Screen/Computer problems after cooling upgrade

max1pc · Jul 2, 2007, 05:12 AM

Hey everyone,
After hours upon hours of trying to find a solution, I’m desperate for help/ideas! PLEASE HELP !!

Recently I purchased and installed 2 upgrades on my computer, a new HD (500GB WD SATA) and thermaltake tide water cooling for my ATI Radeon X800XT card.

My system had 2 HD, an 80gb sata and a 200gb ide and with the upgrade, I decided to swap the 200gb for the 500gb sata inside the system. The 200gb would be used via USB external enclosure.

Firstly, I decided to place the IDE HD into the external enclosure and then install the tidewater cooling. I had to take out one of the fans to do this (the fan was a PCI cooling fan) however this shouldn't be a problem since the fan was being replaced by watercooling. After setting the hardware up, I eagerly loaded windows and decided to run the game FEAR and see if my card would stay at a cool temperature. Previously, I would receive messages from the catalyst control center that the card was running above safe temperatures and would slow the speed down hence why I decided to purchase the watercooling.

Anyhow, I tried loading the game which was installed on the IDE external HD. I loaded the in-game graphics testing and while it began to play, half way into the test the screen “turned off” as in the monitor was still working just as if the monitor was not connected to the computer. The computer was still on and seemed to be working, however the monitor never turned back on and nothing on the system would respond (ctrl+alt+del wouldn’t reboot system). I had to power down the system manually.

I decided that maybe this was the fault of having the IDE HD in an external USB enclosure therefore I decided to install in the new 500GB SATA HD and reinstall fear on to the disk. After installing, I tested the game and the same problem occurs. Screen goes blank as if the DVI cable was not connected to the computer (and yes I tried using a VGA cable as well) and as if the computer stopped responding. (have to manually power it off)

I had the newest ATI drivers installed (clean install using driver cleaner) and tried reinstalling them and then tried the WarCat drivers. The same problem keeps occurring….

The system is fully updated (Windows XP pro fully updated) and the sound drivers/Bios/ect are up 2 date. All reinstalls/upgrades are done clean using driver cleaner).

My system is
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2
Pentium 4 3.4 GHz
2GB DDR2 Ram
Radeon X800 XT 256MB
Sound blaster audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro
DVD-Rom and a DVD-Burner
460W Power Supply

I tried turning the Fastwrites on and off with no help. This problem only occurs in game and windows is working fine with normal resolution/refresh rate. Also, when the monitor goes blank, I can sometimes hear low fuzzy noises coming from the speakers

Please help me

***temeteus82*** · Jul 2, 2007, 06:33 AM

can you post more in-depth specs about your motherboard. So I we would know what chipset is in use for USB, SATA and PATA controllers.

max1pc · Jul 2, 2007, 07:15 AM

Dell motherboard XPS Gen 3 System so it's a Dell motherboard lol

I used the ATI traytool and tried running the test...then even playing the game
Temp stays between 50-53C
Here is the weird part...when playing the game, the same problem occurs but I can actually continue to play. I hear the bullets, walking ect even though the screen is black and has the monitor logo flying on it as if the monitor was not connected to the PC..Additionally, I can click esc and hear the main menu of the game popup! Then I can get out of the game by CTRL+ALT+DEL and end task the game, returning into windows....

whats going on?

***temeteus82*** · Jul 2, 2007, 07:25 AM

hard to say what the problem might be. Have you tried to use different power connectors that isn't in the same cable than the other hard drives power connector is....

max1pc · Jul 2, 2007, 07:36 AM

Yes

Since the game does run and the display randomly turns off in the game, is it a software or hardware issue?

***temeteus82*** · Jul 2, 2007, 08:01 AM

ok, it's hard to tell. It might be PSU related since windows works just fine and don't have any graphical corruption. But when you run the game you have this issue.

max1pc · Jul 2, 2007, 08:30 AM

any suggestions?

***temeteus82*** · Jul 2, 2007, 08:32 AM

well if you can install software that monitors PSU's voltage and log's it to a file then you could see when you run the game if the voltage drops too low.

max1pc · Jul 2, 2007, 12:00 PM

well I tried some software and none of it can monitor my PSU voltage since it needs sensors that are not recongnized by my motherboard. So I did the next best thing: I disconnected almost anything that can drain power and tried to test it this way. No luck as the screen goes blank as if the DVI cable was not connected to the computer.

My motherboard is

Intel(R) 925X Express Chipset family

I/O Controller: Intel(R) 82801FR I/O controller hub (ICH6R)

Please help guys...

max1pc · Jul 2, 2007, 12:59 PM

Well I just took out the tidewater cooling system and replaced the original fan on the card....same problem occurs so it must be a driver's issue or something

Please PLEASE someone help me

***temeteus82*** · Jul 2, 2007, 01:33 PM

So you are using CAT 7.6? so try some earlier CAT or some moded drivers. btw. what are the temps on your card?

max1pc · Jul 2, 2007, 02:05 PM

the temp with the watercooling were between 40-43 and 50 the few minutes i could play fear

with the original cooler, it is at 55C now....
i can't understand how I never had this issue, i install a watercooling system and this problem begins to occur...then i revert back to everything like it was and the problem continues...

I've tried using WarCat and older Cat Drivers such as 7.3 and 6.12
Not sure what else can be causing it....

max1pc · Jul 13, 2007, 06:56 AM

can anyone PLZ help?

Dyre Straits · Jul 13, 2007, 01:43 PM

What kind of and how much Thermal Compound are you using on the GPU heatsink?