jshandorf Posted April 17, 2001 Share Posted April 17, 2001 OKay, okay.. I know this is OT but bare with me, okay? I just bought a new Sound Blaster GeForce Aniallator 2. It is basically a GeForce2 GTS with 32 MEGs of DDR. Anyway... I am a running an older ASUS PB2-L motherboard with a Katmai PIII 600MHz. My problem is this... I already got a second card so it isn't the card mind you... When I cold boot my computer the video card ROM doesn't initialize and therefore I get the dreaded "3 beeps" error code which signals no video output. After about a half a dozen reboots the card will work fine. My second problem is that in power save mode (when you monitor shuts off during inactivity) when my computer comes back from it the video gets distorted. It shows echos, or ghost images, on the screen. This problem doesn't occure with the Creative drivers that came from the disk that shipped with the card (those drivers really suck). It DOES happen when I use the updated Creative driver I get from thier web page, which I think are merely bastardized NVIDIA reference drivers, since the same problem happens when I use the NVIDIA reference drivers. Anyone else have any similar problems? Thanks, Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMcGuire Posted April 17, 2001 Share Posted April 17, 2001 I didn't look to see if your specific issues are mentioned, but this GeForce FAQ has a lot of Creative-specific info. If anybody else is interested, it also has a lot of generic GeForce info. http://www.geforcefaq.com/ Also, FWIW, I get my ref drivers from http://www.the-ctrl-alt-del.com/ Or more accurately, I used to until I figured out CM is apparently going to keep me stuck at version 6.50. Anyway, hope it helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WWB Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 Try pushing it down real good. My video card has an alarming tendency to get a bit loose in the slot, causing the dreaded 3 beep error code as well. Also, it might want an AGP pro slot. And it could also have something to do with the clock speed on your MoBo. WWB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Pattison Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 I'm also stuck at the 6.50 version for CM for my Annihilator 2 Ultra running on Asus P3B-F motherboard with and Intel P3 600 Mhz. That cold boot problem really bothers me. It does not necessarily mean that the card is Fubar, because the computer does come up after you have messed with it a bit. More than likely what you have is a situation where there isn't good contact between the card and the card slot. After you try to boot up a couple times the card heats up and makes good contact. That bad contact could be the result of debris in the card slot or a slightly out of tolerance connector due to wear or a poorly manufactured card. I had this kind of thing happen to me with 486 DX2 CPU Chip. Couldn't boot cold. Turn it on, wait one minute, then off, wait two minutes, and reboot; and it boots. So, you can try the following courses of action. One, try removing the card and use canned air to blow debris out of the slot and reinstall the card pushing down on it firmly. Two, return the card and exchange it for a new one. Three, get a new motherboard. [ 04-17-2001: Message edited by: Jeff Pattison ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boba_Fett Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 "Try pushing it down real good. My video card has an alarming tendency to get a bit loose in the slot, causing the dreaded 3 beep error code as well. " He's right. I had the same problem. I didn't have a clue what to do but my friend recognised the problem immediately and just pushed the graphic card which had got loose in the slot. Problem fixed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Dog Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 I had the same problem with my old P-III 500 and a Creative TNT2 Ultra. Worked great with the Creative drivers or the NVIDIA drivers up to version 3.30 (I think), but anything newer and I got the same problem that you're having. My only advice is to find the best driver that will work with you're system and stick with it. Or buy a new system, I just picked up a P-4 1.5 ghz with a GeForce 2 Ultra with 64 megs of DDR. Of course now I wish a had waited a couple of months for the GeForce 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jshandorf: OKay, okay.. I know this is OT but bare with me, okay?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Starting a nudist colony now, Jeff, and looking for recruits? Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jshandorf Posted April 18, 2001 Author Share Posted April 18, 2001 Hey guys, thaks for all the input. My only question is that I mentioned two problems and when some of you say, "I have (or had) the same problem I am not sure which problem you are referring to. I assume people talking about the driver problems are referring to the ghost images I reported. Anyway, thanks alot. And, Micheal, if I am starting up a nudist colony the CM board would be the LAST place I would look for members. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted April 18, 2001 Share Posted April 18, 2001 Everyone that is mentioning reseating the video card is speaking about the cold-boot initialization problem ("3 beeps"). For your second problem... What is controlling your video time out ? What method are you using for going into sleep (set from the CMOS/BIOS setup) DPMS or V/HSYNC (I would suggest DPMS) ? What OS are you running and what are your Power Management control panel settings for your display ? What driver are you currently using ? Some power saving issues are addressed in ROM updates, but Creative doesn't have anything posted for the Annihilator 2. Do you have any power saving settings on the monitor that you're using now (in other words is there some setting from the monitor's setup for power saving) ? Do you have a screen saver running at the time that power saving kicks in or is your first power saving state to shut down the monitor ? It's possible that the newer drivers (based on 6.xx +) with their optimizations don't cooperate with your monitor very well when it comes to power saving. Most of the time I would associate "ghosting" with a cable problem, but if it only happens after power saving, then there is some sort of issue between the video card and monitor. Are you currently running a higher resolution than you were with your older drivers ? Have you tried a lower resolution/refresh rate to see if that will make a difference ? What is your specific resolution and refresh rate ? Is this mode specifically supported by your monitor (there are resolutions that some monitors "prefer" and will often be listed in the documentation) ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jshandorf Posted April 18, 2001 Author Share Posted April 18, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Schrullenhaft: Everyone that is mentioning reseating the video card is speaking about the cold-boot initialization problem ("3 beeps"). For your second problem... What is controlling your video time out ? What method are you using for going into sleep (set from the CMOS/BIOS setup) DPMS or V/HSYNC (I would suggest DPMS) ? What OS are you running and what are your Power Management control panel settings for your display ? What driver are you currently using ? Some power saving issues are addressed in ROM updates, but Creative doesn't have anything posted for the Annihilator 2. Do you have any power saving settings on the monitor that you're using now (in other words is there some setting from the monitor's setup for power saving) ? Do you have a screen saver running at the time that power saving kicks in or is your first power saving state to shut down the monitor ? It's possible that the newer drivers (based on 6.xx +) with their optimizations don't cooperate with your monitor very well when it comes to power saving. Most of the time I would associate "ghosting" with a cable problem, but if it only happens after power saving, then there is some sort of issue between the video card and monitor. Are you currently running a higher resolution than you were with your older drivers ? Have you tried a lower resolution/refresh rate to see if that will make a difference ? What is your specific resolution and refresh rate ? Is this mode specifically supported by your monitor (there are resolutions that some monitors "prefer" and will often be listed in the documentation) ?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Ack! Too...many...questions...head...hurt... Okay, I had been running the newest detenator drivers with my TNT2 card when I installed my G2 Annilator 2. So I was running the newest NVIDIA drivers when I saw this problem. I have tried ALL the power saving setting in my BIOS and I get the same result. I am running "Optimal" for screen frequency. I have a second computer and I have contemplated swaping motherboards. I think I might try this. It could solve all my problems. Thanks, Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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