ATi Xpress 200 PCI-E Infinite Loop

[Zephiris]

I've been trying to figure out how to fix this, but there doesn't seem
to be any information about possibly or reliably fixing it on PCI-E.
I've tried several different driver versions, cleaning thoroughly. The
drivers that came with the machine have the same problem, though. It's
certainly not a heat issue, as the computer runs extremely cool. All
memory tests also come back fine, though the card does 'share memory'
with the system (Athlon 64 3500+ Venice core, 1.5GB of PC3200). I've
tried different sound card configurations and drivers, including the
on-board one, an Aureal Vortex 2, and various SBLive drivers, all on
Windows XP SP2 with all current patches available from 'Windows
Update'. It mostly happens in games (and can cause Crash to Desktop
issues in some, though will BSOD in others), it seems to be somewhat
related to pixel shader usage? But there doesn't seem to be any
workaround for it. The BIOS doesn't allow changing any 'performance'
settings (such as memory timings, speed, or even video RAM size), so
any of those suggestions are also out. As there's no way I could get
any sort of replacement video card for it (though it actually performs
quite well when not crashing), there 'must' be some way to diagnose and
fix this? It may also BSOD or cause other issues when accessing the ATI
Control Panel or ATI Control Center applets. VPU Recover seems to have
no effect, as the issues still happen with no possible 'recovery'. This
is a very new computer (less than a month old), and I imagine there
must be some feasible fix to get the on-board video working reliably.
6-30 BSODs a day isn't very acceptable, especially if it can happen
overnight also when the computer's not particularly doing anything.
Memtestx86, burn-in testing, everything comes back without issues, but
most any games or accessing the control panel can trigger these serious
errors.

 

[Tom Lake]

I've been trying to figure out how to fix this, but there doesn't seem
to be any information about possibly or reliably fixing it on PCI-E.

An infinite loop problem is indicative of an inadequate power supply.
I used to get those all the time with a 300W supply. I upgraded to
a 450W supply and all video driver errors went away.

Tom Lake

 

[Zephiris]

Other people who said to get the information had better power supplies
and/or upgraded with no solution to it. If it were the power supply,
why BSOD at all (as opposed to just hanging or other perhaps less
obvious problems), let alone on some specific games, but not others? My
previous computer had an even lesser PSU (with a CPU/memory/etc that
draw much more power), and an AGP Ti4200 in it without BSODs. One would
think the card integrated into the motherboard would be smart enough
not to BSOD on standard things, otherwise, why ship it with that power
supply, if that was the problem? Why would Half Life 2 not crash, but
(somewhat) older games which use far less computing/graphics
performance, BSOD, if the power supply? Same with the loading the
driver panel applet (not CCC), which doesn't require 3D graphics at
all. Is ATI just not admitting to a serious driver flaw?

 

[First of One]

This is the Infinite Loop guide on VIA Arena. The problem initially appeared
most often with VIA chipsets and nVidia video cards. Basically, anything and
everything can potentially be a culprit. Better grab a coffee, for this is a
long article. Good luck...

http://www.viaarena.com/Default.aspx?PageID=5&ArticleID=9