GeForce 4 6800 crashes/hangs randomly

Good point
Back to drivers

Actually what's the monitor refresh rate on (in Display properties)

its 60Hz now, but it was 75Hz before i reinstalled the drivers. problem is the same.

You could physically remove the card
Boot up from onboard video
Remove all the drivers again
Restart
Confirm all is good (onboard wise)

Then Shutdown
Re-install the card
Plug the Display back in to the AGP card
Turn on
Re-install the drivers again
Restart and test again

i will try that shortly. but i do have some interesting info you might need. i just noticed today after watching this problem occur over and over, that this happenes everytime i click on something that make the fans get louder. its like when the card is idling its fine, its when it kicks on and wants to get going that this happenes. I mean, right now my fans are on, video card as well, but if i click on something that makes the rpm's go up and get louder, thats when the monitor goes blank and i have to hold my pwr button. if that makes any sense, i hope it helps

also, i ran direct x diagnostics from run>dxdiag and when i ran the Test DirectDraw the problem happened instantly, but when i did Test Direct3D here are the results.

No problems found.
To test DirectDraw functionality, click the "Test DirectDraw" button above.
Direct3D 7 test results: All tests were successful.
Direct3D 8 test results: All tests were successful.
Direct3D 9 test results: All tests were successful.

just some more info for you:
DirectX Features: (under Display tab in dxdiag)
DirectDraw Acceleration: Enabled
Direct3D Acceleration: Enabled
AGP Texture Acceleration: Enabled

ok, sorry to post so many in a row, but i went into the troubleshooter and it said to try lowering my hardware acceleration by going into display properties, settings, advanced, troubleshoot. i brought the bar all the way down to hardware acceleration off and ran the Test DirectDraw and it tested fine with no problems. then i moved it up one notch and it worked everytime i tested it untill the hardware acceleration was on full, then it happened again. i brought it back down one notch, tested it again and it was fine. i tried going into a CS Source server, but the problem was still there. maybe the Enable Write Combining box being checked has something to do with it too?

Yes, I knew that lowering these controls would fix the fault
But I don't want to do that, because you are degrading the performance of the card.

When you say that it happens under load of the video card, this just means that the processor and ram (inside the video card) is being used a lot more.

I can't remember if this is a brand new card or not (I'm in the reply post at the moment) but you could remove the card (which will work well for the above idea) and clean out all dust near the fan. It is also possible to re- thermal paste the CPU/HeatSink on the card, but most advise against this. (just blow out all the dust)

i did that while i was reformatting, and ther was A LOT of dust. i didnt take the plastic piece off the heat sink and fan (the one with the picture of the mermaid on it), so i probably didnt get all of it. i will do that, also this is a pretty old card, i think ive had it for 3-4 years.

The thermal paste would be rock hard under the heatsink
But if all else fails (ie if you're possibly going to purchase a new card) I'd re-thermal paste it, aalso remove the old paste too by using isoprophyl alcohol

Here's a link I give for normal computer CPU re-paste, which might help:
Have a look at ArcticSilver Instructions

thanks, yea, there was a bit more dust, and i did all that in order and i even used an older version of the drivers 169.21 forceware and it still didnt help with the dxdiag draw test. although, this time around doing the test i actually saw the boxes for a second before the monitor shut off...maybe im gettin closer? also, i dunno if this has anything to do with it, but, ever since this problem started (the reformat) my computer wont shut down all the way. i hit start>turn off computer>turn off and it logs off, saves settings, then the monitor goes off like it shut down properly but the box/fans are still running just like with my original problem. could this have anything to do with it?

Yes it could be a power supply problem

If you remove the vid card (again!)
And then startup the shutdown
Does it then shutdown ok?

Also the 24 pin power connector to the M/b has that got all 24 pins plugged in? (some older Power Supplies only have 20Pins

the power supply and the mobo have a 20 pin connector and right next to it is a seperate 4 pin connector and they are both in all the way.
i have the vid card out right now, and i just tried to shutdown and it got hung up at the shutting down windows screen. its basically doin the same thing but with the vid card in it actually turns off the monitor, whereas with the onboard video its stays at "shutting down windows"

Start-->Run-->sfc /scannow

This will check all Windows files are intact and working properly
You may require your Windows CD (if asked) but it will not hurt any files or settings (other than fix of course)
It's recommended to turn off any 3rd party firewall (just exit it) and disconnect the Internet first, before the scan

yea, i did that before i came to this forum. i had been doing some research for a while before posting anywhere. that scan came up fine.
i think ima head out to best buy in a little while and get some thermal paste, and try to re-paste the heat sink.

i think the card is fried now

Possibly

Also are you going to buy a new card, or a new computer?

Do you get a BSOD , or the game just freezes ?

IYou must make sure your not OCing

Also make sure your room is 74F at least, try to take it lower..

The rest are. PSU problem, how does windows run ?

Cant be a CPU problem,

This is your card and those cards get soo hot, I saw one @ 103c ,,,
proper driver install after driver cleaner ...let us know!!

ill probably get a decent card to hold me over untill i get a new comp. my friend is sellin me a core 2 duo setup for cheap, which will beat my old p4 1.8

i was thinking of maybe getting something along these lines for my setup now, before i get the other box i was talkin about

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...20548 1069609639 106790717 1068109604&name=12

lemme know what you think