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Hi,
I've been fighting a nasty problem for a while - I'll recap:
I've got a three year old 9700 pro in a one year old machine I built. Starting a couple months ago, I was getting hard lockups in games. I'd play for a little while, then the screen would freeze and the sound would loop. I did a reformat and fresh install of windows, throwing in the newest catalysts, dx 9.0c, new chipset drivers, etc. I installed Doom 3 after the reformat but it was still crashing. After one particularly nasty crash, my system wouldn't POST - no beep, black screen. I turned it off and on a number of times and i started getting a long and two short beeps - code for "video device failure or video device badly seated" I reseated the card, which was really hot to the touch, and still nothing. twenty minutes later, it started up again. When I got to windows, I saw a message that said something like "windows restarted due to a device failure - RADEON 9700 PRO is responsible for this error."
I checked the error logs in my System Event Viewer, and it said that my "display device got stuck in an infinite loop - this means either a problem with the device, or a problem with the driver programming the device." On a whim, because the card was so hot, I opened the case and put a fan on the card. For a little while, my games ran without crashing. Eventually, I tried closing the case again (the weather cooled off). Now i'm in a weird situation. It's like my graphics card is just getting worn out. I get crashes in games, but not every time. Generally, I can play a game for 5-10 minutes, then it crashes, forcing a restart. When I restart, the computer won't turn back on for about 15 minutes. Once it does turn on, it's very unstable, and it will generally crash again, unless I get lucky and it runs for hours without crashing. Occaisonally when i'm working (not 3D, usually photoshop) the internal speaker will beep, and then the screen goes to 640x480x16 colors. I get a window that says "windows has recovered from a device failure - please save your work and restart" generally, when I restart, It doesn't boot up.
--
Ok, so that's the issue
I've been thinking about getting a 6800GT, but I couldn't be 100 percent sure that my graphics card was the problem. A friend of mine has a new 9600 Pro, so I convinced him to let me borrow it and try it out. I'm using his card now, and my system is rock solid. Games run fine, the system boots perfectly over and over, but there is ONE exception. Doom 3 crashes after about 30 minutes of playing. It's not the same crash exactly, but it's similar. When I turn off the computer, the card is not hot to the touch, and the computer boots up just fine.
I think that the Doom 3 problem is a separate issue that I can deal with separately - but I don't want to spend 400 dollars in error. I'm just looking for a second, third, and fourth opinion. What do you think? I really appreciate you reading this.
Thanks.
I've been fighting a nasty problem for a while - I'll recap:
I've got a three year old 9700 pro in a one year old machine I built. Starting a couple months ago, I was getting hard lockups in games. I'd play for a little while, then the screen would freeze and the sound would loop. I did a reformat and fresh install of windows, throwing in the newest catalysts, dx 9.0c, new chipset drivers, etc. I installed Doom 3 after the reformat but it was still crashing. After one particularly nasty crash, my system wouldn't POST - no beep, black screen. I turned it off and on a number of times and i started getting a long and two short beeps - code for "video device failure or video device badly seated" I reseated the card, which was really hot to the touch, and still nothing. twenty minutes later, it started up again. When I got to windows, I saw a message that said something like "windows restarted due to a device failure - RADEON 9700 PRO is responsible for this error."
I checked the error logs in my System Event Viewer, and it said that my "display device got stuck in an infinite loop - this means either a problem with the device, or a problem with the driver programming the device." On a whim, because the card was so hot, I opened the case and put a fan on the card. For a little while, my games ran without crashing. Eventually, I tried closing the case again (the weather cooled off). Now i'm in a weird situation. It's like my graphics card is just getting worn out. I get crashes in games, but not every time. Generally, I can play a game for 5-10 minutes, then it crashes, forcing a restart. When I restart, the computer won't turn back on for about 15 minutes. Once it does turn on, it's very unstable, and it will generally crash again, unless I get lucky and it runs for hours without crashing. Occaisonally when i'm working (not 3D, usually photoshop) the internal speaker will beep, and then the screen goes to 640x480x16 colors. I get a window that says "windows has recovered from a device failure - please save your work and restart" generally, when I restart, It doesn't boot up.
--
Ok, so that's the issue
I've been thinking about getting a 6800GT, but I couldn't be 100 percent sure that my graphics card was the problem. A friend of mine has a new 9600 Pro, so I convinced him to let me borrow it and try it out. I'm using his card now, and my system is rock solid. Games run fine, the system boots perfectly over and over, but there is ONE exception. Doom 3 crashes after about 30 minutes of playing. It's not the same crash exactly, but it's similar. When I turn off the computer, the card is not hot to the touch, and the computer boots up just fine.
I think that the Doom 3 problem is a separate issue that I can deal with separately - but I don't want to spend 400 dollars in error. I'm just looking for a second, third, and fourth opinion. What do you think? I really appreciate you reading this.
Thanks.