Inspiron 8000 cutting out?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Any info appreciated...

Trying to troubleshoot a re-occurring problem...
usually when updating video drivers (NVIDIA G-Force 2Go, Dell 8000)

What makes a system just cut out, dead, with a bit of a whimper, like the
hard drive was about to do something, or the fans (god those fans!)?

It seems to be only when it's using the NVIDIA for 3D stuff, games, Organic
Art, etc.

Why would a system in general, just stop? It restarts as normal, like
nothing happened. It's like someone fainting, and not even knowing they were
out!

Thanks for any comments.

Dell Inspiron 8000
1 MHz, 512Mb RAM
Windows XP home
NVIDIA G-Force 2Go ('Microsoft's driver 5.6.7.3 (07/04/2004))

ian cairns

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

ian cairns wrote:
> Any info appreciated...
>
> Trying to troubleshoot a re-occurring problem...
> usually when updating video drivers (NVIDIA G-Force 2Go, Dell 8000)
>
> What makes a system just cut out, dead, with a bit of a whimper, like
> the hard drive was about to do something, or the fans (god those
> fans!)?
> It seems to be only when it's using the NVIDIA for 3D stuff, games,
> Organic Art, etc.
>
> Why would a system in general, just stop? It restarts as normal, like
> nothing happened. It's like someone fainting, and not even knowing
> they were out!
>
> Thanks for any comments.
>
> Dell Inspiron 8000
> 1 MHz, 512Mb RAM
> Windows XP home
> NVIDIA G-Force 2Go ('Microsoft's driver 5.6.7.3 (07/04/2004))
>
> ian cairns

I have the same setup as you but with PIII 900Mhz, running the same drivers
from Win XP Pro SP2. Whenever I've had a sudden stop on my system it always
seems to be video related but it is very rare and unpredictable for me. I'm
not sure loading Dell/nVidia drivers makes any real difference.

But if yours is blowing up when under heavy video load you could maybe
install I8KFANGUI to monitor your CPU and GPU temperatures, available here -
http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/. Perhaps something is overheating. You can also
play with fan speeds either manually or adjusting automated thresholds for
the fans to cut in/out. I also know that Dell tinkered with thermal control
in various BIOS updates so check that you are running the latest A23 BIOS,
released in January this year. I think one of them was a real mutha when it
came to fan noise.

Alternatively try downloading the absolute latest nVidia drivers from
http://www.guru3d.com/. You will need to use the .inf customised by guru3d
in order to get the drivers properly installed on your machine. That will
give you some tailoring options to adjust GPU frequency and multipliers
etc.. Note I did give these a whirl and while nothing nasty happened to my
machine, Windows Update wasn't happy and wanted to keep downloading
different Windows certified drivers.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

> ian cairns wrote:
>> Any info appreciated...
>>
>> Trying to troubleshoot a re-occurring problem...
>> usually when updating video drivers (NVIDIA G-Force 2Go, Dell 8000)
>>
>> What makes a system just cut out, dead, with a bit of a whimper, like
>> the hard drive was about to do something, or the fans (god those
>> fans!)?
>> It seems to be only when it's using the NVIDIA for 3D stuff, games,
>> Organic Art, etc.
>>
>> Why would a system in general, just stop? It restarts as normal, like
>> nothing happened. It's like someone fainting, and not even knowing
>> they were out!
>>
>> Thanks for any comments.
>>
>> Dell Inspiron 8000
>> 1 MHz, 512Mb RAM
>> Windows XP home
>> NVIDIA G-Force 2Go ('Microsoft's driver 5.6.7.3 (07/04/2004))
>>
>> ian cairns
>
> I have the same setup as you but with PIII 900Mhz, running the same
> drivers from Win XP Pro SP2. Whenever I've had a sudden stop on my system
> it always seems to be video related but it is very rare and unpredictable
> for me. I'm not sure loading Dell/nVidia drivers makes any real
> difference.
>
> But if yours is blowing up when under heavy video load you could maybe
> install I8KFANGUI to monitor your CPU and GPU temperatures, available
> here - http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/. Perhaps something is overheating. You
> can also play with fan speeds either manually or adjusting automated
> thresholds for the fans to cut in/out. I also know that Dell tinkered with
> thermal control in various BIOS updates so check that you are running the
> latest A23 BIOS, released in January this year. I think one of them was a
> real mutha when it came to fan noise.
>
> Alternatively try downloading the absolute latest nVidia drivers from
> http://www.guru3d.com/. You will need to use the .inf customised by guru3d
> in order to get the drivers properly installed on your machine. That will
> give you some tailoring options to adjust GPU frequency and multipliers
> etc.. Note I did give these a whirl and while nothing nasty happened to my
> machine, Windows Update wasn't happy and wanted to keep downloading
> different Windows certified drivers.
>

Thanks very much for your reply Tim.

I already have I8KFANGUI running thanks.

I always thought that Dell had produced a slightly proprietary version of
the NVIDIA G-force 2GO card, and as such, we had to stick to Dell-type
drivers. I have tried 'Normal' NVIDIA drivers before, and again since this
recent outbreak of the cutting out problem. I'm never happy with them.

Doom3 demo won't start with the full NVIDIA drivers from their website, and
it also annoys half-life, which won't seem to run in OpenGL mode on these
'full' NVIDIA page drivers. I'm back on Dell's own from their download
section.

I'm going to slowly fiddle with things and see if I can pin down exactly
what combination of things causes blackouts!

Thanks for your help!

ian
>