Having problems

[Intel_Hydralisk]

I just built a new rig about a month ago.

AMD Athlon 64 3500+
Gigabyte nForce4 SLI mobo
1 gig Corsair XMS PC3200 DDR400
2x BFG Geforce 6800 GT OC PCI-E.
Other specs aren't important ... I don't think.

However... my monitor's been having problems since the day I built the system. I have a 19" Acer LCD monitor. The monitor worked fine on my old P4 2.4 rig. At first... the problem wasn't that bad so I decided to just ride it out and see if it went away. Well here's the problem: at 70,72, and 75 Hz, I can notice flickering on the monitor. It was more pronounced in some games than others. It's a lot better when on the desktop. At 60 Hz... the flickering went away but I'm left with two "lines" moving down the screen. Again, this wasn't so noticeable in some games but very pronounced in others (almost invisible on desktop). I decided to stick with the 60 Hz since the 70,72, 75 flickering would give me a headache. However... recently the 60 Hz setting got more pronounced and would flicker once in a while. So now I'm worried it will eventually destroy my monitor or something. And yes, I tried hooking up another monitor and still got the same flickering / lines ( hooked it up to a 15" LCD from dell). Can anyone help me at least explain what's going on? EDIT: Oh and... my monitor has a VGA cord and is plugged into one of the GT's through a DVI adapter.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Intel_Hydralisk on 03/06/05 06:32 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[dhlucke]

Do you have any electrical interference? Try moving the computer to another part of the room, but first try switching outlets in the wall.

<i><b><font color=red>"I think I'd rather let the monkey have its way with me" - Ksoth</font color=red></b></i>

 

[palmerg]

Thought maybe a specific ACER monitor profile might be needed or a particular driver update for the monitor.
Since your rig change:
What OS you using?
What is the specific Acer model number?
I assume your using the latest (66.93, I think) Nvidia drivers?

 

[palmerg]

AL1911 has a new XP driver released on 12/1/04
AL1912 has a new XP driver released on 5/27/04
AL1913 has a new XP driver released on 11/30/04
AL1914 has a new XP driver released on 2/23/05
AL1931 - no new drivers listed
Go <A HREF="http://www.acerpanam.com/synapse/forms/portal.cfm?formid=3394&website=AcerPanAm.com/us&originwebsite=acerpanam.com&pupv=pu" target="_new">Here</A> to get to the driver you need.

 

[Intel_Hydralisk]

I have 71.84 beta drivers from nZone, but this problem persists no matter which Geforce drivers I use. I moved my computer to exactly the same location my old P4 was and it's still having the problem. I'm going to look up the model of my monitor and download the latest drivers. I'm using XP home... installed using the same cd as my old computer (dell).

EDIT: Also, I'd like to point out that my brother has the same system / monitor / drivers and it doesn't happen on his.

EDIT: How in the world do you install these drivers? I have the AL1912. It gives me a INF file and 3 ICC files after I unzip. There's no .exe's or anything. I can't open the ICC files, and the INF file looks like a setup configuration file.

 

[palmerg]

Well if the Acer XP drivers don't do the trick and since we know its not the monitor (you tried another monitor and got same symptom) then I guess I would start backing up and eliminate potential culprits. Try replacing these one at a time
1. DVI to D-Sub converter
2. RGB Analog cable
After that you are into the machine and maybe trying an older video adapter would help solve the problem.

Hope its the Acer driver.
Good luck.

 

[palmerg]

Use device manager. I don't know XP Home but i'm assuming that its XP like.
Start>Control Panel>System?Device Manager button
Find the monitor in the list ( I assume its the Acer and not a Plug and Play - but even if it is) Right click and use Update Wizard

 

[Intel_Hydralisk]

Oh, I figured out what hte ICC files did. And no they didn't help. My graphics cards came with a grand total of 4 adapters for VGA to DVI and I tried each one, and it's not the adapter. My brother has an old VGA to DVI adapter from his 9800 pro and that didn't solve the problem either.

I'm thinking there's possibly something wrong internally with my computer. I have no idea however what would be causing it. I've switched both cards and the problem persists. There's a total of 4 DVI ports (2 on each card). No matter which card I use, I can only use the top left port with my monitor, so I can't try the other ports, but like I said before no matter which card it's plugged into, the problem is still there.

 

[palmerg]

hmmm... I know nothing about SLI, no experience there. Maybe there is a BIOS setting that needs to be set for the dual setup. [did you try with only one card installed?]. I will take a look at the mobo BIOS settings later, but you might try to look there or just use one board, unless you already did that.
Also, I know its grasping at straws but how about the DVI cable? Its a long shot I know. I think that its a BIOS setting. DOn't the dual setups require a bridge adapter and 2 x16 PCIx slots? I don't know much like I said.

I'm assuming your board is the Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI.

-is the SLI switch module intserted correcly (page 18 of mobo manual)? There is a normal and a SLI mode side.
- is a SLI bridge connector being used (p18 again) for 2x16 if the card will do that?
- Whats the PSU wattage?
- Page 20 (Step-3) mentions a BIOS setting that configures where the monitor is pluged into the video card array.
It seems this is a bit more complex tahn I thought.

 

[Intel_Hydralisk]

Yes the chip is switched to SLI mode, and yes the bridge is connected correctly. SLI is working properly alright, I'm getting phenominal FPS in all the games I play. I've tried turning SLI off but haven't tried physically removing one card. When SLI is disabled, the problem is still there. Is it possbile to have some sort of electrical interference inside the case itself?

 

[palmerg]

Take a look at the BIOS and the settings mentioned above.
Failing that I guess your hunch is right and it is HW. I suppose you have to find a way to test each card separately to rule them out and to point at the mobo if that is the cause.
Good luck.

 

[Clueless]

I had a similar problem. If you have not fixed the problem checked this out, make sure that your motherboard is set to split the 16x PCI (8x per vid card slot) (especially if you have an MSI board) My vid cards were sharing 8x (4x per vid card slot) gave me the lines also.

I'm as Clueless as a baby in a topless bar