System problems, possibly vid card

[Faeldawn]

Recently upgraded my GFX card to a Gigabyte Radeon GV-R9000 Pro II 128m DDR, and during games the system freezes, crashes to desktop or reboots.

system as stands is:

EpoX EP-8K7A+ mobo
512DDR Ram
Gigabyte ATI Radeon GV-R9000 Pro II
DX9
Athlon 1200 processor
Win XP

Tried upgrading the drivers, but manufacturers website is uninformative as to whether the drivers listed are new or not
www.gigabyte.com.tw
Customer support is zero, as in they will not respond to my emails.
Also when i download the upgraded flash bios, atiflash tells me its the wrong one for my card.

Any ideas/suggestions gratefully received.

 

[.Cask]

PSU wattage?

 

[Faeldawn]

Bump

Still not fixed

 

[Embattle]

Originally posted by .Cask
PSU wattage?

 

[old.LeitMotif]

Do you know whether it crashes whilst playing OpenGL or Direct3D games, or both?

 

[Jonty]

As far as I know the Radeon 9000 Pro doesn't require a direct link to the PSU (unlike its bigger brothers), and even if the card was underpowered, you'd notice problems even in 2D mode.

Having looked at Gigbyte's website the most recent BIOS update for your card can be found here, together with the most recent drivers. Alternatively, you can visit ATi's 'Powered By' page and download the generic Catalyst drivers.

If all else fails, try uninstalling the software suite and removing the card from the control panel. Restart, manually selecting the newest drivers you've downloaded when prompted to do so.

Sorry I cannot be of more assistance

 

[Embattle]

Originally posted by Jonty
), and even if the card was underpowered, you'd notice problems even in 2D mode.

Actually not always.

Is there any image break up before it crashes?

 

[kameleon]

Which soundcard are you using?
Have you installed the proper system AGP driver
Is the gfx card sharing an irq with anything else?
Have you installed the latest Bios for your mobo?

Some Soundblaster live cards cause problems with AGP graphics cards.
try turning off video bios cache in the mobo bios setup
try turning off ACPI in system bios

 

[Faeldawn]

Many thanks for all the replies.

Fraid i dont know what PSU wattage is, im a relative noobie when it comes to system stuff.

Originally posted by Embattle
Actually not always.

Is there any image break up before it crashes?

There is a slight flicker of the GFX, usually a few small thin lines before it crashes.

One quirk is that it freezes and the mouse pointer remains active for several seconds before it also freezes and i get an unnerving "Beep" from my computer

Not sure about OpenGL and Direct3d, but it crashes on DAoC, Splinter Cell and Half Life after a few seconds

Rarely crashes on 2d stuff, almost never while browsing internet etc.

Have wiped and reinstalled HDD from scratch, have all the latest drivers for my system.

Am using Soundblaster Live 5.1, so i will try your kind suggestions

Really grateful for all the suggestions guys n gals, been unable to resolve this problem yet

 

[kameleon]

Is it a beep or a sound loop being played over and over?


Try Moving the soundcard to a slot which isn't shared with anything else; especially the video card.

Edit:uninstall the soundcard altogether and then try running the games.


Is there an error message in control panel>administration tools > event viewer >system?

 

[kameleon]

Ive just found someone else with the same problem as you.

here

 

[Faeldawn]

Thx for the link Kam, interesting read, that guy has IDENTICAL symptoms to mine, and an IDENTICAL system, scary

The beep is a single beep, pretty sure its from the Tower rather than the the speakers, could be wrong tho.

Soundcard is in its own slot, not shared, worth a try tho

There is an error in the log you mention, all it says is Error and atapi?

Any idea what that means?

EDIT- Oh, and i found the PSU wattage, marked as 250 on the casing, shoulda known it stood for Power Supply Wattage

 

[kameleon]

the Atapi error is nothing to worry about.

Im more concerned about the PSU 250 W isnt enough for a card that draws the power yours does. Jonty or Emb might know more about that though.

 

[Faeldawn]

Having read that thread you posted (thx for that again m8) im inclined to agree.

If i knew what PSU wattage was when i first posted this thread, i think i may have saved myself and others a lot of unneccesary hassle.

 

[Jonty]

I'm fairly certain it isn't the power supply. I know Dell, for example, have long utilised 250W PSUs and have happily coupled them with more powerful graphics cards than the 9000 Pro. To their credit, ATi also highlight on all product information any specific power requirements. Whilst a 300W PSU is recommended for the mid- to high-end Radeon cards, which require a direct connection to the PSU, the lower-end cards should have more than enough power direct from the AGP (I assume it's the AGP version?) port.

If you really want to be certain, then there are ways of working out roughly how much power is being consumed by your system as a whole, as outlined in this lengthy, but rather useful, article.

I know this doesn't help, as such, so my apologies.

Kind Regards

Jonty

P.S. Impressive work kameleon

 

[Jonty]

This is probably irrelevant, but have you checked over the video settings in your system's BIOS? In particular, make sure that the AGP port is set to either 2x or 4x mode (1x will cause problems with your card) and that the AGP aperture size is not below 16Mb (ideally 128Mb or 256Mb considering your setup). As I say, I doubt this will be the cause of your troubles, but it is always worth checking the small things.

Kind Regards

 

[Faeldawn]

Thx for the info Jonty.

AGP is currently set to 4x and apperture is 128.

Worth a try, tbh at this moment in time ill try anything

 

[Embattle]

BTW Jonty it isn't only the Power that really matters, its the quality of the PSU since bad PSUs will not maintain a decent level and vary too much, not that I believe it is this nor do I believe that the gfx is overheating.

I will type more once I get this fing monitor replaced

 

[Jonty]

Thanks Embattle, I'm learning

 

[Faeldawn]

Wonder if there is a world record for distance in hurling a tower in anger?

 

[Embattle]

BTW have you got the latest BIOS for you mobo, asked before?

A windows program called Magic Flash BIOS is available, it is a BETA program and is designed to update your mobo BIOS to the latest version.

ftp://ftp.epox.com/motherboard/support/BIOS/magicflash-2-11-03.zip

 

[xane]

Originally posted by Faeldawn
EpoX EP-8K7A+ mobo

*sigh*

I get fed up with this Epox crap

I'll tell you for sure, I contacted Epox and they confirmed you need a 350W minimum for a 1Ghz CPU.

 

[Wij]

My system has run fine and dandy since I got an Antec 430W PSU for my Epox. Used to be a bitch to get running stable with a Macron 300W.

 

[Faeldawn]

Have fully up-to-date flash bios for mobo and vid card m8

More and more convinced that it may simply be the PSU, but ive decided to give up and call in the "experts" (ie taking it to a shop to get it fixed).

Many many thanks to all who contributed and tried in vain to help me sort this out myself, but im simply not skilled enough to solve it.

You guys been great, thx again :great:

 

[xane]

Don't give up now, replacing the PSU is the simplest and cheapest job there is !

At some point you're gonna need something a bit better than a 250W, and it's not like more powerful PSUs are expensive

 

[Embattle]

PSUs are really very simple to change tbh.

 

[Wij]

I wouldn't trust that.

And it will sound like a jet engine on a tammy huff who's just got pissed and seen its boyfriend fisting a tramp.

 

[Faeldawn]

Final update, i got it sorted finally.

Simply changed the AGP from 4x to 2x and its now fine