Games crashing with my PNY TI4200

I have been having this problem for about the last 2 days, and I've been
using the card for about the last 7 months. When I start my game (RTCW if it
makes any difference) everything is fine for few minutes, then I start to
see some strance colored pixels everywhere, then a few seconds later the
whole screen gets lit up like a disco. If I wait, or if I try to exit the
game the monitor goes into sleep mode and I have to hard reset the machine
to bring it back to life.

Anyone have any ideas what could be wrong? Or even better, does anyone have
a key sequence I can press or a direct phone # to a pny tech support person?

have you done any work inside the case..change cables..clean out the
dust?....if you have or even have not..try pulling the board and reseating
it...are you getting any power fluctuations from your PSU?

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, I uninstalled reinstalled both the game and the
video card. I also tried an old geforce2mx200 card and it didn't have any
problems.
"Matt" wrote in message
news:ZRdRa.64838$OZ2.11826@rwcrnsc54...
I have been having this problem for about the last 2 days, and I've been
using the card for about the last 7 months. When I start my game (RTCW if
it
makes any difference) everything is fine for few minutes, then I start to
see some strance colored pixels everywhere, then a few seconds later the
whole screen gets lit up like a disco. If I wait, or if I try to exit the
game the monitor goes into sleep mode and I have to hard reset the machine
to bring it back to life.

Anyone have any ideas what could be wrong? Or even better, does anyone
have
a key sequence I can press or a direct phone # to a pny tech support
person?

Board has been removed and reinserted, don't know how to check the PS for
flucuations though. Its a weird problem, no problems with it at all until a
couple days ago.
"dino" wrote in message
...
have you done any work inside the case..change cables..clean out the
dust?....if you have or even have not..try pulling the board and reseating
it...are you getting any power fluctuations from your PSU?

Not overheating I suppose???


"Matt" wrote in message
news:jNeRa.79041$Ph3.7681@sccrnsc04...
I snapped a pic of exactly what it looks like when the game crashes.

http://www.wootage.com/images/****edvideo.JPG


"Matt" wrote in message
news:ZRdRa.64838$OZ2.11826@rwcrnsc54...
I have been having this problem for about the last 2 days, and I've been
using the card for about the last 7 months. When I start my game (RTCW
if
it
makes any difference) everything is fine for few minutes, then I start
to
see some strance colored pixels everywhere, then a few seconds later the
whole screen gets lit up like a disco. If I wait, or if I try to exit
the
game the monitor goes into sleep mode and I have to hard reset the
machine
to bring it back to life.

Anyone have any ideas what could be wrong? Or even better, does anyone
have
a key sequence I can press or a direct phone # to a pny tech support
person?

Looks like the VC memory is damaged, overheating and freakin out.

Pete

"Matt" wrote in message
news:jNeRa.79041$Ph3.7681@sccrnsc04...
I snapped a pic of exactly what it looks like when the game crashes.

http://www.wootage.com/images/****edvideo.JPG


"Matt" wrote in message
news:ZRdRa.64838$OZ2.11826@rwcrnsc54...
I have been having this problem for about the last 2 days, and I've been
using the card for about the last 7 months. When I start my game (RTCW
if
it
makes any difference) everything is fine for few minutes, then I start
to
see some strance colored pixels everywhere, then a few seconds later the
whole screen gets lit up like a disco. If I wait, or if I try to exit
the
game the monitor goes into sleep mode and I have to hard reset the
machine
to bring it back to life.

Anyone have any ideas what could be wrong? Or even better, does anyone
have
a key sequence I can press or a direct phone # to a pny tech support
person?

"John Lynch, Jr." wrote in message
om...

"Temor" wrote in message
...
Not overheating I suppose???


"Matt" wrote in message
news:jNeRa.79041$Ph3.7681@sccrnsc04...
I snapped a pic of exactly what it looks like when the game crashes.

http://www.wootage.com/images/****edvideo.JPG


"Matt" wrote in message
news:ZRdRa.64838$OZ2.11826@rwcrnsc54...
I have been having this problem for about the last 2 days, and I've
been
using the card for about the last 7 months. When I start my game
(RTCW
if
it
makes any difference) everything is fine for few minutes, then I
start
to
see some strance colored pixels everywhere, then a few seconds later
the
whole screen gets lit up like a disco. If I wait, or if I try to
exit
the
game the monitor goes into sleep mode and I have to hard reset the
machine
to bring it back to life.

Anyone have any ideas what could be wrong? Or even better, does
anyone
have
a key sequence I can press or a direct phone # to a pny tech support
person?








Have you overclocked the CPU or tge video card by any chance?



Not OCd at all.

"Matt" wrote in message
news:ZRdRa.64838$OZ2.11826@rwcrnsc54...
I have been having this problem for about the last 2 days, and I've been
using the card for about the last 7 months. When I start my game (RTCW if
it
makes any difference) everything is fine for few minutes, then I start to
see some strance colored pixels everywhere, then a few seconds later the
whole screen gets lit up like a disco. If I wait, or if I try to exit the
game the monitor goes into sleep mode and I have to hard reset the machine
to bring it back to life.

Anyone have any ideas what could be wrong? Or even better, does anyone
have
a key sequence I can press or a direct phone # to a pny tech support
person?

Looks like a heat problem, open the case & blow a house fan into it. If
that solves the problem, then its heat.

On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 19:31:37 GMT, "Patch"
wrote:


"Matt" wrote in message
news:ZRdRa.64838$OZ2.11826@rwcrnsc54...
I have been having this problem for about the last 2 days, and I've been
using the card for about the last 7 months. When I start my game (RTCW if
it
makes any difference) everything is fine for few minutes, then I start to
see some strance colored pixels everywhere, then a few seconds later the
whole screen gets lit up like a disco. If I wait, or if I try to exit the
game the monitor goes into sleep mode and I have to hard reset the machine
to bring it back to life.

Anyone have any ideas what could be wrong? Or even better, does anyone
have
a key sequence I can press or a direct phone # to a pny tech support
person?

Looks like a heat problem, open the case & blow a house fan into it. If
that solves the problem, then its heat.



For more precise diagnosis, go down to your local electronic-parts
store and buy a can of Freeze-spray. With a fine-tube attachment, you
can accurately cool selected components or board areas. Do
not overcool; just bursts of spray until frost forms. with the frost
melting in not more than 2 seconds.


John Lewis

On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 15:06:33 GMT, "Matt"
wrote:

I have been having this problem for about the last 2 days, and I've been
using the card for about the last 7 months. When I start my game (RTCW if it
makes any difference) everything is fine for few minutes, then I start to
see some strance colored pixels everywhere, then a few seconds later the
whole screen gets lit up like a disco. If I wait, or if I try to exit the
game the monitor goes into sleep mode and I have to hard reset the machine
to bring it back to life.

Anyone have any ideas what could be wrong? Or even better, does anyone have
a key sequence I can press or a direct phone # to a pny tech support person?


Is RTCW the only game you play..???
Yes = Try other games. See if the same thing happens...
No = Go to next question...

Does this only happen in RTCW..???
Yes = RTCW or software at fault not your video card.
No = Go to next question...

Does this happen in other apps as well as games..???
Yes = Monitor your PC heat and voltages under load...
No = Video card or drivers may be at fault...

Before you make a decision as to what you think it is,, try to sort
out what, when, where and why...

As I said above, try other games, try some apps which require heavy
CPU useage like audio enoding or large file compressing or running
some heavy graphics/number crunching program like photoshop. It may
just be that your card or its drivers or even the CPU are faulting
under load, due to overheating or bad voltage.. What you have to do is
to ascertain whether it is an intermittent problem or a full-on
problem. If it is intermittent then it may be a software problem
whereas if it is full-on then you must know what will induce it and
you can then decide whether it is software or hardware at fault...

To me,,, a "single" game at fault means nothing. This happens to most
of us at one stage or another... If it "always" happens with all
games,, then we can start to get technical...

Another question or three...

Did you ever play RTCW and have it perform faultlessly at any
stage..???
Yes = Have you done something to induce this problem like change
video drivers or udpate the game or change a setting..???
No = Did you notice anything strange happening about the time you
started noticing this problem,, like a power surge or a strange smell
from your PC or a sudden reboot for no apparent reason... Did you
install any new software of any sort just prior to this occurence..???

Did it happen over a period of time, like say a week or two or did it
just happen out of the blue "the next time" you played RTCW..???

What O/S are you running..?? What other hardware have you got in your
PC..?? What other programs are running in the background when you play
RTCW..?? Try closing some of them first, like Antivirus programs etc..

Use some sort of "method" in your diagnostics. That way you may notice
a pattern emerging which could lead you to your answer....