Hi need some help plz

[demonical]

HI i bought a new gpu 2 weeks ago and have been having a lot of issues with it.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-117-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=938

when im playing games (ut3 happens all the time, cod 5 happened once whilst i played for 4 hrs) the screen will suddenly change to vertical multicoloured lines whilst still playing the sound for 5-10 secs. or screen goes black for 5-10 seconds ( usually coloured vertical lines tho). then i need to reboot. there doesnt seem to be any perticular time that this seems to happen and seems completely random. sometimes i get to play for like 2-3 hrs other times it freezes in 10 mins.

i have disabled the onboard (3200) in windows but cant find where to do it in bios.
i have tried different catalyst drivers including the newest 1 released yesterday. each time i install new drivers i have removed the old ones using driver sweeper.

ive run a stability test in furmark for 20 mins to check the temps around 50c is idle

GPU2: GPU Diode (DispIO) 68 °C (154 °F)
GPU2: GPU Diode (MemIO) 74 °C (165 °F)
GPU2: GPU Diode (Shader) 70 °C (158 °F)

this issue of crashing seems to be completely random and seems to becoming more frequently. it has never happened unless playing games and didnt happen for the first few days the card is not over clocked.
do you think its a faulty card or other issues thanks in advance

 

[Ritsugamesh]

It's a very strange problem, might be some sort of mobo incompatibility, try flashing your bios if you know what you are doing, especially if it's an old mobo.

Otherwise I would just RMA the card back to o/cUK and I'm sure you'll get it all sorted, details on RMAing can be found on their site under support I believe.

What are your system specs just as a random thought, might help us pinpoint the issue a little better, thanks.

Good luck with the card.

 

[SfnX]

so this has been happening when u bought the card or was it happening before?
if it was when u bought the card id RMA, get another 1 and see what happens.

 

[demonical]

thanks for the reply

the mobo im using isnt perticularly old Acer RS780HVF and i dont know how to flash the bios is it easy to do?

i never had an issue with my pc when i was using the onboard graphics hd3200.

was thinking of trying windows xp to see if that helps. wierd thing is i was playing ut3 with catalyst closed down on desktop then it didnt crash for 3 hrs. i go do something else on the pc and go play ut3 again and it crashes within 5 mins.

CPU Type QuadCore AMD Phenom X4 9150e, 1714 MHz (9 x 190)
Motherboard Name Acer RS780HVF
Motherboard Chipset AMD 780G, AMD K10
System Memory 1792 MB (DDR2-667 DDR2 SDRAM)
DIMM1: Hynix HYMP112U64CP8-Y5 1 GB DDR2-667 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 @ 333 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 MHz)
DIMM2: Hynix HYMP112U64CP8-Y5 1 GB DDR2-667 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 @ 333 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 MHz)
BIOS Type AMI (08/15/08)
corsair 550vx

i know the ram is terrible but it used to handle things fine ;-/

i dont really want to send it back to find out that its fine just wondering if there is any other things that it could be thanks.

by the way when u put a new gpu in it automatically turns off the onboard if i remember right? because i couldnt find anything in the bios

 

[Ritsugamesh]

Hmm I have been perusing google but can't seem to find a page for the mobo, so I am unsure about how new it is and the like.

As for AMD bios' I am also no pro but there is usually an option to specify main graphics processor upon boot, though if you download something like gpu-z you should be able to figure out which one is in use whilst on your pc.

It might be that your on board is accidentally in use and thus failing when you play demanding games; also is your cpu overclocked? If so your mobo might be taking more volts and thus your on board gpu overheating, thus equalling crashes in game.

If you have another system to test your 4850 gpu in or a friends I would do that to rule out any gpu problems.

As for bios flashing it isn't too difficult if you are careful, though a bad bios flash can kill your system, so make this an absolute last option upon exhaustion of all others.

Make sure to keep us updated and I really hope some of this has helped, I'm not overly familiar with AMD systems.

 

[Engram]

Check system RAM with Memtest.

 

[demonical]

i used the gpu-z program and it is picking up the onboard as well as the 4850

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/1584/capturepu.png

ive looked all thru the bios and can find where to disable it. the onboard gpu is disabled in windows but i still get the cnflict.

if the next idea is to flash the bios it says the current version is ro1.b2 this is the official site to get new bios just wondering which 1 i should choose?

http://www.acer.co.uk/acer/service....tx1g.c2att92=122&ctx1.att21k=1&CRC=2980211862

thanks been trying to sort this out for 3 days ive even asked xfx for help but all they can say if test in in another pc but that isnt an option for me

 

[demonical]

any ideas?

 

[phod]

There could be a jumper on the motherboard for disabling the onboard graphics. Either that or in the bios if the replacement hasnt disabled it automatically. You could try pressing Alt+F1 or Ctrl+F1 while in the bios pages as sometimes this opens up an advanced page.

 

[demonical]

thanks for the reply.

i have looked all thru the bios looking for anything the do with onboard and i havent found anything that it could be. also ur sugestion to try ctrl+f1 didnjt do anything ;(. what do u mean when u say there could be a jumper on the mother bourd is it a physical thing that i would have to remove if so do u have any picture/links so i know what im looking for? thanks in advance.

 

[Ritsugamesh]

As for choosing which driver to choose, I honestly don't know as until this thread I wasn't aware Acer did motherboards to be honest.

It must just be a faulty gpu in the end I think, set the RMA up for o/cUK and when they receive the card they will test it themselves, which will test the card in a different pc for you obviously. If the card is broken you'll get a replacement otherwise they will return the card to you and then we can continue from there on how to fix this.

RMA seems to be your safest and best bet in my eyes now mate.

 

[4Play]

Deffinetly send it back, if it happens again then you can obviously assume its something else ( sorry for stating the obvious ). But it really does sound like a GPU problem. Have you checked the temps of the card whilst in game ? Does it do this sometimes on desktop? Seems strange that it only does this when under the pressure of a game.

 

[phod]

Id only RMA the card as a last resort. If its not faulty you'll end up paying postage both ways and a ~£10 testing fee.

As its fairly modern there should be an option in the bios to turn off onboard graphics - any chance you can take a picture of your bios screen and post it up?
Also tell us the specs of your PSU - it may not be up to powering the card

 

[demonical]

@4Play yeh the temps all seem to be fine 45-50 idle going up to a max of 65ish with 30 mins of furmark. also it has never ever happened during desktop/movies anything apart from gameing.

@phod lol yeh that why i spent like a week looking every where for a solution because i dont want to send it back and find out that there is nowt all wrong with it only to have to pay out. ill have a look round for images of the bios but i dont have a camera so taking picture is not rly an option.

regarding the psu i bought a 550 corsair vx at the same time so poser isnt an option. if it was a dodgy psu am i right in thinking that runing programs like furmark/vantage would draw the same if not more power than a game.

thanks for the replys (hoping to get this sorted asap).

btw i have spoken to some1 from xfx but after i told them temps all they could really say is to test it in another pc which is currently out of the question.

Product Name
Aspire M3201
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Chipset
ATI RS780+SB700
Processor
AMD Phenom(tm) 9150e Quad-Core Processor
System Memory
2048 MB

 

[marley82]

try setting the fan to manual and putting it at 60% and see if it happens in games again.

 

[demonical]

fan @ 60% didnt make no difference

 

[Legion]

1.The onboard gfx still showing in gpu-z clearly shows it's still enabled.

2.Update the motherboard bios to the latest available and make sure the onboard gfx is disabled in the bios or via motherboard jumper etc.

3.Do a fresh install of Win 7 and make sure you are running updated motherboard drivers for win 7 if any are available.

4.Download and install the catalyst 9.11 drivers for the graphics card

Follow those instructions and if it's still happening you have little choice other than to get the card tested.

This assumes everything else in your system isnt causing a conflict somewhere and to me it's clear the onboard gfx is still enabled somehow.

Prebuilt systems are notoriously bad from Acer while it may browse the internet and run applications fine it's not a good base for a gaming system.

If your card tests ok and you cant resolve this,it may be time to look at upgrading motherboard cpu and ram.

 

[demonical]

hi thanks for the reply.

ok after 5 hours i have managed to figure out how to disable the onboard graphic. it was advanced chipset > surround view (which had to be disabled).
GREAT i thought. i log onto window check device>display (only shows 4850) also gpu-z only showing 4850. i start to play modernwarfare 2 and 5 minuted in to the game white and vertical stripes appear. now im not an expert but now that there cant be a conflict between my onboard gpu i dont see any reason that it wouldnt work.

ive been at this for like 5 hours (drink helped pass the time lol) just today so ill wait till morning then re slot the card (just to make sure) > reinstall windows 7 > reistall catalyst (newest version.

then after that i dont see much more that can be wrong apart from the card.

any thoughts would be appreciated

regarding the bios i think there are updates available but i dont have any idea how to do this and after reading about how to do it im a bit worried about doing this.

 

[Legion]

Newer bios's tend to increase the compatibility/fix problems although granted not always.

I highly recommend you do this as it's another step to ensuring you've done all you can to eliminate the possibility of incompatabilities,yes it's a pain but learning how to flash a bios is a good move for anyone anyway.

It's a very simple proceedure and can be done from a floppy drive/cd or usb flash drive.
5-10mins of googling will show you how it's done.