Dear all,
I've installed a new Sapphire Radeon 9550 256MB onto my system and have had a myriad of problems with it ever since. I've had a look at cjb and Wallace's threads on these forums, tried everything that was recommended, but still to no avail.
After first plugging it in, I downloaded the latest Catalyst Drivers, MS Net framework, and updated my system BIOS. Whenever I started a 3D application however, after a few seconds it went to VPU recover.
I wiped every trace of ATI off my system in safe mode using many programs suggested and tried again with the drivers from the CD. Same problem.
I disabled VPU recover, now the system just crashes or hangs.
I've tried a number of different drivers, right now I'm running the Omega driver versions of Catalyst because at least they allow me to tweak the settings more, but I still can't get it to work properly. Sometimes it even crashes during 2D apps like Firefox.
Bizarrely enough the system works even worse when I try to reduce to 4X AGP or when I disable fast write. When I do either/both of those windows won't even start. I just get a blank screen. I've heard that certain AMD 64 systems need fast write usingthese cards, but not being able to go down to 4X surprised me.
Because it's mid summer, and crashes duw to overheating are common, I've done most of this with my case open, and monitored the CPU temperature. It's stayed well below 40 degrees. However I have no way of monitoring the GPU temperature. Still, it has a big fan (that came with it), and a free bay beneath it, so surely with the case open that couldn't be the problem?
Then there's the PSU, which I've learnt from these forums could also be the cause, yet my system needs a max of 360W and I'm using a 500W supply (admittedly only by a manufacturer called Magna - I'm not sure how to test if it's causing the problem though, what voltages etc shold I be looking out for?)
My system ran everything fine before, although some of the 3D apps and games were a little slow, so I'm convinced it's not a memory or motherboard problem, unless anyone knows of specific manufacturer incompatibilities?
OK, enough of my treatise for now. If anyone can offer any new advice PLEASE HELP!! Unsurprisingly, this is driving me mad, and has become extremely time consuming as I'm not really an expert so have just been going round and round in circles. Here are my specs, any help GREATLY appreciated - Phil:
Abit AV8 mobo
AMD Athlon 64 3000+
Magna 500W PSU
Two sticks of identical 512MB DDR RAM
Sapphire 9550 256MB
A reliable Adaptec SCSI card
SCSI RAID array of 10K Seagate Cheetahs
Yamaha DS2416 Sound Card with AX44 breakout bay
Some digital TV card or other that doesn't really work
DVD, floppy, ethernet cards etc
I've installed a new Sapphire Radeon 9550 256MB onto my system and have had a myriad of problems with it ever since. I've had a look at cjb and Wallace's threads on these forums, tried everything that was recommended, but still to no avail.
After first plugging it in, I downloaded the latest Catalyst Drivers, MS Net framework, and updated my system BIOS. Whenever I started a 3D application however, after a few seconds it went to VPU recover.
I wiped every trace of ATI off my system in safe mode using many programs suggested and tried again with the drivers from the CD. Same problem.
I disabled VPU recover, now the system just crashes or hangs.
I've tried a number of different drivers, right now I'm running the Omega driver versions of Catalyst because at least they allow me to tweak the settings more, but I still can't get it to work properly. Sometimes it even crashes during 2D apps like Firefox.
Bizarrely enough the system works even worse when I try to reduce to 4X AGP or when I disable fast write. When I do either/both of those windows won't even start. I just get a blank screen. I've heard that certain AMD 64 systems need fast write usingthese cards, but not being able to go down to 4X surprised me.
Because it's mid summer, and crashes duw to overheating are common, I've done most of this with my case open, and monitored the CPU temperature. It's stayed well below 40 degrees. However I have no way of monitoring the GPU temperature. Still, it has a big fan (that came with it), and a free bay beneath it, so surely with the case open that couldn't be the problem?
Then there's the PSU, which I've learnt from these forums could also be the cause, yet my system needs a max of 360W and I'm using a 500W supply (admittedly only by a manufacturer called Magna - I'm not sure how to test if it's causing the problem though, what voltages etc shold I be looking out for?)
My system ran everything fine before, although some of the 3D apps and games were a little slow, so I'm convinced it's not a memory or motherboard problem, unless anyone knows of specific manufacturer incompatibilities?
OK, enough of my treatise for now. If anyone can offer any new advice PLEASE HELP!! Unsurprisingly, this is driving me mad, and has become extremely time consuming as I'm not really an expert so have just been going round and round in circles. Here are my specs, any help GREATLY appreciated - Phil:
Abit AV8 mobo
AMD Athlon 64 3000+
Magna 500W PSU
Two sticks of identical 512MB DDR RAM
Sapphire 9550 256MB
A reliable Adaptec SCSI card
SCSI RAID array of 10K Seagate Cheetahs
Yamaha DS2416 Sound Card with AX44 breakout bay
Some digital TV card or other that doesn't really work
DVD, floppy, ethernet cards etc