Hi Michael,

I am going to speak from very limited experience on this one, and
unfortunately, it's a story of doom (the textbook definition, not the game).
I've only had it happen to me, and never (luckily) to one of my customers.
I have an Abit BH6.  I got real excited about getting a TNT2 32MB card for
my system.  I installed it, and I would get system hangs every time.
Sometimes before it finished booting, sometimes when opening up windows,
sometimes after I opened an application.  It seemed that most of the time it
was tied into my clicking on the right mouse button.  I know that sounds a
little weird, but oddly enough I was able to reproduce the problem
consistently by using the right mouse button.

In the end, we discovered the problem had to do with an AGP 4x board in a 1x
slot.  I think the card wanted to work faster than the bus could handle and
it just froze things up.  I suppose I could probably have detuned the card,
but it would have been too much trouble.  I put the old card back in the
system and started petitioning my wife for a new motherboard, chip, and RAM
so I could use my better card.  I'm finally winning, but now the card is
outdated.  I get my new board next month, and I'm going to sneak in the new
ATI 9700 on her when she ain't looking (I'm still trying to figure out how
to hide the fact that I'm $300 over budget...  any suggestions?).

I would have to say that if it's the BIOS, a flash upgrade should be able to
correct the problem.  You might want to try that before giving up.  As well,
new drivers are always better.  Personally, I've had much better luck with
the Detonator reference drivers than the ones provided by the card's
manufacturer.  Other's mileage may vary on that one.

Good luck!

Kyle Elmblade
Distinct Computer Solutions
Sales - Upgrades - Training - Consulting
[log in to unmask]
Due to the current economic situation, the light at the end of the tunnel
will be turned off until further notice.

From: "Michael Schmidt" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, September 27, 2002 12:19 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] Problems with new video card.....


> Hello:
>
> I hope someone can shed light on this problem.  I have an older computer
> bought in 1998.....ASUS P5A-b motherboard, never updated the BIOS, and I
am
> still using the vendor-installed video card (SIS6326 AGB 8MB).  This has
> worked well.....I recently upgraded my display to a 19" monitor and wanted
> to utilize the higher refresh rates.  So I bought a new video
> card.......NVIDIA TNT2 M64 32mb..........installed it and now I am getting
a
> lot of computer hangs.  Sometimes it doesn't even boot to the desktop
before
> it crashes.  Uninstalled the new card, put in my old one and was once
again
> working with no problems.
>
> I have scoured the net for answers and it seems that my M/B has some
issues
> with the TNT2 AGP boards.  I have read that I should change the bios for
the
> board and that would iron things out.  I also have seen that upgrading the
> video drivers and agp drivers will help.
>
> Has anyone solved this same problem with the same M/B?
> Where do I get an update for the BIOS without shelling out $70?
>
> any help would be greatly appreciated,
>
> Michael Schmidt

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