Overheating? Graphics card causing blue screen error, urgent help required!

Merrpip · 2 Oct 2009 at 12:58

Well, about 6 months ago i bought an Nvidia 9800GT graphics card, so that i could improve the gameplay on my pc. I installed it as normal, and then went to play Empire:Total War once it was all set up. However after about 5 minutes of gameplay there was a massive crash, and the screen became almost like a checkerboard, completely froze and i had to restart my pc.
I sent an error report to microsoft and it said that their had been a blue screen error caused by a newly installed driver, which im assuming is the graphics card.
My second assumption was that it was overheating, so i then purchased an Akasa vortex neo cooler. Again i installed it as normal, yet this made no difference at all.
Altogether i have spent around £150 trying to improve the performance, and all that i've got is, well, nothing.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated as i really have no idea what more i can do to get the performance i want!

My specs are as follows:

Intel (R) Pentium (D) CPU 2.80GHz
2GB RAM
Nvidia 9800GT 1GB video card
550W Win Power PSU

ps. when i bought it, the PSU only cost me £16, which i admit was foolish, and i am looking at new ones, but im fairly sure this isnt the problem. If it is please tell me!

craig3000 · 2 Oct 2009 at 13:12

The PSU should be ok, have you updated drivers since to the latest version?

XP 32-bit: http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/winxp_190.62_whql_uk.html
Vista/Win7 32-bit: http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/win7_winvista_32bit_190.62_whql_uk.html
Vista/Win7 64-bit: http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/win7_winvista_64bit_190.62_whql_uk.html

Merrpip · 2 Oct 2009 at 13:17

I havn't updated them recently but when i first bought the card i downloaded the latest drivers and it made no difference then.

I'll try it again now though, thanks

Merrpip · 2 Oct 2009 at 15:28

I have downloaded and installed the drivers and this hasn't made a difference

Any other suggestions?

Phage · 2 Oct 2009 at 15:34

Heat ? What temps are you getting ?
Can you swap the card into another system to see if it works ?

Phatzy · 2 Oct 2009 at 15:46

had this problem on a 7950gt once i had to downclock the vram under 700mhz which fixxed the issue. try the card in another system if causes instablility then a RMA is in order.

Merrpip · 3 Oct 2009 at 00:02

I tried the card in my mates system and it worked fine, cod4 on full settings worked perfectly. I know the idle temp is around 32, and the highest I've seen it before it crashes is 50. Still no clue what the problem is

Merrpip · 3 Oct 2009 at 15:01

Just heard another possible explanation for the problem. When i originally bought my PC, it was a packard bell, and apparently they do something to the system which means the upgrading is limited, if possible at all. Has anyone else heard of this? Could this be the cause of my problem?

alwischy · 3 Oct 2009 at 15:12

I would run a stability check in n-tune first but to be honest i am leaning more towards your psu especially if its occuring after its been loaded for a while and youve run it in your friends set up.......so many other factors.

Merrpip · 4 Oct 2009 at 22:24

Ran the stability check and it just crashed virtually straight away.

I'm beginning to think that my motherboard just cant support the graphics card, as i cant see any other reason why it would crash in this way

PSU is also a possibility but i think unlikely

Any other suggestions?

baroniuk · 4 Oct 2009 at 23:49

Personally a 550W psu for 16 quid wouldnt go anywhere near my components! Get a very decent corsair or antec for £40-50 anyway. And by the looks you probably had that psu a while and remember they degrade over time as well.

Merrpip · 5 Oct 2009 at 17:58

NEW DEVELOPMENTS!

usually when it crashes i dont see the blue screen, but last time the blue screen came up, and the error was described as "BUG CODE USB DRIVER"

that means largely nothing to me, but does anyone know what this means? or has anyone ever seen this error before?

daz87uk · 5 Oct 2009 at 18:07

untick the automatic restart on system failure and write down the full code

when you see the BSOD

*I'm no expert with graphical errors; so Correct me if im wrong here, but wouldnt it help to remove the card, reset the cmos then reinsert the card and see if this has changed any settings? just a guess its something I would try. "removing any graphical drivers before this process also"

Merrpip · 6 Oct 2009 at 10:40

I would but when the screen crashes, even the BSOD goes all "checkerboardy", and it was only by chance that i caught the error last time

This gives me the impression that it may be an electrical fault somewhere?