Sapphire HD4830 keeps crashing

[Eureka]

So I just got a brand new Sapphire HD 4830 512mb today, installed it and booted it up. Everything has been working fine, until I try to play Crysis. For the loading screen (including the nVidia, EA, etc videos), there is 'tearing' of the video. There is also tearing in the menu (a lot of tearing). If I leave the menu on too long, it crashes, giving me an error with something like:
The driver has stopped responding but recovered.

If I go straight into the game, it loads up relatively fine, no problems, and no noticeable tearing (maybe just all the graphics hiding it).

I also have ATI Tray Tools installed. However, it does not recognize the card (it gives me a default GPU/MEM speed of 50:50, and no fan settings). If I try to tell it to set default clocks, it BSODs.

This is all done on Vista 32-bit SP1, using ATI Cat drivers 9.4. If I try installing any of the older ones (9.2, 8.12), it goes black to the command line-type screen (like drivers normally do), but just hangs there. I can hear a windows error ping if I hit random keys, but it stays in the black screen with the blinking cursor.

The system is a Pentium Dual Core E2140 (1.6ghz), 2GB DDR 553 ram, ASROCK 4CoreDual-VSTA mobo.

Right now I am installing XP to see if that might changanything, however I am not sure if this is a driver/Vista problem or a bad board, or just incompatibility with my system. Any ideas?

 

[Eureka]

I just installed XP and it's still not recognized in ATi Tray Tools, and it crashes whenever I attempt to install the default clocks.

Looks like another RMA case...

 

[Eureka]

Sorry for the bump but does this seem more like a bad card or an incompatibility with motherboard/power supply? Not sure if I should ask for a replacement or just a refund.

 

[sonoma1993]

Originally posted by: cevilgenius
So I just got a brand new Sapphire HD 4830 512mb today, installed it and booted it up. Everything has been working fine, until I try to play Crysis. For the loading screen (including the nVidia, EA, etc videos), there is 'tearing' of the video. There is also tearing in the menu (a lot of tearing). If I leave the menu on too long, it crashes, giving me an error with something like:
The driver has stopped responding but recovered.

If I go straight into the game, it loads up relatively fine, no problems, and no noticeable tearing (maybe just all the graphics hiding it).

I also have ATI Tray Tools installed. However, it does not recognize the card (it gives me a default GPU/MEM speed of 50:50, and no fan settings). If I try to tell it to set default clocks, it BSODs.

This is all done on Vista 32-bit SP1, using ATI Cat drivers 9.4. If I try installing any of the older ones (9.2, 8.12), it goes black to the command line-type screen (like drivers normally do), but just hangs there. I can hear a windows error ping if I hit random keys, but it stays in the black screen with the blinking cursor.

The system is a Pentium Dual Core E2140 (1.6ghz), 2GB DDR 553 ram, ASROCK 4CoreDual-VSTA mobo.

Right now I am installing XP to see if that might changanything, however I am not sure if this is a driver/Vista problem or a bad board, or just incompatibility with my system. Any ideas?

what kind of powersupply are you using? possible it's not supplying enough power to the videocard.

 

[kmmatney]

I guess you could have a problem between ATT and Catalyst 9.4 (although 'm OK with my HD4890). Does the card run OK without ATT, and just using CCC?

EDIT!! I just noticed you have a ASrock VSTA motherboard. My Asrock Dual-VSTA (not 4CoreDual version) had trouble with an HD4830 card, and it didn't work until I updated the BIOS. In fact, I had to acquire a third party BIOS from a german website (Bios 3.17a). Try googling the issue. Also, it might help to reset your BIOS to default settings. I bet that is the problem. Can you install the HD4830 in another computer to make sure it's OK?

 

[Eureka]

I don't have another computer to try at the moment. Newegg offered to send me a shipping label for free to RMA it, so I'll try that first. Then I'll try the BIOS, that might be it.

If not, it could be a PSU problem. I'm using a generic 400W PSU right now. That might be the issue, but I don't see why ATI Tray Tools would not recognize it (Device manger does). As well as the tearing issue.

 

[way2fast91]

Originally posted by: cevilgenius
I don't have another computer to try at the moment. Newegg offered to send me a shipping label for free to RMA it, so I'll try that first. Then I'll try the BIOS, that might be it.

If not, it could be a PSU problem. I'm using a generic 400W PSU right now. That might be the issue, but I don't see why ATI Tray Tools would not recognize it (Device manger does). As well as the tearing issue.

BIOS not detecting the card correctly and needing to be updated or PSU not supplying enough power could both possibly be keeping ATT from being able to detect the card correctly. Based on what kmmatney has said, I would suggest updating the BIOS or at least searching for the info to verify what they've said here before you RMA it, unless you are near the deadline to RMA it.

I ran this card just fine on a 430W thermaltake PSU a while back, I guess it depend on how many amps you got on that rail. I think my old PSU had something like 17A on the 12volt rail.

 

[Eureka]

I guess it might be a good idea to check out the BIOS and PSU before I RMA it.

Also, is it normal for the molex to 6-pin adapter to only have 3 pins on the molex side?

 

[kmmatney]

Originally posted by: cevilgenius
I guess it might be a good idea to check out the BIOS and PSU before I RMA it.

Also, is it normal for the molex to 6-pin adapter to only have 3 pins on the molex side?

It probably only uses the 12V wire, so the red wire (5V) may be missing.

 

[kmmatney]

If you look at the BIOS page:

http://www.asrock.com/support/...CoreDual-VSTA&OS=Vista

You'll see that the latest Bios updates provide a patch t allow HD3XXX cards to work, but says nothing about HD4XXX cards.

I followed the instructions in this link to get everything working in my motherboard:

http://www.pctreiber.net/wbb/1...geforce-9xxx-come.html

I downloaded the latest BIOS from here, and now the HD4830 runs great on my Asrock 775Dual-VSTA.

http://www.pctreiber.net/downl...hp?page=Index&catID=22

Your Asrock is newer than mine, but the BIOS still doesn't support HDXXX cards.

 

[Eureka]

Ok, so that solves that. I'm going to try the BIOS update after I get home from work.

Now, I figure this might as well be a good a time to upgrade my PSU as any (since PSUs don't really get dated as other components do). Now, is there a reason why everyone is telling to stick to the name brand PSUs and not Rosewill? I'm looking at these two PSUs:

Antec:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817371007

Rosewill:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817182032

The Rosewill has high ratings and is relatively cheap... and 100W more than the Antec. Is there any reason why I should pay the extra $30 for Antec and the -100W difference?

EDIT:
I did find a link to the BIOS v2.33, which is supposed to let the HD4xxx cards work. We'll see when I get home.

 

[kmmatney]

There is also a BIOS 2.36a on this page:

http://www.pctreiber.net/downl...&pageNo=5&packageID=45

if the other one has issues. This one also specifically says HD48XX support.

 

[Eureka]

Ok so I updated the BIOS to 2.36a, but ATT still does not detect my video card. It still reads 50:50. I reinstalled the drivers as well. It still crashes if I tell it to set default clocks.

Looks like I will have to go with a RMA. I am also going to get a new PSU, see if that helps.

 

[Eureka]

Ok, now I'm annoyed.

I got another HD4830 from RMA. This one isn't really working that great either. Things I've done:

RMA'd
Updated BIOS to 2.36a
Changed to reliable PSU (Antec Earthwatts 500W)
ATI drivers 8.12 with ATi Tray Tools

Everything except the ripping is still the same. ATT still reads 50:50, and now Crysis crashes whenever there is a bit of load on it.

 

[Binky]

Some hardware combinations just don't get along well. It's possible you found one.

 

[Eureka]

Well, the odd thing is that the motherboard does support this card.

And I've reinstalled XP, it runs stable on there. Not sure why Vista is breaking it.