X800xl Crash in BF2 HL2 but not during Stress Test

After upgrading from a Radeon 9600xl to an X800xl I have been
experiencing random shut-downs in BF2 and HL2. Process so far has
been: temps, little high but within range; power supply, upgraded from
350W to 550W, no change, temps again, checked flow, left case open,
upgraded Heatsink/Fan on P4, no change; Went through support channels
with ATI, RMA'd card, received new card, same problem.

The system works fine when I put my 9600xl back in.

Symptom: ONLY when playing 3D games, within 20 minutes system will
shut down, hard power-off...I can't get the computer to turn back on
until i unplug electricity (flip kill switch on PSU)

Is this powering off a protective function of the ATX spec? Perhaps
that may be a clue?

The other thing that I thought it might be but don't have any knowledge
of would be voltages supplied to the vid card by the mobo?

Sounds like it could be a motherboard issue. Do a search on Google to see
if there are any problems with your mobo/vid card combination.

JK

<gordon.knoppe@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1133284551.327036.57870@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> After upgrading from a Radeon 9600xl to an X800xl I have been
> experiencing random shut-downs in BF2 and HL2. Process so far has
> been: temps, little high but within range; power supply, upgraded from
> 350W to 550W, no change, temps again, checked flow, left case open,
> upgraded Heatsink/Fan on P4, no change; Went through support channels
> with ATI, RMA'd card, received new card, same problem.
>
> The system works fine when I put my 9600xl back in.
>
> Symptom: ONLY when playing 3D games, within 20 minutes system will
> shut down, hard power-off...I can't get the computer to turn back on
> until i unplug electricity (flip kill switch on PSU)
>
> Is this powering off a protective function of the ATX spec? Perhaps
> that may be a clue?
>
> The other thing that I thought it might be but don't have any knowledge
> of would be voltages supplied to the vid card by the mobo?
>

Hard power-off? Wonder if it is overcurrent protection in the PSU. Maybe a
intermittent short in the video card PCB that only emerges under thermal
expansion. Highly unlikely, but possible.

Are you running in AGP8x mode? Have yout tried AGP4x?

--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."


<gordon.knoppe@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1133284551.327036.57870@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> After upgrading from a Radeon 9600xl to an X800xl I have been
> experiencing random shut-downs in BF2 and HL2. Process so far has
> been: temps, little high but within range; power supply, upgraded from
> 350W to 550W, no change, temps again, checked flow, left case open,
> upgraded Heatsink/Fan on P4, no change; Went through support channels
> with ATI, RMA'd card, received new card, same problem.
>
> The system works fine when I put my 9600xl back in.
>
> Symptom: ONLY when playing 3D games, within 20 minutes system will
> shut down, hard power-off...I can't get the computer to turn back on
> until i unplug electricity (flip kill switch on PSU)
>
> Is this powering off a protective function of the ATX spec? Perhaps
> that may be a clue?
>
> The other thing that I thought it might be but don't have any knowledge
> of would be voltages supplied to the vid card by the mobo?
>

> Hard power-off?

Yes, totally shuts off, no lights, no fans

> Are you running in AGP8x mode? Have yout tried AGP4x?

Not yet, I'm not at the computer yet but I just looked up my
motherboard (Abit IC7-G) and it says: "Accelerated Graphics Port
connector supports AGP PRO 8X/4X (0.8V/1.5V)"

So you're saying if I find it to be using 8x I should try setting it to
use 4x mode? What about voltages? Can I tweak those up or down in
relative safely?

<gordon.knoppe@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1133471393.020037.171570@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> > Hard power-off?
>
> Yes, totally shuts off, no lights, no fans

Another thing you can try is to turn off ACPI or APM in BIOS, as well as
other power-related stuff like wake-on-ring or wake-on-LAN. Essentially,
take away the PC's ability to shut itself down, and see what happens in
games.

> Not yet, I'm not at the computer yet but I just looked up my
> motherboard (Abit IC7-G)

So it has an Intel chipset. I suggest installing the latest Intel
motherboard chipset drivers to improve AGP compatibility.

On my system (VIA KT800Pro chipset and Radeon 9800Pro), games like HL2 and
BF2 would lock up when running at AGP8x. Hard to imagine a complete
shutdown, though.

> and it says: "Accelerated Graphics Port
> connector supports AGP PRO 8X/4X (0.8V/1.5V)"
> So you're saying if I find it to be using 8x I should try setting it to
> use 4x mode?

Yes, or even 2x mode. The performance difference will be negligible.

> What about voltages? Can I tweak those up or down in
> relative safely?

Yes, though keep in mind the card and motherboard will auto-negotiate
*either* 0.8 V or 1.5 V signaling voltage. You can bump it up by 0.1-0.2 V,
but you don't get the entire 0.8-1.5V range of adjustments.

--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."