Video Card Problems

Terrendos

I got a new video card and monitor for Christmas to replace my Radeon 9600 and my old 1024 res. I put them in the next day, installed drivers. Looked odd at first; it was stuck on 4 colors and low resolution for some reason, so I reinstalled the drivers and it was working fine. That night I started playing some Left 4 Dead and about 10/15 minutes in I got a really strange crash. It looked like the computer was still running fine, except the monitor just lost the signal. I also lost sound so I was pretty sure it wasn't the monitor. Anyway, I reboot, no problems, everything seems fine. I figured maybe it was a software glitch or something.

Now it's back. It happened tonight as I was loading up Bioshock an hour ago, so I figure it's probably not a software glitch, so I reboot and start to look and see if maybe there's a new driver I missed (I installed the ones on the CD, and let Windows search online for new ones, but I didn't check online myself.) As I'm poking around, it happens again. I sigh, and reboot. Before I can even open a browser, it happens again.

It's a Sapphire Radeon HD 3850, and my mobo is an ASUS P4P800 with a 3.2gig processor. I'm guessing that I probably need to find drivers on another computer, burn them on a CD, and start my PC in Safe Mode to install them. Does it sound like a driver issue to you? Would these be the drivers I need? I really need some help; I'm afraid to use my computer, lest I cause further harm.

EDIT: By the way, right before the last crash, I noticed that my cursor would only move left and right, not up or down. I have no idea if this is relevant; I'm just giving every symptom I can think of since there's so few here to go on.

HarshLanguage

Definitely update to the drivers from that link (assuming you are running XP). Double-check the installation -- card seating, connections, etc. Hopefully that will solve it.

If not, also check that 1) your power supply is sufficient to run the card, and 2) that the card is not overheating. There should be a min PSU rating in your card's technical info/manual, make sure yours is sufficient. Might have to open the case to check the label. Leave the case open, make sure the fan on your vid card is plugged in and running. I'm not familiar with Catalyst utilities, but there might be a temp reading available somewhere in the software.

You can always put your old card back in... If everything else above checks out OK, and removing the vid card fixes all the problems, you might just have a bad card.

Terrendos

I could feel the card, and it wasn't hot in the least. It was actually cool. My PSU should be enough according to the specs. Unfortunately I ran out of slots to plug in power cords (I've got 6 hard drives, long story) so I had to use a splitter to get the two necessary plugs. Could that be a problem?

I'll have to update drivers some other time. I've got a party tomorrow to set up, and it's 4 AM now.

HarshLanguage

I'm not sure which power cords you were splitting, but that's something you should test un-split.

The 6 HDs is unusual, maybe that could be pushing things over the edge when combined with the increased load of the video card during gaming.

Terrendos

Well I updated my drivers, didn't seem to work. The installation said something about running tests after the obligatory restart, but they never started, far as I could tell.

It still happened, again during Bioshock. I think I'm going to try removing a couple of hard drives and getting rid of that splitter configuration.

ravenhex

Give us the specs of your PSU. To me it sounds like a bad card or to much power use from a single rail.

Terrendos

Well I just removed a couple of the hard drives and it looks like everything is working. It's going to take a while for me to know whether it worked or not, but I hope this fixes it.

I'd give you my PSU specs, but I don't remember what it's called and I (perhaps stupidly) threw out the box. I guess there probably isn't a way to find out on the computer itself.

Dixon

It is on the PSU itself

White sticker...specfically the 12v rail and there may be more then one of them

Terrendos

Well, now the computer won't start at all. The Windows loading screen glitches out and then I get the same original problem. I'm beginning to think that maybe it's just a bad card. I'll take a look at the PSU when I take the card out... I'm gonna try it on a different PC and see if I get similar problems.

Terrendos

Well, upon opening the case and intending to remove the video card, I found that one of the power cables was loose going to it. Comp is working now, so we'll see... maybe that was it.