Is my GeForce dying?

[vaclav]

UT locked up at the splash screen. Reboot. Q3A locked up with a grey screen before the ID logo. DirectX tester locked up! Reinstalled video drivers (Nvidia 6.31) and DirectX 7.0a. Same problems.

I figured that WIN98 was hosed somehow so I booted into WIN2K. DirectX diagnostic locked up! Is it possible that 2D on my Asus V6800 DDR is OK but that it won't run 3D?

One clue, I rebooted into WIN2K and connected to Anandtech then went to grab a coffee. When I returned, no mouse cursor and the system was frozen. Could it be my CPU rather than my graphics card?

What should I try next?

Thanks.

 

[mastertech01]

I would look at overheating, overclocking too high, and IRQ conflicts. Try the release driver too, not the beta

 

[mastertech01]

Also try bumping core voltage on processor and bumping I/O voltage.

 

[vaclav]

Thanks mastertech01,

The 6.31 drivers are "release" so I don't think I can blame them.

I reduced my FSB speed to stock 100MHz and successfully ran games & directx so I guess overclocking was the culprit. My PIII700 cA2 is wearing out after 6 months @ 115% rated speed! I wasn't going to up the voltage with stock cooling and I thought I'd be better off to buy a new cB0 or cC0 CPU (say PIII 800 or 850) rather than invest in an Alpha for my cA2 which seems to have very limited O/C potential. By the way, my Soyo 6BA+IV bumps IO voltage up to 3.55 anyway so no need to tinker.

Thx again.

 

[mastertech01]

I had a CA2 PIII700...very weak overclocker it was.. Im using a cbo 750 now and get 950 stable with an Alpha and 1.75 voltage on a BX Master...VERY STABLE... a big diff with only a 50 MHZ jump on the base and a cbo core..

 

[Origen]

Something else that may be worth glancing at.. Back when I ran my Celeron 366a @ 550, one day it just suddenly stopped working at 550mhz. I thought it could be my vid card, etc etc... turned out to be a virus. I forget the name exactly but it essentially was intercepting Int13h calls and for one reason or another couldn't do it's job with the system overclocked.

 

[Weyoun]

sorry, but is your motherboard a VIA derivetive? If so, make sure those 4 in 1's are installed. I forgot to install them after a format, i was tearing my hair out trying to find the cause, i was getting all the same symptoms, them i remembered the 4 in 1's. Worked like a charm after
EDIT
Don't I look like an idiot now....