X1950 Pro PCI-e problems

Z

Zallek

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 12, 2004
Messages
449
Heya, I've been having some stability issues with my X1950Pro for about the last 2 months now.. Its the HIS X1950Pro Turbo Iceq3 256mb version, comes factory overclocked yadayada.. Basically, I left it at stock because I dont overclock much these days and in any game that actually stresses the card (ie Oblivon, NFS Carbon, Everquest 2) in full screen, it crashes eventually.. My monitor goes black, and then says Power Saving Mode (Its an LG204WTX or something), almost as if the comp went into standby. If I leave it it eventually reboots it self.

I figured the problem was heat.. But the card is cool to the touch when it happens, not warm, not almost hot, but cold. The heatpipe it self, is cold. The card is also cold.. So I say heat isnt an issue? But it doesnt happen with my 6800GS that I have sitting around... And recently the X1950 even crashes when Im on my desktop listening to music :( I've redone the drivers several times (albeit new drivers.. I havent tried anything older recently) with driver cleaner and such to no avail.

My last resort before I go crazy about this problem is trying another motherboard. This motherboard sort of had an incident at one point in its life... And well, its been 'stable' even after the problem, until 2 months ago. I've had the X1950 since December though, so again.. Im back to being confused as to whats actually wrong. The PSU I have is a Fortron 550w PSU so that should be ok, shouldnt it?

Anyhow I gotta leave, but any help on the situation would be very much appreicated. Hopefully I provided enough information, if not next time I can check the forums I'll supply whats missing.

Again, thank you in advance for any help.
 
I don't have a solution, but I have the same card and the same problem. It happens infrequently in Guild Wars, but happens very frequently in C&C3 (anywhere from 10min to an hour). The screen would just go blank and loses video signal. At first I thought it was a tempearture issue too (hovers around 60C full load), so I opened up the side panel and put a box fan next to it, that dropped the full load temp to 55C. Yet the same thing still happens. Last night I dropped the clock and memory down to ATI stock levels (575/690 I think) and so far it hasn't crashed (I played for about 2 hrs). I'll have to do more testing to confirm, but I suggest you try that as well.

If anyone else has any suggestions, please feel free to share.
 
Have you tried reformatting the OS?

A similar thing happened to me recently where the monitor would shut off during shutdown, but the computer would keep running. Turns out updating the mobo drivers fixed that.
 
Upon further testing, it would appear that when clock speed is lowered to ATI stock levels, everything remain stable. You may want to give that a try as well.
 
I havent lowered my clocks yet, but I just made a new thread this morning called Just venting about HIS, and I was reseating the HSF and found a piece of plastic covering the core still. I havent played any games yet but its been stable for a few hours (It would shut off in a game, or even at my desktop) and the idle temp dropped almost 15C after I removed that piece of plastic. Im gonna try some games here in a bit now that I have some free time.

I'll keep you updated as to whether I still crash or not. If I do I'll drop it down to stock clocks.
 
As far as my logs are concerned via ATi Tray Tools, the max load never reached 50C while playing Shadowbane. Considering it was idling at close to 55C prior to me ripping it apart thats pretty good imo.. Shadowbane isnt demanding, but its what Im playing atm. I'll load up NFS Carbon soonerish probably since now I can actually finish that game :D

Temps are now 30-35C idle and 45-50C load, so far.
 
Hi guys,
I have got the same problem with my ATI Sapphire x1950pro. However, I have started receiving "going to sleep" information after I have changed the fan – I have already Arctic Cooling Accelero X2. The Core temperature is very low (about 33 degrees) - so I doubt if this is a problem connected with heat... BUT: maybe another part of graphic card "boils"? Another explanation is that I could damage in some way the card and yours have broken down accidentally... Without any interaction from you side.. Have you found any other solution to this problem?

(Sorry for any language mistakes, I am from Poland ;) )
 
Ok, the temperature is the problem, but I have no idea what is going on. I have lately installed ATITOOL 0.26. It shows 33 degrees when idle. When I start scanning for the artifacts, the.. CARD(?!) generates a strange sound and the temperature rises very quickly to 55 and then monitor is "going to sleep". What the hell?? Any ideas? And what is that strange sound? Ps: What is also strange, at the beginning the fan speed is on 40%. After I have fixed it and set to 100%..well...nothing happened at all.. The fan sound do not rises, the temperature does not fall down... :| Help? (Remember, that I have lately changed the fan, now I have Arctic Cooling Accelero X2)
 
55C should not be too high. I run at 60C for few hours without any problems. The sound you are hearing may be the fan spinning up.
 
Ok, I have figured out what was the problem - the Volt Regulator temperature. It is placed at the end of a card, near the Power Connector (very small element). In my previous cooling, it was cooled by a fan. Artcic Cooling resolved it in a worse way, just by putting aluminum on it. I have stuck to it an additional small fan (from a Celeron cooling :D ) and everything is ok. No "Going to Sleep" information.. Write a post, if it has helped also in your cases.
 
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