GeForce 6600LE problems

[Sound Mind]

So, I just bought a GeForce 6600LE, installed it, installed the drivers, immediately went to Nvidia and downloaded the updated ones, installed those, updated DirectX, all that other stuff. I'm on the computer now, so clearly it's not a dud. Plus, I just tried running Doom 3, and that works. Much improvement over my old card, an MX4000. In addition to a gig more RAM, Doom 3 now wants to run with high-quality textures at 800x600, versus the super-low textures at 640x480. I'll crank it up to 1024x786 for the hell of it now.

Anyhow, my point is, Doom 3 is pretty much the only program that still works. I have a handful of other games on here (namely Rockstar games, GTA3, VC, SA, and both Max Paynes), and suddenly, they refuse to work. Even Quicktime doesn't work anymore. If my computer's just idling, and I decide to open a Quicktime movie, the window will pop up, nothing will happen, and my computer will just LAG like all hell. It'll lag so much, it can't even register that I'm trying to close Quicktime, and I'll have to reset. If I try to play a game, it won't play any intro cutscenes and the monitor will just stay black until I reset my computer. But it can't be a video playback thing, because Doom 3 has an intro cutscene, and that game plays flawlessly. At least I don't think that's it.

I don't want to go through the trouble of reinstalling seven or eight games, so is there any other way to repair all this nonsense?

[pam123]

Am I reading you correctly?
You installed one set of drivers and then went and downloaded and installed another set without removing the first?

[Sound Mind]

Oops. Rookie mistake. Anyhow, I just removed the drivers and then installed the newest ones fresh. Still the same error.

[pam123]

So the Open GL game plays but nothing that uses DX does?

[Sound Mind]

Ummm... if that's the case. So far, the games that work as far as I've noticed are Doom 3 and UT2004. Games that don't for sure are GTA3 and GTA:SA. I haven't tried GTA:VC or the Max Payne ones yet, but I'm pretty sure they're not going to work anyway. I'll check next time I get a chance and give you an update. As for now, does that support the OpenGL vs. DirectX theory? And if so, how does one remedy this, after having just gotten the most recent version of DirectX?

I haven't checked yet if Windows Media Player works with videos yet, though. I'll check that, too.

[pam123]

Run DXdiag and see if you get any errors.

[Sound Mind]

Nope. No errors with DirectX.

[pam123]

Okay your options are the following :
1. remove drivers and run DriverCleaner (Get that here : http://www.drivercleaner.net/)
Reinstall latest drivers, along with the control panel of your choice, and see what happens.
2. If the DX games still lag move your save games folder to a safe location and go through the hassle of uninstalling and re-installing all of them.
Return the saved games to their original location.

[Sound Mind]

I just discovered something.

This is a video playback problem.

Max Payne 2 worked, Quake III worked, FlatOut worked, et cetera, et cetera. Quicktime and Windows Media Player don't work.

May Payne 2 asked me to change my video settings before loading, so I did, and it loaded fine. Max Payne 1 asked me the same thing, but that didn't work. The difference being there are intro cutscenes (the same from GTA3) that are causing the computer to lock up. Some video is okay, and some is not, apparently. Because Doom 3, FlatOut, and other non-Rockstar games have intro cutscenes and they work fine.

Bearing in mind it's a strangely specific video playback problem, any ideas now?

I'm going to reinstall Windows Media Player and Quicktime and see what happens in the meantime.

Thanks for all your help, by the way.


EDIT - Also, a new discovery. I also have a TV Tuner card that used to work, and now suffers the same way Windows Media Player and Quicktime do. But the TV Tuner card is separate from the new video card. Which means this problem isn't a problem with the video card, but a driver conflict, I assume. So... I'm going to go ahead and uninstall the TV Tuner drivers and install new ones (probably old by now anyway). Just some more food for thought.

[pam123]

It would help if you told me what settings the Max Payne games wanted changed.

[Sound Mind]

Just the generic video settings. Resolution, antialiasing, fog, texture detail, blah blah blah. I apparently neglected to notice that the screen pops up every time you want to play the game. Did before. Still does now.

[Sound Mind]

So, I reinstalled the TV Tuner card drivers and software. Windows Media Player, Quicktime, and DivX. The problem still persists. If it were a defect with the graphics card, wouldn't the TV Tuner card still work (ATI TV Wonder Pro)?

EDIT - And now I just ran Driver Cleaner, installed the latest drivers, and that had no effect, either.

[Sound Mind]

After snooping this forum and following a lot of links...

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=17006

I see I'm not the only one with this problem. As well as a whole lot of other problems with the new nVidia drivers.


EDIT - Finally, after spending all day wondering if I just got a dud card, the problem was just that the new drivers are wonky. I downgraded further to 84.31 I believe and all is well.
So thanks for all your help! Much appreciated!