Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > ATI > RADEON 9800XT, red and white spots

RADEON 9800XT, red and white spots

Forum Graphic & Displays : ATI - RADEON 9800XT, red and white spots

Tom's Hardware: Over 1.4 million members in 6 different countries available to answer all your high-tech questions. Sign up now! Its free!
Ask the community Add a reply
Word :    Username :           
 
JohnFa   01-06-2008 at 03:30:23 PM

I have a problem with my ATI Radeon 9800 XT 256 MB card.

Using drivers 7.11, 7.10, 7.9 games won't even start up, they just crash back to the desktop. Same with the new 7.12 drivers. Earlier drivers than that and the game starts but the graphics are buggy. Textures have white or red dots all over them. Some backgrounds are ok, but most of the surfaces just have these dots.
I've tried different control centers, but same problem.
In some games there are more dots, and in some there are less. Sims 2 and NBA Live 08, for example, work but still have some dots. In Half-Life 2, for example. there's red dots all over the place
I've tried Omega drivers, but I get the same problem.

I have a AMD 2.2 Ghz, 1 GB RAM and I use windows XP

Here's a screenshot

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/2356/bugzr9.th.jpg


Message edited by JohnFa on 01-08-2008 at 08:08:22 PM
Add a reply
Sponsored Links
Register or log in to remove.
NaDa   01-06-2008 at 04:23:59 PM
- 0 +

Try to use even older drivers like 6.x or even 5.x. (http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/xp/radeon-prer300-xp.html)
If the problem persists then you card is faulty or you have a heat problem.

Open your case and check the fan if it's still running or if it's full of dust.

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to NaDa
JohnFa   01-08-2008 at 08:10:29 PM
- 0 +

NaDa wrote :

Try to use even older drivers like 6.x or even 5.x. (http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/xp/radeon-prer300-xp.html)
If the problem persists then you card is faulty or you have a heat problem.

Open your case and check the fan if it's still running or if it's full of dust.



I have a Radeon 9800 XT, aren't the drivers on that site the wrong drivers?

Anyway, tried ATI's 6.12 drivers and there was no difference. Right now I'm using the latest Omega drivers, but it hasn't helped either.

I've gotten rid of all the dust... hmm.. I used ATI Tool, and there it says the temperature holds steady at 70 degrees.
If I try the 'Scan for artifacts' thing it almost at once feels the small screen up with yellow artifacts/particles

Reply to JohnFa
JohnFa   01-08-2008 at 08:47:59 PM
- 0 +

Oh, and it's not on all texture. Just on dark ones. Most areas are perfectly fine.

Reply to JohnFa
Cleeve   01-08-2008 at 09:18:03 PM
- 0 +

Sorry dude. Your card is on death's door.

------------------------------ Cleeve
Hardware Editor, Tom's Hardware Guide
 Reply to Cleeve
jtt283   01-08-2008 at 09:20:40 PM
- 0 +

Well, red spots and high fever strongly suggest your card has a bad case of the measles. Most yard apes recover from it, but I think it is terminal for GPUs. Sorry.

------------------------------ There is ALWAYS a drone. Exactly where, or how many drones you will encounter may vary, but that there will be at least one will not.
 Reply to jtt283
JohnFa   01-09-2008 at 02:43:04 AM
- 0 +

I guess I've been trying to block the reality of the situation... after all, the card is getting a bit old.
What would be a good upgrade, considering I'd like to spend at most $100 on a new card. Don't really need anything really fancy, just the equivalent or slightly better than my dying card.

Reply to JohnFa
jtt283   01-09-2008 at 03:55:57 AM
- 0 +

Is it PCIE or AGP? If the former, you could go with this:
EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130062
...for $70 after MIR. That would be a decent step up.

------------------------------ There is ALWAYS a drone. Exactly where, or how many drones you will encounter may vary, but that there will be at least one will not.
 Reply to jtt283
randomizer   01-09-2008 at 04:12:56 AM
- 0 +

Does it have that piss weak square cooler on it? If it does, replace it, that fixed this problem on my 9800 pro. I overkilled with a zalman VF700-cu, but it was quiet :)

 

@jtt283: There is no PCIe 9800XT.


Message edited by randomizer on 01-09-2008 at 04:15:05 AM
Reply to randomizer
JohnFa   01-09-2008 at 04:28:05 AM
- 0 +

It's AGP. And it has a round cooler.

Since it's a few years old I figure I should buy a new card. Guessing that around $100 is a fair price for an upgrade

Reply to JohnFa
Loser777   01-09-2008 at 04:37:02 AM
- 0 +

Yeah, that's some serious artifacting. Your card could be dead very soon.

------------------------------ AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.27 (Crappy Mobo)
7600GT @ 626/1.51 '05 Score: 6500
4GB DDR2 884 @ 5-5-5-15 (This RAM is for my new system in the summer, using now cause I bought it early-had an insane deal for it)
Samsung HD160JJ
Reply to Loser777
randomizer   01-09-2008 at 05:04:13 AM
- 0 +

I am 80% sure it's the cooler since I had the same problem (except usually just red dots). But it's probably better to spend the money on a new card.

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to randomizer
JohnFa   01-09-2008 at 05:34:50 AM
- 0 +

randomizer wrote :

I am 80% sure it's the cooler since I had the same problem (except usually just red dots). But it's probably better to spend the money on a new card.



The red dots is the biggest problem. The white ones can hardly be seen.
There's alot of dust beneath the fan. I'm gonna try to borrow a vacuum cleaner and, or buy some high pressure air spray, and clean it and then try it again. If that fails I might as well just buy a new card.

Reply to JohnFa
JohnFa   01-09-2008 at 06:03:30 AM
- 0 +

Here's a weird thing: Played NBA Live 08 for an hour and had NO problems at all! No white spots, no artifacting, nothing!
The game I've been playing mostly is Half Life 2 and Portal, and that's where I get all the artifacting. Anyone have a clue what this means?

Reply to JohnFa
Cleeve   01-09-2008 at 06:35:41 AM
- 0 +

The source engine (HL2 and portal) is probably stressing some pixel shaders that the NBA live engine doesn't.

BTW, $112 get's you a new radeon 2600 XT. You have to use Omega drivers with it on AGP tho.

------------------------------ Cleeve
Hardware Editor, Tom's Hardware Guide
 Reply to Cleeve
Dirty_Harry2   01-09-2008 at 04:24:42 PM
- 0 +

I would almost suggest just stepping up to a new card. I second the 2600XT notion.

------------------------------ http://miniprofile.xfire.com/bg/bg/type/0/tsdirtyharry.png
 Reply to Dirty_Harry2
bfellow   01-09-2008 at 04:36:50 PM
- 0 +

Just get a new 9800 ... Nvidia Geforce 9800 :lol: It just won't fit in your agp slot though!

------------------------------ Q9400 @3.2Ghz-HD4870 512MB GDDR5-2GB DDR2-1066
"You figured it out. All new CPU's are nothing but overclocked Pentium 1's with a few bells and whistles added, ask any ol timer whose been around."

 

Reply to bfellow

NaDa   01-09-2008 at 05:21:03 PM
- 0 +

I still think it's a driver problem. I read about this on some other forum.
Try to get 5.x drivers. Perhaps the CD that came with the card.

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to NaDa
TSIMonster   01-09-2008 at 05:43:25 PM
- 0 +

Have you tried ATI Tool to check for temp issues?

Message quoted 1 times
------------------------------ The Truth About GPU Power Consumption
Home: E4600@3.6Ghz|AC7|P35|4GB|640GB|8800GT|Vista64|24" P-MVA
Work: Phenom9500@2.5Ghz|AC64|690G|3GB|500GB|8600GT|XP|2x22" TN
 Reply to TSIMonster
JohnFa   01-09-2008 at 07:49:47 PM
- 0 +

NaDa wrote :

I still think it's a driver problem. I read about this on some other forum.
Try to get 5.x drivers. Perhaps the CD that came with the card.



I got the card from a friend who doesn't have the CD left. I'm gonna see if I can find it on the web.


TSIMonster wrote :

Have you tried ATI Tool to check for temp issues?



Yes I have. It holds stead at 70-78 degrees with the fan on 70%.

Reply to JohnFa
randomizer   01-10-2008 at 12:52:45 AM
- 0 +

I have cat 7.10s running on the same 9800 pro that was doing this, no probs at all. Driver updates beyond 5.x are pointless anyway.

Reply to randomizer
Ask the community Add a reply
Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > ATI > RADEON 9800XT, red and white spots
Go to:

There are 1141 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Forum map
Bestofmedia Forum ©
2000-2009 Bestofmedia Group
Page generated in 0.413 seconds
Please mind

You are about to answer a thread that has been inactive for more than 6 months.
If you still wish to proceed, please ensure that your posting is original and does not duplicate or overlap any prior responses to this thread.

Add a reply Cancel
Sponsored links
  • Ask the community now
  • Publish
Ad
Related Topics
See all relatives topics
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them