Here is information on this problem from the GeForce Faq site: <A HREF="http://www.geforcefaq.com/faq.html#hw:gef:troub:startup:startlock" target="_new">http://www.geforcefaq.com/faq.html#hw:gef:troub:startup:startlock</A>
<b>Windows locks up before it finishes loading, and a thin green line may appear across the top of the screen. How can I fix it?</b>
This may be caused by the Backup utility supplied with Windows 9x attempting to detect new tape devices on boot. You can fix it by deleting the files drvwppqt.vxd and drvwq117.vxd in the Windows\System\Iosubsys directory. If this helps, then search for the string 'TAPEDETECT' in your registry and delete any entries that exist. If you find this causes your tape drive to stop working, you'll have to reinstall Microsoft Backup. You can also simply uninstall Microsoft Backup if you don't use it.
Try updating the motherboard's BIOS. In particular on some Gigabyte boards based on the VIA KT133 chipset this may fix the problem. See the following page for more information:
<A HREF="http://www.giga-byte.com/faq/question/question_kt133.htm" target="_new">http://www.giga-byte.com/faq/question/question_kt133.htm</A>
This may also fix the problem on ASUS A7V motherboards - upgrade the BIOS to version 1004C or later.
You may find that on motherboards that are only AGP 1.0 compliant you may be able to fix this problem by putting insulating tape over the last pair of contacts on the AGP connector on the GeForce card (the contact furthest from the monitor port, on both sides). This has been tested on the Chaintech 6BTM motherboard.
Try disabling the Windows startup sound.
Make sure that VSYNC is enabled in the NVIDIA control panel.
If you have IomegaWare installed, try uninstalling it. If this fixes the problem, just use Iomega Guest.
Also try reading the 'My GeForce keeps on locking up or drops me back to the desktop during 3D applications. How can I fix it? question.
<i>Which states ...</i>
Are you overclocking either the GeForce or your processor? If you are, try clocking back to normal and see if it fixes the problem. If it does, you need more cooling.
Have you assigned an IRQ to VGA in your BIOS? If not, do so.
Have you got an IRQ conflict with the GeForce and another card? The only device that can have the same IRQ is the 'IRQ Holder for PCI Steering'. If so, try moving the card to another slot (in particular avoid the first PCI slot as this frequently is forced to share an IRQ with the AGP slot) or assigning a different IRQ to that slot in the BIOS.
Note that in Windows 2000 all PCI and AGP cards by default are assigned to the same IRQ. You will need to follow the steps in the 'I have Windows 2000 and all of my devices share the same IRQ, causing problems with my GeForce. How can I fix it?' question if you think that this is the cause of the lockups.
Are you running a virus checker in the background? Try disabling it.
If you are using a VIA chipset motherboard and an Athlon processor, then try reading the following guide, which includes most of the relevant tips from below:
<A HREF="http://www.teamanarchy.com/writeups.php?idx=986866324" target="_new">http://www.teamanarchy.com/writeups.php?idx=986866324</A>
Other things to try:
Try turning the 'Hardware acceleration' slider in the System Control Panel's Performance / Graphics section down one notch. This may also increase performance, although it is possible that you will not be able to overclock so far.
Try installing the latest AGP drivers for your motherboard chipset if you haven't got an Intel motherboard. If you have a VIA board you may have to read the 'I installed the VIA AGP drivers under Windows 2000 but they don't seem to have had any effect (the names of the devices have not changed). How can I fix this?' question to check that they are installed correctly.
Try installing the latest (leaked) drivers.
Try changing your AGP Aperture in your BIOS to another value (keep it above 16 as setting it at or below 16 will disable AGP.
Check that you have the following settings set as follows in your BIOS:
Video BIOS Shadow - Disabled
Video BIOS Cacheable - Disabled
C8000 - xxxxx Shadow - Disabled
Peer Concurrency - Enabled
Concurrent PCI Host - Enabled
PCI Streaming - Enabled
VGA Palette Snoop - Disabled
If you have a line in your CONFIG.SYS file mentioning the UMB386.SYS memory manager, try removing this line.
Try installing the latest BIOS update for your motherboard. In particular this will help with the Soyo 6VCA motherboard (use BIOS version 2AA5 or later). You can get help with finding out what BIOS you need and instructions as to how to flash it at Wim's BIOS page
Try installing the latest Video BIOS update for your GeForce. You could also try using an NVIDIA reference BIOS (if you are feeling brave): see the 'Where can I get the latest NVIDIA Flash BIOS and which should I use?' question.
Make sure that old drivers are cleaned out by using the method described in the question: 'How can I completely uninstall old NVIDIA or Creative Labs GeForce drivers?'.
If you are using CAS3 memory at CAS2 or in any other way running memory over specifications, try resetting it back to defaults. This setting may also be called 'Memory Timing' in your BIOS - set it to the highest nanoseconds setting. You might also want to try using each of your memory sticks on its own in turn and see if it is an issue with one particular memory stick - sometimes poor quality memory only causes problems when you have a high performance AGP card.
Try installing the Intel chipset drivers from:
<A HREF="http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/driver.htm" target="_new">http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/driver.htm</A>
for all versions of Windows 9x.
If you have an Athlon processor and you are running Windows 2000, read the following article in Microsoft's Knowledge Base:
<A HREF="http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q270/7/15.ASP" target="_new">http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q270/7/15.ASP</A>
There is an easy to use registry file available on AMD's website:
<A HREF="http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/athlon-duron/amd_win2k_patch.html" target="_new">http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/athlon-duron/amd_win2k_patch.html</A>
However, note that performing this step may reduce performance. If it causes problems with PowerStrip, try upgrading to the latest version of PowerStrip.
If you have a VIA chipset based motherboard and you are running Windows 2000, read the 'I have a VIA chipset based motherboard and I can't get AGP working or I get lockups in Windows 2000. How can I fix it?' question.
If you have a 'PCI Latency Timing', 'CPU-to-PCI Bridge latency' or similar setting in your BIOS, try setting it to 0, or raising it to 64 (the usual setting is 32). This may help in particular on VIA KX133 based motherboards.
If you do not have this option in your BIOS, and you have a VIA MVP3 chipset based motherboard, try putting the following program in your startup folder. It sets the CPU-to-PCI Bridge latency timer to 0. You can download the Windows 9x version of this program here:
<A HREF="http://koti.mbnet.fi/parru/CPU-to-PCIBridgeLatencyTimerTo0clks.zip" target="_new">http://koti.mbnet.fi/parru/CPU-to-PCIBridgeLatencyTimerTo0clks.zip</A>
and the Windows 2000 English version here:
<A HREF="http://www.deinmeister.de/mvp3_zlt_e.htm" target="_new">http://www.deinmeister.de/mvp3_zlt_e.htm</A>
and the Windows 2000 German version here:
<A HREF="http://www.deinmeister.de/mvp3_zlt.htm" target="_new">http://www.deinmeister.de/mvp3_zlt.htm</A>
If you have another chipset on your motherboard, you may be able to use the shareware program TweakBIOS to change the PCI Latency on your soundcard. You can find out more information about this and download it at the following website:
<A HREF="http://www.miro.pair.com/tweakbios/" target="_new">http://www.miro.pair.com/tweakbios/</A>
If you have an 'AGP Driving Control' setting in your BIOS, try switching it to 'BA' or another value instead of 'Auto'.
If you have a VIA chipset, try disabling AGP4X in your BIOS or using registry files (see the 'How can I enable AGP4X in the Detonator 5.16+ driver sets on my VIA 133mhz chipset motherboard?' question). If disabling it helps, then try reading the 'I have a VIA chipset based motherboard and I can't get AGP4X to work without causing instability. How can I fix it?' question.
If you have a VIA chipset, you may also want to try enabling AGP4X in your BIOS - read the 'How can I enable AGP4X in the Detonator 5.16+ driver sets on my VIA 133mhz chipset motherboard?' question as well.
Try turning off V-SYNC in the NVIDIA control panel.
It is possible that this is caused by bus collisions. Try following these steps provided by William Ball from Creative Labs:
Disable non-essential add-in devices except video one at a time in Device Manager. For example:
Network card
Sound card
TV card
Scanner interface
See if lock up behavior is resolved. If not, physically remove the add-in cards and run the game again.
Once you get a stable platform, start re-installing/re-enabling devices.
If you have an LX based motherboard or an early revision of your motherboard, read the 'What's all this with the original GeForce and motherboards not supplying enough power?' question in this FAQ.
If you think that your motherboard is not supplying your GeForce with enough power, try the tip mentioned on this web page:
<A HREF="http://www.systemlogic.net/articles/00/8/agpstability/" target="_new">http://www.systemlogic.net/articles/00/8/agpstability/</A>
The page provides instructions on how to power your GeForce's fan from the motherboard, reducing the power required by the GeForce.
If you have an Athlon motherboard, read the 'What's all this with the GeForce and the Athlon?' question in this FAQ.
If you have Super Socket 7 based motherboard, read the 'I have problems with my Super Socket 7 motherboard. How can I fix them?' question in this FAQ.
Make sure that there is adequate cooling for your GeForce, your AGP chipset and your processor. You can see if overheating is the problem by leaving your case lid off and using a desk fan to blow inside the case. If this helps, you may need to buy a better fan for the GeForce (see the 'What is a good replacement fan for a GeForce?' question), underclock the GeForce, or get better case / CPU cooling. This is a particular problem with AMD chips - they generate much more heat than Intel chips.
If you have an Athlon motherboard, try disabling Super Bypass in your BIOS setup or using the Chipid program available here:
<A HREF="http://www.slota.com/files/chipid.zip" target="_new">http://www.slota.com/files/chipid.zip</A>
If you have an ASUS card and are running the SmartDoctor utility, try disabling it. In addition, if you have an ASUS card and a VIA chipset motherboard, try getting another make of GeForce, such as a Leadtek.
If your network card has a boot BIOS and the ability to disable it, try disabling it.
Try disabling Advanced Power Management in the System Control Panel.
Try connecting your CPU fan to another socket on the motherboard.
Try reseating all of the components on your motherboard (including power leads and the GeForce).
Try turning up the I/O voltage of the motherboard in the BIOS by a small amount if your BIOS supports it.
Try switching on AGP Turbo in your BIOS, turning up the Front Side Bus speed slightly, or setting your AGP ratio to 1:1 (in that order) - this will put extra strain on the card, but it seems to fix the problem for some people.
If you have memory that isn't rated for the Front Side Bus speed that you are running at, or if you have unbranded (low quality) memory, you might want to try replacing or taking out the slower / unbranded memory and see if it fixes your problem. If you only have unbranded memory, then try running it at a lower speed (e.g. 100 instead of 133).
Make sure that you are using a powerful enough power supply. See the 'How powerful should my power supply be in order to use the GeForce?' question for more information.
If you are using more than one stick of memory, try taking out all but one of the memory sticks and see if that helps. If it does, you need a more powerful power supply: see the 'How powerful should my power supply be in order to use the GeForce?' question for more information.
Try going into the System Control Panel, Device Manager, System Devices, Direct Memory Access Controller, and changing the Access Restrictions (on the Settings Tab) to restrict DMA transfers to memory below 16MB.
If you are using a slotket card to connect a socketed processor to a slot motherboard, try getting a different, better quality slotket.
If you are using CAS3 memory, and can get access to some CAS2 memory, try using that instead (you will have to set your BIOS to use CAS2).
Try disabling AGP Fast Writes. Read the 'How can I enable or disable AGP Fast Writes?' question for more information.
Try forcing AGP1X. Read the 'How can I force AGP1X to be used instead of AGP2X or AGP4X?' question for more information.
If you have enabled AGP sidebanding with AGP Wizard or with an updated Video BIOS, try disabling it again. This may help, but will reduce performance slightly.
Try turning down the AGP Aperture to 16 or below, if your motherboard supports it - see the 'How can I change my AGP Aperture size?' question. This will disable AGP, but may fix your problem. You can also use DXDiag to disable AGP.
Toejam31
<font color=purple>My Rig:</font color=purple> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=6847" target="_new">http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=6847</A>
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