ATI 9800 Pro crashing

CowDoc · Feb 29, 2004, 05:08 PM

Just joined up, and I hope someone here can help.
I had (yes, had) an ATI 9800 pro that I fried by damaging a transistor on the board. It used to work perfect with my system. So, I placed in a 7500 temporarily until the new 9800 pro came in. I kept the same driver (Cat 3.9). When I put the new card in, I also updated to the newest (at that time the cat 4.1) driver. I could play GTA:VC o.k., but when I went to play Call of Duty, the game would crash to the desktop within 3 minutes, and leave the desktop with a funny discoloration, like the contrast was turned way up. The same started happening when I played Unreal Tournament. I could play Halo for hours without a problem with the new card at first, but now [i]that[i/] game is starting to crash.
I tried the Cat drivers 3.7, 3.9, 3.10, 4.1 and the newest 4.2 all from Omega.
I have VPU recover off, fast writes off, not overclocking.
I can run 3DMark2001 and 2003 w/o a problem.
I have scoured the net for Radeon/Call of Duty problems, and have not found anything new.
I am running an nForce 2 MB, but I had had no previous problems with my first card.
All drivers are updated, virus scan clean.
Any thoughts? I greatly appreciate your replies!

Sys Specs
ASUS A7N8X delx 2.0
AMD 3000xp running at 39C full load
Saphire 9800 pro
1 GB Corsair XMS (Dual Chan. 512)
420W Antec PSU
SB Audigy
WD 40GB HD 7200rpm
Plextor cd/rw

TwistedMetal · Feb 29, 2004, 05:14 PM

Make sure you have the latest nforce 2 chipset drivers.

Try uninstalling the drivers this way:

Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, ATI Display Driver, Select All, Ok, and DO NOT RESTART!

Run Driver Cleaner (http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner), Select ATI, Clean, and THEN RESTART!

Now install the new drivers and reboot when it asks you to. I would install Omega 2.5.22 (Cat 4.2)

CowDoc · Feb 29, 2004, 05:17 PM

Thanks twisted...sorry, I forgot to write in that I already did that (for each driver install). I ran CAB and Driver cleaner.

toddsmack2k · Feb 29, 2004, 05:50 PM

Either try reinstalling the games or a fresh OS install.

CowDoc · Feb 29, 2004, 06:17 PM

I may try a fresh OS(XP) install. I just went and tried running 3DMark2003, at now that keeps crashing on "Rag Troll" every time.
If the OS doesn't work, then I'm sending the card back....I'm running out of ideas!
Thanks guys!

Mr. Sinister · Mar 1, 2004, 12:35 PM

CowDoc,

Just read your post and I've had EXACTLY the same issue on my 9600pro (no o/c) with CoD, even down to the ultra brightness problem (which blew a pixel on my screen). I would freeze all the time or go back to the desktop showing the CoDdsp.exe error message My PC specs are v. similar to your own - mobo, cpu XP pro, all latest drivers etc.

I found that perseverence was the key to cracking this one. I was running cat 3.9 and went all the way from 3.5 to 4.1, just uninstalling from control panel and then running the ATI driver install from a temp directory. With each install the same problem would eventually re-occur, until I did the following:

Unistalled the ATI drivers and rebooted

Booted the PC into BIOS and turned off fastwrites and x8 AGP

rebooted the PC to desktop and cancelled the auto VGA driver install.

Installed CAT 3.10 drivers rebooting as required.

Turned off VPU recover in ATI setup screen.

rebooted!

Once back into the desktop, I went into CoD and in settings, clicked on optimal system performance. This will set the screen at 1024 x 768. I then played the game and it didn't crash, so I set the CoD game graphics parameters one at a time until I had everything on max (still no crashes). I then turned on x8 AGP, and on the advise of others, fastwrites, but NOT vpu recover.

I have kept the game resolution on 1024 x 768 and to this day haven't had a problem.

I really hope this helps, coz I've just registered in order to tell you this, as I couldn't believe someone else had the bright screen thing!

Good luck!!!

The_Neon_Cowboy · Mar 1, 2004, 01:33 PM

easy youi need to reinstall or run the games in via thier safe mode shortcut. so the game can redect the new video card and driver!

CowDoc · Mar 1, 2004, 10:43 PM

thanks again guys!
esp. Sinister...I've turned off all those things except 8X AGP, but I'll try 3.10 again and let you know.
@Cowboy, I'll try safe mode in the game too...I'll try anything right about now.
I'll let you guys know what happens!

akaskip123 · Mar 5, 2004, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by CowDoc
thanks again guys!
esp. Sinister...I've turned off all those things except 8X AGP, but I'll try 3.10 again and let you know.
@Cowboy, I'll try safe mode in the game too...I'll try anything right about now.
I'll let you guys know what happens!

Did this work for you. I have exactly the same problem. I bet it is related to Nforce 2 boards and ATI cards. I will try the 3.10 drivers and see if this works. I have had a call open for the last 10 days with Activision. They have no clue what the problem is, the last suggestion was a re-install of XP. That would have sucked just to have the same problem back.

GutterPunk · Mar 5, 2004, 08:48 PM

Nforce boards dont like ATI cards, I know a friend who had this problem... but w/ a problem bout games crashing to the desktop... check your fragmentation on your hard drive... that solved a problem like this before

CowDoc · Mar 5, 2004, 10:09 PM

I haven't had a chance to reinstall XP or goof more with the drivers....I will defrag my drive, disatropy, but it's only ~3% fragmented, but I'll do it. Strange thing is, my first 9800 pro worked just fine....now everything is screwy. I'll have to to screw around tomorrow. If I have any breakthroughs I'll let you guys know. Thanks again for the replies!

Necrosis · Mar 5, 2004, 11:09 PM

I had the first revision 97KPro working flawlessly /w first rev. A7N8X. If that will work there is no reason why your combo. shouldn't.

I do have a question though have you updated your bios recently? If so a coworker of mine updated to the 1007 bios & had similar issues to what you were having. However, he's running a Visiontek 4600...he went back to 1006 problems were gone.

akaskip123 · Mar 6, 2004, 05:09 AM

I used the driver cleaner from this website and installed the 3.10 drivers. It still crashes to desktop. I did already defrag my drives twice, so I know that's not the problem. Here's my specs:

AMD xp2700 2.2gig
Epox RD8A Nforce 2 chipset
512 pc2700
Sapphire 9500
WD 80gig
IBM 30gig
Audigy and onboard AC97(Uninstalled the Audigy for testing of this issue)
LiteOn DVD ROM
LiteOn DVD Burner 8/4/12 40x CD burning
Logitech Wireless Mouse & Keyboard
Logitech Wingman gamepad
nostromo n52(just got it, although not much use when game crashes).
Wind Tunnel Box with 6 fans outside. Lots of Air!

Anyone else have any idea's how to notify ATI of this problem without getting charged 1.25 a min for support. They really suck at support of thier drivers.

GutterPunk · Mar 6, 2004, 05:15 PM

buy a 9800 XT replace it w/ 9800 broken take back 9800xt box w/ broken 9800 and be happy

j/k...

Sorry akaskip i never saw ur update on this, I will look a little more into this and try to find an answer

Zebra · Mar 6, 2004, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by disastropy
Nforce boards dont like ATI cards

Now that is a blatantly false statement! I've had three different ATI cards installed in my Nforce2 board with no glitches whatsoever. There was a Nvidia GF4 card in there before the ATI even.

GutterPunk · Mar 6, 2004, 08:04 PM

your saying its completely false, Drakes 9800 was completely regjected by his nforce board....

WildChild · Mar 6, 2004, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Zebra
Now that is a blatantly false statement! I've had three different ATI cards installed in my Nforce2 board with no glitches whatsoever. There was a Nvidia GF4 card in there before the ATI even.

Use the dvi instead of analog and see if thats true
I have tested numerous boards and with 3 different ATI cards with the DVI output and there are glitches......nforce is a NVIDIA based chipset hense it is somewhat tailored to their cards.

CowDoc · Mar 6, 2004, 09:45 PM

My first 9800 pro was fine on my nForce 2 board.

well, I've done everything written here. I have re-reinstalled the Cat 4.2 (after a safe-mode cab+driver clean), I have reinstalled XP, I have de-fragged, I upped my AGP voltage to 1.6 from 1.5, I have fast writes off, VPU recover off, not overclocking. This ate up most of my day. The only thing I haven't done is try the Cat 3.10 (which for some reason will not download here at DH, -I keep getting an 85KB file insterad of the driver)

So...do I 1)buy a new motherboard or, 2) get an nVidia card?
I'm plum out of ideas.

I can still play Halo for hours,... today I downloaded the FarCry demo...and that's crashing too (actually rebooting my system!).

I appreciate all the previous help you guys have been giving, maybe I'll just rob a bank and build a new AMD FX-51 system with a Via chipset MoBo!

akaskip123 · Mar 6, 2004, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by CowDoc
My first 9800 pro was fine on my nForce 2 board.

well, I've done everything written here. I have re-reinstalled the Cat 4.2 (after a safe-mode cab+driver clean), I have reinstalled XP, I have de-fragged, I upped my AGP voltage to 1.6 from 1.5, I have fast writes off, VPU recover off, not overclocking. This ate up most of my day. The only thing I haven't done is try the Cat 3.10 (which for some reason will not download here at DH, -I keep getting an 85KB file insterad of the driver)

So...do I 1)buy a new motherboard or, 2) get an nVidia card?
I'm plum out of ideas.

I can still play Halo for hours,... today I downloaded the FarCry demo...and that's crashing too (actually rebooting my system!).

I appreciate all the previous help you guys have been giving, maybe I'll just rob a bank and build a new AMD FX-51 system with a Via chipset MoBo!

I still need to find an answer, although I was told to reinstall XP by activision, but it appears that does not work either. I wonder if it is a glich in some boards and not others, good old russian roullet. Damn hardware, I had a previous problem with MSI motherboard and USB dropouts with a VIA chipset. Never got a fix for it. Does anyone know if Call of Duty is Open GL or not?

studbagel9 · Mar 7, 2004, 12:58 AM

Call of Duty is OpenGL, and Halo is D3D, so I'm thinking it may be an OpenGL specific problem? Try running Half-Life in both OpenGL and Direct3d and see if either crash, if opengl crashes and d3d doesn't then you know that it's probably an opengl specific problem eh? I don't know how to remedy that though. I have an nforce chipset and a r98kPro as well, no problems with any of the games people have been ahving problems with. Did you try what neon said about reinstalling the games? I remember when I switched from my geforce4 ti4200 a lot of my games needed to be reinstalled to reinitialize them or whatever. Anyway, it made my problems go away.

Zebra · Mar 7, 2004, 01:41 AM

It would sound like you 'new' card may be bad, if it is still crashing with a clean install of XP and all your drivers.

As for the DVI not working when installed on an Nforce2 board, I cannot test that claim, and will have to defer to your statement. Though, have you brought it to Nvidia's attention?

CowDoc · Mar 7, 2004, 11:59 AM

I uninstalled and reinstalled CoD and Halo.
I'll dust off my old copy of half life and give it a go.
I'm also bringing the card and CoD to a friends house, he has the exact same setup as myself...so we'll see what happens. I'll let you guys know whats up!

studbagel9 · Mar 7, 2004, 12:40 PM

You know, when I got a geforce3 ti500 for my old computer, it would crash everytime like a couple seconds into the game every single time. I took it to a friends house and put it in his computer, everything worked fine. So I took it back and got a radeon 8500 and it worked fine in my computer. I learned later that my friend had a PSU that was about 200 watts bigger than mine. So, if you haven't checked that off, maybe try a bigger PSU?

GutterPunk · Mar 7, 2004, 12:43 PM

i heard if you move COD to D3D then it works, i heard of this being done w/ cats 3.1 and 3.4 tho... maybe u are right bout the open gl being the problem who knows, I have ran acrossed 70 pages on forums of this problem dating back to 9500 and 9600 crashes... still no solution lol that ive found just small fixes that do the trick for some but not others

studbagel9 · Mar 7, 2004, 12:53 PM

Edit my last post, you've got a 420 watt PSU, I doubt that's the problem

CowDoc · Mar 7, 2004, 02:02 PM

Well, I just figured out my problem...for now. I turned my AGP back to 4X in the BIOS and SmartGart....and now CoD is working. I can't understand why, but it's working. I only hope this doesn't effect the quality of my other games (which it shouldn't).
If this stays stable, I'll let you know.

Can you turn CoD over to run off D3D?

Necrosis · Mar 7, 2004, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by CowDoc
Well, I just figured out my problem...for now. I turned my AGP back to 4X in the BIOS and SmartGart....and now CoD is working. I can't understand why, but it's working. I only hope this doesn't effect the quality of my other games (which it shouldn't).
If this stays stable, I'll let you know.

Can you turn CoD over to run off D3D?

Cowdoc which bios version are you running?