Hi there,

I'm hoping someone can help me with a problem. About 3 weeks ago I built a new PC. My spec is as follows:-

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 512MB RAM
GFX: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 GFX
MoBo: ASUS P4P800SE
DirectX: 9.c
350W PSU

All was running well after a few teething problems I was more than happy. Recently I have encountered an annoying issue. I'm not sure whether or not it is related to the Mobo, GFX card or DirectX/Windows.

I have been happily playing games for the past two weeks (partly the reason I bought a new GFX card). A couple of days back though, I attempted to boot up Need for Speed Underground 2. This loaded, I could here the sound but the
visuals were no-where to be seen, all I had was a black screen. Thinking it may be to do with the game, I tried Silent Hill 4 - This gave distorted images and random flashing polygons. Half Life 2 presented similar issues.

I ran dxdiag from the run prompt. There were no errors encountered aside from when I attempted to test Direct3d on the Display tab. It runs 3 tests for Direct3d 7, 8 & 9.

With all of them the spinning cube appeared as expected but there was no directx logo. Instead the cube was coloured with pink, green and blue lines or checks.

My output from dxdiag can be downloaded here:-

http://www.bobpullen.f9.co.uk/DxDiag.txt

You'll see failures in one section. This is where the diagnostic tool asked if I could see the cube with the logo. I clicked 'no' because although I could see the cube, I couldn't see the logo.

I have tried uninstalling my display drivers from add/remove and the device manager, switched my PC off, unplugged and reinserted my GFX card into the AGP slot, rerstarted Windows and reinstalled the drivers to no avail. I have tried the latest drivers from NVidia's site without any joy either.

The peculiar thing is, I have not altered anything that I can think of. This is a fresh install of XP and I'm reluctant to reformat again because it has taken me a fortnight to get everything back how I like it!!

I tried a system restore to the time that I was last playing games without these problems but neither has this worked.

I suppose it could be directX but as far as I know there is no way of uninstalling and reinstalling it. I am running the latest version.

My other thoughts are that it could be the AGP slot on the MoBo or the card itself (both of which are only 3 weeks old and have been working fine up until now).

Can anyone shed any light on this or offer any suggestions? I have an old 64MB NVidia card that I can use to narrow some of the possibilities down but have not yet had time to do this.

Regards,

Bob.

Welcome to SAF, Bob!

I'm not a gaming guru, but hopefully one will be along soon. It sounds like you've tried most of the possibilities to resolve this issue. Try the video card swap and see what that does. Components are generally failure prone when new or in their infantcy, so don't rule out the possiblity of a bad card. If this was the first time you fired up the Need for Speed game, it's possible some command from that program altered a setting, however, the system restore should have cleared that up. Also check the nVidia and game sites for any FAQs or Support issues that may reference this.

Been unable to try the other card. I suspect it's incompatible with my mobo because the monitor refuses to come of standby when it's installed. Can' try my new card on my old mobo either as I only have one harddrive with Windows installed and it fails to boot when used with my old mobo.

I really think this is likely to be a bad card. There's a few other things I'm going to try, like underclocking the card to see if its a heating or power issue. I've gebnerated an RMA with the supplier so this bad-boy's going back if I can't restore it to it's original glory

Regards,

You didn't exactly say, but does this happen ONLY with Need For Speed, or as of now NO game will play?

Have you tried running a DVD movie on your unit? Will a movie play normally with sound?

On the web, will flash presentations play okay?

thanks

I had some trouble with a couple games and it turned out to be a program called window blinds that I was running had to be shut off.

QUOTE (ranchhand @ Apr 21 2005, 06:42 AM)

You didn't exactly say, but does this happen ONLY with Need For Speed, or as of now NO game will play? Have you tried running a DVD movie on your unit? Will a movie play normally with sound? On the web, will flash presentations play okay? thanks

No, it happens across all games that require hardware acceleration.

For the record, I had been playing all games, including Need For Speed 2 perfectly fine, with the same card.

DVD's are fine as are all other graphical applications that do not require direct3d.

Regards,

Bob.