Gainward 7800GS Freezing

[Dukat]

Gainward 7800GS Lock up Problem

Hey all

I've finally received my new graphics card - a Gainward 7800 GS (512).

I managed to install it without too much trouble - I had to swap in a new power supply, as my old one was a lowly 250W PSU, the new on is a 400W. According to the manual, the PSU should be atleast 350W. So anyway, managed to get this setup without too much going wrong, booted the PC up, everything was fine and dandy, installed the drivers without a fuss, opened Armed Assault, set everything to 'high' and started playing.

The thing ran smoothly, no problems at all, great FPS, and then within 4-5 minutes I got a system lockup practically identical to an old problem I was getting when I first installed my old radeon 9600 SE, for which the geforce is a replacement.

Since then I've been getting indentical crashes in Counter Strike Source, in addition to just Armed Assault.

I've looked about and seen that there is a performance setting where you can manually set the clock speed for the core and memory, which was originally set as 'enhanced' - the higher of the two available settings, the other being 'safe mode'. I've tried safemode, which didnt help at all. According to the manual, the 'enhanced' setting is guaranteed to work on "all" systems, so I've set it back to that (as it was when I found it), and tried to find something else that could be causing problems.

The 'new' PSU was originally being used on my spare PC for office work by my parents, that pc has never had any trouble, nd the PSU seems in relatively good repair, so hopefully that shouldnt be the problem.

I've checked for overheating, but the sensor on the control panel says its running very cool, and physically holding my hand next to the card reveals that the air coming out is cool also (all very technical!) so hopefully heat shouldnt be the cause of the problem.

I originally solved the radeon problem by disabling fast write. However I cant seem to find any settings for this on the Nvidia card, and so I'm a little stumped as to what to do next.

I've also tried the latest drivers, which didnt seem to help at all. If anyone can help with this I'd be very grateful!

 

[Kryten]

Without sounding like a broken record, the PSU may indeed look as new, but it might still be too poor for the purposes of a half decent graphics card.
Your 250watt might actually be more suitable for purpose if it's of a better quality make - especially if the 400w jobby is from the likes of Eagle, Qtec or countless other whitebox brands often stocked by the likes of PC World.

Basically although it might say it supplies 400 watts of juice, it probably can't do it reliably enough, hence issues with your graphics card - usually the most power hungry card based component in your system.

I'd still suspect that, assuming you've tried the obvious like updated drivers and what not.

 

[Trem]

Gotta go with Kryten on this one. Something I didn't think of the other night when I was suggesting stuff.

Spend £50 on a decent PSU.

 

[Dukat]

Ok cheers - beaver was saying the same thing on IRC last night, will be going into town to see what I can find after work methinks.

The PSU itself isnt that bad - the original was PC world, but this new one came from a different shop, but then again I guess that doesnt mean a whole hell of a lot.

What makes of PSU should I be looking out for? and how much in the way of wattage should I be looking at ?

Cheers for the advice !

 

[Trem]

Akasa Ultra Quiet 500W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.2 PSU - Black Nickel

Antec Basic 500W PSU

OCZ GameXStream 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply

Zalman ZM500-HP Heatpipe Cooled 500W Modular PSU

If you can't find any like them around you I will be happy to go Overclockers and pick you one up and post it you, but then again you may as well order off their site. Make sure they have the connections you need, I didn't check that on the above because I have to go watch birds now

 

[Kryten]

Will agree with Trem there but removing the OCZ, not a particularly great quality. The Akasa'a are very good value for money, end of the day you dont need to go over the top for a midrange system.

460-560watts of a decent brand will do you well for the current system and futureproof you to a good degree to.

 

[Deebs]

Morning,

I had the same problem and it was due to the powersupply in my pc being utter bollox.

One day I turned it on and burnt it out. Time to purchase a new one. In the end I put a 900watt bugger in the pc. No problems with power now but rather ironically it has a power output reading and I am drawing 140 watts.

 

[Dukat]

Ok, I fucked up

I went into town and bought a 500W "mercury" power supply that I was assured to be "more than capable" of running the system. I asked all the relevent questions - how many amps on the 12v rail, does it provide a reliable steady source of power, will it be ok for my specific gfx card, etc.

Turning it on the fan definately sounded the part, but after 2-3 hours ingame I got freezes just as before.

I got impatient and hoped that by throwing money at the problem it would go away without having to wait for something I'd ordered over the net - as I've explained to a few others, I really didnt want to have to be spending too much on the system, as I probably wont be using it for more than a couple of months.

I'll take the supply I got yesterday back and order the Akasa PSU in trem's top link.

I know I was stupid - I just didnt want to have to be waiting for the delivery

If this new akasa PSU doesnt work I think I'm going to throw the PC out of the window and then throw myself out after it!

 

[throdgrain]

Im not sure it will mate, though Im perfectly happy to be proved wrong.

My pc is powered by a "white box" psu out of PC World, 500w, and has never given any problem.

Good luck though mate, lets have you back playing CSS asap

 

[Insane]

Im running the slightly lower 460w Akasa Paxpower PSU with a 7900GTX in my computer with no problems at all. its not an ub3r rig just yet (waiting for that pay cheque )

Only freezing I get is when I leave the room window open overnight

Local shops are annoying for the distinct reason that anyone with an ounce of knowledge with computers are usually found hidden away in the back room fixing the busted computers that get dropped on the sales counter. Most sales people dont have a baldies notion at times and just fob you with anything when you start asking questions*

(note* This has only been observed within Northern Ireland, milage may vary due to how fucking tiny it is over here and the lack of shops anyhow)

 

[Dukat]

Im not sure it will mate, though Im perfectly happy to be proved wrong.

My pc is powered by a "white box" psu out of PC World, 500w, and has never given any problem.

Good luck though mate, lets have you back playing CSS asap

I did start to wipe my pc last night throd, but in the end I just couldnt go through with it - I normally use a drive image, however the image I use has ATI drvers on, so I dont think that will help me out. I do have a proper shiny windows home CD and a genuine key on the side of my PC case to go with it, but I'm plagued by worries that either the key wont work now as its 3 years old, or that I'll encounter some other problem half way through that will end in me having to use the drive image and starting back at square one, but without all of my files.

I did recently re-image my machine due to malware, so doing it again is just going to be a major ball-ache. If the PSU doesnt solve the problem I guess I'll have to do it, but I really am hoping that this is the problem, as having a crap PSU is one of the few common factors throughout all my computer freezing problems.

I do hate waiting for deliveries though!

I've been emailing gainward while this has been going on, who have echo'd the talk about power supply's, and have said that my mercury 500w psu isnt good enough, I've emailed them asking if this akasa one will do the job, hopefully if they can get back to me tonight I'll beable to get it ordered.

Cheers for all the help, hopefully this will sort it

PS. the few times I have been able to play CS before system freezes, I've found it a hell of alot better! I seem to beable to play alot more consistantly with this card in - having a fps 30 or so frames faster really does make a difference!

 

[Dukat]

Fuck sake, now this retailer wont take the psu back "because its not faulty".

The best I can do is take it back for a 'credit note' and use that against one of the PSU's recommended above, of which they only seem to do the "Antec 500W basic".

Half tempted to tell them to shove it, keep the psu as a spare and just put the £30 down to a lesson learnt.

Would the antec do the job? or better off going for the Akasa?

I was talking to the guy, basically explaining whats going on, and he's convinced the PSU is fine, and that the problem is elsewhere. He says he's fitted mercury PSU's to high end systems and never had a problem.

I half wonder why am I even bothering to listen, he's already sold me a crappy PSU and yet I'm still lapping up the bullshit from him - I'm just convinced that he believes what hes saying, even if it isnt true.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I. fucking. hate. computers.

 

[TdC]

silly question maybe, but is there a power connector on the gfx card and if so, have you connected a power cable to it?

 

[Insane]

Fuck sake, now this retailer wont take the psu back "because its not faulty".

Tell him that its not of suitable quality to run the system. (which is true)
Im not 100% sure but I could of sworn you could return equipment within 7 days if its unsuitable or unable to do as expected (which in your case is to power a computer and a high end graphics card)

The best I can do is take it back for a 'credit note' and use that against one of the PSU's recommended above, of which they only seem to do the "Antec 500W basic".

Credit note? you mean flimsy piece of paper they will later refuse to accept because they have your money? funny how most small shops operate "credit note" policies. Tell him you demand a full refund and will not accept credit notes, normally they have to comply with that.

Half tempted to tell them to shove it, keep the psu as a spare and just put the £30 down to a lesson learnt.

Or take the credit note, spend it on £30 worth of CD-R's then flog them off to an unsuspected punter for a bit more dosh

Would the antec do the job? or better off going for the Akasa?

Some review sites have pointed out that Antec's latest batches of PSUs are not up to scratch to their original ones.

I was talking to the guy, basically explaining whats going on, and he's convinced the PSU is fine, and that the problem is elsewhere. He says he's fitted mercury PSU's to high end systems and never had a problem.

Please re-read my earlier post regarding sales people, they know fuck all squared when it comes to technical knowledge.

I half wonder why am I even bothering to listen, he's already sold me a crappy PSU and yet I'm still lapping up the bullshit from him - I'm just convinced that he believes what hes saying, even if it isnt true.

Welcome to the world of "over the counter" computer sales, the biggest cock is the one behind the counter thinking hes great... until the tech-head from the back room wanders in to fix a computer

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I. fucking. hate. computers.

Wait until you fix computers for a full-time job, then you can say that

I should really come clean here and state that I used to work for a local computer shop (before they went backrupt) as the back room tech-head so I know most of the sales tricks they employ to get kit out the door.

 

[Trem]

I have always used Antec and never had a problem Pikey. Antec are good.

Teedles suggestion is also worth having a look at, but I don't think the card would work at all without the power going to it, having said that I have never tried so may be wrong there.

 

[Dukat]

I have always used Antec and never had a problem Pikey. Antec are good.

Teedles suggestion is also worth having a look at, but I don't think the card would work at all without the power going to it, having said that I have never tried so may be wrong there.

Aye TDC, its got a PCI-e power connector on it - I've tried it with both the PCI-e connector from the PSU and using two molex connectors with an PCIe/molex adaptor that came with the card.

I read the manual before installing the card (first time I've actually done that) because I wanted to make sure it worked

So Antec should be ok, but is the Akasa model in the link you posted better?

Like Insane said, I could just use the credit notes for other stuff and just go and buy the Akasa off of my own bat, in a way £30 isnt much of a loss - its just the principle of the thing.

Ahhh, fighting off the temptation to put the old card back in while I straighten this out, but that would just be admitting defeat!

Cheers for the advice and helpfull posts btw guys

 

[Trem]

Akasa and Antec are both very good. I have always bought Antec cases with Antec PSU's supplied in them and I have never ever had a problem. Akasa I have never had so cannot comment other than what I have heard (that they are good). Zalman are also good.

 

[Dukat]

Ok, I just got an email back from Gainward regarding the Akasa psu in trem's first link informing me that "Yes, i think that is better then Mecury." - hopefully since this has come 'from the horses mouth' so to speak, it should mean that it will be good enough.

I've got someone looking at the computer this morning to give me a second opinion on this, just incase he can fix it without me having to shell out any more money, but unless this bloke performs a minor miracle and the computer comes back fixed, I'll be taking this Mercury PSU back this afternoon and ordering the Akasa that trem has recommended

Also, I managed to play Diablo2 last night without any crashes, I believe this is due to the fact that its not anywhere near as intense as CS Source - when I did try to play CS immediately afterwards it crashed at the menu screen before I'd even got into a game.

Will keep ya updated on how this goes with the new PSU Cheers again for the help!

 

[Trem]

Have you tried any other graphics intense games?

You may of said if you had earlier in this thread but I cba reading up

 

[Dukat]

Have you tried any other graphics intense games?

You may of said if you had earlier in this thread but I cba reading up

Yea, tried Armed Assault and Counter Strike Source so far - I've only just rebuilt my machine due to malware so I've not yet put all of my games on, I've not had a crash on Supreme Commander yet but I tbh havent played that game much.

 

[dysfunction]

ffs pikey stop mucking about and get it fixed!!

 

[Trem]

Well I have got a Gainward 7900GT and an Antec PSU (500w) and I have never had any issues.....if that helps.

I only posted this because I didn't know which card I had until I just checked

My pc was built by an astonishing technician though, possibly the worlds best.

 

[Kryten]

I had a similar problem, although a lot longer ago (Qtec 550 watt PSU, Geforce6800GT) and replaced with an Akasa 460watt, solving the issue similarly. Now running same PSU with a C2D e6600 and XFX7900GT brilliantly.

 

[throdgrain]

Well I have got a Gainward 7900GT and an Antec PSU (500w) and I have never had any issues.....if that helps.

I only posted this because I didn't know which card I had until I just checked

My pc was built by an astonishing technician though, possibly the worlds

best.

Ive got a 7900GTO and a PC World 500 psu, and never had a problem, he's barking up the wrong tree imo

 

[Kryten]

Dont forget a majority of people are using these el-shitto generic power supplies. A majority also wont have problems. The same majority use a max of Word and Outlook and possibly a Solitaire game or two.

When you start pumping power demanding applications and hardware, these el-shitto's start to struggle - those with only a single 12v rail especially because that one 12v system is having to cope with all these things needing a stable voltage. In most cases, they fail. Twin and even multiple 12v railed systems are able to split the demand whilst remainign entirely stable, so your graphics card isn't drinking from the same cup as your processor and hard drives.

So for some people, they'll be lucky.
But, if you purposefully build a system for decent levels of gaming with a PC World/Qtec/Eagle/old FSP/other generic brand, you're a retard, plain and simple. Leave PC building to those that know.

Most important part of your system. One problem and you could lose ALL the hardware. Don't trust it to a £20 generic. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Dukat]

Ive got a 7900GTO and a PC World 500 psu, and never had a problem, he's barking up the wrong tree imo

I've been wondering about this.

I have recently turned 'auto-restart' off in the recovery options, and on occassion the frozen system situation turns into a BSOD about 2 mins after it freezes. Sometimes it doesnt and just does the straight freeze as usual, but when the BSOD happens, I get an error that reads:

"A Problem has been detected and windows has shutdown to prevent damage to your computer

The problem seems to be caused by the file: nv4_disp.dll

**** STOP: 0x000000EA(etc etc)"
On looking up this STOP error on the microsoft site it seems that the error might be driver based (nv4_disp.dll obviously being the nvidia driver).

"Stop 0x000000EA" Error Message When You Run Video-Intensive Programs

Now normally its not that, I've only had it the once so far. I've tried following the instructions and re-installing the drivers but the problem still persists.

Could this just be a side affect of the PSU problem?

 

[Trem]

Basically you need a better PSU whatever happens.

If it cures the problem then great, if it doesn't then its one less thing to worry about and we can look further at whats causing it. The PSU is an easy thing to swap and takes 5 minutes so its well worth getting a decent one anyway.

If you can in the meantime give us a complete list of your system components, everything.

 

[Dukat]

Intel P4 Pentium 2.8Ghz HT
1GB of DDR ram PC2100 (unsure of manufacturer)
Motherboard is an "MSI MS-6743 ver 1.0"
Creative Audigy2
1 Lite-on DVDRW Drive
1 160GB HDD(Generic)
Onboard network card of some description
Operating system is XP SP2
currently a Mercury 400W PSU

I've just been running CS to see how long before it crashes again, this time with a motherboard temperature sensor running, I've manage to play 10 mins or so in CS with no crashes (I'm sure that will change soon enough) , but I've noticed that in the 10 minutes I've been playing the cpu temp has risen as high as 50*c, as has the GFX card.

I've been running it with the case off for ages now, and regularly check all of the heatsyncs and fans for dust, but I wonder if this is something that might cause the problem also?

I agree about the PSU though trem, will order that Akasa in a few minutes.

 

[Trem]

My second guess would be the motherboard, never had nothing but trouble with MSI at work. Very fickle boards in my experience.

Next up you need a Gigabyte or Asus motherboard my furry friend.

 

[Dukat]

I agree about the PSU though trem, will order that Akasa in a few minutes.

PSU ordered, set to arrive on tuesday supposedly.


EDIT: just as an aside, I've been wondering about the sound my main CPU fan is making with the higher wattage PSU's in, with the 500W one it made a sound like a jet engine about to take off, its marginally more bearable, but in my current paranoiac state, I'm wondering if this is some sort of warning in itself?

At the very least, is there a way to stop it making the noise without replacing it?