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Computer Freezes With New Graphics Card

H

heffay111

Junior Member
I am relatively competent with computers, and I just built my own system for the first time. Everything was going fine, until I decided I wanted better graphics.

I have an ECS P4M900T-M mobo with a Core 2 Duo 6400 in it, running XP Pro. Everything works fine until I install a graphics card. Tried an nVidia based card first and now an ATI based card (X1050), and both cause the computer to freeze at some random, inconvenient moment.

I have disabled the on-board graphics. (I think, at least it no longer shows up in the device manager.) I went into my BIOS and selected PCI Express 16 for my primary graphics, but didn't see much to else adjust. I don't know what else to do. Are there settings for me to adjust to rescue this situation, or with my cheap mobo am I stuck with the lousy graphics from the on-board video.

I have updated everything that I know of, from the ATI driver to Direct X.

Edit: also, it's not an overheating situation. Left it on overnight, no problem. In the morning, after a few minutes of normal use, crashed while using Firefox.

Thanks for your time.
 
It could be a problem with your RAM. You could download DocMem, which requires a free registration for their site, or you could try Microsoft's own Windows Memory Tester.

Both create a bootable floppy to run their tests. I've used DocMem. I've never tried the MS prog.

If your memory passes, you may have a problem with your motherboard. Check the manufacturer's site for BIOS updates and drivers and any FAQ's that mention PCIE 16 and vid cards.

It could also be a power supply problem. What make is it, and what's the rating in watts?

Good luck. 🙂
 
heffay111,

I'm not sure if your MB came with a driver CD which contained Video driver for the on-board video (if it did, did U install these video drivers?)

If you did install them, did u uninstall them prior to installing either video card (ie. nVidia/ATI)?

The proper procedure to install a new video card is to first remove existing video driver, shutdown pc, install new video card, power up, install video drivers for new video card.

U might also check Event Viewer (System log) for errors.

What OS did u install on this machine?


al
 
Lots of good ideas, thanks.

Harvey: I've had no problems for a few months with the RAM, but I'll test it anyway. Are you thinking it's incompatible with the graphics card? My power supply is a 380w (it was built into my Antec case), so I think that I'm okay there.

Alopez777: You hit one of my concerns on the head. My MB came with a driver CD that included a driver for the on-board graphics. Before I installed both new graphics cards, I only disabled the on-board graphics through my device manager, I did not uninstall drivers. (I was following the instructions that came with the graphics cards.) After the freeze problem I read about uninstalling previous drivers in addition to disabling the on-board graphics, but I don't exactly know how to do that now. The CD has no uninstall features. Can I go into my Windows files now and remove the earlier drivers? Is it too late?

My OS is XP Pro.

Edit: Oh yeah. Playing around in my BIOS, I changed "Allocate IRQ to PCI VGA" from Yes to No. I'd read online to not change this, but when you've got a problem, you try things. No crash for a while after that change. Does that makes sense or is it unrelated to my lack of crashing and I created another problem to deal with eventually?

Edit: Duh. I checked out Add/remove Programs and there was the old graphics driver. I removed it. Too late to help? Did I get the sequence too wrong?
 
heffay111,

Not so sure that BIOS change made the difference as IRQ's are given out during boot up.

I suspect the driver software.

U can remove video drivers by going to Display properties> Settings> Advance> Adapter tab> driver tab

al
 
Originally posted by: heffay111
I've had no problems for a few months with the RAM, but I'll test it anyway. Are you thinking it's incompatible with the graphics card?
Click to expand...
My power supply is a 380w (it was built into my Antec case), so I think that I'm okay there.[/quote]
I'm not sure how much power you need, but if you're trying to use one of the newer gaming cards, some of them are serious power draws. Combined with a Core Duo, you may want more peak available power than a 380 watt supply can deliver.

It's rare, but RAM can fail after time so testing it won't hurt, and if your power supply is marginal, it could contribute to some instability.
 
That did the trick. At least everything has been fine for the last 10 minutes, but in those 10 minutes I played a graphics heavy game that I installed for my nephews that always froze the computer withing 5 seconds. I'm going to conclude from that that all is well.

Thanks Harvey! I sincerely appreciate the power supply suggestion.

Now I realize that I returned an nVidia graphics card for no reason at all. Should have hit this board first.
 
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