Video Card Failing?

[skippapotamus]

Recently added a 2nd HD, IDE controller, and blew out my case with compressed air. Now my PS fan is loud until it starts to cycle down, and my video randomly (whether it be 10 mins, or 2 hours) goes. Just outright goes - like I get a pixelated thing on my screen, in columns, and my mouse shows up as a box of similar nature (so it's technically showing up, and it suggests the OS is at least semi-operable behind the video goof). I have a pic of this if I can attach.

Running an ATI 9500. I've been suggested that it's either the video card or the PS. I reseated the video card and tried moving the IDE card down the mobo.

I tried pulling the power on the backup HD (since I'm not using it, yet) to see if less power draw helped alleviate the problem, and it didn't.
I can put it in a near-identical system, just have been disheartened by the failure of everything I've tried so far. I really can't afford another video card right now.

 

[Slappy00]

does it do this in 2d or 3d ? does it matter?
did you check for IRQ conflicts and moving the IDE controller to a diferent PCI slot?

 

[LiLithTecH]

Is the pixelation visible when booting (POST)?

If so, then it is likely bad ram on the video card.

PSU Fan cycling down = VERY BAD (as in overheating)

 

[skippapotamus]

It's mostly done it when I'm out using windows and surfing, no games. I can throw up visualisations from Winamp and play games without problem most of the time. I'd like to say it's when I'm putting the CPU under load the most (it can sit and not do it, only does it in use) but I can't say for sure. I'd really love it if it were just power supply.

 

[skippapotamus]

Originally posted by: LiLithTecH
Is the pixelation visible when booting (POST)?

If so, then it is likely bad ram on the video card.

PSU Fan cycling down = VERY BAD (as in overheating)

No. It boots fine, every time, even if I just reset right after fail.

The power supply fan seems to be running when it does cycle down. It's just hellaciously noisy to that point. It's still running.

But I really do want it to be the PS and not the vidcard.





oh,and no IRQ conflicts. But - and now I might be ignorant - but there's two video cards listed. 9500 and 9500 secondary. Does that jive?

 

[skippapotamus]

OK it failed again but this time in a game so I had a little more control. I stuck with it and tried to see if I could control what I was doing - nothing I could notice but a popup came up that says

VPU Recover has reser your graphics accelerator as it was no longer responding to graphics driver commands


Please tell ATI Technologies about this


The generated error report contains only system information such as driver version, AGP settings, graphics frame buffer size, etc. that will be used to analyze the problem. The report will be treated as anonymous.





Thoughts?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: LiLithTecH
Is the pixelation visible when booting (POST)?
If so, then it is likely bad ram on the video card.

Hmm, my Radeon 9200 does that every so often, when I reboot WinXP. My theory involves overheating RAM chip(s) too. Haven't seen it in the last few days, but I just recently added another fan to the case too. Hopefully that will be the last of the issue.

Sometimes I get "VPU recover" kicking in too, but after it's done resetting things, the screen is in 16-color (4bpp) mode, 640x480, and every-other group of 8 (16?) pixels is interleaved, like .. basket-weaving, kind of. This is with Cat 4.11 final. I used to get VPU recover with earlier drivers, when testing overclocking with ATITool when I went too high on the core clock, but in those cases, it reset the video to a relatively normal-looking display (not 4bpp mode), and then any ability to change the core clock speed was disabled.

 

[LiLithTecH]

Usually when the RAM Fails on the video card it will noticable as light
confetti-type pixels during the POST. (actually have seen the firmware ROM cause this also)

Here is ATI's explanation and Fix for the 'VPU Recover Error'.

DEVICE DRIVER is STUCK IN INFINITE LOOP" or VPU Recover errors in Windows XP

I have only had this error on ATI Built cards only, not partners.

 

[skippapotamus]

Originally posted by: LiLithTecH
Usually when the RAM Fails on the video card it will noticable as light
confetti-type pixels during the POST. (actually have seen the firmware ROM cause this also)

Here is ATI's explanation and Fix for the 'VPU Recover Error'.

DEVICE DRIVER is STUCK IN INFINITE LOOP" or VPU Recover errors in Windows XP

I have only had this error on ATI Built cards only, not partners.

Not to be an f'ing idiot, but what's POST?





mild update - I've tried to fully restore the system to where it was before the second HD/IDE card was added. And it still does it. Haven't tried it in a similar system (the one I'm on) because of over-riding fear and the fact that I don't feel like tearing down two systems. But I'm pretty sure it's just screwed, yeah. Is there any remedy that's going to be able to salvage the current card?

 

[LiLithTecH]

Originally posted by: skippapotamus



Not to be an f'ing idiot, but what's POST?





mild update - I've tried to fully restore the system to where it was before the second HD/IDE card was added. And it still does it. Haven't tried it in a similar system (the one I'm on) because of over-riding fear and the fact that I don't feel like tearing down two systems. But I'm pretty sure it's just screwed, yeah. Is there any remedy that's going to be able to salvage the current card?

POST (Power On Self Test)

If the card is a ATI Built card it should be covered under a 3year warranty.

 

[skippapotamus]

oh. No, it never fails until after booting to windows.

I didn't buy the card, it was secondhand. Don't think he has a receipt.

 

[LiLithTecH]

You do not need a reciept for warranty repair from ATI.

It is determined by the SERIAL # of the card.

 

[skippapotamus]

You're correct! And it's an ATI card. Thanks a ton. Now I just gotta live without my better computer for a while

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: LiLithTecH
Usually when the RAM Fails on the video card it will noticable as light
confetti-type pixels during the POST. (actually have seen the firmware ROM cause this also)

Well, it does look kind of like that, yes. Also, when I first got it, I couldn't get the RAM to OC worth a dang, even though stock memory clock is 200Mhz, but the RAM should be good for 250Mhz (-4). I also wonder if perhaps the voltage is a bit low, too low to OC, and maybe even a tiny bit too low for boot. I haven't seen any volt-mod guides for a lowly 9200 though. Not even sure it's worth the hassle, since even OCed by 20% or so, the card is still going to be dog-slow. It's an FIC (not BBA), and it only cost $40, so I don't really care if it fails, it's just really wierd and annoying that it has those problems during boot sometimes.

Also, I get the "vertical interleaved stripes effect" if I uninstall the drivers, and run XP SP1 with the stock default-VGA drivers. It always happens a couple minutes into loading the OS - always. Completely reproducable. Very strange.