3D MArk not even starting

[sp5it]

On my new rig 3dmark 05 and 06 is not starting.
With 05 it was problem reported with Direcpll, with 06 there is no message.
MAchine is Pentium D805 on Asus P5LD2 SE, 1024 RAM, MSI GF7900 with ForceWare 91.20, all updates to WindowsXP applied.
Games are working smooth, I wanted to benchmark my computer.
Strange...
Any ideas how to run 3DMark on my computer?
Mike

[thegooner]

Hiya,

Do you have the latest version of DirectX installed?

[sp5it]

Of course. 9.0c
No problems so far with Nvidia demos, games such Oblivion, Splinter cell, and similar. Only 3D Mark is not working.
On previous computer (Radeon9800, P4 NW) it was starting.
Mike

[8skellerns]

Have you got a card reader in your pc? I have one in my AMD machine, and that stopped 3D Mark 06 from starting when plugged in.

[sp5it]

Only 2 sata drives and PCI card with 2 COM ports. I will remove it and try to run 3dmark without it.
Mike

[Shocktaught]

Same thing here crashes on splash screen. Does system scan and freezes. My system is stable and I don't have any problems running 3DMark 01, 03 or 05. Drivers are up to date (latest Omegas 38252). Here's my system:

Asus P4C800 D
P4 2.8C (@ 3.6 Ghz w/ 1GB DDR 3500 RAM),
Radeon X800 Pro,
SB Audigy 2,

2 SATA 160 GB HDs running in RAID 0 on Promise controller (this is where Windows is installed)
1 120 GB IDE HD, and external 300 GB HD on firewire. (turning off ex drive does not fix problem)

2 CD drives on second IDE
Plextor PX708A and Yamaha CRW3200E

[Phantom66uk]

Same thing here crashes on splash screen. Does system scan and freezes. My system is stable and I don't have any problems running 3DMark 01, 03 or 05. Drivers are up to date (latest Omegas 38252). Here's my system:

Asus P4C800 D
P4 2.8C (@ 3.6 Ghz w/ 1GB DDR 3500 RAM),
Radeon X800 Pro,
SB Audigy 2,

2 SATA 160 GB HDs running in RAID 0 on Promise controller (this is where Windows is installed)
1 120 GB IDE HD, and external 300 GB HD on firewire. (turning off ex drive does not fix problem)

2 CD drives on second IDE
Plextor PX708A and Yamaha CRW3200E

Try disabling (Via Device manager) or unplugging your Yamaha drive. On the old forum threads were made regarding Yamaha drives and the lack of compatability with the software (something to do with System Info at programme boot).

There should be a patch sometime to correct this problem though

[AgentScotty]

I upgraded to 3DMark 2006 Advanced a day or two ago during the recent promotion, but it would hang either on the splash screen, or during the first test.

After rebooting to recover from hanging on the first test, 3DMark 2006 would hang at the splash screen every time I started it.

After deleting "SI.xml" (a shot in the dark on my part), I could get past the splash screen without hanging, I could select tests and hit the "Run 3DMark" button, but it would then hang during the system scan that takes place before the first test.

Taking another shot in the dark, I rolled back from direcpll.dll 4.10.1.73 to direcpll.dll 4.10.1.61 (which shipped with 3DMark 2003 v3.6.0). I was then able to successfully start 3DMark 2006, select and perform tests, and get a score.
When 3DMark 2006 first shipped, I was able to successfully run it 3 times with 3 different sets of ATI drivers (Catalysts 6.1, 6.3, 6.11) without any hangs, and never had to change anything to get it to work.

I'm not sure if the hangs are associated with the ATI drivers I've tried most recently to use (Catalysts 6.12 (newest) and 6.9 (newest approved by Futuremark) or if some other change has occurred on my system due to Windows/Office/etc updates, IE7, WMP11, etc.

I did run into this sort of problem in the past with 3DMark 2003 and fixed it by rolling back direcpll.dll. When I later ran 3DMark 2003 again some months later, the problem appeared to have fixed itself, and I was able to successfully run it with the newest version of direcpll.dll.

I got the idea to roll back direcpll.dll from an old Futuremark support article dealing with 3DMark 2003 hanging on systems with certain display adapters. The article pointed to an upload that no longer exists of direcpll.dll 4.10.1.49 file date 20-Apr-2004.

The only change I saw after starting 3DMark 2006 once was the existence of the SI.xml file, which gave me the idea to delete that file after 3DMark 2006 hung the next several times I ran it. Although deleting that file allowed me to start 3DMark 2006, I still couldn't run a benchmark with it until I rolled back direcpll.dll.

I'm running a Dell Dimension XPS desktop that I've had since October 2003 (I think it's a first generation XPS) with a P4 3.2GHz HT, 1 GB PC3200, ATI Radeon 9800 XT, Audigy 2, Maxtor SATA 500 GB x2, Windows XP SP2 with all updates (including IE7), Office 2003 Professional with all updates, and Windows Media Player 11. I last reinstalled Windows in July 2005.

Latest 3DMark 2006 score
Latest 3DMark 2005 score
Latest 3DMark 2003 score
Latest PCMark 2005 score
Latest PCMark 2004 score

I just noticed that my VGA memory reports as 256 megs in 3DMark 2006, 3DMark 2005, and PCMark 2005. It reports as 512 megs in 3DMark 2003 and PCMark 2004. Catalyst Control Center is also reporting 256 megs. I had assumed this was a 512 meg card, based on earlier system information results, but the articles on the ATI website indicate that it's 256 megs. I just looked up my original system configuration information on support.dell.com, which also indicates 256 megs.

I've got Norton Ghost, which opens the door for me to roll back to October or November, or to wipe everything for a clean install and then restore later. However, it takes several hours to do that with a 500 GB hard drive, so I'm not sure when I would have time to do that.

The hanging problem with 3DMark 2003 that I'd experienced in the past had also returned, but the direcpll.dll rollback fixed that as well. I had 1 hang and 1 crash with 3DMark 2005, but was then able to complete a benchmark with direcpll.dll 4.10.1.73 (which shipped with 3DMark 2005 v1.3.0). I've not yet tried to run 3DMark 2005 with the older version of direcpll.dll.

I picked this thread to reply in, as it was the only hit I got when I searched the forums for "direcpll".