VPU Recover error

[Coldbeard]

Hi,
I'm experiencing some frustrating problems when running my computer lately, everytime I start a game or run some application ( even internet explorer ) it freezes and after a while and I get an ATI error message saying "VPU Recover - Your graphicsacclerator is not responding on commands from the graphicsdriver "( translated from norwegian so bare with me ;p ). What basically happens is that screen freezes and screen goes either black or show some nasty graphicerrors. Can't play or do anything . I have formatted and reinstalled windows, updated to latest drivers .. even tried using old drivers but get the same errors. Happens in DAoC as well as in Rome:Total War.

My computer isn't exactly the best but haven't had any problems with this earlier :

Pentium IV 1,5 ghz
768 mb ram
Sapphire Radeon 9600 Atlantis - 256 mb ram.

As said , never had this problem before and have been playing with this computer for a long time, I reckon the Graphics card or the drivers are the problem, could it be broken or something? I'm not a computer/hardware expert so if anyone have had the same problem or know any solution on what could be wrong it would be very much appreciated.

 

[Litmus]

i had this problem for months and it drove me mad.

to fix it i had to do the following. maybe on works with my motherboard which is ASUs

1) go in bios
2) change DRAM Clock speed to auto

after that it never happened again

 

[Coldbeard]

Diddn't find auto but changed it to user and I haven't had any problems yet so just crossing my fingers on that it's working.

Many many thanks for quick answer

 

[Aragyn]

Been having the same, wasnt a BIOS problem for me, but i havent found the error so I've turned of the message so basically my screen just restarts when it happens, very annoying.

 

[Merrow]

if the problem remains its cuz ATI cards ain't supported by INTEL motherboards (so if the problem remains i guess u have 1, i had to change gfx card to nVidia after that).

Not intel processors, intel motherboards.

 

[Coldbeard]

ye problem is coming back now and then, sometimes I can play without error but after a reboot or something it comes back. Really annoying and unplayable. Don't really know what to do know.

btw. If there is a problem with intel motherboards and ati cards why haven't it happened before then ? Been running with this setup for more than a year prolly.

 

[Ballard]

I dont think there is a problem with ATI and Intel motherboards, Infact in my experience they have always worked better on intel motherboard/CPU combinations than VIA,nforce /AMD solutions. ATI cards often require many different tweaks to get running smoothly. My 9800 ran fine for 1.5 years and then suddenly developed very similar symptoms to what you described. There are many things you can try to get things running smoothly, have a search on google there are whole threads on tech forums devoted solely to getting ATI cards running properly.

Some of the things you can try:

- Reduce the size of the AGP aperture, If you dont have much main ram this should be quite low. If you had 512 mb RAM I would typically have it at 64mb.
- AGP voltage, Many mobos do not have sufficent voltage for the AGP slot. This was eventually what fixed my graphics card VPU crashes. Have a look on the net for your recommneded voltage. Alot of boards have a default 1.5v for this set in BIOS. 9800pro cards like 1.7v. ( im not sure what 9600 cards should get ).
- Turn fast writes off. This feature often causes ATI cards to crash (VPU recover) and offers very little if any performance benefit.
- Reduce the speed of your AGP port. 9600 should run fine on X4 AGP.
- Faulty main ram or faulty graphics card ram. Cant do much about the latter but if its the ram make sure your ram is correctly positioned in the slots (you can even try swapping your sticks around). If its dual channel try turning this off if your bios allows you too, if bios doesnt let you try running only one stick to see if the problem persists.
- If your 9600 has a seperate power input make sure it is configured correctly. Download the install guide form the ATI site to ensure you have done it correctly.


Good luck, In most cases this can be fixed but if the card is faulty there isnt much you can do other than replace it.

 

[Ballard]

And of course check your main PSU, as they get older faults may develop. Generally speaking they are cheap to replace (if you dont need a top o the line PSU). A reasonable 500w PSU often goes for around £30-40. If there is significant variance on any of the voltage rails this can cause your Graphics card or even your mobo to crash.

 

[Ballard]

Oh and just remembered drop the standard ATI drivers and try the omega drivers. They are much more streamlined and give you more options for fine tunning your cards settings

http://www.omegadrivers.net/

 

[Coldbeard]

Will check out what you suggested , have been looking around some and found out that there is alot of others with this problem. Tried alot of stuff , turned fastwrites off, changed drivers to omega - I still experienced problems , and it kind of got worse with omega as it seems like it has no VPU recover at all so if graphics crash , whole computer crash. Card is already at 4x AGP , dont think I can adjust it higher anyways, also I haven't overclocked it or something.

 

[Ballard]

Will check out what you suggested , have been looking around some and found out that there is alot of others with this problem. Tried alot of stuff , turned fastwrites off, changed drivers to omega - I still experienced problems , and it kind of got worse with omega as it seems like it has no VPU recover at all so if graphics crash , whole computer crash. Card is already at 4x AGP , dont think I can adjust it higher anyways, also I haven't overclocked it or something.

Omega drivers should have the same VPU recovery options that the standard ATI drivers do. Just have a look round and you will find it.