Sapphire ATI Radeon 9600 Random Crashes

[t3h1337n00b]

Hi, this is my first time posting on this site so I'm not exactly sure what information you need, so just tell me if you need more.

In September, I got a SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9600 256mb card for my birthday. It worked perfectly fine until one day in January while I was playing Counter Strike: Source. The computer froze, as in no audio and a frame from the game being burned into my eyes. Thinking it was nothing, just a glitch, I restarted my computer and it worked fine. Then, 2 weeks later, it happened again. Keep in mind this is happening randomly in the game, not during loading screens or anything. Then it happened again. Then again. The crashes were becoming more and more frequent. Soon, it was crashing even when I was just browsing the internet or even when I wasn't running any programs. Within days it had begun freezing within 10 seconds of loading the desktop after startup. I had no choice but to wipe the harddrive and reinstall windows. (Someone had also convinced me that SP 2 was the problem) So, it's been a month since I reinstalled Windows XP, and it's started happening again. It's currently freezing while surfing the web or when I'm not running programs; it doesn't seem to be picky. Now when I turn my computer on it crashes within 30 seconds of loading the desktop. Please help me before I have to reinstall windows again!

Specs:
Windows XP Pro
1 gb RAM
3.2 ghz P4 processor
SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9600 256 mb card
I don't know specifics on the motherboard other than that it's an IC7-G

I have the latest drivers installed and I have increased voltage to the card.
The event viewer shows nothing after crash

Thanks for your help!

 

[sootyinc]

Im havin the same problem

I have also got a 9600 pro 128mb and i have had the exact same problem. It started randomly crashing but became more frequent. I have tried Ati tech support but i have not had a reply back from them. I have had to change my graphics card back to my 64mb geforce but this is not enough to alow me to play "matrix - online" and when i play cs-source it is very laggy. I have to sort this problem out seeing as it is costing me money (paying out per month for the matrix online)...i was just about to install windows pro but after reading your post i presume that it wont correct the problem. Im just wondering if u have found a solution yet? If not i will carry on searching for an answer to this problem....Aj

 

[zephead]

there could be a few main reasons for your problems:
-the card gets too hot; your case has poor ventilation or the onboard heatsink/fan is not in good working order
-the power supply balks and cannot deliver enough juice so the machine locks up; assert that you have sufficient amperage ratings for each power rail with respect to your load

in one of these crashes, attempt using the numlock key, does it work the LED indicator light?

 

[truflip]

yea.. turn off ur hacks.. they kill CS:S ahahah jk jk it happened to me.. neway all i did was jacked up my swap memory to about 3GB in my C: drive (where CS:S is installed) fixed the problem.. however.. it seems like u have a good 1gb of ram which is enough.. maybe your computer is not being cooled down properly.. i agree with zephead..

also the power supply could be a problem too..

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

if u know ur PSU watt.. then check the website n see if its enuf =]

 

[ldavies23]

Ive had the same problem for the past couple of months. Started out fine, but gradually got worse until last night, when windows completely failed to load post lockup!!

Safe mode loaded, but that was it, just stopped after the Windows XP splash screen.

so I had no alternative but to install XP from scratch - not happy!!

This is not an overheating problem, nor do I think it's power either. I've monitored temperature and that's all stable. Having checked the power consumption on the website suggested by TruFlip my PSU (300 watt) should be ample.

Having used ATI for the past 3-4 years I'm starting to think about the switch to NVidia.

The fact that there's nothing in the Event Viewer smacks of video drivers, but I've tried all the Catalyst drivers I've used previously for the past year or so with no difference, end of tether almost reached!!!

Sys Spec:
Athlon XP 2600
Asus A7N8X Deluxe MOBO
1Gb RAM