Radeon 9700 Pro Freezing problem

[SuperBee4406]

I have been using a Built by ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128meg video card since mid december with any problems what so ever. Starting on 2/16/03 every game i try to play the computer freezes up, forcing me to reboot. Any 2D or Desktop duties everything is fine until I try to play any game, no matter what type, the computer freezes, with the sound looping. Reason I suspect the video card is that when i went into device manager I noticed that Windows has two display adapters listed when there is only the Radeon card installed. Whatever one i try to uninstall, windows always puts its right back. My primary card is listed as "Radeon 9700 Series" and the other one is listed as "Radeon 9700 Series - Secondary" . The machine is not overclocked and i have done nothing to it, but now I can't play any games anymore without the computer freezing up. The two adaptors are using the same drivers. I tried a clean install of Windows XP and the first thing i checked before any driver was installed was device manager and there were two display adaptors listed.

Do you think this ia a defective video card?

My Specs:
P4 2.4b
Asus P4PE
512meg DDR
ATI Radeon 9700Pro 128meg
40 gig Hard Drive
Pioneer 32x CD-ROM
Compaq Combo DVD/CD-Writer Drive
US Robotics 56k modem
Antec True 430 Power Supply
Windows XP: Pro Service Pack 1 with all Updates

 

[Killrose]

Funny you should just notice this. The 9700 has Dual Ramdacs and supports Dual monitors, so that is why two devices are showing up. It is normal. Mine is the same way.

Maybe you don't have the external power lead hooked up for the 9700? Make sure the fan is clean and turning normally?

 

[SuperBee4406]

I did a visual check before and the fan and power were ok. But this time I did a hands on check and guess what, the power connector wasn't on fully. I snapped back in and whamo games are back. The bass from the games must have vibrated it off over time. Here's another question can not having the connector on over these past couple of days hurt the card? Did I shorten the life of the card in any way?

Thanks for all your help...

 

[Killrose]

Wow, turn down the Bass man! Lol, I doubt you could do anything to the card, it just wanted more juice and did'nt get it so it refused to work.

 

[Noid]

My 12v power lead attaches so freakn hard I have to use 2 hands to get it off.

Glad its workn.
(move that whoofer)

 

[Cuular]

No not having that power connector hooked up will not harm the card. It will just cause thigns like you have been seeing. If there isn't enough power, the card will fail to operate when it needs the extra power.

 

[LoTuS]

Yea...I've had a problem related to this...my specs are:

Asus a7n8x (nforce 2 chipset)
Radeon 9700 pro (catalyst 3.1 drivers)
30 gb wd hdd
amd xp 1900+ cpu (1.6 ghz)
DirectX 9.0
All windows XP updates
Windows XP Home


Alright...now the problem is when I usually run games...it very oftenly happens, but when it does, it's very annoying!!! I run Half-life...and I play half-life mods...so sometimes when I'm running the half-life mods, they just lock up!!! my screen goes black....and I have to hit the restart button to get it working. I have rolled back drivers, and ETC....it still happens (and my power supply plug is hooked onto the radeon cord firmly, and same to the hdd). So, I think the problem lies within my Power Supply. It's and IBEST 400watt dual fans PSU. I think it's the problem...what do you guys think?

 

[BFG10K]

Do you have the latest BIOS and chipset drivers for your system? Any overclocks? Any background programs (especially 3D tweakers) running?

 

[LoTuS]

O sorry for posting that before...nope, no overclocks, I have some background progs running, most likely just the sound icon and norton sometimes....yes, I have the latest bios, and chipsets. The problem may also lie within my motherboard and maybe my vid card, no? Because, the nforce2 (nvidia) and vid card (ATI) would there be any conflicting problems there? Just a guess, well thanks!

 

[jamesbond007]

How are you able to boot with the powerconnector not fully on or not on at all? In my Intel D845PEBT2 motherboard, if I try to boot without the R9700Pro power connector, the computer beeps and flashes a red box on the screen saying I don't have the external power connector hooked up and the board will refuse to boot until I hook it back up. :Q

 

[BFG10K]

If your card was working fine before then either it's now developed a fault or you've installed something in your system that is conflicting with it. It might pay to do a minimal boot and remove all unnecessary hardware.

I have some background progs running, most likely just the sound icon and norton sometimes....

Disable anything that isn't driver related. This especially includes Norton.

Because, the nforce2 (nvidia) and vid card (ATI) would there be any conflicting problems there?

Not at all. The nForce2 might be a bit newish and have a few compatibiltiy issues but it certainly doesn't willfully contain steps to disable ATi cards.

 

[LoTuS]

So now I'm only down to my POWER SUPPLY....any guesses that IBEST 400Watt Dual Fans is good? I really think it's the problem...but the minimum for ATI is 300watt...so I'm really at a lost. It's only about 4-7 months old at the most, as in the Power supply. So, any guesses for anything anyone? I got my new HDD so I'm going to install everything and see if I get the same error. The problem may have lied within my old HDD too...it was on Primary and Slave...haha it should've been on "full master"...but the ppl who made my comp didn't do that, so...Well my new HDD is 80gb western digital EIDE.



One last thing...my old 30 gb hdd had NTSF...people started to tell me at the end when I was getting my new hdd that i should've used FAT32...could somebody please clearify the difference between NTFS, and FAT32? Sorry for typing so much, thanks!

 

[BFG10K]

NTFS is far superior to FAT32. It's faster, has better security and encryption features and it journals which means it can roll back unsuccessful I/O transactions. Stick to NTFS unless you have very small partitions.

 

[blindtothagame]

one to grow on..