Radeon 9800 Pro troubles

I'm getting to the end of my tether now.

I upgraded my trusty 9700 Pro to a newer 9800 Pro (Evesham 9800 Pro 128MB).

Since then, my machine occasionally locks up. Sometimes recoverable when VPU recover pops up although I have to reboot to use hardware mode again.

I am using Catalyst 4.8 drivers on a Gigabyte SINXP1394 mainboard with 1GB DDR 400 memory and a P4 2.4 533 bus processor.

I have tried all the obvious things like fatter PSU (tried a generic 550W and now have Superflower 420W).

Any help appreciated as it's interrupting my Soldiers and Doom3 game playing. If you need any more detail then please email me.

Jason

On 9/29/2004 4:18 PM Jason brightened our day with:

>I'm getting to the end of my tether now.
>
>I upgraded my trusty 9700 Pro to a newer 9800 Pro (Evesham 9800 Pro 128MB).
>
>Since then, my machine occasionally locks up. Sometimes recoverable when VPU recover pops up although I have to reboot to use hardware mode again.
>
>I am using Catalyst 4.8 drivers on a Gigabyte SINXP1394 mainboard with 1GB DDR 400 memory and a P4 2.4 533 bus processor.
>
>I have tried all the obvious things like fatter PSU (tried a generic 550W and now have Superflower 420W).
>
>Any help appreciated as it's interrupting my Soldiers and Doom3 game playing. If you need any more detail then please email me.
>
>Jason
>
>
first thing everyone says, turn off fast writes.

--
"...forged but accurate."

Steve ¤»Inglo«¤
www.inglostadt.com

"Inglo" <ioo@??.¿¿¿> wrote in message
news:JqH6d.2843$ ...
> On 9/29/2004 4:18 PM Jason brightened our day with:
>
>>I'm getting to the end of my tether now.
>>
>>I upgraded my trusty 9700 Pro to a newer 9800 Pro (Evesham 9800 Pro
>>128MB).
>>
>>Since then, my machine occasionally locks up. Sometimes recoverable when
>>VPU recover pops up although I have to reboot to use hardware mode again.
>>
>>I am using Catalyst 4.8 drivers on a Gigabyte SINXP1394 mainboard with 1GB
>>DDR 400 memory and a P4 2.4 533 bus processor.
>>
>>I have tried all the obvious things like fatter PSU (tried a generic 550W
>>and now have Superflower 420W).
>>
>>Any help appreciated as it's interrupting my Soldiers and Doom3 game
>>playing. If you need any more detail then please email me.
>>
>>Jason
>>
> first thing everyone says, turn off fast writes.
>
> --
> "...forged but accurate."
>
> Steve ¤»Inglo«¤
> www.inglostadt.com

.....and VPU recover. You might also need to go to 4xAGP in the BIOS. Some
folk cant get stable over that and it (allegedly) isnt noticeable anyway.
Shaun

Under video settings go to SmartGart tab and turn off
fast writes there ... also set AGP to 4x. Those lockups
will stop. Both of my 9800s showed that problem,
and that cured both of them. My 9600 also showed
a similar problem, and that fixed it too.

johns

"johns" <> wrote in message
news:cjfs0v$j9f$...
> Under video settings go to SmartGart tab and turn off
> fast writes there ... also set AGP to 4x. Those lockups
> will stop. Both of my 9800s showed that problem,
> and that cured both of them. My 9600 also showed
> a similar problem, and that fixed it too.
>
> johns
>
>
I just came here to ask pretty much the same question, the system is totally
stable in windows but when it tries to do 3D it hangs with the same error,
about VPU something or other and reverting to software rendering reboot for
hardware. The card works fine in other machines though.

Si

Or...could it be a motherboard problem?

My previous one was a Gigabite 8SQ800 which allowed me to select AGP
speed in its BIOS menu. Although it was supposedly a 8x AGP supported
board, it was unstable all the way when set that way. Now I use a Asus
P4P800SE that doesn't let me select the AGP speed in BIOS menu (can only
choose between AGP and PCI). SmartGart picks the speed of my 9800 Pro at
8x and things are fine so far. So, I wonder whether some of the boards
actually are not really 8x'able although its manufacturers say so.


John



Si wrote:
> "johns" <> wrote in message
> news:cjfs0v$j9f$...
>
>>Under video settings go to SmartGart tab and turn off
>>fast writes there ... also set AGP to 4x. Those lockups
>>will stop. Both of my 9800s showed that problem,
>>and that cured both of them. My 9600 also showed
>>a similar problem, and that fixed it too.
>>
>>johns
>>
>>
>
> I just came here to ask pretty much the same question, the system is totally
> stable in windows but when it tries to do 3D it hangs with the same error,
> about VPU something or other and reverting to software rendering reboot for
> hardware. The card works fine in other machines though.
>
> Si
>
>

"whatever" <> wrote in message
news:x_V7d.176106$%S.22006@pd7tw2no...
>
> Or...could it be a motherboard problem?
>
> My previous one was a Gigabite 8SQ800 which allowed me to select AGP
> speed in its BIOS menu. Although it was supposedly a 8x AGP supported
> board, it was unstable all the way when set that way. Now I use a Asus
> P4P800SE that doesn't let me select the AGP speed in BIOS menu (can only
> choose between AGP and PCI). SmartGart picks the speed of my 9800 Pro at
> 8x and things are fine so far. So, I wonder whether some of the boards
> actually are not really 8x'able although its manufacturers say so.
>
>
> John
>
>
I'm not so sure, I have been using an ASUS MoBo as well and have had
terrible trouble. I am now at the point where I am satisfied with running
for 30 minutes without crashing. I know this isnt the forum to express this
view but I believe the trouble lies at ATI's door. I never had any bother
with GeForce cards.

Si