PNY geforce 9800 gtx+ issue

[frenetic tranquility]

Hi guys...

I am having some issues with my new 9800 gtx+. I recently decided to replace my old 7600gt after a few of the capacitors blew on it, and it seemed to be causing intermittent crashes. Anyway, I had the most up-to-date nvidia drivers already installed - 185.85 - for my old video card. The computer would not get much farther than windows loading before hitting a BSOD, giving some sort of 0x000000F4 error. I then tried uninstalling the drivers, and reinstalling after the card was put in fresh with no drivers on - still no luck. I then tried installing with the drivers that came on the cd, which were older than 185.85, after uninstalling all drivers yet again, but still no luck. However, I can use the computer in VGA mode and it works fine with no crashes, albeit very slowly and choppy. As soon as I try to install any newer driver it will immediately crash as soon as the video card "comes to life" so to speak. Any guesses on how to fix this?

My computer:

motherboard - biostar geforce 6100-M9
processor - dual core AMD opteron 180
video card - PNY geforce 9800 gtx+ xlr8
RAM - 2x sticks 256 megs
PSU - Smartpower 450watt

If you need any other information let me know.

I am really lost here, I feel like I have tried everything....I've looked all over these boards and others and nothing seems to work.

 

[evongugg]

Do a Windows repair.
The 7600 GT may have damaged something else when it went south.

 

[frenetic tranquility]

Yeah I was already on that, I actually replaced my harddrive and that helped a little bit...but still the same problems even with a fresh installation of windows with absolutely nothing on the computer. Maybe my power source just isn't living up to it's specs? If it isn't supplying enough amps on startup would that cause automatic reboot when the card is first turning on?

 

[hundredislandsboy]

Well if the system works without the videocard installed then the videocard becomes the main suspect to the instability issues.

To me it sounds like driver conflicts. You only installed the latest drivers correct and installed just once?

 

[frenetic tranquility]

I installed the latest drivers first when I first installed it. I also tried out the same video card, one that works, from a friend, and it did exactly the same thing. I am not saying that the video card isn't causing instability, but it seems to be a combination of the rest of my computer with it, and I don't know why.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Did you try your card in your friends rig?, if so and it worked then it may well be your PSU depending what it is of course.

 

[frenetic tranquility]

Well I finally got a better representative from PNY, who suspected my old biostar motherboard just isn't compatible with the video card, even though there wasn't any other cases of that incompatibility as of yet.

I did try my card in another rig and it worked. I got a new PSU and to no avail. I guess it's just the motherboard incompatibility, really frustrating since no reference to potential compatibility issues was listed on the system requirements :/.

The PNY guy recommended an ASUS motherboard - any other suggestions? Is ASUS considered good quality? I just want my rig to function well enough to play starcraft2/diablo3 handily.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Incompatible motherboard?, that's a new one on me. What can I say other than 'bummer'. Asus boards get good reviews though so you should have an ask about I don't use one myself so I don't have any personal recommendations to give you, sorry

 

[dpColorado]

Had the same exact problem with a BTG 9800 GTX+ with Windows XP. Installed Windows 7 RC 32 bit version and it worked!