Sapphire Radeon 9800pro Problems

[PathOfIllumination]

I have had this card for a while and had problems as soon as i had it Installed... The problem I had were random reboots throught playing games (counter-strike) I just let it go. Now its really starting to get to me. I recently bought warcraft and cant play for more then 5 minutes without my screen like getting all distorted and the picture looks like its splitting.

Let me explain the error messages I get.

VPU Recover something about not responding to drivers I guess... I re-installed the drivers, got the newest catalyst 5.12 the problem still consists.

I bought a new BFG tech fan for the video card and bought 3 more for my case incase if it was an overheating problem

I dont understand why its happening ATI support blows all they do is tell me to install drivers, install drivers... is it possible my computer is making it crash? Do i need a BIOS upgrade or soemthing

my mobo is Soyo Kt600 Dragon Plus.. I have an agp8x slot and its compatible with the Card so I dont know what the deal is

512RAM
AMD xp 2800+
120GB Hard Drive
Radeon 9800pro

Iv tried so many things new drivers, new fans, taking the card out reinstalling and calling ATI and getting the same crap...

Im getting ready to put my old geforce4 back in...

 

[Bucksnort]

If you are overclocking your ram then set it back to normal. What size and brand power supply do you have?

 

[PathOfIllumination]

I remember doing something with jumpers that did overclock my RAM when I first Set up my computer.. as for power supply... i have no idea how do i find out?

 

[Eureka]

Open up your case... on the powersupply there will be a sticker. Look for the brand name and the total number of watts.

Secondly, it sounds like something's overheating.

Norm

 

[xtknight]

Switch AGP 8x to 4x and set AGP Fast Write to off. If that doesn't work you can try disabling Write Combining in display properties (Advanced, Troubleshoot tab). I had this problem with my Radeon and VIA KT400 chipset (or was it KT333?) One of those seemed to fix it, I'm pretty sure it was the Fast Write.

 

[PathOfIllumination]

what would swiching agp8x to 4xdo? doesnt it work just as hard in 4x as in 8x

how about agp write and agp read?

 

[sandorski]

Uninstalled your NVidia video card and drivers first?

Plugged the power connector into the 9800Pro?

Have the 4 pin power connector attached to the motherboard?

 

[junkyardDawg]

definitely sounds like a heat issue, make sure the heatsink is seated properly and has a good layer of thermal grease.

you could also try rolling back the drivers to ver. 4.12, they seem to work as good as any on the older radeons.

 

[PathOfIllumination]

??? where do you apply thermal greese on a video card???

 

[Eureka]

Right on top of the core... if you've ever taken off a heatsink/cooler it's that sticky stuff on top of the core.

Norm

 

[PathOfIllumination]

I never removed the socket so shouldnt it already be on there i dont recall applying any thermal greese when i recieved my card

 

[junkyardDawg]

OK, I thought you had a aftermarket cooler.

just remove the card and look at it edgeways, see if the heatsink is sitting flat on the card, if not, gently twist the heatsink back and forth to seat it flat on the gpu.

how long have you had the card, has it always done this?

 

[PathOfIllumination]

couple months yea it always had random reboots

I changed the AGP write to 4x instead of 8x and played a game of warcraft and it didnt crash, i wanted to play more but I was forced to do my school work =p maybe that fixed the problem?

 

[PathOfIllumination]

switch to agp4x solved the problem =) are there any disadvantages to this??

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: PathOfIllumination
switch to agp4x solved the problem =) are there any disadvantages to this??

Not sure if the 9800 PRO saturates AGP 4x yet but my guess is no, so in the end, there shouldn't be any disavantages. It doesn't matter in the end if all your games are still playable. Setting Fast Writes to off didn't fix it?

Maybe you can try updating the VIA Hyperion drivers. I can't believe the VIA chipsets still have this problem. Really pathetic...

 

[PathOfIllumination]

yea fast write didnt work if i knew soyo mobos had this problem never would of gotten the danm thing.. i had a similar proble mwith my geforce4 only it would freeze after every reboot and thats it.. But with the radeon it would happen randomly whenever but thx for the help =)