profile • edit • reply w/quote • IP -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello, As you se from the title, I'm experiencing some problems with RT that render it useless at best, and at worst its altered my system and somehow managed to wall itself off from my attempts to stop it. But I'm not sure of what exactly has happened (PC running fine right now) and part of this post is a request for some direction/instruction on getting the sys info needed to tell what, if anything, RT is still doing or has done. The other part of this post (after problem description) is me rambling on about related topics and such, and is mostly just by way of introducing myself to anyone who cares. And also to anyone who doesn't care, I suppose, as "caring" isn't really a necessary part of an introduction. Come to think of it, considering that I can never recall anyone's name after I'm introduced, I suspect I must not care much either. Regardless, at this point you probably couldn't care less... But I digress. I tend to wander a bit, but the short point I wanted to make is that those people with short attention spans, and even shorter tempers once their span's been spent, should check out immediately and stop reading even before you read this. Hopefully we caught it in time so no one will feel obligated to share their feelings of anger and betrayal towards large groups of words that exceed short spans, and those that cruelly authored it. Those with medium spans should be fine...their keen sense of self preservation always prompts them either self-extract or initiate a memory leak before critical mass drives them to begin pounding on the keyboard. These key user warnings out of the way, here's what happened with RivaTuner: I DL'd and installed RT last night and it worked great. Its my first attempt at OC'ing, plus I don't really have full understanding of all 3D features, so I didn't change any settings other than "enable driver level hardware overclocking", used the "66 refresh rate wizard" on just one setting, and checked a few boxes associated with keeping RT running all the time, starting at boot, and something about system standby. I read everything and was very careful OC'ing from 270 to 300, and 400 to 440 on my G4 MX 440. Everything worked very well...system was stable and I even gained 25pts in 3Dmark2001. So after a couple hours and everything still cool and stable, I decided to bump up the numbers a bit. But RT wouldn't allow any changes to the 300/440 numbers. While I'd rebooted a couple times prior, I hadn't changed anything in RT since initial selections, and even though the "enable driver OC'ing" box was still checked (and both default & OC'ed speeds displayed accurately), the bar graph didn't allow for any change. So I figured there was just something I didn't know. I decided to restore the default settings for the time being and play with it again when I have more time. So I unchecked the "enable" box, but that had no effect. So then I pressed the "defaults" button...and the system seemed to go nuts, flashing rapidly. I shut down immediately & re-booted. I opened the RT interface and now it said it couldn't determine what the speeds were...it read N/A instead. So I again unchecked the "enable” button and hit "apply" this time...and same thing happened. I wasn't as panicky this time and found that even though the display was "blinking" rapidly and looked real bad, that I actually still had control of the PC, commands just took longer to respond, but I was able to "end program" (said RT "wasn't responding" and XP wanted to send an error message to MS) and return to a normal, functional desktop. I repeated this several times, trying minor differences like shutting down completely, getting RT to stop starting at boot, etc, and all resulted in same collapse when attempt was made to uncheck "enable driver OC'ing" and hit "apply". I finally did a re-install of RT over-top existing program (couldn't figure out how to "uninstall" since it never really "installed", it just ran like the app it is). This resulted in different oddities within the RT interface, having to do with it reading all sorts of wrong info from system (that it had previously read correctly), but still the same result when trying to disable OC'ing. So as it stands now, I have no idea if I'm OC'ed or not, as I don't know where else I can check the 270/400 numbers that I changed in RT. Is there another sys info section in XP or other common utility that will display these? As for RivaTuner, I'd be happy if anyone could shed light on this. It seems like a very nice program and I appreciated the explanations that accompanied all the different options, including some "idiot-proofing" steps the designer took to save idiots from ourselves. So while I know enough to be certain that RT did malfunction for some reason, I'm certainly open to the idea that whatever happened wasn't serious at all and coulda been easily corrected by someone who knows more... Which is kinda what I'm hoping is the case...like I said, its a nice little program and I had the feeling that it was well explained enough that I'd be able to grow into its more advanced functions as I learn more. System specs: P4 1.8/576MB/G4 MX 440 …I built system couple months ago on a new GIG M/B with AGP 4x, WD 40G 7200 + SG 40G 7200 both IDE, WinXP , DETS 30.82 (newest), I can’t think of anything else that could possibly be useful to mention for my PC’s make-up… Sorry so long...I'm afraid I'm not a very succinct writer. But provided that you've read this far and aren't too annoyed at the abysmal time invested vs. entertainment value of my lame story, any feedback would be most appreciated. Please keep in mind that the knowledge and tech-vocab many of you take as a given, is anything but for me. However, I know how to look up abbreviations and figure things out well enough, provided I've got all the puzzle pieces in front of me. Its when pieces are left out under the premise that "everybody knows what/where THAT is, and surely knows that OF COURSE you'd have to do X first, otherwise how could you even get to Y?", that get's me going in circles. Not to mention the potential damage such incidents could cause to my image if family, friends, and customers were to learn that the "guy who knows everything about computers" really doesn't know jack sh_t. But then, I'm sure that my many flawless hard drive installations and modem upgrades surely earn me a pretty high level of respect around here, no? Well, ok, maybe not _quite_ flawless, but there were perfectly valid reasons for those! oh, I mean "that", as in just one time. I'm sure you're dying to find out al the details of my hardware installations, but it'll have to wait till next time...I have pictures of every unit I ever installed, including action shots of me making jumper settings with one hand tied behind my back. This goes over great at parties, and chicks really dig my suspenders/belt combo made from IDE 40 Ribbons. But in conclusion, and seriously, this seems like a real good forum from what I read in the recent history of posts, and compared to a handful of others I've lurked from time to time. So that, plus the fact I feel like I finally know enough to be able to ask reasonably intelligent questions AND understand answers without having to harass respondents into private tutoring sessions, for these reasons I've decided to de-cloak here. I'm sorry... But I promise to remain mostly in the background and never write another post this long again. And on the bright side, if anyone ever has any questions about painting, repairing, remodeling, etc, you're in luck, cause I actually AM an expert in those things...no flubbed-up hard drives about it! TIA + see ya around, Q ps-Oh, and I don't know if tech forums have trolls too, but if so, please feel free to fire away at anything stupid I may be missing or have done...but please come out from under the bridge long enough to point out what exactly was stupid (and "why”) as opposed to the standard "What a *$%#@*" 3 word reply...if you're not too busy, of course
Time to live up to your expert title ) First, disable autostart of anything nvidia or rivatuner related. Msconfig helps a lot. Next, rivatuner/power user/open 30.30 w2k database (should you fail to find 30.82 )/delete (clear) any values under 'overclocking'. Hint: use right clicks After a reboot, see if this has helped rivatuner already. If not, delete hklm\software\unwinder\rivatuner, which is found in the registry. This last exercise really has more to do with my cruelty arisen from reading your rant, but, as it clears RT's settings, it might help accomplish something ) I must admit that, preferring bios flashes to os-dependent overclocking, I have had little experience with the feature you apparently got messed.
It seems like incorrect clock frequencies are saved in the registry as defaults. Please open RivaTuner's Power User tab, press 'Open matched Detonator Database' to open the closest database then press 'Save selected entries to a preset' button and send this file to unwinder@medicom-mtd.com
Hello again, And thanks for the replies. As things stand now, my system is stable and apparently operating at normal clock speeds. After two re-installations of Riva and numerous re-boots, Riva is now displaying my clock speeds of 270/405.0, which were the original settings it showed when I began. None of the options I'd previously selected under any of the tabs is still there, indicating that I indeed have a "fresh start" with Riva. Additionally, the "warning" when you check "enable driver...OC" that tells you to reboot first, is back. BTW. I didn't re-boot initially, since I knew there was no way anything had ever been OC'd. Anyway, I had to go away yesterday, and I left my system on and running one of those 3D screen savers from Plus! with all the power-saver features turned off. When I returned 24hours later, saver was running fine and system is working great. So to address your replies in order: Malbeth: I feel I behaved in a manner consistant with with my "expert" status...that is, when the sh_t hit the fan, I hightailed it outta town till things cooled down...in this case, the GPU. I did follow your first set of instructions to see what was there, but I became stumped when the "overclocking" section displayed only Simpson names (Bart, Homer, Crusty, etc). I sorta expected to find actual numerical values which I could delete, and the comical addition of cartoon names was a plot twist I was unable to overcome. I didn't attempt your registry edit suggestion though, as your comment about the "cruelly arisen" origin having to do with "reading my rant" left some doubt in my mind as to your altruistic motivations... Unwinder: I attempted to follow your instructions and email you a file, but was unable to do so. I was feeling quite relieved when I finally located the 'Open matched Detonator Database' (I was beginning to fear that I was gonna have to ask where EXACTLY it was But I found it and clicked on 'Save selected entries to a preset'. But when I did so, I got a WARNING pop-up that said it "couldn't find matching blah blah to 30.82 and yada yada did I want it to use closest match?" That's at least pretty close to what it said anyway. And I tend to heed warnings that I don't understand, especially when they come after I've already disregarded the main Power User warning that said basically "Attention Wannabe's: You know who you are and don't touch this section if you are one...unless you aspire to being a Wannabe without a functional PC". But regardless, I don't know how much use any info the files would have could be, considering that I re-installed a couple times and the problem is no longer manifesting. However, in the interest of science, I'd be willing to attempt to re-create the glitch if you are: 1) interested in figuring out the cause, and 2) willing to spend the time helping me fix any problems it may cause. Odds are I could fix it again with simple measures, but ya never know. But I feel pretty confident that you could walk me through whatever glithes might turn up, via my 2nd system which is online. Let me know... Marty: One sure way to know you're getting old is when you realize that you no longer see anything for the "first" time, that you're on to the 2nd, 3rd, or more times. So I'm glad I could provide you with another affirmation of your youth...never know how many might be left Oh, btw...even the shortest of books would contain an average of 20,000 words per 25 pages, whereas my pitifully short posting is barely even 1,400. On the bright side, at least I have my frst two pages finished! Hopefully I haven't written myself into a dead end... maybe re-creating the problem will make for some more great reading? lol Bourbon: I put that quotable quote in there just for you...
It's all in good fun QualiC I realy have never seen anyone post such a long post. I am use to "DuDeS HeLp I tRaShEd My Sh*t" LoL
So you're saying that things are generally rather short & sweet 'round these parts, eh? hmmm...not surprising I guess, as I expect tech boards tend to attract that more "right-brain", math oriented crowd. I guess I see your point, especially what with all the emphasis these days on eliminating bulky, awkward net-code that boggs everything down... lol This probably even explains why I never see evidence of trolls on tech forums...you guys never feed them enough to keep'em coming back! Do you even know what a troll is? lol But rest assured, I almost never take anything seriously...life's far more enjoyable this way Q
Yeah, I actually MUCH prefer a post like this. Sorry, if I knew my way around rivatuner I'd help you.
