Graphics Card or PSU?

[Dashkatt]

Out of the blue, I was running some laps on IRacing and all of a sudden the screen froze followed by the screen eventually going black and no way to recover without doing a hard boot with the switch.

After rebooting I tried the same thing again, thinking it was just a graphics glitch and it occurred again. This time, instead of the black screen, I was taken briefly back to the desktop where a message was displayed that an ATI driver had malfunctioned but had been repaired. I didn't have time to write down the driver info before the message went away. I rebooted again, this time I tried a different 3d game and it barely got started when it shut down as well. This time, when the screen went blank a message of "Our of Range" appeared on my ASUS 26" monitor.

I then downloaded the latest ATI video driver for my ASUS 4870 512mb video card and installed the new driver. To make this story shorter, it did the same thing.

Unless I'm in a graphics intensive (3D) program, the computer works just fine, (all 2D). Now I'm wondering if it's the video card or a PSU that is unable to keep up anymore. The PSU is a one year old XIGMATEK 750W. I keep the case temps nice and cool with an aluminum Thermaltake Armor+ full tower case and very adequate cooling fans. The CPU is a 9350 Intel Quad. I've had no issues with this system previously but my luck has run out.

Hopefully the "Out of Range" message might give someone a clue... Because I certainly don't have one.

Does this problem sound familiar? Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Do a reformat with the latest ATI drivers.

 

[happy medium]

I'm betting on the card being bad.
Try underclocking it and run a game.

 

[happy medium]

Do a reformat with the latest ATI drivers.

I see where your getting at, could he use windows restore?

 

[Dashkatt]

Thanks for the quick responses. When you say "reformat with the latest drivers", are you suggesting that I go through the driver process again? I did load the latest, (about 2 generations newer than the one I had), after this started. But I think I will do it again and make sure that all the old drivers are removed and then reinstall it.

I can try the under clocking too. One note... after I installed the new drivers I used the CCC to run it's own testing/overclocking routine, not to overclock the card necessarily, but to see if the stress would cause a shutdown. It did. FurrMark was also shut down as well before finishing.

I'm sorry I didn't mention that, just in case, the OS is Vista 64.

I'll try re-installing the new driver.

Thank you!

 

[GaiaHunter]

They actually mean wipe out windows and reinstall it.

In my experience when GPUs are fucked they either won't work or you will see artifacts, not work at 2D speeds and when they go into games they crash.

Remove the graphic card out of its PCI-E, the power connectors, see if it has any dust around the fan, then re-slot it and reconnect the power.

Testing that graphic card on another PC with adequate PSU would be the ideal.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Most likely it isn't the power supply. The best way to test is to stick another PSU in your system.

 

[Rhoxed]

What is idle temps/load temps on the card?

Has it been cleaned of dust recently?

 

[Denithor]

Rhoxed is on the right track here. Reinstall with fresh drivers? Without basic troubleshooting first? That's like your car starts hesitating a little so you just replace the motor without trying to figure out anything first (and it might be a fuel filter clogged, which won't get better with a new engine ).

Check your temps idle and then run furmark to stress your card out. Adjust your fan speed up somewhat with ccc to keep it cooler? Underclock to check that also. Is the card under warranty?

 

[Dashkatt]

Just an update. This morning when I tried to wake up the computer from sleep mode, everything started up just fine ... except the video. Nothing. The monitor light stayed yellow and didn't green up with any video signal. I cold booted a couple of times but nothing worked.

As for the temps. Yesterday I was able to run GPU-Z and the temps appeared normal. But since I hadn't been able to run any kind of stress test without a crash, I was unable to put much stress on the card.

I ran Furmark but after a couple of minutes, it too crashed. 3DMark Advantage crashed as did the CCC Overclock tester. Other than that, the computer ran fine in 2D... until now. I've switched over to rig #2 to post this.

I'm going to pull the card, make sure things are tidy and reinstall it. I'll then uninstall the ATI drivers, clean with DC then reinstall.

As for warranty, I'm sure I voided that when I installed a Thermalright HR-03 GT VGA cooler last year. Excessive heat had not been an issue since then. It is cooled with twin 120mm Tt fans mounted on the cooling fins which I control separately, plus two 140mm fans blowing up from the bottom of the case bringing in the fresh air.

For the past several weeks I had begun to notice stuttering during heavy graphic displays but never a lockup. Up until that point the card had performed quite well since it was installed about a year ago.

Thanks for all the great suggestions and help. This help means a lot to us noobs sitting out here sometimes totally in the dark.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Reformatting with the latest drivers insures that it isn't a software problem. It lets you start off with a clean slate.

 

[Dashkatt]

I almost forgot to come back to this thread and share the results. I replaced the 4870 video card with an ATI 5770 video card and everything now works perfectly.

I noted to myself back when I installed the 4870 that the heat this card was generating could not be good for a long term investment. (Long term in computer speak is 2 years.) I'm not sure what failed, but the ASUS card did fail.

FYI the $179 Sapphire 5770 runs much, much cooler, consumes much less power and generates little heat compared to the nuclear reactor I previously had. And it was a whole lot cheaper than the 4870 when it came out.

Thanks for all the suggestions and help! You guys are great!

 

[Denithor]

Thanks for the update and glad to hear things worked out for you (even if it did cost you a new card).

Enjoy the 5770!!