[bysmitty]

@ Flyboy: Actually, slow uploading speed is rather normal. Even with high speed connections, you will generally be limited to about 30kbps actual speed for uploads. I believe the broadband companies do this on purpose to prevent users from hosting high traffic web servers on their home accounts though that is just a guess. The CPU also likely a bit underpowered for high end photo programs like photoshop. There is a good chance you could eak more life out of the system with a CPU upgrade. Something like this should give a decent speed boost without having to shell out for a whole new system. I can walk you through the installation if you want too.

...bysmitty

[Jelena]

Originally Posted by bysmitty

@ Jelena: Hmmm, that is a very interesting sounding problem. First off, could post some basic specs for your computer? Namely the video card and processor. Also, have you noticed any other symptoms or is it only games that are acting up? Are there any games that still work properly? Have you noticed any sound problems? A preliminary guess is that it is some kind of problem with the video card but I can't be sure yet. The above questions should help narrow it down a little bit more.

Video card: RADEON 9800 and the processor: Intel Pentium 4CPU 3.00GHz (2CPUs)

(All this is Greek to me.)

I haven't had any sound problems before that squealing sound during playing Sentinel. I've recently played both Myst and Riven without problem and I'm currently playing CSI. Sometimes that game freezes for a second, but then works like normal again.
I'm about to install Martin Mystere. I'll be able to tell how it works later on tonight.

EDIT: As I was installing Martin Mystere the CD unit sounded like an old train (without the whistles ) I'm pretty sure somethings the matter with the CD reader (expr?)

[Jelena]

bysmitty
Today I talked to one of the support guys. (I'm renting this computer through my work) He told me to download a Firmware from Fujitsu-Siemens which I did. At first it seemed to work. Johan could actually start Psychonauts and play for a while. Then the game started making strange shrieking noises. I tried to install Martin Mystere which also worked. But when I tried to play, the cutscenes in the beginning was the only thing that looked good. I got a white screen with only a few details showing when the actual gameplay started. Very much like what happened with Need for Speed game.
So what do you say?

[bysmitty]

@ Jelena: My best guess is that the video card is in the process of biting the dust. I would talk to your support guy and see if he can swap out the card with a known good one to see if it solves the issue. The 3d games flaking out while windows and 2d games working fine seems to support this. I really don't know what would be causing the shrieking noise though. Computers don't have many moving parts that would cause something like that.

Keep me updated.

...bysmitty

[Jelena]

Originally Posted by bysmitty

@ Jelena: My best guess is that the video card is in the process of biting the dust. I would talk to your support guy and see if he can swap out the card with a known good one to see if it solves the issue. The 3d games flaking out while windows and 2d games working fine seems to support this. I really don't know what would be causing the shrieking noise though. Computers don't have many moving parts that would cause something like that.

Keep me updated.

...bysmitty

Thanks for your help and advice bysmitty. Now I'll be able to ask the right questions and hopefully will get some help from the support.
To be continued.....

[Sage]

Originally Posted by bysmitty

@ Jelena: I really don't know what would be causing the shrieking noise though. Computers don't have many moving parts that would cause something like that.

Keep me updated.

...bysmitty

Just a shot in the dark here:

Is the shrieking noise coming through the speakers or from the computer case itself? Might it be that the fan on the video card (if so equipped) is thermally regulated and only starts shrieking when the card heats up and engages the fan because of demanding 3D games?

Bad bearings in a fan or anything else will make a shrieking noise, and the fan not turning properly might cause the video card to overheat and not display images.

Or am I totally off base?

[Jelena]

Originally Posted by Sage

Just a shot in the dark here:

Is the shrieking noise coming through the speakers or from the computer case itself? Might it be that the fan on the video card (if so equipped) is thermally regulated and only starts shrieking when the card heats up because of demanding 3D games?

The noise comes from the speakers.

[Sage]

Originally Posted by Jelena

The noise comes from the speakers.

Oops. Never mind then.

[bysmitty]

Originally Posted by Jelena

The noise comes from the speakers.

Ahhh, I didn't realize that. It doesn't change my guess though.

...bysmitty

[Jelena]

There's the squealing noise from the speakers when playing Sentinel (without CD) and Psychnauts (with CD).
And then there's a mechanical noise from the CD-reader (expr?) when trying to install and palying Martin Mystere.

[kuze]

Dear bysmitty,

I have some trouble with my graphics card (9800PRO@SE, the softmodable type). For quite a while now it has been showing me pixel artifacts and stripes periodically, but it went away as soon as I underclocked the GPU and RAM.

Now, no matter what I do, it displays rainbow stripes and squares all over the monitor. They sure are fun to watch, but the picture behind has priority. 3D applications go crazy as if the card is overheating, but the fan is running all the time, and the artifacts show up as soon as I fire up the computer.

I really don't have the money to upgrade my PC (since buying a new gfx card for a 2800+XP seems ridiculous), so I am bowing down and asking for your help. What are my options here?

[bysmitty]

@ Jelena: Any news on your poor compy?

@ Kuze: It sounds like either the card is overheating or possibly has been worn out with age / overclocking. The first thing I would do would be to re-seat the cooler on the video card. I have a 9800 pro that the cooler came a bit loose on from years of use. Most 9800s I’ve seen have pressure pins so take a pair of needle nose pliers and pull out the pins, usually on the face of the cooler. After that the cooler assembly should release. Take some rubbing alcohol and gently clean off the old thermal grease on both the chip and the cooler. After, spread a tiny amount of fresh grease evenly over the surface of GPU. Then, just attach the cooler back making sure it is snug. You can try installing an after market cooler instead of the stock one but it would be a wasted investment if cooling is not the issue.

If that still doesn’t help, then I would guess that the card might have spent a little too much time overclocked or that it is just not running efficiently due to its age. You can find used 9800s for ~$40 now but a nice low / mid AGP card like a 6800 or a 7600gs would complement your CPU and give you another year or two of decent gaming for only a few dollars more.

Best of luck.

...bysmitty

[kuze]

Bysmitty, you truly are a magician.

After reapplying the thermal paste (which was hard as stone) and cleaning the fan ("covered with dust" was an understatement in my case) I not only got rid of the funny stripes, but also of the pixel artifacts my ATITool showed me after a few seconds of running "Scan for Artifacts".

Thank you so much.

EDIT: After ten minutes, the stripes are back. Goddamnthis#%&$.

[bysmitty]

Sorry bud but if the artifacts still persist, it sounds like the card is giving up the ghost.

As far as new AGP cards go, you don't have much choice but to be ripped off. The best values I could find were a x1600 pro for $103 and a 7600gs for $120. These cards can hold their own in current games and will still be adequate for another year or two. All of the cheaper new AGP cards are not worth the cost. I just can't recommend anyone spend $75 on a new 6200 or something like that. If you are looking for something sub $100, I would see if you can pick up a used card somewhere. I do my buying/selling/trading here. If you make a post with what you are looking for and I'm sure someone will be able to accommodate.

Wish I had had better news man.

...bysmitty

[bysmitty]

Originally Posted by kuze

...the stripes are back. Goddamnthis#%&$.

He he... Don't curse your luck too much man. I've fried two high end motherboards in two weeks.


Self

...bysmitty

[kuze]

Originally Posted by bysmitty

Sorry bud but if the artifacts still persist, it sounds like the card is giving up the ghost.

As far as new AGP cards go, you don't have much choice but to be ripped off. The best values I could find were a x1600 pro for $103 and a 7600gs for $120. These cards can hold their own in current games and will still be adequate for another year or two. All of the cheaper new AGP cards are not worth the cost. I just can't recommend anyone spend $75 on a new 6200 or something like that. If you are looking for something sub $100, I would see if you can pick up a used card somewhere. I do my buying/selling/trading here. If you make a post with what you are looking for and I'm sure someone will be able to accommodate.

Wish I had had better news man.

...bysmitty

Sigh... thanks bysmitty, I'll probably pick up the x1600 in the foreseeable future... Or a 30 euroes Geforce 6200, I really don't want to spend too much money.

[bysmitty]

Originally Posted by bysmitty

He he... Don't curse your luck too much man. I've fried two high end motherboards in two weeks.


Self

...bysmitty

Son of a $*(%*&@!!! Make that 3 motherboards in 3 weeks. There is something very wrong with my machine. I guess I need to RMA this board and pick up a new power supply to try.

I like fixing other peoples computer problems much more than fixing my own.

...bysmitty

[Jelena]

Originally Posted by bysmitty

@ Jelena: Any news on your poor compy?

The "support guy" told me to just empty the computer completely (I can't find the correct expression for it in English right now) since he figure I had a software problem from installing and uninstalling games. I did and everything works fine! So far!
From now on I'll just keep the games on the computer instead of uninstalling them. There's plenty of room on the HD.

[RLacey]

Regarding this and this.

bysmitty,

I was wondering if you could come to my aid with some suggestions regarding what to do with my computer. It seems to be deciding at random whether or not it will actually boot up or not: yesterday evening it refused to do anything, but this morning it has booted up and is working fine. Of course, it will probably stop working when I reboot, but anyway...

I'm kind of confused with your suggestion that it's the hard drive. Not that it isn't - you're probably right - but the computer is definitely checking the DVD drive several times when it fails to boot up, as the clicks seem to correspond with the indicator light on the drive flashing. And, as I say, when it does boot up, the hard drive appears to be working perfectly.

Thanks in advance for your time!

[rlpw]

Oh Great and Powerful bysmitty,

If you would tell me PLEASE the name for the 4 prong female end that hooks up to your HD's and CDROMS I would be most appreciative. I ordered a new power supply for a my PC and wound up 1 plug short. Am going to send it back for replacement but want to make sure THIS TIME to get what I need.