Persistent driver? maybe? issue, please help

orangeish · Oct 9, 2007, 11:07 PM

I'm having a really annoying, persistent problem with my Radeon X1300 Pro, and 9500 Pro. I've been wrestling with this for two weeks now; it's driving me insane. Whenever I try anything graphics intensive the computer crashes. Running art programs does it often. Sometimes the lockup will happen when I'm just in Windows, not doing anything but browsing the internet. However, running a game triggers it every single time. I've been using Half-Life 2 to test the effects of my fixes; the game usually crashes within five seconds of loading the main menu.
What happens is, the VPU locks up. Sometimes ATI software will pop up a 'VPU has stopped responding and was reset' message, but most often the computer becomes unresponsive and nothing can be done. The primary monitor's screen blanks (secondary shows distortion) and displays OUT OF SYNC message. A hard reset is then necessary.
This started happening immediately after I installed Catalyst 7.9 drivers. No hardware or software changes have been made in the past two-three months. Before updating drivers, the system was perfectly stable.

System specifications:
EPoX EP-8HMMI-A
Athlon64 3200+
1GB RAM
Radeon X1300 Pro, 256MB, AGP
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
WinXP Pro SP2, DirectX 9.0C, all other drivers up to date, including the Via chipset stuff.

I'm aware that drivers past 7.7 should not be used with AGP cards. Right now I've settled on 7.5, though the version doesn't seem to make any difference.. in any case, the 7.9 release notes included a warning that X1050 owners should stay with 7.7 version. Mine isn't an X1050, so I foolishly thought I'd be okay. Thanks ATI! Way to go!

Attempted fixes:
Uninstalling 7.9 drivers (DriverCleaner and CCleaner used) and installing older ones, even those current when card was brand new
Tweaking AGP settings in BIOS and Catalyst Control Center, per ATI tech support recommendations
Checking for hardware issues, including memory errors
Running with one or the other monitor (usually I use two on the same card)
Checking for BIOS updates
Checking for overheating; VPU locks up at about 50 degrees C
Troubleshooting DirectX, no problems there
Formatting hard drive and reinstalling Windows out of desperation
Replacing power supply per ATI tech support reccomendation (now using 400W unit, 16A on +12V rail; card supposedly draws ~11A at full load)
Finally, tonight, removing the card and replacing it with a known-good 9500 Pro

Nothing's helped. I'm completely at a loss and cannot afford a new card just now. I've had problems with ATI before - including a heatsink falling off a new, ATI-branded 9800 Pro a week after installation - but this is ridiculous; it seems the newest drivers simply broke my card.
Perhaps the ATI drivers above 7.0 or something force a firmware upgrade that's killing my system? I haven't read anything about recent updates though, and in any case, I'm not sure how I could use new drivers after reverting to an older version. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Dyre Straits · Oct 10, 2007, 02:38 AM

FWIW, when I saw the 'VIA stuff' in your post, I knew exactly the frustration you're having. There's just 'something' about putting an ATI card and VIA together that creates a big headache. I won't even consider buying...or receiving for free!...a motherboard with a VIA chipset. Pure Intel is great and I'm having good success with nVidia chipsets. But, I'd almost bet the problem you're having is a conflict related to that "VIA stuff".

You might try rolling back the VIA drivers to an earlier version in your efforts to find a solution.

Good luck! I think you'll need it.

orangeish · Oct 10, 2007, 04:00 PM

Heh, I've never had a problem like this before. I've used VIA mobos with ATI cards for a few years, and slapping in the 4-in-1 drivers always fixed any strange issues that came up. Guess there's a first time for everything though, including me building an Intel/NVidia system, but that's beside the point.

I can't imagine that a new graphics driver could introduce a hardware fault. Maybe if the card overheated very badly some connection might be damaged..but VPU temperatures are fine.

Anyway thanks for your suggestion. Could well be the Catalysts conflicting with VIA crap. I'll try cleaning them out today.

Fodder · Oct 10, 2007, 05:17 PM

I used to have these VPU recover errors (if were talking about the same thing) in HL2 all the time, play for five min then lockup. I simply disabled VPU recover reporting in the catalyst menu, worked like a charm after. But again i only had the trouble persistently in source based games, wasn't playing much else at the time.

orangeish · Oct 11, 2007, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fodder

I used to have these VPU recover errors (if were talking about the same thing) in HL2 all the time, play for five min then lockup. I simply disabled VPU recover reporting in the catalyst menu, worked like a charm after. But again i only had the trouble persistently in source based games, wasn't playing much else at the time.

Nah, it seems to be anything that uses 3d acceleration. I wonder how it'd handle a 3d screensaver, heh.

And an update, playing with the Via drivers didn't help at all. Without them installed, games crash. With old version of 4-in-1s games crash. With Hyperion Pro drivers installed...crash.

Damn it all. I guess my only option is to buy an NVidia card.

orangeish · Oct 12, 2007, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fodder

I simply disabled VPU recover

I didn't try this right away because it seemed like a completely different problem. I mean..mine affected all games and sometimes standard windows applications, and the crashes happened almost immediately. Yesterday I installed the 7.10 drivers, tried them, crash. Disabled VPU recover...and now everything runs beautifully.

Thanks for posting that, I wish I'd tried it earlier.

Oct 9, 2007, 11:07 PM	#1
orangeish DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 7 Rep Power: 0	Persistent driver? maybe? issue, please help I'm having a really annoying, persistent problem with my Radeon X1300 Pro, and 9500 Pro. I've been wrestling with this for two weeks now; it's driving me insane. Whenever I try anything graphics intensive the computer crashes. Running art programs does it often. Sometimes the lockup will happen when I'm just in Windows, not doing anything but browsing the internet. However, running a game triggers it every single time. I've been using Half-Life 2 to test the effects of my fixes; the game usually crashes within five seconds of loading the main menu. What happens is, the VPU locks up. Sometimes ATI software will pop up a 'VPU has stopped responding and was reset' message, but most often the computer becomes unresponsive and nothing can be done. The primary monitor's screen blanks (secondary shows distortion) and displays OUT OF SYNC message. A hard reset is then necessary. This started happening immediately after I installed Catalyst 7.9 drivers. No hardware or software changes have been made in the past two-three months. Before updating drivers, the system was perfectly stable. System specifications: EPoX EP-8HMMI-A Athlon64 3200+ 1GB RAM Radeon X1300 Pro, 256MB, AGP Turtle Beach Santa Cruz WinXP Pro SP2, DirectX 9.0C, all other drivers up to date, including the Via chipset stuff. I'm aware that drivers past 7.7 should not be used with AGP cards. Right now I've settled on 7.5, though the version doesn't seem to make any difference.. in any case, the 7.9 release notes included a warning that X1050 owners should stay with 7.7 version. Mine isn't an X1050, so I foolishly thought I'd be okay. Thanks ATI! Way to go! Attempted fixes: Uninstalling 7.9 drivers (DriverCleaner and CCleaner used) and installing older ones, even those current when card was brand new Tweaking AGP settings in BIOS and Catalyst Control Center, per ATI tech support recommendations Checking for hardware issues, including memory errors Running with one or the other monitor (usually I use two on the same card) Checking for BIOS updates Checking for overheating; VPU locks up at about 50 degrees C Troubleshooting DirectX, no problems there Formatting hard drive and reinstalling Windows out of desperation Replacing power supply per ATI tech support reccomendation (now using 400W unit, 16A on +12V rail; card supposedly draws ~11A at full load) Finally, tonight, removing the card and replacing it with a known-good 9500 Pro Nothing's helped. I'm completely at a loss and cannot afford a new card just now. I've had problems with ATI before - including a heatsink falling off a new, ATI-branded 9800 Pro a week after installation - but this is ridiculous; it seems the newest drivers simply broke my card. Perhaps the ATI drivers above 7.0 or something force a firmware upgrade that's killing my system? I haven't read anything about recent updates though, and in any case, I'm not sure how I could use new drivers after reverting to an older version. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Last edited by orangeish; Oct 10, 2007 at 12:19 AM.

Oct 10, 2007, 04:00 PM	#3
orangeish DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 7 Rep Power: 0	Heh, I've never had a problem like this before. I've used VIA mobos with ATI cards for a few years, and slapping in the 4-in-1 drivers always fixed any strange issues that came up. Guess there's a first time for everything though, including me building an Intel/NVidia system, but that's beside the point. I can't imagine that a new graphics driver could introduce a hardware fault. Maybe if the card overheated very badly some connection might be damaged..but VPU temperatures are fine. Anyway thanks for your suggestion. Could well be the Catalysts conflicting with VIA crap. I'll try cleaning them out today.

Oct 10, 2007, 05:17 PM	#4
Fodder DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 7 Rep Power: 0	I used to have these VPU recover errors (if were talking about the same thing) in HL2 all the time, play for five min then lockup. I simply disabled VPU recover reporting in the catalyst menu, worked like a charm after. But again i only had the trouble persistently in source based games, wasn't playing much else at the time.