Horrible Video Problems (Now with WMV video)

[Chaotic42]

My 9700 has been giving me fits. Crazy texture problems, GPU recovers, etc.

So I bought a 6800 to fix all of this. I ran driver cleaner or whatever and installed the 6800 drivers.

Everything is fine with the 6800 unless I go up above 1024x768 in 3D. When I do, games lock up, get horrible texture corruption, and BSOD. Even at 1024x768, BF2 will CTD sometimes. I've used both 77.72 and older 5x.xx series that came with the card.

Any thoughts? I don't want to have to buy a new system unless I absolutely have to.

Thanks.

Edit: Here's a video. Please don't download it unless you think you'll have some input.

Video

 

[Chaotic42]

Okay, I ran memtest86 for four hours and my memory is okay. I also ran Prime95 for quite a while and it checked out.

I tried to start Unreal Tournament 1 and I got a BSOD:

--
Error Message: STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER (Q293078)
--

The BSOD also gave me an error with nv4_disp.sys.

 

[Fistandantilis]

what do you run your monitor at when not gaimng, is it above 1024x768, try setting your monitor higher. it may or maynot help

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Fistandantilis
what do you run your monitor at when not gaimng, is it above 1024x768, try setting your monitor higher. it may or maynot help

I have two monitors and both are at 1280x960.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Busithoth]

you're not running them mirror, are you? (vid card rendering game on both at the same time?)
that can cause problems, though usually more along the lines of horribly low framerates...

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Busithoth
you're not running them mirror, are you? (vid card rendering game on both at the same time?)
that can cause problems, though usually more along the lines of horribly low framerates...

Nope.

This has been happening for quite a while.

My 6800 runs BF2 fairly well, but it will run, then bog down, then run okay, then bog down, then run okay, then crash.

I'm about this >< far from ordering a new system.

 

[Busithoth]

If you have two monitors, can you run task manager while playing game (drag CPU utilization window to 2nd monitor).
that slowing down and speeding up again seems odd.
heat related?

 

[Ramsez]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Error Message: STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER (Q293078)

Driver problem?

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Busithoth
If you have two monitors, can you run task manager while playing game (drag CPU utilization window to 2nd monitor).
that slowing down and speeding up again seems odd.
heat related?

It's not heat. Everything is well within normal ranges.

Task manager shows BF2 using about 500M and one of my processors is maxed out (so I'm at 50% utilization)

 

[Greenman]

I had the same problem, it was heat. Temps were fine right up till the moment the card burned out. New card and no more crashing and BSOD's.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Greenman
I had the same problem, it was heat. Temps were fine right up till the moment the card burned out. New card and no more crashing and BSOD's.

The card doesn't break 70C under load and I had the same problem with another card, so I don't think it's heat. I even removed all of the other cards so that the video card has as much air as it can stand.

I can play for hours at 1024x768, but it freaks out after only minutes at 1280x960.

 

[Chaotic42]

I took out every card in my system except for video and SCSI and I still have the same problems.

I was thinking about getting more memory, but surely Unreal Tournament isn't using 1GB of RAM.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for the replies.

 

[blckgrffn]

1) Power supply failure - maybe, these vid cards draw a lot of power!
2) Reformat, but this definitely sounds like a hardware issue.

Good luck

Nat

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: blckgrffn
1) Power supply failure - maybe, these vid cards draw a lot of power!
2) Reformat, but this definitely sounds like a hardware issue.

Good luck

Nat

I don't think it's power. I have 1060W of power. I'm still thinking about picking up a 3700+ and a 6800GT. $950 is a lot of money though.

 

[blckgrffn]

Well, that is plenty of power $950 is a lot, why would it cost that much?

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: blckgrffn
Well, that is plenty of power $950 is a lot, why would it cost that much?

I don't have the figures infront of me, but it's something like:

$330 for a 6800GT
$125 for a motherboard
$300 for the CPU
$200 for the Memory

 

[Chaotic42]

Bump

 

[n7]

Damn, that's harsh.

I am racking my brain, & somehow i still think it's RAM related. Or actually video card defect related.

First off, you need to do format & do a clean install.

Lastest chipset drivers, etc.

Try disabling or enabling Fastwrites.

I'd try some of the slightly older nVidia drivers, maybe like the 71.xx & above.

The reason i think RAM is somehow related, is that on my system, for some reason, running 4 dimms is not stable.
I can run Memtest, SuperPI, etc. It all checks out fine.
But when i load up UT2k4, i get a lockup within seconds.
If i take out two dimms & run with just two, it's gloriously happy.

Now i know it's not the same situation, but somehow it seems similar.

Maybe try one dimm, or diff slots?

Also, the video card itself might be screwed.

Good luck

 

[gsellis]

Hmmm... STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER This would say device driver or card, but you swapped for totally unlike. Memtest says OK.

Alderbaran? Try de-overclocking first, if you have not (figured you tried this, but....)

The only other thing I could think of now is fault AGP connector or path on the mobo. Inspect the AGP slot with LOTS of light. Anything inside or out that might be shorting or not making contact? Otherwise, the PSU is not up to snuff on the board connection (as the 9700 does not have alternate power). Still think the mobo may be the issue.

Also check you BIOS settings regarding video. BIOS update?

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: gsellis
Hmmm... STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER This would say device driver or card, but you swapped for totally unlike. Memtest says OK.

Yeah, I thought that odd.

Alderbaran? Try de-overclocking first, if you have not (figured you tried this, but....)

I don't have it overclocked. The MP 2800+ runs at 2130MHz which is what I should have in my rig. profile. I'll check throught it incase I put something down incorrectly. The 6800 is also at stock speed.

The only other thing I could think of now is fault AGP connector or path on the mobo. Inspect the AGP slot with LOTS of light. Anything inside or out that might be shorting or not making contact?

This is what I was thinking, but everything looks okay.

Otherwise, the PSU is not up to snuff on the board connection (as the 9700 does not have alternate power). Still think the mobo may be the issue.

The 9700 does has a four-pin connector. Both video cards were on my PC Power and Cooling Deluxe 510. I have an Antec 550 running my drives and fans, so power shouldn't be an issue. I hope not, anyway. The rails check out at 5.10V and 12.01V.

Also check you BIOS settings regarding video. BIOS update?

There is one update available for the board to identify the Athlon MP 2600+ processor, so it's irrelevant for me. I've been running with this BIOS for about two years now and only recently have I started having problems.

Originally posted by: n7
Damn, that's harsh.
I am racking my brain, & somehow i still think it's RAM related. Or actually video card defect related.

My lurker friend thinks it's memory as well. I've tried using the different RAM slots, but I get the same results. I don't think the problems are with the cards themselves, because I had the same problems with two completely different chipsets.

First off, you need to do format & do a clean install.

I did that about two weeks ago before the problems started. That's the next step though.

Lastest chipset drivers, etc.

I tried that. No luck.

Try disabling or enabling Fastwrites.

I disabled them. Performance at 1024x768 is better with them off, but the corruption at higher settings is the same.

I'd try some of the slightly older nVidia drivers, maybe like the 71.xx & above.

I tried the 55.xx drivers that actually came with the card and I got the same results. I might try 71s.

The reason i think RAM is somehow related, is that on my system, for some reason, running 4 dimms is not stable.

I only have two DIMMs in and ECC+Scrub is on.

I can run Memtest, SuperPI, etc. It all checks out fine.
But when i load up UT2k4, i get a lockup within seconds.
If i take out two dimms & run with just two, it's gloriously happy.

Weird. I'll try just one DIMM.

Good luck

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

 

[Chaotic42]

I returned my 6800 and put my old 9700 back in the system. I still get the "Thread stuck in device driver" error, even with the different card in.

Of course I cleaned the NVIDIA drivers out once I returned it.

 

[Busithoth]

Well, have you tried calling ATI about RMA'ing the 9700 for repairs? They'd probably send back a refurbished 9800Pro. They're well-stocked.
How long was the 9700 in your computer before this started?

This seems like a video card issue, maybe bad mem on the card?

Before you plunk down $850, I'd reformat.

 

[gsellis]

Hey Chaotic, had a thought. Does that mobo have a 2nd/3rd level cache chip that can be pulled? I have seen this happen with bad cache. Memory would check OK, but when stressed, the cache would crash the system (that was NT 4, so would get a Stop A IIRC - it was around SP2 days...).

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Busithoth
Well, have you tried calling ATI about RMA'ing the 9700 for repairs? They'd probably send back a refurbished 9800Pro. They're well-stocked.
How long was the 9700 in your computer before this started?

This seems like a video card issue, maybe bad mem on the card?

Before you plunk down $850, I'd reformat.

I'm going to reformat the system this weekend. As far as RMAing the 9700, I've put RAM-sinks on it and Arctic Silver on the HSF.