Dragon-Lord

eek! try using Add/Remove programs to uninstall the nvidia 5.xx series drivers. Then, reboot and reinstall the 5.14. I am hoping the 5.16 (plus new SBLive drivers one day) do the trick for me. You seem to be running in svga mode only, meaning that NO video drivers are installed/working... :}

I narrowed my problem to the SBLive. No driver set yet released (or on the W2K RTM CD) fixes the problem. I pulled my SBLive for the time being until new drivers are released. A CL SB 16 PCI works much better with the WDM drivers. Some of the problem may be due to the GForce (like my system) or a combination of the two together. The 5.16 driver set is due out shortly, and is supposed to be the most stable yet. For decent SBLive drivers, we will be waiting for months I suspect (at least two full revs?). Try pulling the sound card, playing q3a with no sound for a while, and see if the crashes don't disappear. :} PS There are also v5.14 w2K drivers for you geforce and some people have had problems, while some people love them.

sniff... :} PS Seriously, this board has kicked ass and helped me many, many times. Glad I could send just a little something back.

check you Quake config file. You can set the main refresh there... :} PS Also , I run PowerStrip to allow me to set those settings as well.

The drivers are basically crapola. We'll have to wait a month (or two) before we have solid hardware level functionality out of them. I pulled mine and replaced it with a $50 CL SB 16 in the interim. :}

Important Note about ZoneAlarm under ICS and W2K. The latest version (2.1) *does* work, but the ICS machine is only allowed to set MEDIUM level security (both local AND internet), which is basically "better than nothing" with no port blocking etc. Hopefully, they will allow you to move to HIGH in an upgrade or two. Otherwise, it has been great. :}

SMP is symmetric multi-processing (or dual processor in this forum)... :}

The process is the same for w98 and w2k. You can uninstall the 5.13/5.14 drivers right from the Add/remove Programs control panel. If you have munged things up, Iwould reinstall the 5.14 drivers, then use A/R Programs to uninstall it. Reboot, then install the 3.78 reference driver set (or maybe try the 3.84 up on reactorcritical.com). Hope that helps. :}

The 5.xx versions support the FSAA option, etc. They tend to stress the system/card with a lot of new stuff, and note that all the 5.xx releases are betas. No 5.xx rev has been released officially (for good reason, too). The 3.xx versions are the official releases, meaning they are supposed to be more solid. In my experience, under W98, all of the driver sets have been damn solid, but under W2k, I am getting the once a day system freeze. When I dumped the SBLive from my machine, the freezes dropped from every couple of hours to every day or two, so I believe that in my case the fact that I am running SMP is the problem. I don't believe either NVidia or CL are final on the SMP issue by a long shot. :}

The drivers are updated, I don' know why. For me, the reason to DL and install was the speedkey program now works properly under W2K (i.e. it works now). You can access the calculator, media, etc. :}

yes, and note that the mainpage has a notice that they finally released intellitype software for win2k. I can say that it works too! :}

eek that does sound bad. perhaps a reinstall of directx7 for w2k would help. search this message base for info on the debug version on the MS site. Otherwise, an upgrade install or fresh install may be in order...sorry bout that. :{

Why serious gamers shouldn't...yet... SBLive drivers are crap. Otherwise, I agree with everything you say. :}

my intellimouse explorer croaked hard moving from w98 to w2k. I assume this timing is a cooincidence, but since it now stops, stutters, and freezes every few seconds, I just popped on my old USB mouse and no problemo. I am assuming a hardware failure in the mouse. :}

The BIG Update... I just pulled the SBLive! (with Digital I/O card) from my system and replaced it with a CL Blaster 16, and my machine has been working flawlessly ever since. I made the assumption that this card had been around long enough that NT/SMP issues in the drivers were resolved some time ago. Seems as though I was correct. I'll try the SBLive! again when the new drivers come out *and* a hundred people on this group say they rock... :} Peace of mind for $50...not bad... :}

Yes, some time ago, but I assume that since their source was creative to begin with, there seemed little point in keeping them. BTW, I just pulled the SBLive! (with Digital I/O card) from my system and replaced it with a CL Blaster 16, and my machine has been working flawlessly ever since. I made the assumption that this card had been around long enough that NT/SMP issues in the drivers were resolved some time ago. Seems as though I was correct. I'll try the SBLive! again when the new drivers come out *and* a hundred people on this group say they rock... :} :}

Oh, BTW, the updated LiveWare for 2000 FAQ on the CL website now says that EAX support won't be out until a future driver/software release... :}

Bull****...give us *some* credit, man, okay? :} My particular problem has occurred since the very first install of Win2k (MPS or ACPI). In fact, all of my subsequent reinstalls seem to have been due to this one problem. I am using the latest bios from SuperMicro (2.2). If I pull the SBLive card, the problem goes away in W2K. Yet, all works fine in W98. This points squarely at the DRIVERS for the card under W2K...or the OS itself (unlikely, since none of my other drivers are exhibiting problems). It is well documented, here and elsewhere, that all of the Live drivers released to date have hardware level DMA stomping problems - causing corruption of sounds, failure to allow mixing multiple wave samples (under w98, you can select 32 simultaneous sources), and thoroughly munged EAX support. I am not the only person with these problems...check this board and the creative newsgroups. So, my question is, to those who say these drivers work great under W2K, whether or not you have full EAX support in Unreal Tournament (for example) under Full DirectSound playback acceleration (as enabled under DXdiag.exe)? That is the real test of whether or not these drivers really work as good as the Win98 counterparts. To date, I have yet to hear a single confirmed "yes" to this question... :}

Strange indeed...the Intellimouse Explorer (you know, the one without a ball) is the best I have ever used in Quake3, etc. Explorer USB > Normal USB > PS/2 :}

Last note. Microsoft certified all of these driver revs, even the one burned onto the CDROM, for Pete's sake. What does *that* say about the entire certification process???? :}

Sky-wise, I too suspect that the freeze is SMP related, but since these drivers are notorious for being crapola regardless, I thought I'd throw up another example to that effect. The error is generally IRQL STOP... Seriously, though, removing the second CPU is not an option for me. I do serious CGI on this machine and "I need the speed." :} Since every other driver/card etc. on this system works flawlessly under SMP, I don't think it is too much to ask Creative to get their ****e together on this one. In the meantime, does anyone know of a sound card that *is* reliable under SMP? I hesitate to buy an Awe32/64 from Creative, for obvious reasons. Thanks, :}

BTW, I forgot to mention that everything works fine under W98se... :}

I got a great one on top of all of this... If the SBLive is in my machine, it *will* freeze randomly. These random freezes had me looking everywhere because it looked like IE, then Q3, then UT, I mean everywhere. Finally, I pulled the card and the random freezes went away. The slot doesn't matter. The IRQs (shared or not) don't matter. Standard or Fully accelerated doesn't matter. DRIVER revision doesn't matter (the WDM shipping with W2k and the Liveware 2000 *both* freeze my system). The reason it freezes during IE is that I had a sound attached to start navigate events. The reason is freezes during lots of file downloads is that W2K plays a notify sound at the end of each event. The reason is freezes during games and windows media events is self-evident. I have heard a lot of posts on this group about "random freezes" caused by IE, live, etc. I hope this helps some of you solve your problems. This really seems like what was causing my problems, but then again, I could be wrong. :} BTW I am running a Supermicro P6DBS, Dual 450mhz P3, with 256mb ram, geforce ddr, sblive with digital card (grr), and all the trimmings.

yes, it is just supersampling. The fact that the new voodoos do this in hardware, and support multipass motion blur, etc. with the higher fillrate should be very interesting indeed. :}

I am running on a 21" monitor and I just really like an AA image. I am running 1024x768 (no AA) for Q3A but I thought the AA made 640x480 a mighty tasty option. It will be interesting to see if the new voodoos can give us AA, motion blur, *and* hi resolution at playable speeds... :}