[Writin_Reg]

Hi, back in November I sought help for Blue Screen of Death and it was more or less decided I probably needed a new video card because I play the Sims 2 and all it's EP's. (Just about the most memory and graphic hog of a game out there).

As a reminder I have an AMD Athlon™XP 2500+
1.82ghz with 2 matching 512 sticks of ram (1 gb)

My OS is XP Prof. Vers.2002 with service pk 2 and all updates to date
(also just updated to the new browser (7) )

My hdware - Sony CD_RW; Sony DVD-ROM; 80gig harddrive with 29 gig free
Floppy. Wireless Logitech matched Mouse and Keyboard
Vinyl AC' 97 Codec Combo sound (updated)
Avitron Av-&TF Monitor
DSL Broadband (Verizon)
OKay I was running Nvidia Geforce 4 ti 4600 with 125 ram - (a 1x,2x, 4x card)

Got new card Christmas - Nvidia Geforce 7300 GT with 256 ram(a 4x and 8x card)

Now here's what's been happening: if I play the Sims longer than 2 hours, all of a sudden the game will freeze and the harddrive starts working like crazy - sometimes while it's doing this I lose the picture and it goes to a totally blue screen, other times it just stays frozen and nothing works. I have learned to just wait until the harddrive stops, which it does eventually, and then I can save the game and quit normally. At that point, if I just reboot my machine, shut down all my background tasks and antivirus I can go right back into the game and play another hour or two - but what's so annoying is with my old card I got the blue screen of death, but it took several hour for that to happen (usually 4 or more) unless I was using really big properties which required extensive memory and graphics. I assumed by what every one told me, the new card wouldn't have this problem because it is more powerful, but the problem is worse. Oh and if I continue to play after I save my game I might squeeze another hour out of it, but when it goes down a second time it will start blinking between a black screen and a blue screen and won't come out of this. Then I have to shutting it down improperly.

So far I have gotten the Registry scrubber and cleaned the Registry. I checked with Nvidia and have the latest driver. I also ran this program that gets fragmented drivers out of your computer. I did memtest86 and it never shut down. I ran Everest and my husband said my power supply readings are right where they are supposed to be. I have a 400 watt power supply. I updated my on board sound.

I only can think of one more thing, is it possible that I'm taking a performance hit on the new card as I just discovered my motherboard was a match with the old card (1x,2x & 4x) and this new card does just 4x and 8x. I saw that on the Everest test - by the way. And before you ask I have the card temp monitors on and I have it set so I can check it's read out over an hour and it never rises above 52 degrees and the slowdown protection point says it has to get to 125 (which sounds high to me, but that's what it says.), and what is even odder I was monitoring it trying a different game and the temp actually dropped to 50 degrees. It's 52 degrees when I first turn my computer on.

I'm at my wits in and I have very little money left to invest here - any ideas? And if it is the MOBO what is affordable without a credit card? That's also maxed out at the moment on Christmas and meds.

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Hi there,

I have a question for you. Did you uninstall your old card from the Device Manager before you removed it form your PC?

Also, my personal thought is that 52 Degrees to me, does sound a little hot. You may want to download a Video Card Tester, just to make sure your video card is working correctly.

Hope this helps!

[bobbobagan]

Hi there,

I have a question for you. Did you uninstall your old card from the Device Manager before you removed it form your PC?

Also, my personal thought is that 52 Degrees to me, does sound a little hot. You may want to download a Video Card Tester, just to make sure your video card is working correctly.

Hope this helps!

[SRX660]

Well your video card does not match well on tom's hardware benchmarks. Way down at the bottom of the chart.

http://www23.tomshar...m/graphics.html

Your computer freezing up while theres a bunch of HD activity says you are running out of usable memory and the computer is going to the swap file.

The reason the old card seemed faster is because it did not have enough power to give you good resolution and frame rates. The new card is probably faster , you just dont have a system that is matched to it. Many times the gamers run benchmark utilities to find out the real speed they are running at for the resolution and frame rates they want. There is a compromise in all video cards to frame rates, rendering and quality. A newer card will look better but may be slower on a older computer. Thats why heavy duty gamers build a new computer every 3-6 months. It lets them take advantage of faster cards and systems.

Your temps are not bad for the video card.

Please read this on new video cards on old er computers.

http://www.tomshardw...tform-analysis/

Read this to see how tom's benchmarks vidoe cards.

http://www.tomshardw..._card_showdown/

SRX660

[Writin_Reg]

I did not install the card, it was professionally installed by a tech from Digital Connections.

Everything was tested there and everything tested great, but then again it isn't the same testing until you put it under heavy graphic and memory 3D use. From what I read over at 3dGuru and on the Nvidia forums a number of people are experiencing similar problems with the 7 series cards on computers using Via Tech mobo's. Apparently there was a similar problem with the series 6 cards and they put up a temp fix for it, but it still sound mysteriously like it's super taxing the system. I gather that besides the blue screen their machines are rebooting - but in my case I don't have any automatic rebooting.

Last night I decided to uninstall all my Sims, clean out all the excess stuff I wasn't using, cleaned it all, including the Registry, clean disk, defragged the system, and had my husband doublecheck my bios against a list I got from the Nvidia guy as to what to enable, disable, or set values at. Also I ran the scan for errors/fix thing too. Then this morning I just installed the base game, ran it about 25-30 minutes then tabbed out and checked my memory usage and was alarmed to see a whopping 620 or so mg already in use out of the 1 gig. I also check the temp sensors and the card was still at it's lowest 50 degrees. I have 4 additional fans in my case, plus the card has it's own as does my cpu - and all was installed professionally - not by me. I'm still getting no errors with memtest86 and everest shows my power system still unchanged and good. My memory and power supply are less than a year old anyway, as my system only came with 512 mem and a 300 watt ps, so I updated them as soon as I can.

For the guy that spoke of gamers and updating, I know what you mean, my oldest son is a bigtime gamer - he owned and ran CAPCLAN for the longest time and had a lot of serious Lan parties. Now they are doing WOW and have guilds. But unlike him I cannot afford alienware and updating every 3 months. I do it one piece at a time. If you know a reasonable priced mobo that will match up with my card better I'd appreciate knowing which one. I do have an account with Tiger, but none at newegg and the credit card is maxed right now. Oh and a test was just ran on my cpu, although it is 1.8 mhz, it benchmarks at 2.5 mhz. I don't really know what that means, or if it is good - but that's what I was told.

[Writin_Reg]

I just got an email from the techs over at XFXforce who put out my Nvidia Geforce 7300gt and they told me I should remove the 93.71 and put in the 91.47 because the 93.71 is very unstable and running hotter. Apparently Nvidia's newest driver is a disaster. XFXforce gave me the driver, but I'll wait until my husband gets home and have him remove the other one and put this one in. He'll do it right. So hopefully my problem will be solved for now.

I'd still appreciate if anyone knows a real reasonable priced mobo - I'd like it better than the one I have, but it needs to be an agp 8x. The board I'm on right now is only capable of 1x, 2x, and 4 x - while the new video card is 4x and 8x. If I am to understand correctly, I was told by one of the people I talked to that I was also probably suffering a performance hit just running that card at 4x on this board. I checked with Via Technologies and this board is not capable of any more than it's doing now.

Thanks to anyone who knows in advance.

[Dan1887]

The new drivers could be a cause of some of your problems as that happened with ati and the x1650/x1950 card series and their latest drivers. However it is also because the Sims 2 recommends at least 2 ghz or over to play at a reasonably high quality. Another suggestion might be to increase the pagefile space on your hard drive depending on how big the hard drive is. What SRX 660 said is true, being an avdi gamer i benchmark and tweak my computer every week week and a half to make sure it is running optimal, I also upgrade it every 3 months with something new. For now try the page file if you have a large hard drive i would suggest increasing the page file to over 2 gb in my case i have a 250 gb hdd and I have the page file set to max at 4gb this allows a lot of room before the hdd will ahve to wipe the page file.

[Writin_Reg]

Dan, that requirement of over 2 ghz for Sims was only if you had a video that was "NOT SUPPORTED" by the game. My card is not only supported by the game but it's one of the mid(low) end cards suggested by EA games and Maxis - the makers of the Sims 2 Games. Any card on the list that is supported by the game only needs a mother board of 1300mhz. See, you are an avid gamer period, but I'm an avid "Simmer" and every piece of equipment and upgrades I have ever made to my system is to get the utmost out of "SOLELY" the Sims games. I have all of them from all the Sim Cities, Sim Golf, Sim's 1 and EPs, and now all the Sims 2. My computer and all hardware has been professionally set and put together and pieces purchased just for the Sims series of games. I have everything from the page file system to you name it set to the optimum performance settings for these games. My page file I am told is set to max for my system.

My only difference in my system and yours is you apparently have the money and means to meet your compassion for gaming in general (which I do envy) and constantly upgrade, while I do with what I have and can only upgrade 1 piece at a time and try to do so with the idea I stay a few leaps ahead of the eps of the Sims games. With each overhaul and upgrade EA Games made of the Sim's engines I managed to also get an entire new system in time for each new release. (I started with Sims stuff when my 386 Pentium (many computers ago) was considered state of the Art for it's time. Before any sims ever I started with an H8 computer the size of a kitchen table where there was no real os, and any gaming or programming at all was done by hand typing the program into the computer for days and weeks on end, in what was called machine basic. I did actually once make a bit of a living doing this for others, even).

All this being said, I do thank you for taking the time in trying to help me out though. I always appreciate a second, or more, set of eyes in helping me with my computer "brick walls" I call them; especially when the helps came via degrees of experience in this constantly changing field.

For the good news, I do now think my present "dragon" has been slayed (as with this driver everything appears to be functioning correctly again) and all is left for the present is to find a new motherboard I can afford to buy that will improve my system, and work with the equipment I already have - which needs to be an agp (yes I know the beauty of a pci express, but I have an agp card) and capable of handling my 8times card. My HD is an 80gb and I have a 40gb one for back up if it is ever needed. So thank you for your response. I especially love the responses and helpfulness of you big time gamers, and do try to strive toward the things you all have learned via serious gaming. I used to wish with all my heart for a top of line system, a Area 51 Alienware system was once a big dream of mine, I eventually learned to live through it knowing full well it would never happen. I am somewhat disabled and have no income of my own and the writing I do is mostly to benefit childrens charities, so I have to live within the household budget on what my husband earns. Unfortunately that is life for some of us, even if our gaming compassion is just as strong as any gamers. But anyway, thank you for your help.

Edited by Writin_Reg, 16 January 2007 - 08:31 AM.

[Writin_Reg]

This is the EA Information page showing my system is more than satisfactory of the Sims line of games - and where it is shown unknown capatibility, I was previous more than compatiable, and then I upgraded that equipment to equipment on EA's major list of newer equipment not put in this test program yet, but is more than compatable. You can see my page file setting below. I also clean my files daily; run error fix every 2 weeks unless I have an improper shut down, then I will do this immediately. I defrag 2 times a week. I run adaware and Spy Doctor scans daily and have Spy Ware Blaster on an updated all the time. I have Security set at Medium, Keep the OS updated and HaveSymantec Antivirus Corp. Edition and pop up blocker set to high, all updated weekly. I have temp monitors through out my system and run 4 cooling fans besides the fans on the video card and processor. I also have my system air cleaned monthly. I do the best I can within my limitations. **********




Welcome to Electronic Arts System Information Utility, Easy Info. This tool can be used by yourself and our technical support representatives to help find a solution to any technical issues you may be experiencing with your game. Please make sure that your system meets minimum requirements and that you have the most updated drivers for both your video and sound devices.




System Overview / Comparison
Your System Results Game Requirements

Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600) Pass Windows XP/2000/98*Guest

System Memory 1024.5 Pass 256.0

Processor Speed 1824.3 Pass 1300 MHz

DirectX Version 9.0c Pass 9.0c

Display Device NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT Unknown Compatibility

Display Memory 256.0 Pass 32.0

Display Driver 6.14.10.9147 Unknown Compatibility

Sound Device Vinyl AC'97 Audio (WAVE) Pass

Sound Driver 6.14.01.4180 Unknown Compatibility



Operating System Information
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)

Internet Explorer Information
Version 7.00.5730.0011


System Device Information
Processor
AMD AMD Athlon™ XP 2500+ 1824.3 Mhz

Memory
System Total 1024.5
Virtual Total 2047.9
Pagefile Total 2461.3

Snapshot
System Available 693.5
Virtual Available 1993.0
Pagefile Available 2269.3

Monitor Information
Monitor Name Avitron AV-7TF
Refresh Rate 85 Hz

Network Card Information
Name VIA PCI 10/100Mb Fast Ethernet Adapter - Packet Scheduler Miniport
IP Address 192.168.1.101
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
Gateway 192.168.1.1
Primary WINS Server N/A
DHCP 192.168.1.1


System Device Information
Background Processes Information
Process Name [System Process]
Process Name System
Process Name smss.exe
Process Name csrss.exe
Process Name winlogon.exe
Process Name services.exe
Process Name lsass.exe
Process Name svchost.exe
Process Name svchost.exe
Process Name svchost.exe
Process Name svchost.exe
Process Name svchost.exe
Process Name explorer.exe
Process Name spoolsv.exe
Process Name VPTray.exe
Process Name iTouch.exe
Process Name jusched.exe
Process Name apdproxy.exe
Process Name ctfmon.exe
Process Name DefWatch.exe
Process Name Rtvscan.exe
Process Name nvsvc32.exe
Process Name MsPMSPSv.exe
Process Name svchost.exe
Process Name alg.exe
Process Name iexplore.exe
Process Name EasyInfo.exe
Process Name wmiprvse.exe


Media Device Information
Mass Storage Devices
Type Removable
File System N/A
Total Space 0 Bytes
Free Space 0 Bytes

Mass Storage Devices
Type Fixed
File System NTFS
Total Space 74.5 GB
Free Space 31.7 GB

Mass Storage Devices
Type CD / DVD Drive
File System N/A
Total Space 0 Bytes
Free Space 0 Bytes

Mass Storage Devices
Type CD / DVD Drive
File System CDFS
Total Space 476.8 MB
Free Space 0 Bytes

DirectX Information
Version 9.0c
Long Version 4.09.0000.0904

Display Device (Primary Only)
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
Device
Description NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
Manufacturer NVIDIA Corporation
GUID D7B71E3E-41A2-11CF-3275-4A020DC2CD35

Driver
Version 6.14.10.9147
Module nv4_disp.dll
Date 8-12-2006

Memory
Local 256.0
Local 247.0
Non-Local 57.0
Texture 304.0

Sound Device (Primary Only)
Vinyl AC'97 Audio (WAVE)
Device
Description Vinyl AC'97 Audio (WAVE)
Manufacturer VIA Technologies, Inc.
GUID BD6DD71A-3DEB-11D1-B171-00C04FC20000

Driver
Version 6.14.01.4180
Module vinyl97.sys
Date 10-9-2006

Capabilities
Max 3D Buffers 0
Supports Mono Output True
Supports Stereo Output True

[rumble291]

EA games are a load of rubbish all the do is give you blue screens. Have you tryed any other game with your computer? The 7 series from what ive seen is rubbish giving BSODs every hour or so when upgraded from an older card. I recommend using Driver Cleaner Pro to clean out the video drivers

Driver Cleaner Pro

1. Uninstall the video driver
2. Reboot in Safe Mode
3. Run Driver Cleaner Pro and select appropriate cleaning filters
4. Reboot in Normal Mode and install the older but more stable driver

Defragging with windows is the worst thing ive ever done to my Hard drive as it corrupted it and made all my games unplayable and some crashed when trying to load them up. Try using a different defragmenter like DiskKeeper you can download the trial from

http://www.diskeeper...wnloads_dk2.htm

If the worst comes to the worse you can always format and start over its like having a new computer again!

[Writin_Reg]

Yeah we already knew about Drive Cleaner pro, I got it thru a guy at 3dGuru, and used it when the techs at XFXforce told me to uninstall the driver Nvidia gave me and put in a different one. XFXforce said Nvidia's newest driver is unstable and runs hot.
At least it's playable now. And yes, I have other games - Sacred, Elder Scrolls; Rush Hours, Diablo2 and all ep's, Age of Mythology; Warcraft; just to name a few. And it did seem to act up with the Sims way more than any other; but I make Sims and neighborhoods for Simmers - I don't just play the game.

[Writin_Reg]

Hi again,

Well some good news, I have a new mobo, processor, with matching memory being shipped as I speak.
I was ordered the following: Gigabyte Pentium D 3.0ghz motherboard CPU Combo P4 x2 Dual Core DDR3
Sata Vid 4mb Cache. I'm also getting a matched pair of ram sticks for this setup and 2 extra fans, 1 for the cpu and 1 for my case.

Now will this make my Nvidia Geforce 7300gt work better with the Sims 2 and all it's expansion packs? And one more question what would be the best size and type of power supply for this set up. I also have a dvd rom drive player, a cd-rom burner/player, a floppy drive (that's never use) and a wireless logitech keyboard and mouse set.

Rightnow I have a 400 watt that is about a year old and I have it in one of those silver see through cases that has built in fans and all sorts of colored lights. (Top fan and side fan). The powersupply, I can't remember its name, but it has dual fans in it too.

Edited by Writin_Reg, 02 February 2007 - 08:36 AM.