9700Pro freezes in games -- VPU Recover

[rhizaowns]

hi, I just got a stick of Kingston 512MB PC3200 ram today and I put it in my system, which now is:

Athlon XP 2500+ @ 1.1Ghz
A7V333
1GB PC3200 RAM (kingston/samsung)
9700Pro

I have my processor at 1.1Ghz because I seem to be having overheating problems. I can't run it at normal speed or my system freezes before it gets to Windows, with BIOS reporting temperatures of ~80ºC/180ºF. At 1.4Ghz it freezes after a few minutes in games, with nearly the same temperature. So I have it set at 1.1Ghz with an idle temp of 61ºC/141ºF right now. I can't figure out the problem with my CPU, but it's been running stably for a few months like this. See: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=786534



Anyways, I tried running a game after putting in the new RAM and after a few seconds I got this error,

"VPU Recover has reset your graphics accelerator as it was no longer responding to graphics driver commands."

and my computer rebooted. I can't run any games now. I have the latest BIOS, windows updates, directx 9.0b, and catalyst drivers. Does anyone have any idea what could be causing the problem here? Is there one problem with my hardware that is causing both of these faults?

 

[Connoisseur]

My radeon 8500 has the same problem running farcry. Dunno if it's ram or vid card. I think I overclocked the vid a bit too much. Yeah umm, get a new HS if you've tried reapplying paste and heatsink. There's NO WAY a 2500+ should run much higher than about 50-55C load under any circumstance with a properly applied heatsink+fan. Underclocking to 1.1ghz is just a temporary solution because now games will be CPU limited and not gpu limited. I'd recommend a relatively cheap good quality hs like the Thermalright ALX-800 (which is what i'm using now). Works extremely well and it only costs $20. Slap on a medium speed low noise fan on there and it'll cool your cpu like a champ.

 

[rhizaowns]

Yeah, I ordered a Vantec Aeroflow as recommended by somebody else. Supposed to be pretty good. But I don't think this is going to fix the video error.

Medium speed, you say? I tried my friends HSF that was medium speed, around 5000 rpm, and it seemed like it cooled it better, but I didn't get to try in games. The HSF I have now is 7000 rpm. Are high speed fans worse for cooling?

 

[So]

Originally posted by: rhizaowns
Yeah, I ordered a Vantec Aeroflow as recommended by somebody else. Supposed to be pretty good. But I don't think this is going to fix the video error.

Medium speed, you say? I tried my friends HSF that was medium speed, around 5000 rpm, and it seemed like it cooled it better, but I didn't get to try in games. The HSF I have now is 7000 rpm. Are high speed fans worse for cooling?

No, better, just much louder.

 

[magomago]

Are you sure your heatsink is on properly?

 

[rhizaowns]

Ok - I fixed the CPU problem. There was a lot of copper around the edges of my *aluminum* heatsink that I didn't realize was messing up the connection between the HS and CPU. I simply scratched it off and I'm at 1.8Ghz at 56ºC, way better than before 🙂

But there is still the VPU Recover error when running games. Any ideas what the problem is or how to fix it?

 

[Goi]

I also had that problem a couple of months ago with my 9700Pro, and it would happen even when I wasn't playing games. For example, my PC is on 24/7 and when I wake up the next day and turn on the monitor I'm greeted with the VPU recover dialog window even though the whole night the PC's basically sitting there doing nothing intensive. It hasn't been happening recently though, but I've reduced the overclocking on my CPU as well as upgraded the Catalyst drivers, so I'm not exactly sure what the problem was. You might wanna try newer drivers to see if that works. Good luck though.

 

[Dman877]

VPU recoveries signaled the end of my 9700 Pro. After I started getting those, it never worked right again. I even tried a VGA Silencer on ti but to no avail. Good luck.