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View Full Version : Video card issues, looking for feedback


Lucidvizion
November 7th, 2007, 11:04:37 AM
This issue I'm having is driving me nuts, so I am here to get a second opinion, more or less.

What I have:
600w power supply
Abit AN8 SLI Mobo
AMD 3800+ X2 socket 939 cpu
2gig ram (don't know the brand off the top of my head)
and the problem component:
Ati x1950 pro pcie card (just one card, not using sli/crossfire)

The card worked fine for quite a while (8-9 months), then all of a sudden I started having problems when I was running 3d applications (I will use world of warcraft as prime example). If I ran the game at any resolution higher than 1024x786 my card/display would shut off and run its "vpu recovery" every 30 seconds to 10 minutes. It was bad enough that games were pretty much unplayable, as it would lock me up for a good 15 seconds and kick me to desktop. And we all know some applications don't like being kicked to desktop. It definitely wasn't an overheating issue, temperature at graphics card was never over 70C (while running 3d apps, it idles at 40C).

I tried all the manufacturer recommended solutions. I flashed the bios on my mobo, afterwards set the jumper to clear my cmos, uninstalled my video card drivers then ran driver cleaner and reinstalled, updated chipset drivers, etc etc. Nothing fixed the problem so I sent my card back for warranty repair service.

Fast forward to yesterday. They gave me a new card, the serial number was different. I put on my ground strap and put my card in. I started playing a game and it was good for about 30 minutes, then I got kicked to desktop with a vpu recovery error. I noticed some display corruption on my desktop icons. I reset my pc. My bios POST display was completely corrupted, the windows startup screen was completely corrupted, and when I got to the desktop all the icons were corrupted. Then the card would shut down into vpu recover from such processor hungry tasks such as clicking on the start button and expanding my quick launch icon tray. Basically, a LOT worse than my original card ever was.

They allowed me to send this new card back for warranty as well, thankfully. My question is do any of you think my motherboard could be destroying my vid cards? Is that even possible? I know a power supply can ruin a graphics card but I installed a new power supply after I was having problems with my first card, thinking the card was shutting down because I was slightly under recommended specs for amperage on the 12v rail.

What do you think? Dumb luck? Bad mobo? Anything I could be missing?

dasaybz
November 14th, 2007, 12:41:59 PM
drivers bro

there's a program out there called driver cleaner pro

run the program and follow the readme.txt file ... you have to boot into safe mode uninstall the old drivers, run the driver cleaner program and then reinstall your drivers

vid card drivers are a bitch ... and old ones can really mess things up if there's a problem

35Pete
November 14th, 2007, 2:19:52 PM
Lucid. Go to the ATI website and download the latest drivers. From the control panel click the "Add hardware" icon and uninstall the present ATI drivers. (Be sure to download the latest ones first). Then install the latest ones by executing the executable that you downloaded.

Dasaybz is right. But I think this might be easier plus you always need the latest drivers, right Dasaybz?

Lucidvizion
January 8th, 2008, 4:53:03 PM
Hey guys thanks for replying... I never saw the responses (even though I had written that I already had done both of those things, yah goofballs ;) )

Update:

The replacement card they sent me was defective. The next card I got worked... after I fixed the bent up 'retaining tab' on the card. For the record I was dealing directly with ATI it wasn't a 3rd party company. I am not too happy with them and will probably go back to using nvidia cards in the future. I can't believe how crappy the quality control for their RMA's is.

Merc
January 8th, 2008, 10:35:50 PM
I have seen guys go through a bunch of bad out of the box cards. Just for the record what brand PSU are you using?

Woody
January 9th, 2008, 6:09:28 AM
will probably go back to using nvidia cards in the future..

:clapper: :niterider

Lucidvizion
January 9th, 2008, 9:31:23 AM
I have seen guys go through a bunch of bad out of the box cards. Just for the record what brand PSU are you using?

I am not 100% sure on this (not home to check) but I want to say it is Coolermaster.

42A on a single 12V rail, that I do remember.

35Pete
January 17th, 2008, 5:01:03 AM
CoolerMaster are great PSUs.