Huge problems with ATI video cards on my PC

[Expo]

Hello all,

I've been experiencing horrid issues with video cards and my Asus
P5P800 Motherboard.

Here is my computer specs:

- 1GB Ram (2 512MB DIMMS which are exactly the same)
- P4 2.8Ghz
- ATI Radeon 9600/ATI Radeon 9600XT/GeForce FX5500 placed in teh AGP
8X slot I have.
- None of the 5 PCI slots are being used

So it is pretty much just RAM, a Video Card, a Hard Drive, and a CPU

And here has been what is going on:

Within the past month or two I have gone through 3 different AGP video
cards. These include the ATI Radeon 9600, the 9600 XT, and the
GeForce5500. They all crash in some form or another when I play World
of Warcraft, or even sometimes when I am just browsing the web. My CPU
and Motherboard Idle temps are both around 29 to 30C. This crash
either reboots the system or completely just freezes the system to
the point that the monitor turns off. Sometimes I find that when I
turn on the PC it doesnt boot up all the way, or at all.

I'll be a little more specific with the symptoms for you:

1) With the ATI Radeon 9600 I found that when either playing World of
Warcraft or just browsing the web, the PC would seem to lock up
(screen goes black and never returns). Then after rebooting the
systems it would either boot up to the desktop or hang up at some
step of the boot process and the PC would lock up with the screen
going black and never returning.
I am wondering what the heck could be causing this.

2) With the GeForce FX5500 similar behavior to the ATI Radeon 9600
would happen, except that the PC would be able to reboot to the
desktop much more frequently.

3) With my newest purchase of the ATI Radeon 9600XT there is so far no
issues with the system being able to boot up all the way to the
desktop. One symptom ive noticed is that when playing World of
Warcraft it will cause the screen to go black, and then come back
within 10 seconds. This will happen 3 times before it will kick me
out to the desktop and give me some error message about some sort of
hardware issue (I'll have to jot it down next time). Regardless after
this error message occurs and I try to get back into the game, it says
that it can't. So I have to reboot my machine in order to play the
game again.

The other most recent symptom I've noticed is that even when not
playing the game I get the same issue with the screen going black 3
times and tehn giving the same error. I ended up changing my desktop
resolution to 1024x728 from 1280x960, and so far no probs. But who is
to say that it will cause a problem down the line. And I should be
able to run at this resolution no problem (Heck i can run at that
resolution no problem with amuch older graphics card with only
64MB).

I know this is a lot of info, but I figure the more info the better it
will be to help,

Thanks so much in advance,

Reuven

 

[MB]

I could be your power supply

i had the same issue a few years ago and i thought i had a good ps but when
i replaced it, everything work fine.

Try to replace your ps and try it out.

regards,

Mark

ASUS A7N8X Deluxe
AMD 2500 Barton OC 2024 Mhz
1 gig Pc 3200
120 gig SATA and 80 gig SATA
X800 Pro 256 DDR

 

[Tom Lake]

The other most recent symptom I've noticed is that even when not

playing the game I get the same issue with the screen going black 3
times and tehn giving the same error. I ended up changing my desktop
resolution to 1024x728 from 1280x960, and so far no probs. But who is
to say that it will cause a problem down the line. And I should be
able to run at this resolution no problem (Heck i can run at that
resolution no problem with amuch older graphics card with only
64MB).

If you see an infinite loop error, it's your ps. Try replacing
it no matter what the current one's specs are.

Tom Lake

 

[Pluvious]

|Hello all,
|
|I've been experiencing horrid issues with video cards and my Asus
|P5P800 Motherboard.
|

Don't rule out spyware, adware, trojans and other baddies on your system. Have
you considered a fresh install of your OS?.. drastic but you sound desperate.

Pluvious

 

[Expo]

you saying that the power supply may not have enough juice for the
video card? I THINK it's a 400Watter, but if need be ill get a
500Watter.

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

Hello all,

I've been experiencing horrid issues with video cards and my Asus
P5P800 Motherboard.

Here is my computer specs:

- 1GB Ram (2 512MB DIMMS which are exactly the same)
- P4 2.8Ghz
- ATI Radeon 9600/ATI Radeon 9600XT/GeForce FX5500 placed in teh AGP
8X slot I have.
- None of the 5 PCI slots are being used

So it is pretty much just RAM, a Video Card, a Hard Drive, and a CPU

And here has been what is going on:

Within the past month or two I have gone through 3 different AGP video
cards. These include the ATI Radeon 9600, the 9600 XT, and the
GeForce5500. They all crash in some form or another when I play World
of Warcraft, or even sometimes when I am just browsing the web. My CPU
and Motherboard Idle temps are both around 29 to 30C. This crash
either reboots the system or completely just freezes the system to
the point that the monitor turns off. Sometimes I find that when I
turn on the PC it doesnt boot up all the way, or at all.

I'll be a little more specific with the symptoms for you:

1) With the ATI Radeon 9600 I found that when either playing World of
Warcraft or just browsing the web, the PC would seem to lock up
(screen goes black and never returns). Then after rebooting the
systems it would either boot up to the desktop or hang up at some
step of the boot process and the PC would lock up with the screen
going black and never returning.
I am wondering what the heck could be causing this.

2) With the GeForce FX5500 similar behavior to the ATI Radeon 9600
would happen, except that the PC would be able to reboot to the
desktop much more frequently.

3) With my newest purchase of the ATI Radeon 9600XT there is so far no
issues with the system being able to boot up all the way to the
desktop. One symptom ive noticed is that when playing World of
Warcraft it will cause the screen to go black, and then come back
within 10 seconds. This will happen 3 times before it will kick me
out to the desktop and give me some error message about some sort of
hardware issue (I'll have to jot it down next time). Regardless after
this error message occurs and I try to get back into the game, it says
that it can't. So I have to reboot my machine in order to play the
game again.

The other most recent symptom I've noticed is that even when not
playing the game I get the same issue with the screen going black 3
times and tehn giving the same error. I ended up changing my desktop
resolution to 1024x728 from 1280x960, and so far no probs. But who is
to say that it will cause a problem down the line. And I should be
able to run at this resolution no problem (Heck i can run at that
resolution no problem with amuch older graphics card with only
64MB).

I know this is a lot of info, but I figure the more info the better it
will be to help,

Thanks so much in advance,

Reuven

Have you checked the temperature of the video card itself when you are
having problems? I am running the same motherboard with a 3.4 GHz P4
and have no problems with my 9700 Pro. I had similar problems before
with the card overheating and made sure that I have adequate airflow
around the card and CPU in this build.

 

[Expo]

I seriously am considering a fresh install unless someone here has
some genius solution. I just never had so many issues with video
cards before it's amazing!

 

[Shawk]

I seriously am considering a fresh install unless someone here has
some genius solution. I just never had so many issues with video
cards before it's amazing!

It's unlikely to be a fault with all three video cards. Try the PSU
suggestion first. Make sure you go for a proper brand i.e. an Antec
TruePower.

 

[Bill]

you saying that the power supply may not have enough juice for the
video card? I THINK it's a 400Watter, but if need be ill get a
500Watter.

They're saying your power supply may be bad no matter what the rating.
Try swapping it out with a known good one. If you need to replace it,
getting more than you need gives you breathing room for adding
components. Pay attention to the current supplied on the +12v rails, +
5v rail, and +3.3v rail when the power supply is approaching maximum
load. The less ripple the better. The less voltage drop as you're
approaching max power supply load the better.


Buy Quality, no matter what the price. Problems caused by inferior
quality parts, power supplies, memory, will cause you grief through
flaky performance and hard to track down intermittant problems.

Bill

 

[Expo]

yea my first step will be to replace the power supply. If that doesn
work then I think i might monitor the temperate of the video card. I
that seems ok then ill just try a fresh install

 

[Expo]

yea im gonna go get a new PS today. I got the Antec suggestion, jus
wondering if anyone else has a suggestion for a decently priced bran
name PS

 

[The Outsider]

yea im gonna go get a new PS today. I got the Antec suggestion, just
wondering if anyone else has a suggestion for a decently priced brand
name PS.

Fortron or Sparkle are good PSU's and cost less than Antecs.

 

[Fred At Home]

Hello all,

I've been experiencing horrid issues with video cards and my Asus
P5P800 Motherboard.

Here is my computer specs:

- 1GB Ram (2 512MB DIMMS which are exactly the same)
- P4 2.8Ghz
- ATI Radeon 9600/ATI Radeon 9600XT/GeForce FX5500 placed in teh AGP
8X slot I have.
- None of the 5 PCI slots are being used

So it is pretty much just RAM, a Video Card, a Hard Drive, and a CPU

And here has been what is going on:

Within the past month or two I have gone through 3 different AGP video
cards. These include the ATI Radeon 9600, the 9600 XT, and the
GeForce5500. They all crash in some form or another when I play World
of Warcraft, or even sometimes when I am just browsing the web. My CPU
and Motherboard Idle temps are both around 29 to 30C. This crash
either reboots the system or completely just freezes the system to
the point that the monitor turns off. Sometimes I find that when I
turn on the PC it doesnt boot up all the way, or at all.

I'll be a little more specific with the symptoms for you:

1) With the ATI Radeon 9600 I found that when either playing World of
Warcraft or just browsing the web, the PC would seem to lock up
(screen goes black and never returns). Then after rebooting the
systems it would either boot up to the desktop or hang up at some
step of the boot process and the PC would lock up with the screen
going black and never returning.
I am wondering what the heck could be causing this.

2) With the GeForce FX5500 similar behavior to the ATI Radeon 9600
would happen, except that the PC would be able to reboot to the
desktop much more frequently.

3) With my newest purchase of the ATI Radeon 9600XT there is so far no
issues with the system being able to boot up all the way to the
desktop. One symptom ive noticed is that when playing World of
Warcraft it will cause the screen to go black, and then come back
within 10 seconds. This will happen 3 times before it will kick me
out to the desktop and give me some error message about some sort of
hardware issue (I'll have to jot it down next time). Regardless after
this error message occurs and I try to get back into the game, it says
that it can't. So I have to reboot my machine in order to play the
game again.

The other most recent symptom I've noticed is that even when not
playing the game I get the same issue with the screen going black 3
times and tehn giving the same error. I ended up changing my desktop
resolution to 1024x728 from 1280x960, and so far no probs. But who is
to say that it will cause a problem down the line. And I should be
able to run at this resolution no problem (Heck i can run at that
resolution no problem with amuch older graphics card with only
64MB).

I know this is a lot of info, but I figure the more info the better it
will be to help,

Thanks so much in advance,

Reuven

If three different cards cause problems then it is OBVIOUSLY not the video
card!

 

[Expo]

an update on the situation. I went out and bought a 400W power suppl
(they said it was a decent name). Things worked ok for 3 days, an
now the problem has returned yet again. Is it REALLY that importan
to have a name brand for a power supply? I'm almost ready to just ge
a freaking whole new motherboard and try again

 

[Kevin Weaver]

How many drives you have installed ? Hard drives, Cd/dvd drives ? USB
firewire etc. It all pulls from the power supply.
I have 3 hard drives, one DVD drive, A Sound card that uses a power
connector, and my ATI Card. I sometimes get a power problem,
and my power supply was at 450... Went to a 600W and no more problem. Always
go for higher then you need. And buy a name brand. The cheap one may say
there 400W but it's like the stereo amps, they can say its 250W but they all
rate them different.

You dont say whats going on with your system. Tell us what it's doing and
maybe we can help more.

 

[Expo]

Hey Kevin

I have one HD, and one DVD Drive/Burner. That's pretty much it asid
from the video card.

I outlined my problems in the first post. So when I say that m
problem has returned it refers to the original problem I stated

 

[T Shadow]

Hey Kevin,

I have one HD, and one DVD Drive/Burner. That's pretty much it aside
from the video card.

I outlined my problems in the first post. So when I say that my
problem has returned it refers to the original problem I stated.

Some name brand power supplies don't put out their rated wattage. Another
problem is how much they put out on each rail. The Coolmax I put in my P4
system is otherwise a great supply but the 12v rail is kind of skimpy
compared to other good supplies.
I've seen lot's of posts on the subject in alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
IMHO name brand is not enough.

 

[Kevin Weaver]

400W should be more then enough for what you have. Take it back. Try the
same one again or another brand.
Good Luck.

 

[T Shadow]

400W should be more then enough for what you have. Take it back. Try the
same one again or another brand.
Good Luck.

Buying cheap supplies till you get one that works is one way to go but I
think doing some research and getting a good one is a better way. Saves on
gas/shipping. A lot of cheap supplies are sold under several names. Besides
not putting out their rated power they probably don't have over load and
short circuit protection.
My system is similar to the OP but I have an AIW, a second drive, an HDTV
Wonder and an Audigy2. The Coolmax is only 350W. Been using it for over a
year w/o a problem. BTW I'm not pushing the Coolmax, Antec and others are
probably better. YMMV
Here's a good place for the OP to start research.

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

 

[johns]

You do know about AGP to 4x, and FastWrites OFF for all ATI
AGP cards ?? You can't run AGP 8X, or FastWrites ON on any
of those cards. If you do, they will lock up in games randomly,
but usually in about the first 5 minutes of the game. Reason
the OS doesn't lock up is because the OS drops AGP to 2x.
Go in to SmartGart, and change those settings, and reboot.
Do it twice to make sure the settings hold. That will fix your
problem.

johns