9800 Pro feezes during 3D games

Hello all.

I installed my new ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Hercules 3D Prophet) graphics
card recently and I've been having a few problems with it. AFAIK
everything is fine when using normal apps, but when I play 3D games my
system will freeze after about 30 minutes. I thought this might be an
overheating problem, but I'm not sure now. I don't know whether I need
a new graphics card, motherboard, power supply or what? Here's my
system spec and what I've tried so far...

CPU: Athlon 2400XP @ 2GHz
MB: PC Chips M848A (Rev: 2.1) (SIS chipset)
RAM: 512 Mb (2100)
OS: XP with SP1
450 W PSU QTEC

Other Stuff:
1 DVD Writer
1 CD-ROM
60 Gb HD
80 Gb HD
3 Case Fans

ATI Drivers:
Catalyst 4.5


When my system freezes I usually need to reset my PC. Sometimes I get
an error message and I can get back to the desktop, in which case my
screen updates become very slow. According to the error message my
graphics card has stopped responding, and the graphics is handled in
software.

The first thing I tried was updating my drivers. I got the latest 9800
Pro drivers (Catalyst 4.5) and the latest chipset drivers for my
motherboard (from SIS). This made no difference, after about 30
minutes of gaming my system froze again.

Because of the 30 minutes before the crash, I though I might have an
overheating problem. To check this I removed one side of my PC case
and moved a case fan to help circulate the air near the 9800 Pro. If
overheating was the problem, I'd expect this to solve it, or at least
provide me with more than 30 minutes of use. But this time the system
froze after 7 minutes! That was from a cold start, so I guess
temperature isn't the problem?

The next thing I thought about was my power supply. My PSU is a 450W
QTEC, and it had been running my old system for a few months. My
previous graphics card was a GF4 Ti (AGP 8x), and I never had any
problems with it. I was hoping my upgrade to the 9800 Pro would just
be simple swap, but it's not turing out like that. I know the 9800 Pro
cards are power hungry, but I think 450W should be enough to handle
it? To check this I installed Motherboard Monitor 5, and the results
were, erm, odd. Here they a

Line Voltage/V
=======================
CPU 1.65
+2.5 2.54
+3.3 2.49 to 2.59
+5.00 3.31 to 4.45
+12.00 4.65 to 10.21
-12.00 -2.58 to -8.71
-5.00 0

These readings show the range over a 30 minute interval. The readings
are so bad that I dismissed them as being nonsense. In case the load
of the 9800 Pro was somehow causing these fluctuations, I reinstalled
my old GF4 and repeated the measurements - they were the same (more or
less). Since Motherboard Monitor 5 is supposed to be compatible with
my motherboard (well, it appears in the list) I reckon that my
motherboard is probably just lying about the voltages. I checked my
PSU in a friend's PC (MSI motherboard) and the voltages are all right;
the only deviations were the +5.00 V line which read about 5.11 V, and
the +12.00 V line which read about 11.60 V.

So does this mean that my motherboard is faulty? I haven't updated my
BIOS yet because I don't like changing that unless I really have to.
Could updating my BIOS solve my problem? Or at least solve the strange
(and presumably wrong) readings from Motherboard Monitor 5?

More recently I tried reducing my AGP speed from 8x to 4x, and I
played a game for nearly 2 hours without any problems. I concluded
that it might be a problem that affects only AGP 8x. That said, my
previous graphics card used AGP 8x and that was fine - so that'd
suggest a problem with the 9800 Pro, or a compatibility problem
between the 9800 Pro and my SIS chipset? Anyway, I then switched back
to AGP 8x expecting my PC to crash after 30 minutes, but it didn't. It
crashed after 1 hour and 15 minutes! I concluded that my previous
conclusion was premature. Although I haven't had a system freeze while
in AGP 4x mode, I'm not convinced it won't happen (yet). I will stay
in AGP 4x mode for now to see what happens.

BTW, has anyone got a 9800 Pro working with a PC Chips M848A (rev
2.1)?

Now, I know the obvious conclusion is that my 9800 Pro card is faulty!
But is there a way I can be sure? The fact that the games work for 30
minutes or so shows that something must be OK.

I'm not sure what to try next. I'd begrudgingly buy another
motherboard to get things working, but I don't want to do it unless I
know it will fix things!

Does anyone have any insight or suggestions they could offer? I could
do with some expert advice!


Cheers.

The next thing I thought about was my power supply. My PSU is a 450W
QTEC, and it had been running my old system for a few months. My
previous graphics card was a GF4 Ti (AGP 8x), and I never had any
problems with it. I was hoping my upgrade to the 9800 Pro would just
be simple swap, but it's not turing out like that. I know the 9800 Pro
cards are power hungry, but I think 450W should be enough to handle
it? To check this I installed Motherboard Monitor 5, and the results
were, erm, odd. Here they a

Line Voltage/V
=======================
CPU 1.65
+2.5 2.54
+3.3 2.49 to 2.59
+5.00 3.31 to 4.45
+12.00 4.65 to 10.21
-12.00 -2.58 to -8.71
-5.00 0

These readings show the range over a 30 minute interval. The readings
are so bad that I dismissed them as being nonsense. In case the load
of the 9800 Pro was somehow causing these fluctuations, I reinstalled
my old GF4 and repeated the measurements - they were the same (more or
less).

I have a Qtec 550, and I suffer the same problem. In the research I have
done it basically shows that QTEC PSU's are dire and are the cause of our
problems.
--
Victoria Concordia Crescit

"KerplunKuK" wrote in message
...
The next thing I thought about was my power supply. My PSU is a 450W
QTEC, and it had been running my old system for a few months. My
previous graphics card was a GF4 Ti (AGP 8x), and I never had any
problems with it. I was hoping my upgrade to the 9800 Pro would just
be simple swap, but it's not turing out like that. I know the 9800 Pro
cards are power hungry, but I think 450W should be enough to handle
it? To check this I installed Motherboard Monitor 5, and the results
were, erm, odd. Here they a

Line Voltage/V
=======================
CPU 1.65
+2.5 2.54
+3.3 2.49 to 2.59
+5.00 3.31 to 4.45
+12.00 4.65 to 10.21
-12.00 -2.58 to -8.71
-5.00 0

These readings show the range over a 30 minute interval. The readings
are so bad that I dismissed them as being nonsense. In case the load
of the 9800 Pro was somehow causing these fluctuations, I reinstalled
my old GF4 and repeated the measurements - they were the same (more or
less).

I have a Qtec 550, and I suffer the same problem. In the research I have
done it basically shows that QTEC PSU's are dire and are the cause of our
problems.
--
Victoria Concordia Crescit

I have a 9600 pro. I have crashes when I overclock. I have so far
associated them with heat. But, I am curious about your findings. May be,
I have the same problem.
How does the 30-minute delay fit in the equation if the problem is the power
supply?
Thanks

well lets explore some other aspects.

How well is your 9800 plugged in ? 450 watts should be enough and then some to run your
PC.
If the 9800 connector is loose - try to plug it into a different wire coming from the
power supply.

fans, I've had those fans pull down my entire system when they go faulty. suspect the
fans.

HDD's getting hot and going flaky on you. You moved maybe their one source of heat
dissipation. Yes i'm talking co-incidence maybe.

you could have a HDD going bad - this is also what those stinkers do to your power supply.

What does the inside of your power supply look like ? You trying to pump cool air through
a bag of dust bunnies ?

hope this helps,

** No Fate **

cheers,
dracman
Tomb Raider: Shotgun City
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"Fish" wrote in message
om...
: Hello all.
:
: I installed my new ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Hercules 3D Prophet) graphics
: card recently and I've been having a few problems with it. AFAIK
: everything is fine when using normal apps, but when I play 3D games my
: system will freeze after about 30 minutes. I thought this might be an
: overheating problem, but I'm not sure now. I don't know whether I need
: a new graphics card, motherboard, power supply or what? Here's my
: system spec and what I've tried so far...
:
: CPU: Athlon 2400XP @ 2GHz
: MB: PC Chips M848A (Rev: 2.1) (SIS chipset)
: RAM: 512 Mb (2100)
: OS: XP with SP1
: 450 W PSU QTEC
:
: Other Stuff:
: 1 DVD Writer
: 1 CD-ROM
: 60 Gb HD
: 80 Gb HD
: 3 Case Fans
:
: ATI Drivers:
: Catalyst 4.5
:
:
: When my system freezes I usually need to reset my PC. Sometimes I get
: an error message and I can get back to the desktop, in which case my
: screen updates become very slow. According to the error message my
: graphics card has stopped responding, and the graphics is handled in
: software.
:
: The first thing I tried was updating my drivers. I got the latest 9800
: Pro drivers (Catalyst 4.5) and the latest chipset drivers for my
: motherboard (from SIS). This made no difference, after about 30
: minutes of gaming my system froze again.
:
: Because of the 30 minutes before the crash, I though I might have an
: overheating problem. To check this I removed one side of my PC case
: and moved a case fan to help circulate the air near the 9800 Pro. If
: overheating was the problem, I'd expect this to solve it, or at least
: provide me with more than 30 minutes of use. But this time the system
: froze after 7 minutes! That was from a cold start, so I guess
: temperature isn't the problem?
:
: The next thing I thought about was my power supply. My PSU is a 450W
: QTEC, and it had been running my old system for a few months. My
: previous graphics card was a GF4 Ti (AGP 8x), and I never had any
: problems with it. I was hoping my upgrade to the 9800 Pro would just
: be simple swap, but it's not turing out like that. I know the 9800 Pro
: cards are power hungry, but I think 450W should be enough to handle
: it? To check this I installed Motherboard Monitor 5, and the results
: were, erm, odd. Here they a
:
: Line Voltage/V
: =======================
: CPU 1.65
: +2.5 2.54
: +3.3 2.49 to 2.59
: +5.00 3.31 to 4.45
: +12.00 4.65 to 10.21
: -12.00 -2.58 to -8.71
: -5.00 0
:
: These readings show the range over a 30 minute interval. The readings
: are so bad that I dismissed them as being nonsense. In case the load
: of the 9800 Pro was somehow causing these fluctuations, I reinstalled
: my old GF4 and repeated the measurements - they were the same (more or
: less). Since Motherboard Monitor 5 is supposed to be compatible with
: my motherboard (well, it appears in the list) I reckon that my
: motherboard is probably just lying about the voltages. I checked my
: PSU in a friend's PC (MSI motherboard) and the voltages are all right;
: the only deviations were the +5.00 V line which read about 5.11 V, and
: the +12.00 V line which read about 11.60 V.
:
: So does this mean that my motherboard is faulty? I haven't updated my
: BIOS yet because I don't like changing that unless I really have to.
: Could updating my BIOS solve my problem? Or at least solve the strange
: (and presumably wrong) readings from Motherboard Monitor 5?
:
: More recently I tried reducing my AGP speed from 8x to 4x, and I
: played a game for nearly 2 hours without any problems. I concluded
: that it might be a problem that affects only AGP 8x. That said, my
: previous graphics card used AGP 8x and that was fine - so that'd
: suggest a problem with the 9800 Pro, or a compatibility problem
: between the 9800 Pro and my SIS chipset? Anyway, I then switched back
: to AGP 8x expecting my PC to crash after 30 minutes, but it didn't. It
: crashed after 1 hour and 15 minutes! I concluded that my previous
: conclusion was premature. Although I haven't had a system freeze while
: in AGP 4x mode, I'm not convinced it won't happen (yet). I will stay
: in AGP 4x mode for now to see what happens.
:
: BTW, has anyone got a 9800 Pro working with a PC Chips M848A (rev
: 2.1)?
:
: Now, I know the obvious conclusion is that my 9800 Pro card is faulty!
: But is there a way I can be sure? The fact that the games work for 30
: minutes or so shows that something must be OK.
:
: I'm not sure what to try next. I'd begrudgingly buy another
: motherboard to get things working, but I don't want to do it unless I
: know it will fix things!
:
: Does anyone have any insight or suggestions they could offer? I could
: do with some expert advice!
:
:
: Cheers.




.................................................. ...............
Posted via TITANnews - Uncensored Newsgroups Access
at http://www.TitanNews.com
-=Every Newsgroup - Anonymous, UNCENSORED, BROADBAND Downloads=-

Did you uninstall all of your nvidia drivers wirthdriver cleaner?

"Fish" wrote in message
om...
Hello all.

I installed my new ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Hercules 3D Prophet) graphics
card recently and I've been having a few problems with it. AFAIK
everything is fine when using normal apps, but when I play 3D games my
system will freeze after about 30 minutes. I thought this might be an
overheating problem, but I'm not sure now. I don't know whether I need
a new graphics card, motherboard, power supply or what? Here's my
system spec and what I've tried so far...

CPU: Athlon 2400XP @ 2GHz
MB: PC Chips M848A (Rev: 2.1) (SIS chipset)
RAM: 512 Mb (2100)
OS: XP with SP1
450 W PSU QTEC

Other Stuff:
1 DVD Writer
1 CD-ROM
60 Gb HD
80 Gb HD
3 Case Fans

ATI Drivers:
Catalyst 4.5


When my system freezes I usually need to reset my PC. Sometimes I get
an error message and I can get back to the desktop, in which case my
screen updates become very slow. According to the error message my
graphics card has stopped responding, and the graphics is handled in
software.

The first thing I tried was updating my drivers. I got the latest 9800
Pro drivers (Catalyst 4.5) and the latest chipset drivers for my
motherboard (from SIS). This made no difference, after about 30
minutes of gaming my system froze again.

Because of the 30 minutes before the crash, I though I might have an
overheating problem. To check this I removed one side of my PC case
and moved a case fan to help circulate the air near the 9800 Pro. If
overheating was the problem, I'd expect this to solve it, or at least
provide me with more than 30 minutes of use. But this time the system
froze after 7 minutes! That was from a cold start, so I guess
temperature isn't the problem?

The next thing I thought about was my power supply. My PSU is a 450W
QTEC, and it had been running my old system for a few months. My
previous graphics card was a GF4 Ti (AGP 8x), and I never had any
problems with it. I was hoping my upgrade to the 9800 Pro would just
be simple swap, but it's not turing out like that. I know the 9800 Pro
cards are power hungry, but I think 450W should be enough to handle
it? To check this I installed Motherboard Monitor 5, and the results
were, erm, odd. Here they a

Line Voltage/V
=======================
CPU 1.65
+2.5 2.54
+3.3 2.49 to 2.59
+5.00 3.31 to 4.45
+12.00 4.65 to 10.21
-12.00 -2.58 to -8.71
-5.00 0

These readings show the range over a 30 minute interval. The readings
are so bad that I dismissed them as being nonsense. In case the load
of the 9800 Pro was somehow causing these fluctuations, I reinstalled
my old GF4 and repeated the measurements - they were the same (more or
less). Since Motherboard Monitor 5 is supposed to be compatible with
my motherboard (well, it appears in the list) I reckon that my
motherboard is probably just lying about the voltages. I checked my
PSU in a friend's PC (MSI motherboard) and the voltages are all right;
the only deviations were the +5.00 V line which read about 5.11 V, and
the +12.00 V line which read about 11.60 V.

So does this mean that my motherboard is faulty? I haven't updated my
BIOS yet because I don't like changing that unless I really have to.
Could updating my BIOS solve my problem? Or at least solve the strange
(and presumably wrong) readings from Motherboard Monitor 5?

More recently I tried reducing my AGP speed from 8x to 4x, and I
played a game for nearly 2 hours without any problems. I concluded
that it might be a problem that affects only AGP 8x. That said, my
previous graphics card used AGP 8x and that was fine - so that'd
suggest a problem with the 9800 Pro, or a compatibility problem
between the 9800 Pro and my SIS chipset? Anyway, I then switched back
to AGP 8x expecting my PC to crash after 30 minutes, but it didn't. It
crashed after 1 hour and 15 minutes! I concluded that my previous
conclusion was premature. Although I haven't had a system freeze while
in AGP 4x mode, I'm not convinced it won't happen (yet). I will stay
in AGP 4x mode for now to see what happens.

BTW, has anyone got a 9800 Pro working with a PC Chips M848A (rev
2.1)?

Now, I know the obvious conclusion is that my 9800 Pro card is faulty!
But is there a way I can be sure? The fact that the games work for 30
minutes or so shows that something must be OK.

I'm not sure what to try next. I'd begrudgingly buy another
motherboard to get things working, but I don't want to do it unless I
know it will fix things!

Does anyone have any insight or suggestions they could offer? I could
do with some expert advice!


Cheers.

"Fish" wrote in message
om...
Hello all.

I installed my new ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Hercules 3D Prophet) graphics
card recently and I've been having a few problems with it. AFAIK
everything is fine when using normal apps, but when I play 3D games my
system will freeze after about 30 minutes. I thought this might be an
overheating problem, but I'm not sure now. I don't know whether I need
a new graphics card, motherboard, power supply or what? Here's my
system spec and what I've tried so far...

CPU: Athlon 2400XP @ 2GHz
MB: PC Chips M848A (Rev: 2.1) (SIS chipset)
RAM: 512 Mb (2100)
OS: XP with SP1
450 W PSU QTEC

Other Stuff:
1 DVD Writer
1 CD-ROM
60 Gb HD
80 Gb HD
3 Case Fans

ATI Drivers:
Catalyst 4.5


When my system freezes I usually need to reset my PC. Sometimes I get
an error message and I can get back to the desktop, in which case my
screen updates become very slow. According to the error message my
graphics card has stopped responding, and the graphics is handled in
software.

The first thing I tried was updating my drivers. I got the latest 9800
Pro drivers (Catalyst 4.5) and the latest chipset drivers for my
motherboard (from SIS). This made no difference, after about 30
minutes of gaming my system froze again.

Because of the 30 minutes before the crash, I though I might have an
overheating problem. To check this I removed one side of my PC case
and moved a case fan to help circulate the air near the 9800 Pro. If
overheating was the problem, I'd expect this to solve it, or at least
provide me with more than 30 minutes of use. But this time the system
froze after 7 minutes! That was from a cold start, so I guess
temperature isn't the problem?

The next thing I thought about was my power supply. My PSU is a 450W
QTEC, and it had been running my old system for a few months. My
previous graphics card was a GF4 Ti (AGP 8x), and I never had any
problems with it. I was hoping my upgrade to the 9800 Pro would just
be simple swap, but it's not turing out like that. I know the 9800 Pro
cards are power hungry, but I think 450W should be enough to handle
it? To check this I installed Motherboard Monitor 5, and the results
were, erm, odd. Here they a

Line Voltage/V
=======================
CPU 1.65
+2.5 2.54
+3.3 2.49 to 2.59
+5.00 3.31 to 4.45
+12.00 4.65 to 10.21
-12.00 -2.58 to -8.71
-5.00 0

These readings show the range over a 30 minute interval. The readings
are so bad that I dismissed them as being nonsense. In case the load
of the 9800 Pro was somehow causing these fluctuations, I reinstalled
my old GF4 and repeated the measurements - they were the same (more or
less). Since Motherboard Monitor 5 is supposed to be compatible with
my motherboard (well, it appears in the list) I reckon that my
motherboard is probably just lying about the voltages. I checked my
PSU in a friend's PC (MSI motherboard) and the voltages are all right;
the only deviations were the +5.00 V line which read about 5.11 V, and
the +12.00 V line which read about 11.60 V.

So does this mean that my motherboard is faulty? I haven't updated my
BIOS yet because I don't like changing that unless I really have to.
Could updating my BIOS solve my problem? Or at least solve the strange
(and presumably wrong) readings from Motherboard Monitor 5?

More recently I tried reducing my AGP speed from 8x to 4x, and I
played a game for nearly 2 hours without any problems. I concluded
that it might be a problem that affects only AGP 8x. That said, my
previous graphics card used AGP 8x and that was fine - so that'd
suggest a problem with the 9800 Pro, or a compatibility problem
between the 9800 Pro and my SIS chipset? Anyway, I then switched back
to AGP 8x expecting my PC to crash after 30 minutes, but it didn't. It
crashed after 1 hour and 15 minutes! I concluded that my previous
conclusion was premature. Although I haven't had a system freeze while
in AGP 4x mode, I'm not convinced it won't happen (yet). I will stay
in AGP 4x mode for now to see what happens.

BTW, has anyone got a 9800 Pro working with a PC Chips M848A (rev
2.1)?

Now, I know the obvious conclusion is that my 9800 Pro card is faulty!
But is there a way I can be sure? The fact that the games work for 30
minutes or so shows that something must be OK.

I'm not sure what to try next. I'd begrudgingly buy another
motherboard to get things working, but I don't want to do it unless I
know it will fix things!

Does anyone have any insight or suggestions they could offer? I could
do with some expert advice!


Cheers.


You may be overdriving the RAM. I suggest you try with it set synchronously
with the system clock and use SPD timing to see if this is the case. I am
not AMD-savvy but this is how I fixed my P4 which acted similarly.

No, I've never heard of it. Can not doing so cause problems with ATI cards?


"COCA COLA KID" wrote in message ...
Did you uninstall all of your nvidia drivers wirthdriver cleaner?

"Navid" wrote in message . com...
"KerplunKuK" wrote in message
...but I think 450W should be enough to handle
it? To check this I installed Motherboard Monitor 5, and the results
were, erm, odd. Here they a

Line Voltage/V
=======================
CPU 1.65
+2.5 2.54
+3.3 2.49 to 2.59
+5.00 3.31 to 4.45
+12.00 4.65 to 10.21
-12.00 -2.58 to -8.71
-5.00 0

These readings show the range over a 30 minute interval. The readings
are so bad that I dismissed them as being nonsense. In case the load
of the 9800 Pro was somehow causing these fluctuations, I reinstalled
my old GF4 and repeated the measurements - they were the same (more or
less).

I have a Qtec 550, and I suffer the same problem. In the research I have
done it basically shows that QTEC PSU's are dire and are the cause of our
problems.
--
Victoria Concordia Crescit

I have a 9600 pro. I have crashes when I overclock. I have so far
associated them with heat. But, I am curious about your findings. May be,
I have the same problem.
How does the 30-minute delay fit in the equation if the problem is the power
supply?
Thanks

It doesn't, it fits in with the various delays before the crash
occurs. Unless Motherboard Monitor is lying, my voltages are far from
correct, and they appear to change randomly. If this is true, I'm
guessing that it's only a matter of time before the voltages hit a
certain combination that my 9800 Pro doesn't like, causing it to
crash. This "matter of time" is usually 30 minutes, but it has also
been 45 minutes, 7 minutes, and 1 hour 15 minutes.

I can check whether my PSU is really a problem by replacing it with my
friend's PSU, which reports rock-steady voltages on his PC when using
Motherboard Monitor. If, when in my PC, Motherboard Monitor reports
steady voltages then I'll know that Motherboard Monitor is working
with my Motherboard, and that the voltages I posted earlier are
correct. If this is the case then my PSU is almost definitely the
problem (or one of them). If not, then something may be wrong with my
motherboard (or it's just not compatible with Motherboard Monitor).
But I won't know until I do this test - I'll post my results here,
probably in a day or two.

Fish wrote:


I can check whether my PSU is really a problem by replacing it with my
friend's PSU, which reports rock-steady voltages on his PC when using
Motherboard Monitor. If, when in my PC, Motherboard Monitor reports
steady voltages then I'll know that Motherboard Monitor is working
with my Motherboard, and that the voltages I posted earlier are
correct. If this is the case then my PSU is almost definitely the
problem (or one of them). If not, then something may be wrong with my
motherboard (or it's just not compatible with Motherboard Monitor).
But I won't know until I do this test - I'll post my results here,
probably in a day or two.


Good idea .. also try clocking your CPU at it's correct speed. PCChips
is not a good brand of motherboard btw o(

regards

@ndrew

"@ndrew" wrote:

Good idea .. also try clocking your CPU at it's correct speed. PCChips
is not a good brand of motherboard btw o(

LOL! That's the understatement of the decade! I still vividly remember a
PCChips MB with two pieces of plastic glued to it, with proper memory
info on them, but no pins! That particular board also had a Asus BIOS.
Do they still market their boards under about 20 different names?