Penny Arcade Forums› Help / Advice Forum
The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
Please vote in the Forum Structure Poll. Polling will close at 2PM EST on January 21, 2025.

Video Blackouts / VPU Crashes?

KungFuKungFu Registered User regular
edited May 2007 in Help / Advice Forum
AMD Athlon XP 2700+ (32bit)
x2 512MB DDR333 RAM
Radeon X850PRO 256MB AGP 8x (Had for about 7 months now, problems started 2 months ago)
Windows XP Pro

Drivers tested:
7-4_xp_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_44981 (Latest ATi Catalyst)
rad_w2kxp_omega_38330 (Latest Omegadrive)

Other video card I use to test: Radeon 9600PRO 256MB AGP 8x

For about 2 months now I have rarely been on my computer due to it having some sort of video problem.

Every now and then (sometimes every minute to every 10mins) of surfing the internet, browsing Windows Explorer, or just sitting at a blank desktop screen with no apps open, my computer will lock up and not respond (though I can move my mouse cursor) and after a few seconds of this the srceen will go black - then come back and work again. Seems to be some sort of VPU freeze and then my drivers or whatever reset it. Sometimes the monitor loses signal completely and I need to reset (I can still turn on/off or change the volume of my music or hit the hotkeys (Alt+F4 -> U) to shutdown (so my comp is still on and functioning, just not sending video. Though weirdly I can always move my mouse in these situations where everything else is frozen.

Sometimes when the screen comes back, the scrolling/refreshing of the screen is all messed up until I restart my computer.

This will never happen if I am in the middle of a game like World of Warcraft, Half-Life2, or StarCraft. It can happen if I alt+tab from these and just do other shit. I don't get it.

I have tried both the official ATi Catalyst drivers listed above and the latest Omegadrivers listed above. Same shit.


Now I took out my X850 and found my old 9600 that had problems of its own like showing artifacts and shit during long gaming sessions. Other than that and one fin of the fan misisng and causing it to wobble and make noise, it should be fine. I put in the 9600 and I get the same fucking issues with the blackouts! I don't get it.

Does anyone have any idea what is wrong with my shit? All symptoms point to video card sucking, but both of them do the same thing with different drivers!

Also, I still have a warranty from Newegg on my X850 card so I can send it back for replacement (probably just credit since they don't carry this card in AGP anymore). Is it possible iti snt this card at fault?

Theft 4 Bread
KungFu on

Posts

  • redimpulseredimpulse Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Any issues in the event logs?

    redimpulse on
    rbsig.jpg
  • KungFuKungFu Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Eventwhat?

    Where can I find.

    KungFu on
    Theft 4 Bread
  • robaalrobaal Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Right-click "my computer" and choose manage, then "event viewer" in the window that pops up.

    Maybe it's the monitor that's the problem, rather than the cards? I would suspect that if you play games in a lower resolution/refresh rate than you use the desktop.
    Try running your desktop at a lower resolution/refresh rate.


    I started to have problems with my 22" CRT recently - in 1280x1024@100Hz the picture will start doing this bizarre thing, like shrinking/growing on the sides very slightly and rapidly...

    robaal on
    "Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra when suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath.
    At night, the ice weasels come."
  • redimpulseredimpulse Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    I don't know if it would be the monitor, what with all the freezing and such. But it may be the AGP bus or a communications issue. Since you've had the same issues with two different cards, I don't really think it's the cards themselves.

    redimpulse on
    rbsig.jpg
  • robaalrobaal Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    redimpulse wrote: »
    I don't know if it would be the monitor, what with all the freezing and such.

    Ugh, you're right. I somehow ignored a whole paragraph.


    Anyway, the OP could try some linux liveCD to see if it's a software problem (uninstalling drivers often leaves stuff behind, and the problem might be caused by some other part of the OS). You can also make a Windows LiveCD, but it's more complicated than just burning an image.
    Alternatively, Driver Cleaner Pro should be able to remove any junk left behind by old drivers, though the free version is a bit old; be sure to follow the instructions.

    robaal on
    "Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra when suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath.
    At night, the ice weasels come."
  • KungFuKungFu Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    I do use DriverCleaner Pro between each driver change and always do the amount of restarts necessary (restart after uninstall, run driver cleaner, restart, then install).


    As for the monitor possibility, I play my games (except for old ones like StarCraft) at the same desktop resolution and refresh rate of 75hz.

    KungFu on
    Theft 4 Bread
  • KungFuKungFu Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Here are a couple events from the eventlog. None of it makes much sense to me other than I can decipher something is wrong with ATi related files or something...
    0000000007: 2007-04-29 15:48:18:687    Exception <Load>: Could not load file or assembly 'CLI.Aspect.PowerXpress.Graphics.Dashboard' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
 Exception  Called by: ATI.ACE.LOG.Foundation.Services::LoadAssembly                                                    processID:00532 threadID:(CCCThreadNew:Dashboard) domainName:(ccc.exe                    ) assemblyName:(LOG.Foundation, Version=2.0.2614.20433, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)
************************************************************************************************************************

    0000000010: 2007-04-29 15:55:51:765    Exception <Removing ATI COM from ROT>: The object's type must be __ComObject or derived from __ComObject.--Parameter name: o
 Exception  Called by: ATI.ACE.CLI.Component.Runtime.Runtime::NotifyExiting                                             processID:00532 threadID:(HotKeyForm      ) domainName:(ccc.exe                    ) assemblyName:(CLI.Component.Runtime, Version=2.0.2637.38496, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)
************************************************************************************************************************

    0000000002: 2007-04-01 21:36:57:312    Failed to merge manifest file: C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\skins\ccc-skins.xml with exception: Could not find file 'C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\skins\ccc-skins.xml'.
 Error      Called by: ATI.ACE.CLI.Foundation.MergeManifest::ReadManifest                                               processID:00416 threadID:(                ) domainName:(ccc.exe                    ) assemblyName:(CLI.Foundation.XManifest, Version=2.0.2560.26040, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    KungFu on
    Theft 4 Bread
  • robaalrobaal Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Hmm... these seem to be connected to the Catalyst Control Center rather than the drivers - you could try terminating the processes through Task Manager (CCC.exe and MOM.exe on my system).

    You can also disable it from starting up with the system. IIRC CCC puts itself in the registry; Startup Control Panel is a small app that lets you remove autostart items from all possible locations and keeps the deleted history - easier than digging through the registry.


    btw. do you get these problems also in Safe Mode?

    robaal on
    "Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra when suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath.
    At night, the ice weasels come."
  • redimpulseredimpulse Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Okay, this is a longshot, but it's worth checking out.

    In your BIOS, what are your graphics settings? Is the primary display set to onboard, auto, or AGP? It's best set to AGP if it's not already. Also, the size of your graphics aperture. Most boards offer 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 MB. Some offer 256. It's good measure to have it at either 64 or 128. Other apertures can cause compatibility issues. You may want to test these settings to see if they are part of the issue.... longshot.

    redimpulse on
    rbsig.jpg
  • KungFuKungFu Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Im currently using the Omega Drivers and it doesnt use CCC or the MOM files. I seem to get just a little less crashes with these drivers (and they recover the VPU almost everytime it blacks out whereas the Catalyust drivers leave me hanging without video but the computer is responding again - like I can change songs and hit the shutdown commands).

    The only ati related process I have running when I start up right now is ati2evxx.exe which is some sort of External Event controller.

    I'll check my BIOS for those settings, but I have no idea why they would had changed from what they were. It'd be nice if that was all it was.

    And thanks for the help so far guys, I appreciate it.


    edit: AGP settings at 8x, 256MB. I have no onboard video. I also have been using FastWrites OFF for a long time.

    KungFu on
    Theft 4 Bread
  • redimpulseredimpulse Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Turn that aperture down. 256MB can give less performance and stability than 128.

    redimpulse on
    rbsig.jpg
Sign In or Register to comment.
Penny Arcade Forums› Help / Advice Forum