Graphics Card Issues

I recently bought a new system.



-P5B Deluxe Wi-Fi Edition motherboard

-Intel Core 2 Duo Processor

-Nvidia Quadro FX 1500, with Solidworks recommended drivers



I am having the following problems and hope that someone can help shed
some light on what is going on:



1. The graphics card doesn't seem to mesh with the system. I keep
getting redraw issues, parts disappearing, program lag/freeze, etc.,
despite having replaced the card twice (with the same model).

2. I am having issues with programs freezing for a few seconds, the
screen shutting itself off, then on and things continuing as normal.
This happens sometimes frequently, which is very frustrating. It seems
to happen mostly in IE6, Solidworks and sometimes MSWord.


Any help would be greatly appreciated. In a last-ditch effort, I am
taking my system in and having them replace the motherboard, just in
case there is something wrong with it

 

I would first run a memory test to make sure the ram is OK.
If there is no diagnostics software from the MB people, you could d/l
memtest or similar software.

 

hi

thanks for the quick responses:

1. Memory test has been run, RAM is OK.
2. Latest drivers also tried, still the same problem.

ack!!

 

also, it's a brand new 650W power supply (Liberty brand...)

it's the latest BIOS as well...

 

You also might check your "4 in 1" driver to make sure its up to date.

 

Just an outside chance, but maybe. Do you have your OGL graphics card
settings set for SolidWorks? You might also try running for a while with SW
set to use software OGL to see if the problems change. Might be a clue.

WT

 

In addition to the other excellent advice,,,

Do you have the auxilliary power plug on the video card connected ??? It
uses a standard 5-12V 4 pin plug just like the power plug on a drive. I
think it's on the tail end of the video card.

The card may work without it, but it won't work right.

Mark

 

yup,

I've tried setting it for general use, as well as specifically for SW.
I suspect that it may be another issue however, as I get the flash
off/on in other programs, even when SW is not running.

What is a '4 in 1' driver for?

 

auxiliary power plug? hmmm... I don't think that the card has one...

It does have an 8-pin connector like the type used for mice/keyboards
that can go to a component out device...

 

double checked the website - aux power is not required for the 1500...
no where to plug it in anyway!!

Great suggestions everyone - keep them coming - I'm sure one of them is
bound to work!

 

Might seem silly, but check the mouse driver and settings.
The graphics card is processing mouse data almost constantly.

If you do a search on this group, you'll find quite a few threads about
mouse setups.

 

You can quickly isolate the graphics card. Just run in software opengl.
It is a setting in Tools/System/Performance.

 

Hmmm, the fact that issues are not isolated to the SolidWorks
Application seems to point to a generic hardware or OS configuration
issue.

As TOP mentioned you can try and isolate OpenGL in SW by disabling it.
However you have mentioned that Word and IE both exhibit problems. So
your issue most likely resides at a more system wide level. Most of
these you have already eliminated.

Processor - check for overheating by downloading prime95. If you can
survive an hour on prime95 you are good to go.
Motherboard - not checked yet. but bios was checked.
Memory - ran memtest (i assume you ran it at least 2 hours)
Video card - replaced and multiple driver revisions were tested.
Stress test it using freestone's video card tester.
Power supply - you have a very high end unit - should be fine.
Other components - check windowsupdate.com and make sure that you have
the latest WHQL certified drivers from MS. For the longest time my
keyboard hasn't been registering keystrokes properly and it was because
of an outdated audio driver (go figure). You can also start disabling
all onboard hardware that is non-essential + disconnecting
non-essential hardware. So disable onboard audio, firewire ports, usb
ports, ethernet ports, wireless cards, etc, etc until the only thing
you have running is proc+mem+vid+hard drive.
Check your task manager process tree to see if when lag strikes IE or
Word if there is a process responsible.

Debugging stinks. Good luck.

 

Oh yeah, also try control panel -> admin tools -> event viewer ->
application/system items and see if you have any nastiness showing up
in there that coincides with your problems.

 

LS,

We also have problems with Nvidea cards (FX1100, FX1300 and FX1400).
Sometimes SWX crashes if you move a component. Furthermore sometimes
the entire graphical display is messed up completely. We are using
recommended drivers and use SWX2006 SP5.0. What we are trying is lower
the hardware accelleration.

Kind regards,

JJ
www.studiozwaard.nl

 

The connector will be on the PCB of the video card inside of the case,
not on the back panel.

 

The 4 in 1 driver is for your motherboard chipset. Its the chip that
basically all information must flow through to get to the cpu ( graphics
card, memory, ect ). You'll need to go directly to the MB mfgs website and
grab the driver specifically for your mb and revision thereof.

Most people never need to update theirs. But ocassionally, a driver for
it can fix tons of problems.

 

Just for kicks, try a different video card and/or monitor to see if it
does anything different. Maybe the video card is going bad. Also check
to see if the sync rate of the card is ok with the monitor.

 

There's another possibility !

Are the chipset drivers even installed ? Most motherboards will "work" (sort
of) without them. They run in kind of a limp home mode (slower than hell).

Look in the device manager and see if you have any yellow question marks in
the tree.

Mark

 

A slight slarification: VIA chipset drivers were called "4 in 1" because
you could download 4 separate drivers in one package. Other chipset
manufacturers have different names for similar packages.