New 7.11 ruined my graphics card?

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W

webfusion

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Dec 10, 2007
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Hi Guys

P5W DH Deluxe
2gb Geli Ram
HIS 1950 Pro
Vista Premium

I built my PC about 11 months ago and it has been fairly trouble-free, I did start having a problem with battlefield 2, where I could play for 30 minutes and then it would suddenly freeze (all other games are fine, I could run them for hours without any problems). Scanning certain forums some people were saying upgrade the drivers to the latest version.

So I downloaded the latest ATI 7.11 catalyst, followed the correct procedure like I always do installing drivers, it came to the end and said reboot, so I did, I went out of the room for a bit and when I came back the screen was blank, I hit space etc to try and wake it up but nothing, so I rebooted.

When I re-booted I received one long beep and 3 short beeps, the screen was totally blank from the start, I saw no post, no nothing, the monitor went into standby mode. I waited and windows did boot-up ok and I typed in my password etc, so I was in windows but couldn’t see anything, since then I had go to a friends house and use he's apple to scan the internet for answers, I have tried everything I possible could to solve this. There’s not much you can do if you have no display from the very start, no post, no access to bios, nothing.

In the end I have had to go and buy another cheap nvidia graphics card and put that into the pci-e slot, this time no beeps and everything worked fine, I deleted the present ATI drivers, cleaned out everything, then I put back in my ATI 1950 pro card assuming I would then boot-up and install my older reliable drivers 7.9, but nope I have again received the same beeps, so now I am assuming these drivers have some how cocked up my graphics card.

I have searched everywhere on the net for an answer to the one long beep 3 short and everything points to a Display adapter error (EGA/VGA) but no one offers a solution to it.


Great isn’t it, I try to make things better by updating things and end up with a ruined video card and a 24hours of frustration :fou:

So can anyone help in any way with this problem?

Thanks for any response
 
W

webfusion

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Dec 10, 2007
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Hi

The only way to get it into safe mode was when I used the new nvidia card, this was the only way I could see anything. I did then remove the 7.11 drivers and re-booted, ran driver cleaner to make sure everything was removed, after this I assumed my ATI card would now work, so I fitted that back in and once again received the 1 long beep followed by the 3 short beeps and absolutely no display.

I have continued to search for an answer and have found that some nvidia users installing their latest vista drivers are also experiencing a blank screen (http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=33671). I'm really starting to believe that my ATI card is dead and I now have to settle with a cheap £35 nvidia card in my new system...

My advice is if your system is running fine, don't bother installing any new drivers
 
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webfusion

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Thanks

That is very similar, shame the guy never mentioned how he fixed it or if he did fix it. Seems the 1 long beep 3 short means some sort of failure of the display adapter, but there are no solutions on how to fix it.

All I know is for 11 months my pc has been stable, last night I install the new 7.11 drivers and my graphics card seems to be broken, I have also tried a system restore to the point before the 7.11 install, but still I receive the beeps... :(
 
Wolfshadw

Wolfshadw

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This site states that the beep code you're getting could be a RAM problem (depending on they type of BIOS you're running.

I would recommend re-installing the cheapo NVidia card (with current drivers) and testing your memory with Memtest86 as well as your Power Supply for proper voltage outputs.

-Wolf sends
 
cfvh600

cfvh600

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The drivers wouldn't mess up your graphics card.It is just software running in your OS and can't physically change anything on your graphics card.
 
W

webfusion

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Well that exactly what I thought, that's why I can't understand it. But if everything runs smooth for 11 months and you change the graphics drivers and you instantly start receiving beeps, I can't think what else has caused these problems?? because it does really seems the card is finished...

you checked the nvidia forums link, seems they are having similar problems and for quite some time, but no one mentions any beeps just the screen going blank

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=33671

Just a quick question, if I have the nvidia card in can I install a ati graphics driver? or would that cause problems?
 
frozenlead

frozenlead

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no, without ati hardware present, the drivers won't install, so you can't under an nvidia card.

i say that you should flash your bios, put back in the ati card, and see what happens. you may need to re-install windows.

try going to a different bios version, if you can (upward, preferably)

your memory should be fine. if you change the gpu and the problem occurs, the gpu is to blame, not the memory.
unless there's something really odd going on.
 
trooper1947

trooper1947

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You sure you did'nt bump something when ya put that card in at first ? I never saw drivers screw up a video card physically . I guy brought in a sysytem to us ... said after installing his video card his unit would not boot .... he knocked a ram chip loose .... we first checked and they seemed tight ... but no boot .... so we took all of them out and put em back in and walaaaa . Sounds like a ram problem ... but maybe I'm wrong . And is the video card seated correctly and tight in the slot ? Some just are hard as heck to get the whole way down and locked in correctly . Change slots also and make sure it's good and tight !
 
martyjs

martyjs

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Here's the problem

Award BIOS Beep Codes
Award BIOS uses beeps of varying duration. A long beep will typically last for 2 seconds while a short beep will last only 1 second. Award BIOS also uses beeps of different frequency to indicate critical errors. If an Award BIOS detects that the CPU is overheating it may play a high pitched repeating beep while the computer is running.

BEEP CODE MEANING POSSIBLE CAUSE
1 Long, 2 Short Video adapter Bad video adapter
Repeating (Endless loop) Memory error Bad memory or bad connection
1 Long, 3 Short Video adapter failure Bad video adapter or memory
High freq. beeps (while running) CPU is overheating CPU fan failure
Repeating High, Low beeps CPU failure Bad processor

May have been on the way out :(
 
Zorg

Zorg

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Right, those beeps are POST beeps they have absolutely nothing to do with anything that's on the HD. They are coming from the BIOS and you would get them even if you unplugged the HD.
 
W

webfusion

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Hi guys - Thanks for the replies

This is what happened

1) Everything running fine for months on the 7.9 drivers
2) Decided to upgrade to the new 7.11
3) Note I haven't removed or changed my graphics card since I built the pc 11 months ago
4) The card runs completely at low temps because I use the ATI tool with custom fan speeds to keep the temp low (highest it gets to is 60oC)
5) So I remove the 7.9 then use driver cleaner
6) Install 7.11 - finished installing then it says reboot
7) Reboot and I then receive the beeps
8) so the only thing I have done was install new drivers

Maybe the card was on it's way out but it's only 11 months old.

But there is a little more to this, I built an identical pc to mine for my bro, he's graphics card was the same, it is a:

HIS X1950 Pro ICE Q 3 Turbo

I know it's not a flash card the reason being I was going to wait 2 years running with this until they get to grips with DX10, then buy a better card then.

Anyway my bro's card only last 2 weeks, we bought them from overclockers and they refused to replace it. These cards are overclocked already, so maybe there just not reliable, who knows, but it does seem strange that a change of a driver caused it to fail???

p.s my bios is AIM - but I believe the 1 long 3 short is also related to the graphics card
 
G

gpippas

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If your bro has the same system why don't try your dud card in his system to see if it works?

I also have a HIS X1950 Pro ICE Q 3 Turbo running in one of my systems. Its been problem free for 6 months now. HIS cards are possibly the most reliable cards I have ever used. However I have only heard bad things about Catalyst 7.11 so I left it at 7.10 which has the latest performance improvments.

As for a driver damaging the hardware I don't beleive its possible. I have heard a rumor of it happening before but I don't beleive it is physically possible.

As others have said this is irrelevent to anything on your HD. No posting is purely bios and hardware related.

You must try the card in another system. Because it eliminates the biggest factor of whether the card is faulty or not. If the card doesn't work it means its faulty problem solved. If it does work then we need to go deeper and eliminate other factors.
 
C

cynewulf

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Bit of a long shot but you could try holding down the shift key whilst booting up. On some cards that will reset the card to its default settings.
 
A

arianon

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Webfusion:

I also installed the 7.11s and had games crash randomly afterwards. Reverted the 7.10s fixed the problem, so I'm also curious as to what might have occurred in those drivers as they were just supposed to be a 'stability' set.

One of the reasons I'm curious is I HAVE had a driver destroy a card. About 10 years ago with a Diamond Verite card, I installed a new driver from the manufacturer which I found out later had a mild overclock in it. It took out my whole system.

Looking at the change logs, nothing like that is listed but I never totally trust them anyway.

Arianon
 
jnava121

jnava121

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arianon,

So the drivers overclocked the card and HEAT destroyed your card??? lol...

Those Graphics drivers Destroyed all your hardware in your system or it corrupted your software running the hardware??? hmm..
 
A

arianon

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jnava121:

It was a combination of heat/voltage. The computer was a really old crappy Compaq, AMD K6 233. At the time Rendition was getting overrun by 3dfx so they were doing some pretty aggressive stuff with their chips. The Compaq was under warranty so I sent it back to Compaq and the voltage change had shorted out the motherboard, so the driver update basically took down the whole system. I understand what you are trying to say that the drivers themselves didn't do it, but the effect of the installation of driver did, so I attribute it to the driver.

Found an old review of the card :)
http://www.sunstorm.com/tech/ft-001r2.htm

Arianon
 
blackened144

blackened144

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The thing about the beeps from the bios is that is reporting a pure hardware failure. And with hardware, all you can really do is try to reseat it. The next thing would be to test the system with another card, which you did and its working fine. So logic would dictate that your ATI card is dead. I think its just a coincidence that it died when you were updating the driver.. A hell of a coincidence though..
 
M

michiganteddybear

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From your original post, you were having problems previous to the driver upgrade??

from what I read in the 1st paragraph, your card was failing, and the driver upgrade/total failure was purely a coincidence that they happened at the same time.

This has been proven by your putting in a different card, and the computer posts/boots normally. Yes, its a different brand, with different drivers, but that wont make a bit of difference in the post process (where your getting beeps).

I chalk that up to bad luck that the driver upgrade and total failure of the card happened at the same time. As previously mentioned, drivers CANT break the card. However, improper use of overclocking utilities CAN.
 
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