Hello folks,
I have an issue with a really old PC setup which has been driving me nuts for a couple months now.
It's a desktop PC so this is off-topic for a forum based on Laptop video stuff.
BUT I'm willing to bet this is the only site on the planet with the expertise and competence to be able to make useful comments and suggestions on the subject.
So here goes:
Basic System Specs:
- (Prehistoric) IBM Aptiva 2187 PC
- AMD K6-3 CPU
- 512 MBytes System RAM
- Onboard SiS530 AGP 8 MBytes Shared RAM Video (disabled)
- EVGA GeForce 6200 512 MBytes PCI Video Card
- Windows XP SP3
- DirectX v9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
- Page File 1536 MBytes
Here's the problem / issue:
1. Any GeForce Series 70.xx drivers - OpenGL works fine, BUT DirectX 7, 8 or 9 apps (including DXDiag) give an instant BSOD which names NV4_DISP.DLL as the cause.
2. Any GeForce Series 80.xx (or higher) drivers - OpenGL now fails (crash to desktop), DirectX 7 works, but DirectX 8 or 9 apps (including DXDiag) give an instant BSOD naming NV4_DISP.DLL as the cause.
I did all the right stuff, uninstalling the drivers before trying a new set, and got remarkably consistent results. Tried a bunch of different games - same results every time (eg, Serious Sam on OpenGL runs fine with the 70.xx Series drivers, but on DirectX it crashes immediately with BSOD. On the 80.xx Series drivers, Serious Sam just crashes to the desktop with OpenGL, but BSOD with DirectX).
Due diligence - the CPU temp never goes above 50 degrees C, and the power supply is brand new 350 Watt. And to round it off, I have two of these PCs with identical configuration, and both give precisely the same results.
The K6 CPUs have MMX & 3D-Now, but not SSE or SSE2, but I KNOW there are plenty of people out there with GeForce FX 5700 cards running happily with DirectX 9 on sub-SSE CPUs, so why not the GeForce 6200's?.
I thought maybe the GeForce 6200's Shader Model 3 capability is causing the NV drivers to call SSE instructions, & so causing the BSOD - but Shader Model 3 isn't implemented until the Series 80.xx drivers. So why the BSOD for DirectX on the 70.xx Series ? And why does OpenGL (version 1.5) run fine with the 70.xx Series while DirectX (not even Dx7) won't?
If the NVidia drivers are using (requiring) SSE instructions for Shader Model 3 and OpenGL 2.0, that would go some way to accounting for the (DirectX) BSOD and the OpenGL failure on the 80.xx Series drivers, but not on the 70.xx Series drivers because they don't implement Shader Model 3 or OpenGL 2.0.
Apart from vanilla NVidia drivers, I also tried a bunch of 70 & 80 series OEM drivers, all with the same result. I even tried modded drivers like (eg.) Xtreme G v75.90a, which is advertised as having MMX, 3D-Now, SSE & SSE2 support - still no difference, OpenGL worked fine but DirectX gave instant BSOD with this driver.
Anyway, I know these PCs are old as the hills, but it's killing me trying to pin down why the drivers for these cards (GeForce 6200) just don't seem to want to work with these CPUs, even though I've read in various online forums that the previous generation (eg, GeForce 5700) work happily with the same CPUs and the same drivers.
As I lose more hair by the day, any insights or intelligent explanations would be gratefully welcomed.
Regards,
Ultrafart the Brave.
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