9600XT Crashes on Google Earth

[David P Greer]

Is anyone else having this problem? When I launch Google Earth, the
program runs a few moments, loads up the earth image, starts to zoom in,
then freezes.

There is no warning - after the freeze, the monitor goes into stand-by
mode, and will not come out. I have to reboot with the reset switch.

This happens in either Open GL or Direct X mode.

The Catalyst Control Panel (6.3 driver) says the card is running at 47C,
so temperature does not seem to be the problem.

The only other app I run that uses the 3D part of the card is SimCity 4,
and it also crashes after a few minutes of use.

System:

ASUS A7V880, BIOS 1008
AthlonXP 3200+, 333FSB
1GB RAM
ATi 9600XT
WinXP Home

All drivers up to date, no overclocking. Motherboard temp at 32C, CPU
at 49C.

Any suggestions?

TIA


David

 

[Ian O]

Is anyone else having this problem? When I launch Google Earth, the
program runs a few moments, loads up the earth image, starts to zoom
in, then freezes.

There is no warning - after the freeze, the monitor goes into stand-by
mode, and will not come out. I have to reboot with the reset switch.

This happens in either Open GL or Direct X mode.

The Catalyst Control Panel (6.3 driver) says the card is running at
47C, so temperature does not seem to be the problem.

The only other app I run that uses the 3D part of the card is SimCity
4, and it also crashes after a few minutes of use.

System:

ASUS A7V880, BIOS 1008
AthlonXP 3200+, 333FSB
1GB RAM
ATi 9600XT
WinXP Home

All drivers up to date, no overclocking. Motherboard temp at 32C, CPU
at 49C.

Any suggestions?

TIA


David

If you have problems with two 3D apps I suppose that tells you that it
isn't specifically a Google Earth question. I don't mean to be
critical, but you say "all drivers up to date", yet you have cat 6.3.
Whilst this is not likely to be the cause of the problem, I just wonder
what you mean by up-to-date, and specifically, could you confirm what
AGP driver you installed? Have you the rest of the Hyperion Pro drivers
installed? The Asus also supports RAM in dual channel mode, or so it
says in front of me, so tell us, are you running that, and what have you
set in the BIOS for video, fastwrites, aperture, etc? Generally, in
my experience, the AGP port driver is a good starting point however for
this kind of crash. Update to the latest release from viaarena.com and
use dxdiag to verify that AGP acceleration is shown as working. You
might also have a direct x problem, but I'd look at this last as you
have OpenGL issues. I've even had boards where my 9600 card needed more
voltage setting in BIOS. There are lots of things to try, but look at
the drivers first.

 

[PhxGrunge]

If you have problems with two 3D apps I suppose that tells you that it
isn't specifically a Google Earth question. I don't mean to be critical,
but you say "all drivers up to date", yet you have cat 6.3. Whilst this
is not likely to be the cause of the problem, I just wonder what you mean
by up-to-date, and specifically, could you confirm what AGP driver you
installed? Have you the rest of the Hyperion Pro drivers installed? The
Asus also supports RAM in dual channel mode, or so it says in front of me,
so tell us, are you running that, and what have you set in the BIOS for
video, fastwrites, aperture, etc? Generally, in my experience, the AGP
port driver is a good starting point however for this kind of crash.
Update to the latest release from viaarena.com and use dxdiag to verify
that AGP acceleration is shown as working. You might also have a direct x
problem, but I'd look at this last as you have OpenGL issues. I've even
had boards where my 9600 card needed more voltage setting in BIOS. There
are lots of things to try, but look at the drivers first.

I just came from the Microsoft DirectX website and DirectX 9.0C has a new
redistribution build.
Possibly the problems you have are fixed in the new build.
Microsoft did not change the version number, but have updated some of the
files.

ATI admits that their OpenGL is not as robust as nVidia's. However, ATI's
DirectX implementation is better that nVidia's. So, if the problem is
OpenGL, you probably won't find a solution until better drivers are built.

 

[Ian O]

I just came from the Microsoft DirectX website and DirectX 9.0C has a new
redistribution build.
Possibly the problems you have are fixed in the new build.
Microsoft did not change the version number, but have updated some of the
files.

ATI admits that their OpenGL is not as robust as nVidia's. However, ATI's
DirectX implementation is better that nVidia's. So, if the problem is
OpenGL, you probably won't find a solution until better drivers are built.

I use a 9600 pro with the DX 9.0c as installed by the XP Service Pack
2. I have never had any OpenGL issues, though admittedly my use does
not include Sim City. Implementation issues may exist, as you say, but
not, I feel, on something like Google Earth. The other reason I pointed
the OP to drivers or settings is that he has an issue in both modes.
The AGP driver and BIOS settings therefore being suspect number one.

 

[David P Greer]

If you have problems with two 3D apps I suppose that tells you that it
isn't specifically a Google Earth question. I don't mean to be
critical, but you say "all drivers up to date", yet you have cat 6.3.
Whilst this is not likely to be the cause of the problem, I just wonder
what you mean by up-to-date, and specifically, could you confirm what
AGP driver you installed? Have you the rest of the Hyperion Pro drivers
installed? The Asus also supports RAM in dual channel mode, or so it
says in front of me, so tell us, are you running that, and what have you
set in the BIOS for video, fastwrites, aperture, etc? Generally, in
my experience, the AGP port driver is a good starting point however for
this kind of crash. Update to the latest release from viaarena.com and
use dxdiag to verify that AGP acceleration is shown as working. You
might also have a direct x problem, but I'd look at this last as you
have OpenGL issues. I've even had boards where my 9600 card needed more
voltage setting in BIOS. There are lots of things to try, but look at
the drivers first.

I'm using the Hyperion Pro 5.09A Via chipset drivers. I'm running
Kingston PC3200 RAM, 2x512 in dual channel mode, and Memtest ran without
errors when I first tested the initial build.

AGP Fastwrite is enabled, and the aperture is set at 128MB.

I thought the Catalyst 6.3 were the latest WHQL drivers, though there
are some newer releases that are not WHQL, if that matters.

I see there is a 1009 BIOS release, which states, in part, that it fixes
an AGP texture issue. I'm going to go ahead and update the BIOS and see
if that makes a difference.

Thanks for the feedback. You've given me several things to look at.

David

 

[Ian O]

I'm using the Hyperion Pro 5.09A Via chipset drivers. I'm running
Kingston PC3200 RAM, 2x512 in dual channel mode, and Memtest ran
without errors when I first tested the initial build.

AGP Fastwrite is enabled, and the aperture is set at 128MB.

I thought the Catalyst 6.3 were the latest WHQL drivers, though there
are some newer releases that are not WHQL, if that matters.

OK, I see what you mean. I've never put much emphasis on WHQL in this
context, but you do have a point. You do sound as if you know what you
are doing, hope I didn't appear to suggest otherwise!! ;-)

I see there is a 1009 BIOS release, which states, in part, that it
fixes an AGP texture issue. I'm going to go ahead and update the BIOS
and see if that makes a difference.

Like the sound of that!

Thanks for the feedback. You've given me several things to look at.

David

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