Need advice

[The Wise Monkey]

Ok, I am at about the end of my tether here.

I recently purchased Bioshock, but it seems that I am destined never to play it.

Having reformatted my PC a few days ago, it only has XP, latest Nvidia drivers, windows updates and Bioshock. Yet it still refuses to work. Well, it works up until the water during the first cut scene, then it freezes. Occasionally it crashes to the desktop saying "nv4_disp has failed", then the monitor turns itself off and the system is screwed. The rest of the time, it just freezes and doesn't respond at all.

I have tried reinstalling the drivers, I have tried using the latest stable drivers i.e. not the beta drivers, I have tried reinstalling Bioshock - nothing seems to work.

So, does anyone have any suggestions?

Oh, my system is:

E6750
Gigabyte Mobo
2GB Corsair XMS2
Gainward 7900 GTX
250GB WD HD

[Jamie Nixx]

Ok, send the game to me to see if it will work on my system ;) :rolleyes:

Seems like you have tried everything.

I would suggest you try playing the game on an older display driver.

Is your GPU overclocked??

It seems a lot of people are having the same trouble with Bioshock, check out this link to see if it helps http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116006

[The Wise Monkey]

Hmm, I got it to work by entering safe mode, uninstalling the previous drivers, then installing the latest beta drivers.

It now works, but only at 640x480. :S

[Jamie Nixx]

I am stumped mate, hope you get it sorted, i'll dig around though and if i come up with anything i'll let you know.

[The Wise Monkey]

I wonder if its an incompatibility isssue with my mobo? I seem to have loads of system crashes as well.

Might wait till after my birthday and buy a P5N-E and an 8800gts.

[Jamie Nixx]

Whats the model mate?

[The Wise Monkey]

Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3. I only bought it for the 1333 fsb, but I might have been better off with the nVidia chipset.

[Jamie Nixx]

I have heard good things about that mobo, if your experiencing crashes you might have a fault somewhere along the line.

[The Wise Monkey]

Wonder what the problem is then...

Sod it, I'll sell the 7900GTX on eBay, along with all my other old components, and buy myself an 8800. :)

[Jamie Nixx]

Yes, come and join the elite club of 8800 owners.:rolleyes:

My personal recommendation is for the EVGA 640MB superclocked 8800GTS :D

[The Wise Monkey]

That is kinda expensive though, and I only have a 17" monitor, so I don't really need the 640MB. Afaik, it doesn't make that much of a difference on lower resolutions (I only ever use 1280x1024).

[Jamie Nixx]

The 320MB should be ok, i have widescreen monitors so i just got the 640MB version.

[The Wise Monkey]

Ok, this is really getting annoying now. The problem has started again, but now it is affecting videos as well - any movie I try to watch freezes after about 5 minutes and forces me to hard reset my computer.

[Jamie Nixx]

Did you end up getting the 8800GTS?

[The Wise Monkey]

Not yet - my birthday isn't for another week. :D

[Jamie Nixx]

2 weeks for me mate :D

Only thing i can think of is a faulty component, have you tried re-installing windows?

[The Wise Monkey]

Numerous times, and it still doesn't work.

I was planning on getting the 8800 anyways, so I'll buy it and see how it goes.

What I really need is to find someone in the US who is willing to buy it for me and send it over here so it is a lot cheaper... XD

[Jamie Nixx]

LoL don't do it :D

Yeah, defo faulty component, it has to be, i had a fatal1ty board a while ago and my comp was doing the same thing, turned out ot be a fault in the PCIx16 slot.

[The Wise Monkey]

That sucks. I think all my stuff is still under warranty, so if it is a problem then its not such a big deal. I've still got my old video card lying around somewhere (7600GT), so I might put that in and see if I get the same problem.

[Jamie Nixx]

You mean you haven't already WM? you must be getting sloppy in your old age mate ;) :D

If it continues, it has to be the motherboard, but if it stops, faulty card.

[The Wise Monkey]

This is weird - just overclocked my card and the problems have stopped with the video... :S

[The Wise Monkey]

Nope, they haven't. In fact, its getting worse - I tried playing Bioshock again, and it crashed on the nVidia screen before the game had actually even started. :(

[Grave Scrooge]

Numerous times, and it still doesn't work.

I was planning on getting the 8800 anyways, so I'll buy it and see how it goes.

What I really need is to find someone in the US who is willing to buy it for me and send it over here so it is a lot cheaper... XD

Always willing to help any of my friends across the pond. Just ask.

[The Wise Monkey]

Heh, thanks for the offer, but I'll probably buy it over here so it is easier to send back if I have any problems - knowing my luck there will be quite a few. XD

[Jamie Nixx]

WM have you put your old 7600GT in yet?

[The Wise Monkey]

Nah, going home this Friday to pick it up. I'll be back at my comp by Monday, so I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm beginning to think that it is a dodgy card - I turned Hardware Acceleration off and have had no problems with videos since. Can't play any games now though. :S

[The Wise Monkey]

Well, it was the GFX card - plugged in my old 7600GT, installed the drivers, and it works great.

Let this be a lesson to you kids - never buy second hand graphics cards off eBay. :(

[Jamie Nixx]

Sorry to hear that WM, some people just have bad luck i guess, my 7900GS is still working perfectly, ebay buy :rolleyes:

When are you getting you 8800GTS?

WOOOHOOO just remembered 18 today lol :D

[The Wise Monkey]

Happy Birthday - I was 21 last weekend. :)

Yeah, I think I was just unlucky. Mind you, I'm going to buy my next card new. XD

I probably will get an 8800GTS, but I'm not sure which model to go for - I'm thinking about the eVGA KO edition as its only £200 on dabs:
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4LX1&CategorySelectedId=11137&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11137,48070000,14,50385

[Jamie Nixx]

Congrats on your Bday mate :D

And the 8800GTS KO, is mega good lol, defo a good buy :)