I've been looking for info on this issue for a few days, but haven't come across anyone else who's had this problem, so I decided to just ask

I'm no computer newbie (in fact, far from it), but this one just has me stumped. I have a GeForce 3 (original, no Ti), and currently using driver version 42.01, and everything is working perfectly. However, if I try any driver version above this (tried 42.09 up to 43.30), OpenGL games have VERY strong flickering/tearing problems. They are completely unplayable. There are thick white lines running horizontally across my monitor while it flickers heavily as if it was a refresh rate and/or resolution type issue. I'm not completely sure if this is an issue with all OpenGL games, or just Quake3 engine games, but I currently only have Quake3 engine games installed (Q3, Mohaa, Mohaas) and it happens with all of them.

I KNOW I have my refresh rate/resolution settings correct as these settings work just fine with Dets 42.01. If I just install newer drivers and play again without changing anything else, the problem appears. If I go back to version 42.01, everything works fine again.

So, has anyone else had this problem, or heard anything about it? Does anyone possibly know how to correct it? At this point, short of a format/reinstall of Windows (XP Pro), I'm out of ideas.

WeRD

EDIT: Just wanted to mention that I do not have any of my hardware overclocked (I know that overclocking can cause this type of issue).

Well..you may call this a stupid idea - Are original GeForce 3's totally supported ?

Although I found my GeForce 4 had lower framerates with the new drivers so I stuck with older ones - You may just better keep your older one.

Well the Geforce 3 better be totally supported, that's why it's call the "Unified Driver Architecture"

Well I'm not an Nvidia expert you know I just wanted to check likes - I have only entered Nvidia when I bought my PNY card last August...

I've had computers for 8 years - Since I was 6 that is - And this PNY is my first real 3D accelerator...darn on-board graphics eh ?

The nvidia driver package fully supports your Geforce 3, don't worry
about that. I don't exactly know what the problem is either. But
you should try to also use your manufacturer drivers. See if there
is any difference.

May you tell us tour specfication? :roll:

Specs:

Asus A7N8X Deluxe motherboard
Athlon 2600+ (333 bus)
2x 512 mb DDR333 ram
GeForce 3 (Hercules 3D Prophet III)
Onboard nVidia audio

...the rest of the specs shouldn't be relevant.

good news, your not crazy. I built a bunch of computers for my lan friends, and even had the problem on my computer, some have geforce 3's, and some of us including me have geforce 4's... most of us have nforce 2 mobo's like you, but 1 has a kt333 mobo so its not nforce 2 only, in some cases i was able to solve the problem in mohaa by randomly changeing resolutions and video settings, like curve detail, stuff like that... in my case it worked, and on a few other systems, but on some, even that didn't work and i frustratedly downgraded there drivers back to official... let us know if you find a real fix, and give mine a try if you want to use newer drivers

oh and this is with newest nforce 2 drivers, and newest 4in1's for the kt333. all have winXP sp1. i myself use the nvrefresh tool to get off of 60hrtz but not all of them do, so thats not causeing the problem... thats all i can think of.