Crash problem with Radeon 8500! Please help!

[Aradune]

Hi, I have a radeon 8500 with a P4-2.4, 845pe m/b, and 512mb of corsair pc3200 ram. I have been getting random lockups and the screen shows many vertical lines of different colors when I lockup. I don't know what this lockup screen means or how to fix it. I have the latest ati drivers, the video card is not overclocked, and I've tried underclocking my system as well with no success.

It usually locks up in games while changing video modes. Sometimes it will lockup a few moments after starting quake3, and sometimes it will lockup when changing maps and videomodes in counter strike. I have seen it lockup in normal windows, but rarely and not recently. My old pc had the same problems with this card, but somehow I seemed to fix it by re-seating it 100 times to get it just right.

The card is secure and there should be no seating problem. Alas, I cannot nail down the cause of the vertical colored lines lockup screen. I am running win98/se and need help desperately. The problem seems to be linked to an 'invalid scan frequency' (not sure) being sent to the monitor. I've tried different monitors too, but it hasnt helped. It's almost like the video card is spitting out a video mode that cannot be displayed correctly. But, I could easily be wrong here.

 

[Atrail]

NM

 

[Lizardman]

try underclocking your vidcard maybe its a heat issue.

 

[Viper96720]

Which 8500 unless ati changed I think built by ati and powered by ati cards have different drivers.

 

[clicknext]

Just to make sure, no part of your system is overclocked? There's no way you could have changed any bios settings by accident? Have you tried changing bios settings like AGP fast writes (turn off)? Is your case very poorly ventilated or is your room very hot? The vertical lines and colors doesn't sound like a driver or softwear problem... and if it's a heat problem it would be more likely to happen in games, so I would bet on that.

 

[Killrose]

If you are'nt overclocking and your CPU and Case temps look OK, then check the fan on the video card and make sure it's spinning and spinning fast enough and isn't all clogged-up. If it is displaying artifacts before the lock-ups it is definately heat related video card problem.

 

[Aradune]

I think I fixed it by disabling my on-board AC 97 audio in my bios. It seems the radeon 8500 and AC 97 don't get along well. I have the original Radeon 8500 that ATI first produced way back.

 

[Killrose]

I guess anything is possible, but I think your problem will show up again because it appears to be a definate video problem. Give it a day or two.