Geforce 4 ti 4200 problem, need help.

I recently got a Chaintech A-GT20, geforce 4 ti 4200 128mb.
Sys info:
Dell 4400, P4 1.7, 256mb ram DDR.
motherboard is Intel 845PT
Windows XP
The video card DID NOT come with the Dell, it's an add-on.

Windows works great. Graphic quality is great. However, any game I play I have a stutter like effect that keeps happening. It appears to happen at certain intervals. It is almost a full pause is what it's like.

I've tried getting NVMAX and setting the AGP to 2x, the Intel option. I've tried other settings as well but to no avail.

One thing I've heard is that the power supply not being beefy enough could be a problem, but is it this kind of problem. The Dell's, per their web site, all come with 250watt power supplies. Unfortunately the one in my ssytem does not say on it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

Hi jcs,

Welcome aboard.

Couple things I'd like to know: what drivers are you using? Have you changed drivers? What card & drivers did you have? Have you been to Win Update, Intel &/or Dell for any updates? You still using NVMAX?

I'd like you to run dxdiag.exe & see what version of DX you have & then click on the Display tab & see if Direct Draw & Direct 3D acceleration are enabled. Try the tests.

Suggestions: use the latest nVidia drivers & DX8.1 from M$. Try to make sure the former drivers have been deleted completely. Make sure you have all the XP updates too.


HTH & lemme know,

Re: Geforce 4 ti 4200 problem, need help.

:wave:Welcome & Hello:wave:
Please enable Private Messages

Other than JAV's suggestion, lowering the acceleration & settings should work, but you really shouldn't have to w/ your rig.

PSU wise;
Determine PSU Requirements

Other Hardware > Power Supply Concerns . . .
http://www.3dspotlight.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=377&highlight=power

Famous PSU Post
http://www.3dspotlight.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=253

Uncleel,

I don't know if we're reading each other as intended, but I fully agree that his RAM, card & CPU can handle AGP4x & the acceleration settings at the highest.

I've got the feeling he had a TNT2 stock & it was set on AGP2X & low acc settings & was going to suggest he turn it up if that is the case. I believe we are on the same page.

Enjoy,

JAV, Uncleel,
thanks for the quick replies. I'm at work currently and will try some of your suggestions tonight.
To answer a couple of questions you had,
I have DX 8.1 and nvidia drivers 29.42.
I have run the dxdiag and had no problems. I also ran all the tests, no problems (other than the stutter still happens).
The system originally had a ATI card in it and the current Nvidia drivers are the only ones I've installed on it.
The directpaly and direct draw are enabled in the display settings.
I have not run tests from the DISPLAY settings area, I'll try that tonight.

I also do have the latest XP updates.

As to the AGP setting, in my bios(don't recall the brand of the bios), AGP is set automatically to 4x, no way to change it.
In NVMAX I did try changing it to 2x but it did not have any effect.

One thing I did forget to mention, this stuttering happens in ANY rez setting.

Anyway, I'll try a couple more things tonight to see what happens and post here.
If you have any other ideas, let me know.

Many thanks,
JCS

Well no luck yet.
I completely removed the Nvidia drivers and reinstalled them. I also removed the original ATI drivers.
Rebooted, reinstalled the 29.42 nvidia drivers. Still have the same stuttering going on.
In answer to an earlier question I forgot to address, yes I've updated with everything I could from Dell, MS and Intel. But nothing has helped.

So I'm still stuck with this stutter.
I think I may send the card back, sucks but I don't know what else to try.

Oh I also checked the PSU site and added up everything on my system, if the estimates are correct there my system has about 30watts to spare.

Anyone have any ideas?


Thanks,
JCS
:-(

Added tidbit, I just had the thought to try a Windows game so I ran the Pinball game. I have the same problem there.
I also ran an OpenGL title, same problem.

So unless someone has a better idea I'm going to just get a new card, **** maybe even a different one altogether.


Thanks,
JCS

FOUND THE PROBLEM - re:Geforce4 ti 4200, problems with gamimg

Well I can offically call myself a ******* for not trying this sooner.
The problem it turns out was my Parallel port ZIP 250 drive. I don't use it often so I just never thought of it.
Once I disconnected it the pauses went away in all games and video. WOOHOO!!

For some reason the device does some kind of system polling/IRQ hit or something or another every 1 second which would interfere with gaming and video.
Now I haven't found a fix yet, other than not plugging it in, but if I do I'll post here.


Thanks all for the help!

JCS

Try checking the IRQ's assigned to devices when its plugged in. I may be trying to use the same IRQ as the video card. If you can set this to another value then you might be able to leave it plugged in
Thanks for posting your fix as it might be helpful to others.
When investigating a hardware problem always start with a barebones system, that way once you add the problem component you can be sure that it is that component that is cause the problem(s)..