AGP slots: Do they go bad?

[writetimrogers]

Hello :?

Can anyone tell me if AGP *slots* go bad? I had a GeForce 4 4200 w/ all the right drivers, that just crapped out one day. I checked the card, and it didnt seem to be that, but every time a game (or any 3D app) would run, the computer would freeze or reboot. So, I went and bought a new card. Big mistake. I got another AGP, this time a GeForce 4 4600, and it did not work either. Same problems. I thought it was an IRQ conflict, but after taking it to Best Buy to get looked at by a "professional" I was told that that wasn't it, and they didn't know what it was.

So, on a larf, I borrowed a friend's PCI Radeon card and that worked fine. I can game now, but it sucks!

I think what happened is that I had a "high seas" version of Unreal Tourney 2003 and it killed my AGP slot. This is one possiblity according to the tech at BB.

Can ANYONE help?????

Here are other specs:
Gateway Select 1100 Desktop
AMD Athalon 1.1Ghz
512Mb Ram
Win XP
300 Watt power
Soundblaster (but confirmed no IRQ conflict)
D-Link ethernet

Tim

[Dr. Avery]

Do you have another AGP slot? Try out a different slot. If your motherboard has an onboard intefrated vidcard, disable it.

Try the card in someone else's computer to see if it works - if it does, the problem is not the card itself. You may have fried the card, the slot might have crapped out, there may be an i/o or memory range conflict, there might be a software conflict, you may need to update your driver, roll back your driver, or simply replace a corrupt driver.

Did you install anything immediately pror to the issue (hardware or software)?

Did you uninstall those things and try again (some programs do not like to share a computer with certain other programs...)?

I hate to tell someone to just 'get a new vidcard - those cards are expensive. I have trouble believing that a program fried your agp slot. More likely the program is having an i/o conflict with another program.

When was the last time you scandisk / defragged your box? a couple of well placed bad clusters could knock out your card while allowing the rest of your system to function (semi) normally.

have you tried other graphics intensive applications or is it just one that you are having this issue with.

good luck and if none of this helps you, I am certain that someone else here will come along with something useful.

[Cirga]

Also.. if you could trace back to when this started happening that would be a great help. Your card was working at "one" point in time. can you recall what you did just prior to the first incident of your computer locking up/crashing? Did you install anything new (anything at all). Did you change any settings? Did you update the driver?

A AGP slot frying is "always" a possibility.. but a rare one at best. I have never fried a slot on a motherboard personally.. nor seen one in my experience not work. Does your computer run ok with the vid card in Windows? does it only lock up when loading up certain games? Which games does it lock up on?

Think of anything and everything.. the more info the easier it is for us to help out

[jrwap]

I have never seen a mobo with more than one AGP port. Your best bet will be to get you hands on another AGP card and test the mobo.

.... or take your AGP card and install it in another computer and see if it works.

Good old trial and elimination.

-JRW

[writetimrogers]

Yeah I have tried all you guys suggest. The new card works in another computer. When I plugged my AGP card last night again to check, I noticed the sound would not work. Do you think there is a hardware conflict with Soundblaster Live!? I put the PCI card back in and viola, sound worked. The only thing though, why would it only corrupt 3D apps? The desktop and other programs like PowerDVD DO work with my AGP card, so why not my beloved games?

I will try removing the Sound card and using on board audio (I think I have it). Or if you guys think it is a software conflict, I will go so far as to format my hard drives. I really want this to work.

Oh yeah, I was out of town for a few weeks when the computer started acting up. My ROOMMATES were at the house though and they did god know's what to it. So I don't know what happened. I know this doesn't help, but I would appreciate any advice. I have read a lot of threads and seen you guys help many people, so I hope you can be my too.

Tim

[Cirga]

Open up your Device manager.. and check for whats installed in both Multimedia devices and Video Adapters. Make sure you only have "one" of each of those enabled. If you see anything else in there enabled disable it in hardware profile and try starting up the PC again.

If you do disable some things.. Remove the AGP video card from the list as well.. and when you start up the PC let the computer reinstall the card again.

[Ryathe]

You may also want to try going into your bios and lowering your AGP speed.

Speaking of the bios, when is the last time you flashed it. There may be a known problem with your new card on your mobo. A bios update may correct the problem. If you do this heed all the warnings found on your mobo's website about bios flashing. There are some risks involved.

[writetimrogers]

Well guys, thanks for all the help, but none of this worked. I am gonna put the old girl down soon (it's my dog ma, let me put ol' yeller down :z) and just build a new computer. I am not surprised it couldn't be fixed here. I think it must be a fried slot. There is no other explaination.

Peace in the middle east,
and rain in spain.

Tim Rogers

[Cirga]

Originally posted by writetimrogers
Well guys, thanks for all the help, but none of this worked. I am gonna put the old girl down soon (it's my dog ma, let me put ol' yeller down :z) and just build a new computer. I am not surprised it couldn't be fixed here. I think it must be a fried slot. There is no other explaination.

Peace in the middle east,
and rain in spain.

Tim Rogers

Well you know how it goes.. some problems just have to be "on site" to fix. I am sure one of us could tell you rihgt away if we were sitting at the PC.. but unfortunately all we can do is offer suggestions. Sorry thta it didnt solve your problem.. but please do come back if you need any help building that new PC. Especially if you want some good price and combination suggestions.

[Sinkalip]

Sounds like a problem I *JUST* had. Mine turned out to be a bad DIMM.
Have you looked at the event viewer? Right click on My Computer, then Manage, then Event Viewer, and, finally, System.

You (hopefully) will see errors and/or a system dump file (The system is supposed to dump the memory contents before it reboots). The contents of this log should help you out a bit. Just look up the error code on the Windows website.

Also, instead of rebooting, you can (try to) make it stop instead of rebooting.

To do this, Right click on My Computer, then properties, then advanced. under the Startup and Recovery button, uncheck the automatically reboot button.
Somtimes this works, and hopefully you'll get a Stop error, with a code that you can look up on the Windows website.
More often than not, the error probably WON'T pertain to your problem, but I might give you a pretty good idea.
Hope this helps
Good luck

[Cirga]

Hey there Sinkalip! That there is my pal from Nevada. I work with him. He is a computer geek too. Go figure?

Welcome to the boards!

[Sinkalip]

Thanks man!

[RipperRoo]

Originally posted by writetimrogers

300 Watt power

this could be your problem , if you have another psu try that with your problem mobo
AGP cards suck a lot of volts and if your psu is on its way out the system could be crashing due to lack of power.

psu's dont last forever , and i advise renewing them every 2 years at max , especialy when you get that lastest bit of feature packed (and volt sucking) hardware installed

[TrueInsanity]

GeForce 4 4600

300 Watt power

The problem


your PSU has not got the power to feed your graphics card

[LPDad]

1. I would have a very difficult time believing someone from BestBuy's tech department. I am sure there are some tech people working there who know their stuff, but in my experience there are a lot of "flakes". If they cannot figure something out in 5 minutes they give you a "canned" answer-- or tell you to use the "restore" disk and hope that you have backed up your data like they told you when you bought the computer.

2. I highly doubt that your AGP slot is simply not working, especially if you card works outside of games.
I would be highly suspect of your roommates "accidently" having done something that caused your current problems. You probably have a corruption of some sort that is causing your problem. (possibly your computer locked up/someone shut it down improperly, yada yada yada)

Well, In any case you have a GREAT excuse to now Build a new Monster!!! ... And you already have a couple of nice Vid cards to use in it (Unless you want to send one to us....to test and report on ...of course

IF you want to work at it a little more you could try the following.
1. make sure your northbridge is CLEAN and that the little fan on it is working properly (try replacing the fan). You will get weird lockups if it gets hot-- and the wonderful new 3d games Do get things hot.

I know you have tried most of the following but what the heck (you might have several things going on at the same time which are causing the problems you are seeing):

1. make sure you have reset all the settings in your bios to the failsafe, and your memory timings are not incorrect.
2. make sure your FSB and Multiplier are set properly for your processor --ANY overclock can easily change the settings ratio that goes to your agp and this can cause problems (usually when combined with another "glitch")

3, I would go into your System/device manager and just delete all of the drivers (agp, soundcard, video display adapters, ...hell have fun and just delete everything that is remotely associated with video and audeo, and throw in a few more for good measure (you are going to build yourself a new purter anyway..RIGHT).. then reboot and let windows rebuild all of your drivers from scratch.

(of course you have upgraded your BIOS, and you can then put in the last GOOD drivers from nvidia)

4. you can also have fun by doing a Clean, fresh install of windows, if all else fails.

5. Oh yes...I forgot.... the way to fix your problem is to use your "restore disk". (You DID backup all of your data like they told you to when you bought the computer....Didn't you???

YOu will notice that I did not even touch on such things as a corruption in your Direct X (might want to check it out) etc.
I my fingers have blisters from typing....