on the replacement video cards?

 

[baneonrt]

Well, I haven't returned mine yet. I have been waiting for the reports of replacement cards also being bad to stop so I bought an Albatron Ti4200 Turbo card. I'll return mine when I get around to it.

As far as your other question, I purchased it around late April and used it in alot of games for a month or two then didn't play any 3d games for several months. I started up again in November with Warcraft III and at first I could play for a while before getting the PSOD. After a few tries it was down to 5 minutes max before crashing even with complete cool downs in between.

Most reliable reports I've read on the problem point to faulty capacitors not memory as the culprit. Keep in mind though that I haven't paid attention to the problem since mine went bad so there might have been more information discovered since then.

Steve

Originally posted by: Antoneo
Mockmaw, baneonrt, and others who have gotten RMAs from Gainward... could you tell me when you bought your video card and how long ago did you did the RMA? What was the speed of the ram on the replacement video cards?