Constant crashes

hello people of the GW world.
recently ive had major PC problems, due to a substantial upgrade. i bought a new G card without thinking of compromising the tempriture increase, naturaly my computer was overheating. 5 more fans later and on other games i dont seem to experience any problems (im about 5 degreese from problems). but i still crash with GW. the basic run through is that my screen will freeze, ile lose sound for a while, get the sound back and maybe even the game. otherwise ile just get the game frozen; but i can still controll whats happaning (logging out for example), but with a frozen still screen etc... ile be in this status for about 30 secs then my monitor will lose signal which is a pain xD.

comp specs (all i can think of atm):
P4, 2.8 Ghz processor (average 134 MHz x 21.0)
512 DDR 333Hz ram (1 single stick, double sided)
GeForce Series 6 - 6600GT AGP (not OC'd, running off 7X.XX drivers/beta's)
400 watt power supply
OS 2000 pro.... (XP must be burnt )
(any other info needed just say )

before my vast upgrade i was running on virtually the same except for the ram which went from 256 to 512 and my old Geforce was an FX 5200. another upgrade was a happauge TV card, im in-experienced with T.V cards, so i have no idea if this (or its drivers) would cause any effects.
DirectX is all up to date with the GW disk itself, any other info i can realy think of at the top of my head is my monitor, LCD Neovo F-417 17' .

any soloutions or tips would be appretiated

(it cant be overheating since i tried opening the case and blowing a huge fan in there )

THANKS

Edit: i forgot to mention that this problem can occour from anywere between 2 minuets and 7 hours of playing, after the first initial crash i cant play untill 12 hours have past without experiencing the same problem almost instanlty after loading the game... also net speed = a 2MB line)

That's strange because the Geforce 6600GT is known to be quite a low-temperature graphics card unless severely stressed.

You mentioned that it's the AGP version (I'm using the same one right now), did you make sure to plug one of the molex connectors from the power supply into the socket on the graphics card? This socket is to give the card extra power, some of which is used by the fan.

Also, you mentioned that you're using beta drivers? I reccommend you get either the latest official Forceware drivers from the Nvidia website, or even better I suggest the Forceware 71.24 drivers. I've never had any problems with either of those.

ok kool ile try those drivers. and yes ive got that cable in the card :P... ive got a fully trained tekkie in this house and he didnt notice that till 2 weeks after i put the dam card in :P hilarious realy (yes its in now xD)
so yeh thanks for that and ile post back on a test which might take till next day.

Something I really need to know here...

Was that card in the computer for two weeks without that cable plugged in? I cannot stress how important it is that you are sure.

right, to try and pin point the time as close as possible id say 1 and a 1/2 weeks. i relise that this might cause the card to become seriously unstable, but tbh i think the problem is GW not talking to everything else right, as i can play any stressing game quite well with no problems at all. (oh and btw that tekkie aint realy all that experienced in G cards :P) THANKS

this driver (acording to the readme (only quickly browsed through)) dont support 6600gt, im probably wrong tho. another thing that springs to mind is my ram, before when i was running on 256, i actually bought an extra 512, rather than another 256... the reson im running on 512 rather than 768 (i think) is that with the old ram in it would have problems with the Nvidia driver, not just the one in perticular, but the actual NV4_DISP.dll that is in every driver that supports 6600gt. the problem lead to BSOD's stating NV4_DISP.dll as the problem. but that ram was removed and now classed as deffected, so weather or not this is relivant i dont know.

I hate to say it, but even running one day on that graphics card without it plugged in properly can cause permanent damage.

Try switching your drivers as I suggested, and make sure to uninstall (with a driver cleaner if possible) your old ones before installing fresh ones. Hopefully the better drivers will work better, and solve a lot of the heating issue, but I can't say I'm optimistic after hearing about the molex connector.

Edit: You mentioned drivers not supporting the 6600GT, which ones? If you mean the 71.24 drivers I suggested, then I can only assure you that they do, and damn well too.

right well this is typical for me realy, oh and yes i have driver cleaner pro. thanks for the heart breaking news xD, but alas everything ive learnt P.C wise has been in the space of 8 months, and i kain any cr*£ I.T. teacher easily (although that admitably aint saying a whoal lot) (I.T. teachers refuring to secondairy school standards). so what i know, i know well, and what i dont, i aint got a clue, which was the case of upgrading my G card.

1 last bit of info before i use this driver is that, althought i ****ed up the wire for a time of 1 + 1/2 weeks, i used it for about a day, then relising i couldnt get anything out of it, so basically didnt use it apart from basic things requiring no more than 256 colour support realy... alas, id imagin this wont make the situation any better. brb with the drivers and thanks.

Let us know how it goes with the drivers, all may not be lost.

If changing the drivers doesn't work, I'll think of some other things to try, and other people will have ideas too. I can't say I'm optimistic though, not having the molex connector plugged in and damaging the card seems fairly certain to me.

If you do end up deciding that the card is ruined, you may want to try sending it back. If you don't mention that you left the power lead disconnected for nearly two weeks they may exchange it for a new one.

will do, thanks for all the support and almost instant response. ile probably be able to tell you what happends some time tommorow. thanks.

with luck the card went into low power mode

one simple thing to try is pop the 5200 back in as many here have said it works but not at highest quality

yeh that would be an ideal plan realy, BUT, i gave my old card to my bro since at the time he was making his comp from scratch, so it made sence to give him it instead of him paying £30 for something simluar...

DOH!!

The 6600GT only goes into low power mode when not using 3D applications, it underclocks itself to something like 300mHz core speed when in Windows then clocks back up to 500mHz when launching a game.

So, unfortunately, his 6600GT may well be quite bloody knackered.

dude, principa... your a ledgend.. seriously. obviously by now i havent had time to see weather or not the game will crash, but already im getting a lower more stable tempriture.. and even better graphics. its at a state that now it will look better without anti alysing, than it did WITH it on the old driver. thats insane, ile keep you up to date with it but as far as im concerned, your now a legendairy god. very well played and THANKS

i was hoping

i forgot mine once on my 6600GT and the low power mode message blocked part of the screen til i read it kicked my self and put it to rights

PHEW, I am so glad. So it's definitely running at a cool temperature now?

Take a lesson from me kids, the 71.24 Forceware drivers are the shizzle if you have a 6600GT.

well its been a good 5 hours of playing and ive had minimal problems. no sighn of it going mad, temp is good, but i might still throw 1 more fan in at the back. got all these fans blowing loads of hot air out, but only one blasting cold in xD.
once again thanks a bundle and u friggin rock principa.