Problems with new a64 3000+ system

[GilmourD]

hey guys, my brother just upgraded from his 1.3GHz duron, 512 SDR ram, kt133 MSI via mobo, saphirre atlantis radeon 9600 pro, and a western digital 80 GB 8mb cache hd.

he now has a msi k8n neo fsr, 1 DIMM of 512 kingston hyperX, and an athlon 64 3000+ which is running at stock, keeping his radeon 9600 pro and hard drive. he also has win2000 sp4 and a antec super lan boy case and uses the fan/heatsink the a64 came with...

my machine is an epox 8rda+ with a barton 2500+ running at 2.2ghz with two sticks of hyperx totally 512megs.

the problem is that he keeps getting a "vpu stopped responding"error in games, and at first we thought it was the card. However, the card works for hours in my machine.

so, we replaced the crappy, no-name psu with a Sparkle FSP 400W psu and it kept doing the same thing, but not as often. We knocked the AGP setting in the BIOS from the stock 4x8x to just 4x and the problem is ALMOST gone, but it creeps up ocassionally.

the machine also randomly reboots midgame. It also freeezes when only using winamp and aim.

 

[Bugalaman]

try another video card in his machine

 

[GilmourD]

we tried a 9200 before the psu switch, no vpu errors but it did restart in games, ill try again.

another thing is in the old mobo its max agp setting was 4x, so the radeon ran at 4x for a year and in the new mobo refused to run at 8x, some people said that was "used to running 4x", but that made no sense to me, we also did a clean windows install as well

 

[GilmourD]

snooch?

 

[Twinkie]

Try different memory sticks (1 at a time). Run memtest86. Also try Prime95.

 

[GilmourD]

Try different memory sticks (1 at a time). Run memtest86. Also try Prime95.

I've swapped the memory from my system into his and it did the same thing. However, he seems to have gotten good results from going back to an old version of the ATI video drivers off Sapphire's website. It hasn't crashed in a few hours that I know of.

 

[Major_A]

Try turning off Fast Writes in the GART options.

 

[GilmourD]

Thanks for your replies guys, but since the last time I posted, the system came to be somewhat neglected (car and work issues).

The system now randomly crashes. Freezes during all games, but will also freeze up or reboot while doing a virus scan (regardless of the actual scanner), running Pimre95, or doing just about anything else. Ran MemTest86 through 5 passes of the test with nary an error. We're starting to think that it's a motherboard issue. We originally thought it was the video card, since it was isolated to games, but now it's rebooting in other aps.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the board, but my brother and I noticed some paralell on the board that can only be seen at a certain angle. It looks like the insulation on the traces between the nForce250gb and the processor has been scratched by the MSI logo on the board (K8N Neo FSR, BTW, if I didn't already say that). I'm not positive that this is the issue, since they don't look like they've been ravaged, cracked, or pulled up, but it could be on a level that my eyes aren't able to see.

I'd love to swap the processor to see if that's it, but I don't have a spare A64 to pop in there... The RAM seems to not be an issue since it works fine on my Epox 8RDA+ and passes MemTest86 on the MSI board.

What do you guys think?

 

[GilmourD]

btt...

Nobody?

 

[D3v1an7]

When you installed windows did you do a quick format or a normal format?

It may not make any difference but it solved a problem I was having on a recent build.

Are you using the most recent driver package for that MB or the ones that came in the box?

Have you checked the MB website to see if there is a bios update that solves this issue?

try resetting the bios, there may be a strange setting in there that is causing everything to be unstable.

What version of DirectX are you using?

Something that caused instability in a system I built was I enabled USB2.0 in the bios before installing SP1. Make sure that you either have SP1 or you have USB2.0 disabled in the bios.


Good luck

 

[GilmourD]

When you installed windows did you do a quick format or a normal format?

It may not make any difference but it solved a problem I was having on a recent build.

Full format done by the Windows 2000 SP4 installation.

Are you using the most recent driver package for that MB or the ones that came in the box?

I've tried all combinations of drivers.

Have you checked the MB website to see if there is a bios update that solves this issue?

Latest BIOS.

try resetting the bios, there may be a strange setting in there that is causing everything to be unstable.

Done about 8 times.

What version of DirectX are you using?

It's not only in games, so I don't feel that's the issue. But it is 9.0c

Something that caused instability in a system I built was I enabled USB2.0 in the bios before installing SP1. Make sure that you either have SP1 or you have USB2.0 disabled in the bios.

Like I said, it's Windows 2000 SP4. That shouldn't be the issue, should it?

Good luck

Thanks.

 

[D3v1an7]

Like I said, it's Windows 2000 SP4. That shouldn't be the issue, should it?
Thanks.

I don't know, I don't follow 2000 as closely as I do XP. That would be a question for the MS KB. It wouldn't hurt anything to disable it for testing purposes.

 

[D3v1an7]

also, have you checked the fan on the 9600? Really watch it, not just check it once. It may be having occasional RPM problems.

Next time it locks up, take a look at that fan and make sure it is spinning.

 

[Major_A]

Try putting your ram in different slots, might be a goofy slot.

 

[Steel Chicken]

Try turning off Fast Writes in the GART options.

+1, I had this problem with a 9800 pro
Also, it could be heat related. Use something to keep it cooler (like a big ass fan) and see if it does it less often

 

[The Bryophyte]

Have you tried the drivers from www.omegadrivers.net AFTER running driver cleaner to dump your current video drivers? I know the last thing you want to hear is about more drivers but it may be worth a try if the card seems to be fully functional.

Also, any chance you have a PCI card to swap in so that you can make sure his AGP slot is not the issue?

 

[GilmourD]

Turned out to be a stupid voltage issue. The 9600 (with new BFG HSF, BTW) always ran a little on the high side with voltage on the other board, but we had it set to stock. Also, the particular stick of HyperX in his system came from my system (I'm a good brother) which I've had overclocked, so my board pummeled it with a higher than stock voltage, but his board was set stock. Put both voltages up a bit and he's been playing FarCry all night.