Erg. X1950XT/upgrade issues.

[Sayyid]

So, I've recently done a major overhaul/upgrade of my computer. Things are not working out as well as I'd hoped. One problem that's irking me the most: sitting in windows/internet and other non-stressful functions works fine, but when I start playing games my monitor switches to power-save mode and gives a message "Cannot display this video mode."

What are some possible causes of this? I'm thinking it's either:

1) Driver problems
2) Windows problems
3) Bad GPU???
4) Insufficient power (shouldn't be the case AFAIK -- PSU is 700 watt, I'm not overclocking yet, and it's on it's own PCI-E power cable dealie, unless there's something I'm missing)

Relevent System info:
Asus P5B-Deluxe
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6400 @ 2.13GHz
Monitor: Dell E173FP [NoDB] (D54285768KPL)
Saphire X1950XT GPU

Possible solutions? I'm trying to fix it without wiping my HDD and starting anew, if possible...

 

[fatcat]

Might sound like a stupid question but are you sure you power cable is well connected to you card ?

 

[rammedstein]

check the airflow over the card, they over heat really badly or is that the x1x00 series not the x1x50 series?

 

[mak1skav]

What resolutions and what refresh rates are you using in the games?

 

[ZozZoz]

yeah, perhaps the game tries to run the monitor at resoultion or refresh rate that its not capable of. That's when you see this kinda message.
Check the display properties, and driver properties, and make sure that games can't override default refresh rates.

 

[Gazz]

it could be either running too hot or the wrong video settings set by other program then Ati
I am running 2 1900s in cross fire since last april and had no prob till october november which is our summer and i live in a shack with a tin roof
first i had problems with mods for Oblivion and had to run a save game patch to stop the video stops and freezes
then i started getting what you explained totle lock ups and that signe in suspend mode i will say that my comp was running a bit hot
but I then did a check of everything even went back to xp pro i was running wp64 and resorted ATIs catalist settings and thats when everything got fixed
in the colour section i clicked on the re-activate colour control button and i havent had the problem yet cross my fingers
Gazza

 

[FeareX]

Maybe the resolution is to high or you have to much hertz wich your monitor cant display.

Try forcing 60Hz trough CCC (or ATT, just force it to 60Hz)

 

[Sayyid]

Maybe the resolution is to high or you have to much hertz wich your monitor cant display.

Try forcing 60Hz trough CCC (or ATT, just force it to 60Hz)

Tried that already. One of the first things I thought of.

Might sound like a stupid question but are you sure you power cable is well connected to you card ?

Quite. It's working a little bit, just crashing and failing and otherwise being frustrating. I've tried both of the PCI-E power cables from my PSU.

What resolutions and what refresh rates are you using in the games?

I've literally tried them all -- but I started with the same ones that I was using before on my old GPU, so I know the monitor is capable of them.

What brand and model PSU is it?

PSU is OCZ GameXStream 700.

 

[Sayyid]

OK, I realised that in the process of uninstalling/reinstalling a bunch of stuff to see if that was the issue, I hadn't reinstalled the latest drivers. I did so a couple minutes ago, and here's a more specific description of the problem:

The monitor now goes into sleep-mode when I start playing the game. Set the graphics all the way down and even reduced resolution to 1024xwhatever standard is.

The only thing I havn't done (that I can think of) is a complete-reinstall of windows -- just the "repair-install". Could that be an issue? I suppose I'll see tomorrow, as I have a new HD arriving then and plan to boot from it in the future.

 

[voodoo_papa]

what was you major overhaul?

if it involved upgrading video boards, did you uninstall previously installed drivers? Have you tried a third party program like DC Pro (driver cleaner pro) and removed all ATI and nVidia drivers and reboot to re-install the new ones?

how many games does this do this on? have you tried resetting the graphics on these games to the default? if you cant, have you tried uninstalling the game, deleting the folder and reinstalling it?

 

[Sayyid]

what was you major overhaul?

The only things I kept were the external stuff (monitor, speakers, etc) and internal harddrive -- and the hard drive is getting replaced tomorrow. It's more or less a new computer.

if it involved upgrading video boards, did you uninstall previously installed drivers? Have you tried a third party program like DC Pro (driver cleaner pro) and removed all ATI and nVidia drivers and reboot to re-install the new ones?

how many games does this do this on? have you tried resetting the graphics on these games to the default? if you cant, have you tried uninstalling the game, deleting the folder and reinstalling it?

I uninstalled the drivers, but only through Windows, not a third party program. If such is the issue, it will be resolved when I get the new disk in tomorrow.

I've tried on two games; one doesn't even get to the main page (Hitman: Blood Money), the other dies sometime after gameplay begins (Warrock beta). It seems to be a problem that manifests itself when the computing power is actually used -- but it shouldn't be an airflow/overheating problem, since I've been leaving my case open as long as I'm still working on the thing.

 

[Sayyid]

OK, so it took a little bit, but I've got things up on a new hard drive. I'm having the same problems. It can't be an issue with drivers not being uninstalled completely or a windows issue: everything is fresh now, everything's flawless except for the graphics when I try to run games. Grumble. Bad card, bad PSU, or is it more than just me that's having problem with their drivers? Any possible fixes aside returning and buying a different card?

EDIT, since topping threads is sleazy: Added some other games, and they're working fine. I'm really confused now. Doom3 works flawlessly on max settings. Hitman: Blood Money crashes out when it hits the main screen, if it gets there. Could I be having DirectX problems? 'Tis the next thing to test, I suppose. Anyone have ideas for what could be causing the problem -- it shouldn't be a hardware problem if I can get some things to work, the way I see it.