uh-oh! possible fried video card?

tflorkiewicz · Jun 6, 2005

OK here is the situation. My current video card is an ATI radeon 9700 pro.

Over the past 2 weeks or so my PC has been acting up very strange. It would crash 4 - 10 minutes into any game I played (I play LOTS of call of duty multiplayer and also counter-strike source). It crashed in both games.

I tried reinstalling ATI drivers (using a driver cleaner to make sure the uninstall of old drivers went smoothly), I tried installing OLDER catalyst versions... to no avail. it would just keep on crashing.

one of my friends hinted that my video card/cpu might be overheating. so i went down to the compusa and bought myself a can of air to clean out the dust. there was a LOT of dust in the cpu heatsink. I unscrewed the fan and got all that dust out using the air. then i did the video card... but i messed up and held the can upside down and some white substance came out of the can (on the can it says 'it might cause frostburn'... ) it immediately evaporated but i fear i might've caused some permament damage there, simply because i held the can the wrong way.

now the situation is much worse. my computer reboots every 4-5 minutes even when im not playing a game. I ran memtest86 and got a 'unexpected interrupt' 11 minutes into the test.

since i *think* its the video card, i already ordered a brand new ati x800 pro... was this the right move? or do you guys think something else is the problem cause here? i also have a memory stick en-route to add/replace to the old one.

EDIT: should've posted other specs:
windows xp
athlon xp2700+
512mb ddr pc2700 (@ 340mhz)
aopen ak79d-400 max motherboard

EDIT#2:
original symptoms were that my computer would just hang (totally unresponsive). I would have to reboot it manually with the reset button.

Edited by tflorkiewicz on 06/06/05 02:21 PM.

mrface · Jun 6, 2005

is the fan spinning on your hs for your vid card?

also the freeze that you caused most likely didnt do any damage(the computer was on when you were doing this, was it?)Ive personally "froze" many a component without it causing any damage.

I wouldve first checked to see if your vid card hs/f was working properly(ie: fan spinning and stuff like that) then underclocked the gpu and memory, then if i was having problems well, then upgrade.

but i guess it doesnt really matter now that you have already ordered the card.

"Like a scrotum, there it is in a nutshell."
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tflorkiewicz · Jun 6, 2005

Yea the computer was 100% unplugged when i was doing this

Yea the fan on the hs is spinning. how fast i have no way of telling ... no sensors...

i can still cancel my order which is why i'm asking this.

mrface · Jun 6, 2005

i honestly dont think it is your video card but we shall see.

are you having problems running and resource hog programs such as norton or adobe products?

"Like a scrotum, there it is in a nutshell."
Roll Tide!
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tflorkiewicz · Jun 6, 2005

why don't you think its my video card?

and mcafee turns on fine... for the first 4-5 minutes until the computer auto-reboots.

mrface · Jun 6, 2005

try running it in safe mode. see how long it stays up.

why don't you think its my video card?

well normally if your gpu fails ati has an automatic recovery thing that popsup(i believe its called gpu recovery

) have you OC'd your graphics card any? also try downclocking the gpu and memory of your video card, we'll see where it goes from there.

"Like a scrotum, there it is in a nutshell."
Roll Tide!
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tflorkiewicz · Jun 6, 2005

hmm... :/

is there a way to test the cpu?

and i have not overclocked this video card at all. it was fast enough as it was, i'm not an oc freak...

mrface · Jun 6, 2005

did it run fine in safe mode?

"Like a scrotum, there it is in a nutshell."
Roll Tide!
<A HREF="http://www.cameronwilliamson.com" target="_new">-={Psychotic Sociopath.}=-</A>

tflorkiewicz · Jun 6, 2005

unfortunately i can't try it right now i'm at work busy trying to earn some of the money i know this is going to cost me

i doubt it will run in safe mode though, because it crashed memtest86, and that runs in dos mode...

mrface · Jun 6, 2005

if it is crashing when you run memtest, its probably just your memory, you might want to see what some of the other users on here say.

i didnt notice what you said about memtest earlier :redface: sorry.

"Like a scrotum, there it is in a nutshell."
Roll Tide!
<A HREF="http://www.cameronwilliamson.com" target="_new">-={Psychotic Sociopath.}=-</A>

tflorkiewicz · Jun 6, 2005

I hope it's my memory actually. I had ordered some new memory about a week ago b/c I just wanted more than 512 mb. It should get to my house today.

Thing is memtest86 doesn't report failure... it halts due to 'unexpected interrupt', showing me a stack dump on the screen.

mrface · Jun 6, 2005

what kinda memory did you order?

"Like a scrotum, there it is in a nutshell."
Roll Tide!
<A HREF="http://www.cameronwilliamson.com" target="_new">-={Psychotic Sociopath.}=-</A>

tflorkiewicz · Jun 6, 2005

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145407

CORSAIR ValueSelect 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 333 (PC 2700)

same speed as the one currently in my computer... just another 512 stick.

Edited by tflorkiewicz on 06/06/05 04:01 PM.

mrface · Jun 6, 2005

you can do dual channel with your mobo to, i would try it with you rnew stick and if it works fine maybe try both and see if it is stable with dual channel setup but, im not sure if your current ram is good, unfortunately.

"Like a scrotum, there it is in a nutshell."
Roll Tide!
<A HREF="http://www.cameronwilliamson.com" target="_new">-={Psychotic Sociopath.}=-</A>

tflorkiewicz · Jun 6, 2005

yea i was wondering about the dual channel... do i turn that on in bios? is it hard to set up?

if the old stick is bad ill just get another one. ill try running the computer with the new stick alone first to see if that is the problem...

btw thanks for all your help so far man.

mrface · Jun 6, 2005

nah its not hard at all.

what should have to do is just put both sticks in the blue colored(i think its blue on your mobo) ram slots on your motherboard and when you reboot it should tell you at the post screen that you are running dual channel, youll notice a big jump in performance with programs running dual channel

"Like a scrotum, there it is in a nutshell."
Roll Tide!
<A HREF="http://www.cameronwilliamson.com" target="_new">-={Psychotic Sociopath.}=-</A>

Robc1880 · Jun 7, 2005

what kind of PSU are you using? if it's a generic one, I've heard of cheap ones causing similar problems. I agree with PhukFace though that it probably isn't your video card, it is more than likely your memory because of it crashing memtest86. When you get your new memory you could try just using that one new stick and see if the problem still happens. If it still happens you might want to get a good video card cooler like the VGA Silencer Rev. 3 by arctic cooling.

dmroeder · Jun 7, 2005

Yeah, I have experienced the same thing with a cheap power supply. As soon as I upgraded my video card I started getting reboots every once in a while. It got more frequent, so I replaced the PSU and no problems since. But the memtest error is a concern. Because of that, I would most likely think it was the RAM. The power supply is probably one of the most overlooked things in reboot problems in my experience.

Clob · Jun 7, 2005

Have you tried upping the memory voltage?

"If youre paddling upstream in a canoe and a
wheel falls off, how many pancakes fit in a doghouse? None! Icecream doesn't have bones!!!"

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tflorkiewicz · Jun 7, 2005

just put in the new stick of memory (and took out the old one): corsair value select 512mb pc2700.

i also reorganized the power wires and disconnected both my cdroms (cdrw + dvdr) to lessen the power consumption.

the situation got a bit better: my computer doesnt seem to reboot during normal use now. however after playing just a few minutes of a game it crashed (not a reboot this time, just a 'this application has performed an illegal operation', like the original errors i was getting.

what is a good reliable brand of psu's? I think this is the next component I will replace.

Why and how would I up the memory voltage?

tflorkiewicz · Jun 7, 2005

UPDATE

I used a program called AIDA32 to list all system specs. this is something very peculiar that i found. Look at the voltages:

http://img300.echo.cx/my.php?image=aida9rt.jpg

some of them are off by ~0.3-0.4 volts! this can't be normal can it?

mrface · Jun 7, 2005

what is a good reliable brand of psu's?

antec, fortran[sp?] are good ones, thermaltake makes a nice quite one with a passive heatsink.

Why and how would I up the memory voltage?

you can up the voltage thru your motherboard bios settings.

also when i look at the pic you voltages seems a little dry so it couldnt hurt to get a new psu, i think you can get a 560w for like 90 bux now, which isnt bad.

"Like a scrotum, there it is in a nutshell."
Roll Tide!
<A HREF="http://www.cameronwilliamson.com" target="_new">-={Psychotic Sociopath.}=-</A>

Robc1880 · Jun 7, 2005

Another good brand PSU is the Enermax Noisetaker series.

mrface · Jun 7, 2005

yes yes that was the other one i was trying to think of last night before i went to bed

thanks!

"Like a scrotum, there it is in a nutshell."
Roll Tide!
<A HREF="http://www.cameronwilliamson.com" target="_new">-={Psychotic Sociopath.}=-</A>

tflorkiewicz · Jun 7, 2005

well this morning i tried to turn on my computer and my motherboard informed me with a female voice 'It seems that we have a problem'. haha. I guess aopen took a different approach to the standard beep-beep-beep on POST... Long story short the computer just wouldnt turn on. I noticed that the PSU was whirring louder periodically... not like it should be. It'd whir low... then for a few seconds it'd whir loud, then back to low, etc.

anyway I will go to get a new PSU after work today. Here are my options:

http://www.compusa.com/products/products.asp?N=200089&Ne=200000&Ns=mfg_name|0#sort1

which of those would ya guys recommend? or are they all sh*t? if so, then I'll just order a thermaltake from newegg and wait a week w/out a computer

i need enough power to run the following:
amd athlon xp2700+
dual pc2700 2x512mb
50x cdrw
48x dvdr
4 usb ports
1x hdd 7200rpm
sound blaster audigy2 zs sound card
ati radeon9700pro (possibly upgrading to a x800 pro...)

also as a side note, thank you to phukface... I'm running dual ddr channel now, it DOES seem faster, especially with game loading. My game loaded in like 3/4 of the time it took before. but then it crashed 3 mins later

uh-oh! possible fried video card?

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