Computer help

[David]

I have a Dell Inspiron GX 270.. Here are the specs.

properties.JPG

The GX270 comes with on board video of Intel 82865G.

My daughter's birthday was today and she got a game, Simcity Box. My wife installed the game. My daughter tried the game an an error came up stating that I do not have the latest drivers or my video card is not compatible.

Here is the simcity specs.

simcity specs.jpg

A couple questions. Is there a way to use what I have with use of a patch? If I can not use the onboard video, what would be a good video card (slim form factor case/low profile case)?

I do have directx 9 installed.

[David]

So far here are my choices from Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814139043

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814134076

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814161318

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150389

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814125368

What is your thoughts? This is computer for my kids, not me. I want something that will play the mentioned games and others like it. Thanks.

[Hermskii]

Yeah, that onboard video card on the GX270 only has about 8mb of ram on it and you need 128. We use specific low profile video cards here at work with these but none of them have that much ram I'm pretty sure. I'll check some of them today. We bought all of our cards a while back too so I don't know if they can still be found.

You can go to www.directX.com and download and install the latest DirectX 9 version which will be that version C you want. here is a link to Filehippo:

http://www.filehippo.com/download_directx/

I'll check out the vid cards you're looking at and respond later.

[David]

Roger....I checked the version of directX and it is 9.0C. It is most current one.

Well based on reviews and some reviews showing that some of the cards did not work with Dell GX260 and others like it I have narrowed it down to four cards...I believe that they are the same "GeForce 6200 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 AGP" card but with different brand names.

JATON 3DFORCE6200Xe GeForce 6200 512MB 64-bit DDR2 AGP 4X/8X Low Profile Ready Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... %29&Page=1
ECS N6200A-512DZ-H GeForce 6200 512MB 64-bit DDR2 AGP 8X Low Profile Ready Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... %29&Page=1
XFX PVT44AYANG GeForce 6200 512MB 64-bit DDR2 AGP 8X Low Profile Ready Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... %29&Page=1
GIGABYTE GV-N62-512L GeForce 6200 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 AGP 8X Low Profile Ready Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814125368

I am leaning towards the Gigabytte or Jaton cards just because they have fans on the card and those who know the GX270, they can have a heating issue.

[Hermskii]

They still make Jaton? I think we actually have a few of these at work but not that nice. Just the same maker I mean. I want to warn you also that I have an issue with these GX models where when I plug in a new vid card AND if I plug in a USB video card too, it totally disables the onboard videocard. I think that is the issue I'm talking about. I'll have to try it at work again and see but I'm pretty sure I'm right. It won't even show up under the hardware page. Just the new video card and the USB one. Then you unplug the new vid card and the onboard turns back on again and works with the USB card. CRAZY! I think it may be a hard wired IRQ in thenew video card that does it or Dell needs to update the BIOS again. I think on GX270 it is up to A07...

[David]

Well, I ordered the "JATON 3DFORCE6200Xe GeForce 6200 512MB 64-bit DDR2 AGP 4X/8X Low Profile Ready Video Card" I hope it do what I need it to do. There is not a lot of selection to choose from.

[Hermskii]

It will still be good to know how it works out for you. Keep us posted. I did pick up and had in hand one of our cards to see what it was and then someone walked in my office and needed me. I put it down and never gave it another thought.

[David]

Well, I ordered the "JATON 3DFORCE6200Xe GeForce 6200 512MB 64-bit DDR2 AGP 4X/8X Low Profile Ready Video Card" I hope it do what I need it to do. There is not a lot of selection to choose from.

Well got the card via UPS today and installed it. It seems to play the games fine. So it does it job. That is good.

[Hermskii]

That is great to hear. This gives me some closure too. Now I know where to get these cards for work when I need them too! Thanks again!

[David]

OK...another computer question.....

My work computer has had some issues/glitches and I tried to troubleshoot it.

First the symptom: There were a couple of times where my computer would freeze and then becomes non reactive. What I mean by this is that the screen will get discolored and boxes and lines will appear, and then the computer will freeze (do nothing at all, even the light on the mouse will go off). I would have to hard crash it to turn it off and reboot. When I turn it back on, it does a scan disk and claims that there are errors on the hard drive and "fixes the errors". After time, it began doing more it more often.

My first thought was the hard drive was going out. So my employer bought a new hard drive but it would crash and freeze up as above before I could fully install windows.

I then tried to eliminate items. I removed memory modules and tried one memory stick and it ran fine. I used each memory stick at each slot and it ran fine. I tried running two memory sticks from another (working) computer and it crashed. So it is not the memory sticks themselves.

My work computer only crashes when I have both slots filled with memory. It sounds like a motherboard is going out, but I do not know for sure. So my question, do you think it is the motherboard, power supply, or processor?

[Terraniux]

Some motherboards have this setup that memory can only be used in a specific way.
What motherboard is in there? ( to check this, run this command: dxdiag )

[David]

Some motherboards have this setup that memory can only be used in a specific way.
What motherboard is in there? ( to check this, run this command: dxdiag )

To answer your question the motherboard is an Asus P5GC-MX Rev 2.

Concerning the memory, I did not change anything or do anything with the memory until it began freezing up/locking up more frequently. From the beginning it had two 512 memory modules. The motherboard has two memory slots.

Only after it began to freeze up/lock up frequently, did I try to troubleshoot the problem by testing each memory module one at a time in each memory slot (this is after I replaced the hard drive because that was my first thought but was wrong). And through this, I discovered that each memory module and the computer worked fine if there was only one memory module. I even tested memory from an identical system in the office and it reacted the same. If there is one in, it is fine. If both slots were filled with memory then it was lock up.

My thought is maybe the motherboard is going out and having two memory modules is showing the wear or the heat of the two sticks is causing the failing motherboard to show its' signs.

I could be wrong. It could be a failing power supply and there is not enough power for both sticks? But I do not see other signs of a power issue. Everything else is working fan.

Note: Once the computer started freezing up, I looked at the computer and discovered that a case fan was no longer working so I replaced the fan. Again, I am guessing, but maybe the motherboard got too hot when the case fan stopped working and got damaged….????

[David]

OK. MY computer is down. I am using my daughters' computer to type this.

My computer was on last night and when I went to it later, the computer was off. I tried to turn it on but it would not powerup. I let it rest, trying to see if it was too hot or something. I waited until morning and still it would not power up.

I unplugged everything, took the power supply out and used a paper clip to jump the green wire pin and a black to see if the power supply will turn on and it did.

To make a long story short, the power supply will turn while it is connected to the computer motherboard (ATX 24 Pin Connection) only if I do not connect the ATX 12V Power Connector (CPU Power).

Is it a bad motherbaord, CPU, Power Supply?

There is no beeps, it does not power on at all.

[David]

I am leaning towards that the motherboard went out and of course it is an older motherboard, MSI K9NBPM2-FID. So I will have o go on eBay and buy a used one for around $70.

[Pie]

In that situation, I'd definitely say it's the motherboard. Do you think it overheated?