ATI 9800 Pro card problem

[Prizef1ghter]

When the PC goes through POST, all the text information is garbled and infused with random characters and video artifacts like brite sprites until windows starts. After windows starts, the screen is 'ghosted' by a bunch of half inch vertical 'hash marks'. There is tearing in 2d desktop when an application is running and in 3d mode there is also bad artifacts and tearing.

It didn't start out this way. When I installed the card and the latest drivers, it worked fine for a couple of days.

I cannot be a driver issue because it happens immediately at POST.

The MOBO is flashed. Giga- Byte GA-8IPE1000 Pro - G

The monitor is not the issue because I swapped in another and it displayed the same problem.

I put in an old video card and the problem did not occur.

The power supply is 330 watts.

Of course I did go through trying to uninstall and reinstall drivers. But when I removed all the ATI stuff with the cleaner tool, I still had the problem with absolutely no drivers present.

Any ideas on what the problem might be?

 

[Prizef1ghter]

Wow, nobody has ever had this problem?

My card must be just plain old busted then.

Anyways, I just bought a bigger, name brand power supply to see if that was the problem and I got no joy.

 

[yadda]

I have a 9800Pro and it does not have this problem.

Y

 

[xgi]

It looks like a sign of over-overclocking of the card. You probably have to downclock your card to a more stable level... check out the current clock speed and make sure it is not too far from the default frequencies of other type card with similiar chipset... A utility like PowerStrip should do the job...

Run it into safe mode and adjust the settings...

The default clock speed should be around 380/680 MHz (GPU/Mem Clock)

 

[moonboy403]

i suggest you to return that card if possible....seems like a defective card if didn't overclock

 

[xgi]

Ya... I agree with moonboy... If underclock it should not solve the problem.. better go and return it!

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: Prizef1ghter
The power supply is 330 watts.

If you're not running a quality PSU, your 9800 may not be getting enough juice, or a stable supply of it. Either that or your card is toast. Did you ever smell burning? You should sniff your PSU to see if you smell burning.

 

[Jeff7181]

That's similar to what was happening to my FX5900 when I replaced it... only to find out it wasn't the FX5900 that was the problem, it was my Antec TruePower 430. Double check your 12 and 5 volt rails with digital volt-meter connected to a molex connector. Don't rely on the motherboard to report the correct values, because it's often inaccurate.

 

[PrayForDeath]

He said he bought a brand PSU and still got the same problem, so it must be a defective card, you gotta return it.

 

[selfbuilt]

Is your problem intermittent, and does it go away upon a warm reboot (i.e. is it only present when you turn on the computer cold)? If so, what you describe was a common occurence on many systems with 9500/9700 cards when they were first introduced, almost 2 years ago. The standard explanation given at the time were mobo (especially VIA chipsets) or PSU problems - changing one or the other often resolved the problem.

Case in point: my old 9500Pro used to do exactly as you describe on my Asus A7V8X and generic 300W PSU, but only intermittently (at lease the desktop corruption was rare - almost always had the flickering character/sprites on boot-up). Switching it to a Asus A7N8X solved my problem, but I was also later able to get it to work perfectly on the old A7V8X by upgrading that system to an Antec 330W PSU. Either choice solved my problem permanently - the card is still running great with no problems.

Since upgrading the PSU didn't help you (and I doubt you want to try a new mobo!), I'd RMA the card and try a replacement. Good luck!

 

[Prizef1ghter]

Thanks for the replies. I will be RMAing it

The problem is not intermittent either. Every damn time its the same thing.

 

[sep]

Dude...make sure the fan is spinning! I had the same problem. It was related to a power cable sleving stopping the fan from running. It jacked the card temps up through the roof!