Graphics Card Problem

[insertwackynamehere]

I have a Radeon ATI 8500 Graphics card, and my brother was playing GLTron, (an openGL game) and suddenly it froze, and Ctrl-Alt-Del wouldn't work. I turned off the computer and switched it on again, and a XP "Send Error Report" message popped up, and said that a device problem occured and it was thought to be the 8500 that was the problem. Do you think that the game caused the crash and video-card error, or that the game simply made me aware of the problem, since it was using the graphics card at the time? Either way, any suggestions, or help would be apreciatied. Thanks!

[Amaster]

Maybe it just overheated?

[insertwackynamehere]

It may be the case, but how do I remedy it?

[fodders]

Try updating driver. Or directx..9.0a is latest I think.

update: 9.0b now :P

[Goat]

if that dont work, probably overheated. touch the heatsink on the card if its too hot to hold ur finger on for a few secs, get better heating. my voodoo3 overheats playing max payne for a while and it has a tiny ass heatsink with no fan on it. after it freezes the game, i cant touch the thing without it hurting.

[Reisal]

Goat said:

if that dont work, probably overheated. touch the heatsink on the card if its too hot to hold ur finger on for a few secs, get better heating. my voodoo3 overheats playing max payne for a while and it has a tiny ass heatsink with no fan on it. after it freezes the game, i cant touch the thing without it hurting.

I suggest you get a GPU card that has a fan, such as a geforce3 or 4

[Goat]

yea i know this is just a temporary card, trust me. i mean, it doesnt even stand up to my system. xp2400, 512 megs of ram, voodoo3 roflmao. i just dont got the money right now.

[Tyockell]

Goat said:

yea i know this is just a temporary card, trust me. i mean, it doesnt even stand up to my system. xp2400, 512 megs of ram, voodoo3 roflmao. i just dont got the money right now.

Dont feel bad im running a faulty Ati 7200 shes fucked makes graphics look like grey lego.

[Goat]

Goat said:

if that dont work, probably overheated. touch the heatsink on the card if its too hot to hold ur finger on for a few secs, get better heating. my voodoo3 overheats playing max payne for a while and it has a tiny ass heatsink with no fan on it. after it freezes the game, i cant touch the thing without it hurting.

edit: get better heating? roflmao, i mean get better COOLING!! whatever u do, dont buy a heater for ur computer :P


edit: god damnit i meant to press edit. delete this, and amend to my previous post, mods, will ya? man im out of it...

[DooMBoy]

I have a Voodoo3 myself and I have yet to have the doohicky overheat on me.

[Amaster]

My voodoo 3 used to overheat pretty badly. Probably because I had it overclocked to 200mhz. :P

[JavaGuy4230]

Actually, I had that problem with GLTron as well. I have the mobility Radeon 9000. I sent the guy an email stating my problem. It freezes up after a few seconds, and nothing works but hard shutdown. He told me that people with 9000s (not just mobility) had this problem, and soon after he sent another e-mail stating that there was an update in which this bug was fixed. It looks like the problem happens with your card too. Try getting the latest version, and if that doesn't work, email him.

[gatewatcher]

Could this be a RAM problem? Before I added another 256 stick, xp used to crash in the middle of a game and blame ati for it. But after the upgrade, it never happened again, and I'm using an older card than his.

[pritch]

gatewatcher said:

Could this be a RAM problem? Before I added another 256 stick, xp used to crash in the middle of a game and blame ati for it. But after the upgrade, it never happened again, and I'm using an older card than his.

Yeah that could quite possibly be it, especially if he has xp, which I've forgotten to check, but meh.

But do check your card temperature as well. The 8500 has half-decent cooling though iirc.

[Rellik]

Switch to Nvidia, they have some great new low-priced cards available. I'll never use ATI again after a brand new 9000 ass raped my comp. What is it with ATI drivers? Can't they ever get those right?

[insertwackynamehere]

Come to think of it, the same thing happens with jDoom (also openGL).

JavaGuy4230: Thanks! I'll look for that.
gatewatcher: I think I have enough RAM, but thanks anyway!
Goat: Don't worry! I wouldn't have heated my computer, no matter what you said. And I'm thinking about getting better cooling, and if you think it may be a good idea, I'll look into it more. I've just been using what came with the system, so thanks for the suggestion.
Rellik: I'm looking for a new graphics card, so I'll keep nVidia in mind. Thanks!
Mr. Chris: Everyone seems to like nVidia. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!
Tyockell: They have nVidia GeForce FX 5200's for $100 at CompUSA.
fodders: Where do you get the drivers?

Finally, it may just be that the dust in it is blocking the airflow, so I may open it up and clean it today; I haven't cleaned it for a while, and maybe the fan vent is just blocked. Better get out my industrial sized vacuum cleaner... ;-)

[Tyockell]

Rellik said:

Switch to Nvidia, they have some great new low-priced cards available. I'll never use ATI again after a brand new 9000 ass raped my comp. What is it with ATI drivers? Can't they ever get those right?

no they cant! damn ati damn them to hell

[auxois]

Most likely, the program is at fault. Update to ATi CATALYST 3.6, and get the latest version of the program. If you still have problems, then you MIGHT be overheating. But if your system only exhibits such behavior in a few programs, then it's unlikely.

If you ARE overheating, the best solution is not to get a new graphics card, but instead to first check the fan on yours. If it's spinning fast enough that you feel uncomfortable stopping it with your finger, then you should be fine. Don't worry about stopping it, if you want to try - very few GPU fans spin fast enough to hurt you, and the R200's is no exception.

If the fan on your card seems to be okay, then try adding a case fan or two, usually one blowing in at the bottom-front part of your case, and one blowing out just under your power supply. However, this can cause CPU overheating if your CPU cooler sucks air down into the heatsink, in which case you will probably want to reverse the airflow, which can then cause you to suck in hot air from the power supply and draw it back into the system... etc etc. You just have to experiment, mostly, and see what works. I'd try my original suggestion first. You might even see into adding a fan to the side of your case, blowing down onto your CPU cooler. I find that helps reduce the amount of heat in most systems dramatically.

A lot of people are biased against ATi for various reasons, but I find that generally the object at fault is the user, as with most other computer problems. ATi makes solid hardware, and as of the newer CATALYST revisions, very solid drivers, as well. Quite moreso than that of their competitors. ATi has other advantages as well. They helped Microsoft write DirectX 9, and while their competitors' products emulate the necessary capabilities, their hardware is up to spec - in fact, it IS the spec.

Speaking specifically of ATi and nVidia; while there are differences in the two companies' approaches to...well, everything, they are functionally equivalent. The primary difference is one of image quality - you will find that ATi cards historically produce a smoother image, whereas nVidia cards generally give a sharper image. It's really a matter of preference at this point.

Your card should be just perfectly fine for Doom 3, and adequate for HL2, and my suggestion would be to hang onto it until at least the next generation of hardware, after the Geforce FX and the Radeon 9xxx series. If you DO feel the need to upgrade, I would point you towards a Geforce FX5900 or a Radeon 9800, or if you want something less top-end, I would stick with ATi's offerings, especially the Radeon 9500 series. nVidia is being incredibly slow to introduce replacements for the awful Geforce FX 5200 and 5600 series cards, and while I am confident that when they finally do introduce new low and mid-range boards, they will be fine, I would avoid the FX5200 and 5600 cards like the plague.

Regarding the Voodoo3, the 3000 and 3500 series cards had a terrible problem with overheating, but the 2000 and 1000 series were fine, heat-wise. If you notice, you can pull the retaining pins out of your V3/3000's heatsink, and leave two perfect holes for a ...60mm fan, I believe. You'd have to measure it to be sure. At any rate, back in the day, I remember using nails and a healthy amount of electrical tape (to hold the nails on, I wrapped it around the nails on the backside of the card) to hold on a Delta "Black Label" 7000RPM fan to my card, thus enabling me to get it from the stock 166Mhz to around 210Mhz. It was pretty leet at the time, until my friends with TNT2s made fun of me because I couldn't play Q3 in 32-bit color. :( Of course, when they did, it ran at approximately 12 FPS, and I was still cruisin' along at 50 or so, so I was happy. ^_^ I shortly picked up a V5 and attached a bunch of RAMsinks and a pair of Tennmaxx "Stealth" Voodoo2 coolers to it, which brought it up around 220Mhz. I was quite pleased with that card. Ah, the memories. :D

[fodders]

insertwackynamehere said:

Come to think of it, the same thing happens with jDoom (also openGL).

fodders: Where do you get the drivers?

ATI DirectX 9.0a Directx 9.0b security fix

[Naked Snake]

Heh, we need a "Faulty Hardware" forum about computer parts and shit, and make Seph the mod of it :-P