Argh! Random crashes abound!

[Blacken]

I just got a new TNT2 card from Pine Technologies. Now, when I try to run any game in 3D mode (Half-Life in D3D, SWAT in OpenGL, etc) it'll run for about three to nine seconds, then tank. When I run some 2D games, such as Fallout: Tactics, or Civilization 3, it'll run a good deal longer, maybe 10-25 minutes, then it bombs too.

I've got a 650MHz AMD Duron, so that's not the problem. I'm pretty sure it's heat, but unfortunately, my father doesn't believe me (he's a techie-type too, since about 1990, so he thinks he knows) and he won't let me mess with the machine. It's a Soyo motherboard with a VIA chipset by the way, with 128MB SDRAM, Windows 98SE, and the aforementioned messed-up-TNT2.

Anyone know where I could find underclocking info, so I could (probably futilely) attempt to stave off insanity long enough to play a game of Civ 3?

[kingofa]

well...if you have an alternative video card to try it out with, that would be a start....if it works fine with alternative card...then you'll know its your tnt2 card.

just a thought
good luck

[NDD]

I'd try another drivers. First try v6.50, as it works well with TNT/2 chipsets, then v12.90, and v22.80 if everything works fine.

Heat can be the issue, but ... I've already had bad experience with Pine videocards, both TNT2 and GeForce2 MX200/400. On MX cards they were using memory out of specs, 7ns chips @183MHz, for example. So you might try videocard from another manufacturer, more reliable.

[Blacken]

Thanks, ND. I'll grab the old 6.50 drivers right now.

I don't have another card available to stick in that's comparable. However, I haven't changed anything since I slapped the TNT2 in (old card was a half-dead RAGE IIC) and it started then, hence my thought "I got a dead card."

Thanks for the replies there, guys. I'm gonna try to get my dad to stick the old IIC in - at least I can run a freaking game then, hehe...Half-Life + Software Mode = EEW. I did manage to eke another 5-10 minutes out of the card before a hardlock, though, by underclocking it as low as it'll go, so I'm guessing it's still heat.

[Blacken]

Okay, update...6.50 tankified my system. Twice. I quickly threw the detonator3 drivers back on, as I don't like my system being stuck on 256 colors...now I really think it's a heat problem.

[BigBlue66]

Is this an AGP card? If so, have you loaded the motherboard AGP drivers? Have you enabled all things AGP in BIOS?

Is this a PCI card? If so, have you tried a different slot?

I seriously doubt that it's heat related. That older card shouldn't run that hot anyway.

What version of DirectX are you running? Maybe updating the DX will help.

Just some thoughts.

[Blacken]

...I'm using DX8.0a. But about the card type...I'll open it up in a while and see, because I just had a brain **** and can't remember. Blargh.