Pixel Shader Issue

[plonka]

Hi techy's

Wonder if you can help,
I get a an error message when i try to play a game, the error states that 'Inadequate Pixel Shader Support Dectected'
I have GE Force MX 440
Cannot find any info through nvidia
Have updated all drivers running xp sp2
75Gig space left
athlon 2400+

PS all my games crash after playing for more than a few minutes.
No dust inside, well ventilated
Fresh Install of xp a few weeks ago

HELP please

[RipperRoo]

hi plonka, welcome to the forums

i have an idea what it might be, but i need a little more info from you.

i need to know the motherboard and chipset details of your system as well as the type of bios it uses.

if this isnt something you already know, there is a little program called cpuz that can find out for you, you can get it free from:

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php#download

1.23 is the version you need,
once you have downloaded it, unzip it to a folder and double click it, a square panel will apear showing you the information about your cpu, mainboard and memory.

[plonka]

done that

Number of CPUs 1
Name AMD Athlon XP
Code name Thoroughbred
Specification AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2400+
Family/Model/Stepping 681
Extended Family/Model 7/8
Package Socket A
Core Stepping B0
Technology 0.13µ
Instructions Sets MMX, Extended MMX, 3DNow!, Extended 3DNow!, SSE
Clock Speed 1999.9 MHz
Clock multiplier x15.0
Front Side Bus Frequency 133.3 MHz
Bus Speed 266.7 MHz
L1 Data Cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L1 Instruction Cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Cache 256 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Speed 1999.9 MHz (Full)
L2 Location On Chip
L2 Data Prefetch Logic yes
L2 Bus Width 64 bits

[plonka]

now what?

[technobeast]

I don't think you have any problem with mb though. It's just a matter of video drivers and/or games. Can you tell us which version of NVidia drivers you are using?
Also from first guess - the game is Splinter Cell: Pandora Tommorow. If I'm correct then ~CLICK~
It gives you the decision - 3D pixel shader emulator. But still many ppl complain with a card like yours. Probably time for a change if you insist to play this game.
As for other games that crash downgrade your NVidia drivers (uninstall previous->reboot->install new) or upgrade them (probably a SP2 problem?!?)

[RipperRoo]

Originally posted by plonka
done that

Number of CPUs 1
Name AMD Athlon XP
Code name Thoroughbred
Specification AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2400+
Family/Model/Stepping 681
Extended Family/Model 7/8
Package Socket A
Core Stepping B0
Technology 0.13µ
Instructions Sets MMX, Extended MMX, 3DNow!, Extended 3DNow!, SSE
Clock Speed 1999.9 MHz
Clock multiplier x15.0
Front Side Bus Frequency 133.3 MHz
Bus Speed 266.7 MHz
L1 Data Cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L1 Instruction Cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Cache 256 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Speed 1999.9 MHz (Full)
L2 Location On Chip
L2 Data Prefetch Logic yes
L2 Bus Width 64 bits

ok, thats the cpu, but i need the MOTHERBOARD details, third tab along. if you dont want to type out what it says, go to the far right tab marked 'about' and click the 'save results' button.
the info you are looking for will look something like this:


DMI BIOS
--------
BIOS #1
vendor Award Software, Inc.
version ASUS A7V8X-X ACPI BIOS Revision 1010

DMI Baseboard
-------------
Baseboard #1
vendor ASUSTeK Computer INC.
model A7V8X-X
revision REV 1.xx
serial xxxxxxxxxxx

Software
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Windows Version Microsoft Windows XP Workstation Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
DirectX Version 9.0b

[plonka]

attached is the whole lot!
Many thanks and yes the game that i get that message is splinter cell.
But all my games crash.
Ive updated the drivers as far as im aware to their optimum, but im not sure!
When i play games with a lot of info ie Far cry, UT4, doom3 etc, the crash's occure.As for using sp2 i had the crash problem b4 sp2 and with it, so would not be the problem.

[technobeast]

OK
1) Open your PC and check if the videocard fan is OK ->moving not covered with dust etc. If it's not moving and all we've discovered your problem (seems like it if you're not experiencing any problems in light games or 2D). Clean the fan put some lubricant and voila.
2) Drivers -> if problem 1) is not your problem just try the video drivers from www.omegacorner.com (or something like that)- Omega KX1.4403 is the recommended for your VC.
3) Drivers ->if don't want to try the Omega drivers you can downgrade the ordinary NVidia drivers to 53.27 (or any other 53.x version) - recommended for GFMX440 cards.
Try the above decisions.

Cheers,
Alex

[RipperRoo]

k, what i suspect has happened - and im guessing here - is you did a freash install of xp, installed most of the drivers, but missed out the AGP1.14 driver; this is different that the graphics card drivers you get from Nvidia because its a driver for the mainboard to enable the AGP slot to be used in the correct way by windows.

the driver you need should be third from the bottom of this page:
http://www.amptron.com/asp/driverslist.asp?name=K7S8X

and this page may be worth a read as well:

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2003/asro...setupguide.htm

[plonka]

AGP1.14 driver has been d.loaded, as i said games were crashing before install.
Inside is dust free!!!

[technobeast]

K other ideas.
1) CPU temperatures???
2) PSU problems -> if voltages are getting low when at full load, sometimes failures may occur (restarts, freezes, etc). is it any noname 300W PSU or a killer.
3) mem problems.... is the PC new and did problems start at the beginning or at some point of time?

Cheers,
Alex

[plonka]

pc is 1 year old mem checked all ok,
Temp. all ok.
I assume its 300w

[technobeast]

now could this be PSU problems... I wonder. If everything is OK and games make trouble from the very beginning (or not???).
I know it's not suitable to ask but anyways ...do you have a multimeter (voltmeter) and do you know how to measure the 12V and 5V line of the mollex connector( black and red wire is 5V Line, and black and yellow is 12V). It would be good to see if it can stand the voltages at high load.
Don't have any other ideas so far....will post again if I think of something...
Good luck

Alex

[RipperRoo]

for the voltages it would be easyer to use a motherboard monitoring program like MBM5

http://mbm.livewiredev.com/

[technobeast]

Yup of course. It's just sometimes the motherboards sensors are not really what they are expected (having an old Gigavyte mobo here has taught me to measure the voltages like that sometimes). But if it's for relative info only (are they kept like before full load or not) it's great