Hatchet

Mr. Evil-..., or is it Dr. Evil-Scotsman? ;-) Great ideas, but this is happening on three different systems. loaded with three different install CDs of Lock On. The only common component is the Leadtek 6800GT. RL snuck up on me and has occupied my time for the last couple weeks, but I have some more time now to solve this bizarre problem (with ya'lls help of course.) I am really looking forward to hearing about Joe's experience with his new Leadtek... And thanks for the thoroughness compliment - it is hard to solve a comp problem without examining ALL variables/possibilities. Hatchet

It is off - problem still exists. Thanks for the input though. Hatchet

Really curious... Joe, How did/does it work? Any issues? RL got in the way with me actively looking in to this. I will be back to trying to solve the issue this week. I am WAY curious about your experiences with the Leadtek. Hatchet

All, I do have another issue though. I went to run 3dmark 2005 to check for corruption, and it will not run. I says I don't have at least pixel shading 2.0! Odd, the Leadtek 6800GT datasheet (and all 6800GTs as far as I know) have PS3.0! What gives? I re-installed 3dmark2005, and am running driver version 77.62. I am going to remove 77.62, do the driver clean, and install 77.72. But this should not matter. I wonder what is up with the PS version being reported or running... Hatchet

Joe, While I agree that the 12v line is a bit low, I don't think that it is "way too" low. The report (run during LOMAC) shows a low of 11.66 and an avg of 11.71. Even using the "low" of 11.66 that is still within 5% of target voltage. I may tweak the PS only because I would like to be higher than 12v and still within 5%. ;-) Thanks, Hatchet

HL2 test Lungbutter (uhg!) ;-) I will install HL2 right now to test. Thanks for input. I will report back asap. Hatchet

Man Joe! I was not really expecting that level of support from this board! ;-) lmao VERY nice of you to risk ~$300 like to help me fix this. ;-) Seriously, I can hardly wait to hear your experience with it. The following is a link to a (hopefully, and most likely) different set of problems with Leadtek 6800GTs: http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic17943.html Also, what would be some other 3d applications to install, run, and test that are similiar to Lock On 1.02? LOMAC is DirectX 8.1, right? Does it use any special, or rarely used video display attributes (Pixel shading, vertex shading, etc.) that I could test with other 3d apps? I am in over my head as far as these special rendering methods, so please excuse this, if it is a stupid question. By the way, I spent 4 hours last night getting spun up on BIOS settings as related to AGP, and bookmarked many that explained each setting and why it needs to be set certain ways. If anyone would like these links, let me know and I will post them. Thanks for responding Joe, Hatchet

All, Just quick data while the system is idle. Information courtesy of SSandra 2005. I have to check to make sure the Environment Monitor is the correct one, but SSandra says it is. Having trouble configuring MM5 to use this ITE IT8705/12 ISA. I will report again tomorrow under 3d load (LOMAC.) Environment Monitor 1 Model : ITE IT8705/12 ISA Mainboard Specific Support : No Temperature Sensor(s) Board Temperature : 29.0°C / 84.2°F CPU Temperature : 33.0°C / 91.4°F Power / Aux Temperature : 30.0°C / 86.0°F Cooling Device(s) Auto Fan Speed Control : No CPU Fan Speed : 2679rpm Voltage Sensor(s) CPU Voltage : 1.57V Aux Voltage : 1.54V +3.3V Voltage : 3.38V +5V Voltage : 5.11V +12V Voltage : 11.54V -12V Voltage : -11.87V -5V Voltage : -3.45V Standby Voltage : 5.03V Battery Voltage : 4.08V AGP Bus(es) on Hub 1 Version : 3.00 Speed : 8x Fast-Writes Enabled : Yes Isochronous Mode Enabled : No Addressing Enabled : 32-bit Aperture Size : 128MB

D17S, Great ideas, except... (1) different install CDs, and (2) like you said, quality PSs (although they could be defective) (BUT, the odds of three quality PSs going bad... quite high, and (3) there are actually THREE vid cards doing this. I did dl MM5 a couple days ago, but got distracted trying to diagnose these in different ways. I am running it now, and will configure it to report/record the data on all the diff volt lines. Thanks! I forgot about this potential problem. Course, that would mean the brand new Antec true power is bad, as well as my trusty Enermax (which has moved with my best components to my "best" system three times in the last couple years), AND my brother's new PS (generic 550 watt-er) is bad too. Would have to be VERY coincedental. (But possible.) One last thing: ALL my computer stuff runs off of APC UPS systems. (Heck, even my TV and ReplayTV run off APC UPS's. lol. West Texas thunderstorms can knock power out easily, and lightening is about as common here as sunshine is to Southern California!) So, I think my AC line-in power is fairly "clean." At least clean enough for a quality PS like an Enermax to function properly. Plus, the other two systems are now both in other States, so their local power would have to be flakey too. I will report the voltage logs tomorrow. I am really leaning toward thinking that the Leadtek BIOS is not LOMAC compatible. I really need to find some folks running this particular Leadtek 6800GT to see. I wimped out on calling Leadtek today, but most likely will tomorrow. I will be referencing this forum thread to give them tons of data to look at. Thank you so much for responding. I will definitely look at the volt lines, and make sure they are stable and within tolerances. Hatchet BTW, all, I have installed a temp monitoring system (WINFOX) from Leadtek, so I can even more closely monitor the temps on the card. (This card has got to be the most monitored, coddled, and pampered card on the flippin' planet, and still it will not behave. ;-) )

Just uploaded some more corrupted graphic pics, so I thought I would add them. Some are catastrophic, and some are merely irritating, like the smoked pattern on the canopy...

ztrl, I connected my Enermax temp probe between the pc board and the heatsink, as close to the GPU as possible, and got temps in the 36-38C degrees today while flying. Only 1-2C degrees difference between severly underclocking the card down to 175/500 and 428/1119 OC. (Remember stock on that card is 350/1000.) I have just started to OC that card; I was experiencing problems before I even thought about OCing it. And also remember, that the other two problem cards have never been OC'ed. (I mention this to head off comments like, "Your OC'ing has caused these problems...etc.) I don't think the temp sensor on the 6800GT is low: I think the temps are low because, (1) it is a massive heatsinkfan, and (2) I have very good cooling within the tower. Thank you all again for submitting ideas. I had to restart the sim several times today because of graphics so bad, that I could not even see. Sometimes the corruptions were just on exterior shots of the aircraft and sometimes they were views from the cockpit. It is so strange. BTW, the Underclock made no difference whatsoever as far as the anomalies were concerned, and surprisingly to me, it did not have the FPS impact that I though it would also. I expected to get half the FPS of stock speeds, and got about 75-80% of normal stock FPS. Thanks again to all offering help and advice, Hatchet Hatchet

EVIL-SCOTSMAN give frustrated A-10 pilot idea... Thanks for the input. I don't think it is the card, because I have three of them all doing the same thing. And for 90% of the time on Card 1, I have run at stock speeds, and on Card 2 and Card 3, they have been run at nothing but stock speeds. BUT, you have given me an idea. I am going to severly UNDERclock this card and see what it yields. I will try to post asap with the results. Thanks, Hatchet

ztrl, Wow, a lead (tek) that I really did not want to hear. ;-) So, did the improved cooling fix your Leadtek 6600GT's problem with the bad textures? Or does it still mess up? I am very interested in knowing. Like I said earlier, I have a case with three 80mm intake fans, and (not counting the two in the PS) two more output fans. So I think I have sufficient cooling. One of the intake fans, blows directly on the Leadtek from the side window. I will move the temp prob (Enermax temp probe and fan control) from my memory to the card for immediate and constant monitoring right now. I can't rule out cooling as a contributing factor, but I never have any trouble in any other sims and games. Thanks so much for your input, and please let me know if you are still having the texture problems with your new cooling. One reason I bought the Leaktek above others was the huge, heavy, massive, stock cooling system on the card. (It must weigh 2 pounds!) http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b32/Hatchet_47FS/Leadtek1.jpg http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b32/Hatchet_47FS/Leadtek2.jpg I have OC'ed mine to "Optimal Overclocking" as determined by the XG 77.62 driver to 439/1170, and did not experience any more severe graphic problems than at stock speeds of 350/1000. (This alone leads me to believe that cooling is not the issue, BUT I want (need) to rule it out, so I am moving the temp probe as soon as I get done typing this. I am also going to contact (email/call) Leadtek and ask them to look into the issue. Maybe they just need to tweak the card's BIOS a bit. As I said a couple posts ago, my brother and I both flashed ours, and I think it helped a bit. I flew for almost two hours last night and just got a couple instances of bad textures. (Enough to be pestering, annoying, and not right, BUT not enough to stop me from testing, and certainly not enough to stop me from TRYING to quench the withdrawl ;-) of not flying Lock On in months!) Thanks again everyone for helping with this issue, Hatchet