ATI Radeon HD 5670/Nvidia GT 440

[Shadowly]

Hi, i have a homebuilt system and am having a few gaming issues, i installed a few games and almost every 5 minutes or less the screen freezes and a few seconds later goes black and then a few seconds later goes back to the Desktop as if nothing has happened.

here is my build:

Motherboard: Biostar TA870U3+
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 5670 / Nvidia GT 440
Processor: AMD Phemon II x 4 3.2 ghz
4GB RAM


Cant see anything wrong with it my end, getting really irritating now -.-

Thanks for any replies

 

[ervinelim]

You actually have those 2 graphics card on your rig?

If yes, remove one graphics card and punch the guy who told you to put those two in your rig.

 

[Shadowly]

no, my bad... i've tried both of those cards and same issue, should have made that more clear, sorry xD

 

[striker410]

Have you tried installing the latest drivers? You've got to have the correct drivers installed for that card.
I assume you don't have both Nvidia AND AMD drivers installed... Do you?

 

[Shadowly]

No, i dont have both cards drivers installed, and i have got the exact drivers for the card, latest and also tried rolling back to an earlier one aswell.

 

[striker410]

Hmm.... What games are you having issues with? What's your screen res?

 

[Shadowly]

all games... and sometimes on desktop / browsing the web.


resolution is 1680 x 1050

 

[striker410]

Well to me it sounds like it's driver/software related. Although, it could be your PSU. What PSU do you have?

 

[Shadowly]

a 500W, now on my Mobo, i just seen, it says Power Indicator and to the left of it, it has 3 RED lights... possibly too low power supply?

 

[Shadowly]

just looked in Mobo manual... they are Phase indicators, from what i can tell, Phase is disable... possible issue?

 

[striker410]

What's the make and model of the PSU? If it's a low quality brand, I would not be surprised if that was the root of the problem.

 

[Shadowly]

CIT 500W Black Dual 12V Rail 12cm Fan PSU - 20+4pin 2x SATA

that is the power supply

 

[striker410]

It's very possible it's the PSU. Either way, you should get a new one. That one is not good at all, and is a liability in your system. Check into getting a 400-500w PSU from Corsair or Antec. They are both reputable brands that are MUCH higher quality than this.

 

[Shadowly]

yeah, well ill look on ebuyer... http://www.ebuyer.com/200490-coolermaster-gx-750w-psu-rs750-acaae3-uk is nice

 

[Outlander_04]

You dont mention which version of windows you are using.

That could be important
as it sounds to me like DX is corrupted

 

[Shadowly]

hi Outlander, Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit... i tried all DX fixes etc, etc

 

[JKatwyopc]

Hmm, is the game actually crashing or is it just going back to the windows screen? Windows 7 sometimes will interupt a game or other program because it thinks there is a performance issue with the display.

Are you getting any dialog boxes on the screen asking you to change the display settings due to poor display performance? If that's what's happening try disabling or closing other programs that are running in the background.

 

[Shadowly]

Jkat... it is freezing, then screen goes black and error (Display Driver Has Stopped Responding and has succesfully recovered) and other times it freezes, goes black n just exits me to Windows Desktop

 

[Outlander_04]

Good that you have tried the DX fixes .

Now what is the RAM and what speed is it clocked at?
Check in bios that the timings and voltages are correct .
I feel this is less likely but its worth checking

 

[JKatwyopc]

(Display Driver Has Stopped Responding and has succesfully recovered)

Ok, that's a little more revealing.

 

[Shadowly]

Jkat, i have tried every single fix for that error so it cant be driver/software because i have tried it... i think Striker410 is more along the right lines

 

[striker410]

It's better to explore the FREE fixes first, hehe. You can check to make sure the PSU is functioning, at least:


If you suspect the PSU is causing your problems, below are some suggestions by jsc for troubleshooting the PSU. Proceed with caution. I will not be held responsible if you get shocked or fry components.

"The best way to check the PSU is to swap it with a known good PSU of similar capacity. Brand new, out of the box, untested does not count as a known good PSU. PSU's, like all components, can be DOA.

Next best thing is to get (or borrow) a digital multimeter and check the PSU.

Yellow wires should be 12 volts. Red wires: +5 volts, orange wires: +3.3 volts, blue wire : -12 volts, violet wire: 5 volts always on. Tolerances are +/- 5% except for the -12 volts which is +/- 10%.

The gray wire is really important. It should go from 0 to +5 volts when you turn the PSU on with the case switch. CPU needs this signal to boot.

You can turn on the PSU by completely disconnecting the PSU and using a paperclip or jumper wire to short the green wire to one of the neighboring black wires.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FW [...] tube_gdata

This checks the PSU under no load conditions, so it is not completely reliable. But if it can not pass this, it is dead. Then repeat the checks with the PSU plugged into the computer to put a load on the PSU. You can carefully probe the pins from the back of the main power connector."


Here's a link to jsc's breadboarding thread:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/foru [...] _13_0.html

That's from the Troubleshooting thread.

 

[JKatwyopc]

Don't get excited, I have read all of the posts. Just trying to get a clear idea of what's happening.

I have seen problems just like yours and always managed to fix them. However, sometimes it requires just giving up and starting over. Usually by the time I get there I just reformat my drive(s) and reload everything, I hope you are in the habit of doing backups and have a backup available in case you need it.

 

[Shadowly]

believe me, ive been through so much to get excited over a possible fix lol

 

[JKatwyopc]

Based on what Outlander and Striker suggested I would consider taking a good look over the troubleshooting thread and working through that. You could have either a hardware or a software problem. That will help you to identify the problem in a methodical and logical fashion and you will also gain some experience at troubleshooting. Here is the link again if you need it http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-boot-video-problems