Raden 9800 Pro

[nathan.bushey]

I have been having some problems with my computer and I believe they
are graphics card related. Here is what has been going on...

Any time I run anything visually intensive (Warcraft 3, Battlefield,
CS, Medal of Honor...) my computer restarts.

Daily activities, don't seem to affect the machine. My comp can be on
for days at a time and will run perfectly, but when I try to play any
games it reboots.

Here are my system specs:

P4 3.0
1 GB DDR
36 GB SATA Raptor (Primary)
160 GB SATA (Secondary)
16x DVDRW
8X DVDRW
16DVD ROM
500 Watt PS
Win XP Pro

This is what I've tried so far.

Replaced the video card.
Replaced the power supply
Replaced the motherboard
Replaced the RAM

I have cleaned all fans and rerouted all wiring to ensure airflow is
getting to the card.

I have booted with minimal components with no luck.

I firmly believe that this is a driver issue, not a hardware issue.
Obviously I have wiped my primary drive and fresh installed Windows XP
Pro and then the Radeon Drivers, but still had no luck there.

I have tried older versions of catalyst drivers. Those don't seem to
work either.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks-

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

I have been having some problems with my computer and I believe they
are graphics card related. Here is what has been going on...

Any time I run anything visually intensive (Warcraft 3, Battlefield,
CS, Medal of Honor...) my computer restarts.

Daily activities, don't seem to affect the machine. My comp can be on
for days at a time and will run perfectly, but when I try to play any
games it reboots.

Here are my system specs:

P4 3.0
1 GB DDR
36 GB SATA Raptor (Primary)
160 GB SATA (Secondary)
16x DVDRW
8X DVDRW
16DVD ROM
500 Watt PS
Win XP Pro

This is what I've tried so far.

Replaced the video card.
Replaced the power supply
Replaced the motherboard
Replaced the RAM

I have cleaned all fans and rerouted all wiring to ensure airflow is
getting to the card.

I have booted with minimal components with no luck.

I firmly believe that this is a driver issue, not a hardware issue.
Obviously I have wiped my primary drive and fresh installed Windows XP
Pro and then the Radeon Drivers, but still had no luck there.

I have tried older versions of catalyst drivers. Those don't seem to
work either.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks-

Have you checked the temperature of the video card itself after one of
these crashes? I bought the 9700 Pro when it first came out and had the
same problems. The card was almost too hot to touch even though
everything else in the computer was fine. I ended up buying a PCI slot
cooler fan and installing it below the video card. When running games
the temperature of the exhaust air from the fan was noticeably warm. I
had no further crashes regardless of the drivers, etc.

 

[Inspectorgn]

For a while I thought that the video card was over heating. Then I
replaced the card. I will try to pick up a pci fan, and let you know
what happens. . .

 

[farmuse]

For a while I thought that the video card was over heating. Then I
replaced the card. I will try to pick up a pci fan, and let you know
what happens. . .

make sure you install the chipset drivers esp the agp driver from
the motherboard install cd, you must do this for any 3D to work

 

[Peter Boere]

I recently experienced with this problem too. Haven't done anything with the
hardware. I use the 9800 pro also. Was using Catalyst driver 5.7. Changed to
5.8 and the problem dissapeared (so far, just one day).

 

[QV]

I have been having some problems with my computer and I believe they
are graphics card related. Here is what has been going on...

Any time I run anything visually intensive (Warcraft 3, Battlefield,
CS, Medal of Honor...) my computer restarts.

Daily activities, don't seem to affect the machine. My comp can be on
for days at a time and will run perfectly, but when I try to play any
games it reboots.

Here are my system specs:

P4 3.0
1 GB DDR
36 GB SATA Raptor (Primary)
160 GB SATA (Secondary)
16x DVDRW
8X DVDRW
16DVD ROM
500 Watt PS
Win XP Pro

This is what I've tried so far.

Replaced the video card.
Replaced the power supply
Replaced the motherboard
Replaced the RAM

I have cleaned all fans and rerouted all wiring to ensure airflow is
getting to the card.

I have booted with minimal components with no luck.

I firmly believe that this is a driver issue, not a hardware issue.
Obviously I have wiped my primary drive and fresh installed Windows XP
Pro and then the Radeon Drivers, but still had no luck there.

I have tried older versions of catalyst drivers. Those don't seem to
work either.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks-

First of all I would try turning off fast-writes. I doubt that will work but
it couldn't hurt.

In my experience, a spontaneous reset is typically caused by:
1) hot CPU - unlikely since P4's are fairly good at throttling down when
they overheat
2) inadequate or unstable CPU voltage - try upping the core voltage slightly
(0.05 to 0.10 volts).
3) RAM problem - you already mentioned you replaced the RAM, but (if
possible) try using different slots. For example, if you use slot 1 & 2, try
1 & 4, etc.

 

[JK]

You have certainly been thorough in attacking this problem. The only stone
that may be left unturned is airflow through your computer case. I had a
similar problem years ago when i bought my first motherboard and Athlon
Thunderbird CPU combination. I stuck it in the case that I had been using
for a couple of years and I started getting random reboots particularly when
running CPU and GPU intensive applications. Eventually I determined that
even though the CPU fan, Video card fan, and Power Supply fan were working
properly and there did not appear to be any other hardware related problems;
heat was building up in the case because of its design which did not allow
adequate air flow through it. I went out and bought a new case (Thermaltake
I think) that allowed the installation of 2 fans in the front and two in the
back near the CPU greatly improving air flow, and my problem was solved.
Currently I'm running with 2 fans in the back of the case exhausting air
near the CPU and one fan intaking cool air and blowing it over my 3 hard
drives to keep them cooler. All is running well.

JK

 

[Me_not]

I have been having some problems with my computer and I believe they
are graphics card related. Here is what has been going on...

Any time I run anything visually intensive (Warcraft 3, Battlefield,
CS, Medal of Honor...) my computer restarts.

Daily activities, don't seem to affect the machine. My comp can be on
for days at a time and will run perfectly, but when I try to play any
games it reboots.

Here are my system specs:

P4 3.0
1 GB DDR
36 GB SATA Raptor (Primary)
160 GB SATA (Secondary)
16x DVDRW
8X DVDRW
16DVD ROM
500 Watt PS
Win XP Pro

This is what I've tried so far.

Replaced the video card.
Replaced the power supply
Replaced the motherboard
Replaced the RAM

I have cleaned all fans and rerouted all wiring to ensure airflow is
getting to the card.

I have booted with minimal components with no luck.

I firmly believe that this is a driver issue, not a hardware issue.
Obviously I have wiped my primary drive and fresh installed Windows XP
Pro and then the Radeon Drivers, but still had no luck there.

I have tried older versions of catalyst drivers. Those don't seem to
work either.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Hello, I have had this problem with my ATI Made 9800 Pro!
Turned OFF 8x agp in Mother Board Bios, Ran @4x.
NO More Reboots, lockups, or drops to Desktop.
Had Problem with Three different Mother Boards.
Same Video card, After RMAing it.

 

[Richard Cavell]

You have certainly been thorough in attacking this problem. The only stone
that may be left unturned is airflow through your computer case. I had a

I can't find the original message to reply to, but my guess is that it's
a heat problem, not a driver problem. Cool the GPU. Make sure your
fans are spinning at speed.

 

[Alex Balfour]

Hello, I have had this problem with my ATI Made 9800 Pro!
Turned OFF 8x agp in Mother Board Bios, Ran @4x.
NO More Reboots, lockups, or drops to Desktop.
Had Problem with Three different Mother Boards.
Same Video card, After RMAing it.

Brilliant! It fixed my problem. Now I can use Google Earth and NASA
World Wind without my PC crashing.

Thank you!

Alex Balfour

 

[Julian Richards]

Brilliant! It fixed my problem. Now I can use Google Earth and NASA
World Wind without my PC crashing.

But...

It should work on 8x agp. Still, if it works, don't knock it.
--

Julian Richards
computer "at" richardsuk.f9.co.uk

www.richardsuk.f9.co.uk
Website of "Robot Wars" middleweight "Broadsword IV"

 

[Alex Balfour]

But...

It should work on 8x agp. Still, if it works, don't knock it.
--

Julian Richards
computer "at" richardsuk.f9.co.uk

www.richardsuk.f9.co.uk
Website of "Robot Wars" middleweight "Broadsword IV"

You're right, but I can live with 4x AGP.

Alex Balfour

 

[D. Corn]

Have you checked the temperature of the video card itself after one of
these crashes? I bought the 9700 Pro when it first came out and had the
same problems. The card was almost too hot to touch even though
everything else in the computer was fine. I ended up buying a PCI slot
cooler fan and installing it below the video card. When running games
the temperature of the exhaust air from the fan was noticeably warm. I
had no further crashes regardless of the drivers, etc.

If the ****ing card gets too hot, then ****ing ATI needs to
put a ****ing
fan on it. WTF, you mean they didn't test these things?

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

If the ****ing card gets too hot, then ****ing ATI needs to put a ****ing
fan on it. WTF, you mean they didn't test these things?

They DO put a fan on the cards. The problem is that the design of
PCI/AGP cards puts most of the hot parts on the bottom of the card when
mounted in a tower case. Unless you have very good ventilation around
the cards there is no way for the heat to get out.

 

[Todd]

You are displaying the mouth of a sewer rat. Please restrain yourself and act like a
gentleman!

 

[smoove]

The only thing I can see not being tested is a re-install of the crappy MS
OS. If everything worked until recently, did you install any new apps, have
you checked for spyware, did you run windows update?

 

[Alex Balfour]

In my case, the problem has existed since buying the PC. General system
stability is excellent. The only problem relates to running graphics
intensive applications like Google Earth and World Wind.

Alex Balfour

 

[JK]

Sounds like a problem with the motheboard's compatibility with your 9800
pro, or perhaps the chipset drivers for the motherboard. You did install
the chipset drivers? Anyway, there is no difference in performance between
AGP 4X and 8X, so don't worry about it.

JK