*Sigh*, now I have video card problems...

[trancejeremy]

While playing The Sims 2 tonight, I had the game minimize and a I get a popup saying something like "Nivida Sentinel has detected that the video card is not getting enough power, blah blah blah, and is lowering settings to prevent problems".

Crud, I think, but I turned off my computer and decided to clean the dust out and make sure all the connections are okay. And I so I rebooted, and started up the Sims 2 again. And boom, again I got the message. So again, I open up my computer, and this time I started checking voltage of the little plug in bit. Sure enough, 12V, which is what I think you want. So I close up the computer again an thing about worrying about it tomorrow.

This time I got the message upon boot up (several of them, actually). So blah blah, opened it up, this time took the card out, blew out the dust, put it back in.

Still got the message upon boot.

So I'm stumped. The obvious thing would be the power supply, but checking the plug, I did get 12V. Is there a program that measures the voltage coming out of the card slot itself, vs the voltage coming out of the plug?

Could it be something else? The video card (or motherboard)?


Grrrrr, I am a great big doofus. Opening it up once more to check the readings again (after learning that there should be a 12 V & 5V off that plug and I had only checked the 12V), I noticed that I forgot to reconnect the Molex plug to the card. So that solved my problems with the error message upon boot-up.

Now I will have to play the Sims 2 to see if I still get the error. (Which I would, but it takes ages to load)

 

[Mycanid]

Did it work?

 

[trancejeremy]

Unfortunately, no. The computer boots fine and all, and I can surf the web, but the minute I try a 3d game, I get that message about there not being enough power and it reducing the graphics level.

Actually, now that I run DXDiag, I get that pop-up when it does the full screen moving box test.

 

[2WS-Steve]

It might be that your power supply doesn't have the wattage needed for your card. I was looking at video cards recently and noticed that some of them required a 350 watt or even 450 power supply -- and I've got a slightly older computer that isn't rated for that.

 

[trancejeremy]

Yeah, that could be. But I've had the video card for almost exactly a year without a problem. And it is 450W. Still, that's my first move I guess, get a new one.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Keep in mind that, regarding power supplies, you generally want more than what your vid card can support, because it has to provide power for the entire system. Nowadays a 500W power supply is common.

Also, I've found that amongst all the components of a computer, the power supply is by far the one that will fail most often. I'm not quite sure why that is, honestly, just a trend I've noticed.

 

[trancejeremy]

Yeah, but it's not like I have a superpowered video card - just a 6600GT, which was pretty much a mid-level card when released.

 

[Mycanid]

Strange Jeremy ... strange.

Could your power supply be going? Have an extra one lying around that you could swap out?

 

[trancejeremy]

No, not any modern ones. I'll just have to buy a new power supply from a place that accepts returns, so if that's not the problem I won't be out $100 (which is how much these suckers cost, yikes!).

 

[Rl'Halsinor]

It certainly sounds like a power supply issue to me. Here is the latest from NewEgg.com It is a very good power supply. http://www.newegg.com/Index.asp?page=3

Is your video card fan making any noise?