Radeon 9700Pro: crashing...

[grbrg]

I've got a problem with my new PC: it crashes at the weirdest times. ;( After a short freeze (some seconds) and a reboot, Windows XP tells me that the drivers for my Radeon 9700Pro were responsible for the crash. There seems to be no common reason for the crashes - they happen shortly after first boot in the morning as well as later. Most of the time I'm running just Windows and nothing that might require much performance from the graphic card.

I installed the latest drivers from ATI, made sure the system was cool enough (case is open, card is warm though) and still the crashes occur. What could be the problem here? Anyone got an idea?

My configuration:
P4 3.06 GHz
Gigabyte 8INXP mainboard, 2x256MB DDR(Dual Channel)
HIS Radeon 9700Pro

Thanks for any help!

 

[WingDing]

What PSU are you using?

My PC is so wonderful it makes Svol seem less than perfect

 

[grbrg]

Enermax 350W, *should* be enough, shouldn't it? On the other hand the 9700Pro uses up some as well...

Could it be the RAMs? I read somewhere that a guy gave them +0.1V, which made his system more stable... I always believed this was only for overclocking, but if nothing else stops this crashes I'm gonna try...

 

[0zzie]

Did it crash with the previous drivers?

 

[grbrg]

Yes, I only installed the new driver after I noticed something was wrong...

 

[Richard2003]

Have a look at my last message re the FX5800 crashing - try upgrading your AGP (motherboard) driver, cured my problem with XP !

Thanks

Richard

 

[grbrg]

I have installed the newest motherboard drivers - AGP should be included... so this should not be the cause.

 

[Shiroamakusa]

Okay, your problem probably lies in the E7205 crappy (not-compliant with)implementation of AGP 3.0, or 8X. It is very common to rear its head with the R9700 (it did with mine). The solution is pretty simple, and luckily you can do it on your board (mine couldn't). Just turn your AGP multiplier down in the BIOS from 8X to 4X (make sure to set it in Smartgart before you reboot to change it in the bios). You shouldn't get anymore crashes after you downthrottle the card, and you won't lose any performance either, since AGP 4X and 8X are fairly similar.

 

[phial]

agreed. theres no benifit from 8x agp, so turning it down should help to 4x

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[0zzie]

Jeez im looking for a new MOBO for my 9700 pro - so should i be looking for one that can do both 8x and 4x to ensure i dont end up with a new mobo that doesnt work?

 

[Crashman]

All boards with custom settings should allow you to use the 4x setting if 8x doesn't work right.

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