Video Card Problems.

hekoman · Aug 2, 2003, 01:36 AM

First off here is my computer:

Athlon XP 2400 @ (12 x 166)
Soyo KT400 Ultra Platinum
512MB Crucial DDR2700
Radeon 9500Pro
Enermax 350W PSU
WD 80GB Special Edition

I have had this computer for about a year now. Well minus the video card, I got it at Christmas last year. This computer used to be stable as a rock, I could game for hours on end and it would work just fine. For a while I got into seeing how high I could bench the my computer, mainly in 3DMark2K1. I would overclock my video card pretty high and even got to the point I had to raise the voltage on it to keep it running well in 3D applications. Well I really don't care about that anymore and I have put everything back to stock, well except for the processor, and now when I try to bring down the voltage on my video card it locks up in all 3D application within seconds of starting, and if I put it back at the voltage I was running it at, it will run for about 5-10 minutes then lock up. The whole computer runs fine when it is not doing 3D rendering, and I am just like surfing the web and such but I can't get it stable in 3d applications.

I really thing now that I have just royally ****** my card and I will probably have to replace it. I really don't like leaving the thing on higher than spec voltage anymore and I would apprecaite any suggestons that anyone has. I am really thinking about getting a new heatsink for it and putting on some ramsinks (I know I should have the instant I started overclocking the thing but I was stupid then), but I would like to hear any suggestions that anyone may have.

Vengeance · Aug 2, 2003, 02:02 AM

First welcome to DH

Theres a lot of smart guys here that can help you out.

I dont know a whole lot about thses problems your having, So I'm not going to try to sound like I do!
But you say you have a 9500 Pro, So you had to have flashed the bios to be able to overclock it.
Have you tried flashing it back with your old bios?
My first Radeon was a 9500 Pro and I flashed my bios so I could overclock!
Just by going up 10% on my core and memory I would get artifacts.
And then it got to the point where I would get them at stock speeds running newer games with the details turned up.
And the last straw was my Anti Aliasing quit working. So I tried to reflash my card but my floopy disk with my bios on it wouldnt run

So I went and got me a new 9700 Pro

But if you havent tried your old Bios, Maybe that would help

hekoman · Aug 2, 2003, 07:37 AM

The first thing I was going to do was reflash it with the old bios but I cannot find the disk that I backed it up on, and it has just been so long since I did it that I probably threw it away or something. And I couldn't find the original bios online either so I am probably just going to go and but a new card.

DooMSpeeD · Sep 22, 2003, 06:15 PM

Hey,

I dont' know if you resolved your prob, but I had the same prob as you (return to desktop, lock-ups, reboots in every 3d Games in less than 15min) with my Radeon 9500 Pro on a ASUS A7V8X. I've tried everything set AGP to 1.7v, add more voltage to Vcore, bought a new heatsink til I broked my Radeon and got it RMA'd. Then I bought an Abit NF7-S, tested my RAM on Memtest86 got errors with it, RMA'd it too. Bought new RAM tested it, didn't get any errors with it. I got back my RMA'd Radeon 9500 Pro and RMA'd RAM the same day. Tested my RAMs in dual channel didn't get any errors. Finally, the moment of truth!

DANG! I had the same prob again and I was like WT*!, I then set my AGP voltage to 1.7v and my vcore to 1.75v, nothing helped. After that, I've red on some forums that, it was a memory related problem. I couldn't believed it, I tested my RAM on Memtest86 and my PC stability with Prime95 with no errors. Just for fun, I set back my Vcore at 1.65v, AGP to 1.5v and added more voltage to my RAMs (2.8v). I was able to play 3D games for an hour til it rebooted again. I was like "hey, it's kinda working!" after that I relaxed my RAMs (cas3-11-3-3) and I've never had a crash since then. I don't know if the video card demands more on my PC, but with my AIW Radeon 32MB I didnt get any of these prob even at cas2.5-6-2-2.

Specs now are:

AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (12x166)
Abit NF7-S rev2.0 bios 18
Antec 350W
Radeon 9500 Pro
2xCrucial 512MB PC2700 at 2.8V (11-3-3-cas3)
ThermalRight SLK-800U with Tornado 80mm idle-32c load-39c

hekoman · Sep 23, 2003, 12:27 AM

I will have to try that....

I really never did get it resolved. I upgraded to XP and it solved half of the problem. Now it only does it on OpenGL games which I think is just really weird, but whatever, off to try it right now.....

Sharkims · Sep 23, 2003, 01:04 AM

Go to: http://www.omegacorner.com/

Reflash the card to the stock bios. If that dosen't help fix it, I would consider a new card. Try and hunt down a Sapphire 9500 Non Pro, Red PCB-L mem. If you can find that you can soft mod to an 9700np, and maybe even OC to a 9700PRO with a new heatsink

Vengeance · Sep 23, 2003, 03:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sharkims
Go to: http://www.omegacorner.com/

Reflash the card to the stock bios. If that dosen't help fix it, I would consider a new card. Try and hunt down a Sapphire 9500 Non Pro, Red PCB-L mem. If you can find that you can soft mod to an 9700np, and maybe even OC to a 9700PRO with a new heatsink

If you can swing the money just get you a 9700 Pro like I did.
Then you dont have to worry about it. You can OC it if you want too.
Nothing to flash and worry about. And you should be able to find 9700 Pro's kinda cheap online now