Hi. I'm having a frustrating problem utilizing the 3d acceleration feature off my 3dfx Voodoo3 AGP Graphics card while playing an online game. Whenever I activate this acceleration feature, my comp freezes up after 5 minutes. In addition, my comp locks-up sometimes when I click the Start button on my Windows Taskbar in my desktop. Through the informative 3dfx Voodoo3 tweak guide, I uninstalled the old driver and installed the latest drivers, DirectX 8.0, latest Windows Installer, and latest version of Internet Explorer. I even did the troubleshooting guide incase I faltered on the installation of the new drivers. Despite updating everything, the 3d acceleration freezes my comp. Here are some specs on my comp:

Gateway Performace 500 PC
Intel 500 Mhz Pentium III Processor
128 MB Memory Module
EV700 17” Monitor w/ 15.9” Viewable
16 MB 3dfx Voodoo3 3000G AGP Graphics
20 GB IDE 7200rpm Hard drive

After installing latest drivers:

Current Display Adapter Info:
Name: 3dfx Interactive, Inc.
Hardware Version: 001
Bus Type: AGP
Total Video Memory: 16 MB
Graphics Chip: 1
Graphics Clock Speed: 166 Mhz
BIOS Version: 1.20

Current Display Driver Info:
Product Supported: Voodoo3 AGP
Version: 4.12.01.0666
Provider Name: 3dfx Interactive, Inc.
Release Date: 11-10-2000

3dfx Tools Version: 2.6.2.116

Need help in solving this 3 yr. problem. It's been plaguing me for years solving this mystery.

If for some reason my comp problem is beyond help, I was wondering if u guys have any idea on what's the most affordable and inexpensive 3d Graphics Card out there that would work well with my current computer.

Would appreciate any advice from you tech geniuses out there.
Thanks.

Hmm

A GeForce 2 MX400 would prolly be your best bet with such a machine. I think anything beyond that would be overkill.

What game? It might not be compatible with older Voodoos. I'd say get a new video card...A GeForce 2 MX would be a good idea, They're not too expensive and anything higher would create a bottleneck on your computer, your P3 would be slowing down your video card, like a Porsche on a bumper car track. It's fast, but it won't go very far at a time.

lol, or you could just kill your self for buyin a gateway, and then spend a couple hundred bucks to upgrade more than the video card, namely mobo and cpu.

He doesn't need a new system board and cpu, maybe later. I upgraded from a P3 450 just because it was slow for games. If you're not a hardcore gamer...leave it be. Is your cpu slow in Windows? And there's nothing wrong with buying a Gateway...they're cheap (Note: I do not support Gateway. I built my own computer) Just Dell is no good cuz they're basically Intel's puppet.

The online game I usually play is Asheron's Call.

Bah! Save those premium rates and buy a new vid card w/ them. A GF2 is like $100. That's what, 3-4 months of not playing AC?

What version of Windows are you running? Also, what AC server do you play on?

Is it only when playing that game or online games? Maybe the game isn't compatible with your videocard.

No, the Voodoo 3 is definitely compatible with Asheron's Call. I used to play that game with that video card. The issue isn't game compatiblity.

I'm inclined to buy a new graphics card to solve this problem. Will check out GF2. I'm running Windows '98 if I failed to mention it before. AC is the only online game and the only game I play. Dave, I play the Solclaim server since 8/2000. The game works fine when the 3d acceleration feature isn't on. It's when I activate the 3d acceleration that after 5 minutes of staring the amazing graphics the 3d acceleration offers, my comp freezes.

It seems to me that there could be some pieces of software installed on your computer that is causing AC to freeze. The reason I say this is because you've already tried uninstalling your video card drivers as well as installed a recent directx. The only thing left is an incompatibility somewhere.

I used to play AC (Leafcull server) with a PII 300Mhz, Voodoo3, and Windows 98 (3D Acceleration enabled). I never once had that problem. I know you can get this to work properly. I'm very confident that it is a software problem and probably could be easily fixed if we could pinpoint the exact problem. Formating and reinstalling Windows 98 would most likely fix any problems that exist. However, formating may not be an option for you. In such a case it'll be very hard to find the problem short of buying a new card.

Note: If you decide to format and reinstall, I would not use any 'Quick Restore' disks that came with your computer. I would reinstall with a plain Windows 98 CD. The incompatiblity may very well be the software that Gateway pre-loaded on your computer.

The "REAL" uncleel

I agree. I don't think it's your Voodoo either. On-line game lockups seem to occur w/ a variety of configurations. On one hand you can back off your settings a little for stability, or go the other direction & try the Voodoo OC utility.

Fortmat seems fair to me too. It's the quickest way, because finding out what's causing it is going to take way to long on a already installed system.

Just a thought, but If you are only freezing when you activate your 3d acceleration, it may be that your card is overheating. Sorry if this was mentioned and I missed it, but try taking the cover off your PC and playing with the acceleration on and see if it takes longer to lockup if it does at all.