Nvidia video switching problems?

[Tnega]

Is it just me and my machine or is there an inherent problem with GTS cards switching between resolutions?
Even calling up the preferences tab in UT crashes the game.
I've only had the card a week but already its been relegated to my sons machine while i've put my trusty old Voodoo 5500 back in.

 

[Recoil]

It would seem to be a widespread problem, regardless of the make of card or whether it's GF2 or 3

5.32 & 7.17 drivers seemed ok and then we went through an intermediate batch of drivers that got upset if you tried to run in a window or show 2D text on a 3D background.

21.18 seems to be fairly solid with WIN98, however it can go very strange with Win XP.

 

[Tnega]

21.18 was also unstable on winME.
Thing is my Voodoo 5500 gives me over 30% increase framerates in glide over the d3d performance of my Geforce 2 GTS Pure.

 

[Tnega]

So I phoned technical support.........

Me: "I bought your fancy graphics card, and my Windows display is not better than it was before."
Tech Support: "We had better look at the installation then."
Me: "You mean I have to install it?"

 

[Tnega]

So in order to keep the upper hand.....

Me: "...I'm an educated man, so don't you dare talk down to me!"
Tech Support: "Ok, sir. Do you have a desktop or tower case?"
Me: "Don't use that technical !&#$@!* with me!"

 

[Tnega]

Hung up.

So with that i hung up and unplugged the phone just in case he called me back.

 

[Tnega]

But the very next day....

Me: "I hope you can help me out. I have made several calls now and cannot fix this problem."
Tech Support: "Well, I'll see what I can do. So, I am seeing here that the card is not being detected by your computer. Is that right?"
Me: "Correct. When I boot up, Windows never detects the card. Previous techs had me run the 'Add New Hardware' wizard, and we checked the device manager, but there wasn't anything there."
Tech Support: "Ok. Have you tried putting the card into another slot?"
Me: "What do you mean?"
Tech Support: "Well, if for some reason the system does not see the card in this slot, perhaps putting the card in another slot will help."
Me: "How do I do that? Do I have to take it apart?"
Tech Support: "Yes, you will have to take the case off."
Me: "Ok, just a second.... Ok, the case is off now."
Tech Support: "Do you have any more PCI slots free?"
Me: "I am not sure."
Tech Support: "How many PCI slots do you have in your system?"
Me: "Umm...eight."

 

[Tnega]

To which he replied...

Tech Support: "You have eight PCI slots in your system?"
Me: "Yes."
Tech Support: "How many white PCI slots do you have?"
Me: "Ummm...five."
Tech Support: "Ok. Of those five, how many have something in them?"
Me: "One."
Tech Support: "One? And is this the accelerator card?"
Me: "No. Oh hey, is that card I got supposed to fit into one of these slots?"
Tech Support: "Yes, that's the idea. Where is the accelerator card currently?"
Me: "Well, it comes with that small black cable, so I have it on the outside of the computer, hooked up with that cable you sent with it."

Would you believe that he hung up?

 

[Tnega]

So I got a mate in to help....

Friend: "You really should exit Windows before you shut down."
Me: "Why?"
Friend: "Well, otherwise you could end up with fragmented files and hard drive errors and that sort of thing."
Me: "Oh well. Who cares about hard drive errors?"

 

[Tnega]

So back to customer support.

Me: "My machine won't do anything."
Tech Support: "What's on the screen right now?"
Me: "It's frozen, it's showing my Windows desktop."
Tech Support: "Try hitting Ctrl-Alt-Delete, tell me what happens."
Me: (taptaptap) "Nothing."
Tech Support: "Did you hit all of them at once?"
Me: "Umm...just a second." (taptaptap) "I did that time. Nothing happened."
Tech Support: "Try it again."
Me: (taptaptap) "No, it's just sitting there."
Tech Support: "Move the mouse around. What happens?"
Me: "Nothing"
Tech Support: "Ok, last try, hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete again."
Me: "Still nothing."
Tech Support: "Hit your numlock key. Does the light flash?"
Me: "No."
Tech Support: "Ok, you're going to have to shut your computer off. Just press the power button, wait for a couple of seconds, and turn it on again."
Me: "I've heard that's bad for Windows."
Tech Support: "Um, well, you can't do anything else, right?"
Me: "No."
Tech Support: "Well, you can't hurt it any worse then."
Me: "But I've heard it's bad for Windows to just shut it off without shutting down first."
Tech Support: "Yes, but it's locked up. There's nothing else you can do."
Me: "Will it hurt my Windows?"
Tech Support: "Probably no worse than it already was by locking up."
Me: "Well...ok...but if it doesn't work, will you come over and fix it for me?"

 

[Tnega]

Then I remembered that my wife had used the PC.

Me: "Where're all my files?"
Her: "What files?"
Me: "The ones I was keeping in the trash."

 

[Storm]

LMAO

 

[Tnega]

Then i remembered the backups...

Me: "I lost some of my files. I archived them, but when I went to retrieve them, they were gone!"
Tech Support: "What program did you use to archive your files?"
Me: "I used DOS -- but now I can't find them!"
Tech Support: "Ok, what program are you using to do this?"
Me: "I used 'undelete', but they aren't there."
Tech Support: "Uh...what command did you use to archive your files?"
Me: "I used 'del' and the filename."

 

[Tnega]

And on....

Tech Support: "Do you have a valid backup?"
Me: "Yes, of course."
Tech Support: "When you came this morning, was anything printed out on the printer?"
Me: "Yes."
Tech Support: "And what did it say?"
Me: "Just like it says every day"
Tech Support: "Would you mind reading that off to me?"
Me: "Error XX: Backup Operation Failed."

 

[Tnega]

and on...

Tech Support: "Tell me, is the cursor still there?"
Me: "No, I'm alone right now."
Tech Support: "Are you reading an error message to me?"
Me: "No, I'm reading an error message to you."
Tech Support: "Do you have 3 1/2 inch diskettes?"
Me: "No, I only have 3 of them."
Tech Support: "I need you to right-click on the Open Desktop."
Me: "Ok."
Tech Support: "Did you get a pop-up menu?"
Me: "No."
Tech Support: "Ok. Right click again. Do you see a pop-up menu?"
Me: "No."
Tech Support: "Ok, sir. Can you tell me what you have done up until this point?"
Me: "Sure, you told me to write 'click' and I wrote 'click'."
Tech Support: "Ok, did you type 'click' with the keyboard?"
Me: "I have done something dumb, right?"

Seems like a conspiracy to me...

 

[Tnega]

and on...

Me: "I received the software update you sent, but I am still getting the same error message."
Tech Support: "Did you install the update?"
Me: "No. Oh, am I supposed to install it to get it to work?"

 

[Tnega]

and on...

Me: "I just uploaded a file, but now it says I need to turn it off."
Tech Support: "If you sent us a file, that's uploading. If you got a file from us, that's downloading. Did you get a file from us?"
Me: "Sorry, yes."
Tech Support: "No problem; it's easy to mix them up. When did the computer tell you to shut down or restart?"
Me: "After I installed it."
Tech Support: "The file?"
Me: "Yes."
Tech Support: "Which file did you download?"
Me: "[program]"
Tech Support: "That's normal. You just need to restart before you can use the program."
Me: "I was afraid of that. I can't afford to do that, so how to get rid of it?"
Tech Support: "Why is restarting a problem? Are you running another program?"
Me: "I have lots of programs on there, and I don't want to erase them all."
Tech Support: "Have you been saving your work?"
Me: "Yes, but I don't have a printer, and if I shut down won't I have to start over?"
Tech Support: "No, if you saved your work, when you restart, everything on your computer will still be there."
Me: "Are you sure? That's not what happens on my calculator."
Tech Support: "I'm sure. I restart all the time."
Me: "Thank you! This is such a relief. I had this thing a couple weeks now, and it keeps wanting to turn off."
Tech Support: "You don't need to do a shutdown, just a restart. Do you need some help restarting?"
Me: "No, I'll just try this button."

 

[Tnega]

Bad to worse....

Me: "Hello. I can't get this card to work."
Tech Support: "Ok. Just read me your asset number so we can help you."
Me: "What is that?"
Tech Support: "That little barcode on the back of your card."
Me: "Ok. Big bar, little bar, big bar, big bar . . ."

 

[Tnega]

Keyboard error?

So in the end I had to go out and buy myself the latest, most expensive Microsoft keyboard......




.......

 

[Tnega]

btw....

Worth every penny.