Radeon Problems...

[ScottJC]

I got a Sapphire Radeon 9000 pro recently

After a while it just likes to lock up my computer, with a black screen and sound looping;

I thought it was overheating... but i installed a few fans inside the case and it still does it;

My power supply is only 250 watts do you think that could be why it is crashing? someone suggested that it might not be able to keep up with the demand.

Either that OR its faulty;

I've tried updated drivers.. game patches, everything, it just keeps doing it, so annoying :getlost:

any ideas?

 

[mightyrocket]

Your power supply is too low. 400 watts are required to run heavy video-cards.

3 solutions:

1) Keep using your old video-card.
2) Run in a lower resolution.
3) Buy a better power-supply.

 

[ScottJC]

I think i'll go for solution 3

Are you sure this is my problem? does it usually lock up and sound like that...?

 

[mightyrocket]

I'm almost sure. It can't be anything else, because the power-supply is the bottleneck in your computer. The video-card always hangs, especially in the higher resolutions. To make sure that the power-supply is the problem do the following:

1) Run a game in 640x480, and see how long it works. Next time start the same game in 1024x768, and check if it works shorter than 640x480.
2) If you still aren't sure, replace your old video-card and see if it's still working. If the old card is working excellent, the problem is the power-supply.

 

[ScottJC]

my old card is in now, and no such problem has ever happened. so I agree with you

will have to get a new power supply next week!

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

For an Athlon and Duron, you are required to have a 300W
power supply. The video card with a 250W power supply probably caused the Vcore voltage and 5V rails to drop without at least a 300W power supply. Sometimes when you plug in a video card that uses more power, your other PC components lose
power, such as the 12V rail, 5V rail and Vcore with some motherboards and/or a underpowered power supply.

 

[ScottJC]

well, for some reason my cooling program gives me an alarm on one specifc spot all the time, its annoying, i guess it does it for a reason though, and thats with my geforce4mx pci card:

(btw for some reason it says the system fan is 0, but there is one, though)

 

[Tagrineth]

Your power supply is too low. 400 watts are required to run heavy video-cards.

3 solutions:

1) Keep using your old video-card.
2) Run in a lower resolution.
3) Buy a better power-supply.

You're crazy, dude! 400W are NOT required for a BUDGET card like Radeon 9000 Pro.

Hell, 400W aren't even required for a 9800 Pro 256MB...

Did you know that DELL *only* uses 250W power supplies?

 

[mightyrocket]

Yes, you're probably right, but I'm sure his power supply is too weak for this card. He requires a better one.

 

[radTube]

A 300W PSU is enough, but be sure not to just buy the cheapest one you find. You can actually find PSU reviews on the net if you look for them.

I had the same kind of problems BTW when I bought my radeon 8500. Turned out that the crappy soltek mobo couldn't handle the agp load. No use blaming the PSU if that's the case

 

[ScottJC]

My motherboard is an MSI, not a soltek, and I only got it a few weeks ago...

 

[radTube]

My motherboard is an MSI, not a soltek, and I only got it a few weeks ago...

I'm not saying that your mobo's behind the lockups, just saying that the PSU is not the only thing that can cause them. I hope you find the problem though. I recommend you try to get some friend to bring his 300W power supply over for a test before buying a new one. So you won't have to buy a new PSU _and_ a new mobo like I did .

PS. The Soltek wasn't old either. Still I couldn't return it because the 'terms of guarantee do not apply to cases of incompatibility'. :angry: I never found any mention of this incompatibility anywhere. And I don't know if a crappy agp bus can even be called 'a case of incompatibility'.
It'll be a cold day in hell before I'm buying anything from Soltek again, that's for sure. I'm sticking to Abit motherboards from now on.

 

[ScottJC]

i needed a new PSU anyway really.

 

[URAMetroid]

well, for some reason my cooling program gives me an alarm on one specifc spot all the time, its annoying, i guess it does it for a reason though, and thats with my geforce4mx pci card:

(btw for some reason it says the system fan is 0, but there is one, though)

First off in the image you attached I notice that you system temp was higher than you CPU temp. That may be one problem, but one of you system fan's dose not look to be connected to the mobo (this is because of the system fan is reading at a speed of 0 RPM, when it should be reading at least 2,500 RPM). And in the voltage "+5 V" also seems to be below recommend voltage at 4.25.
And you say you are going form a PCI card to a AGP card, you system may need a new power supply because of the AGP voltage is deferent from the PCI voltage. So I recommend to see if a new power supply will work in you system and to see if one of your
system fan's is attached to your mobo and is not dead.

A NEW Power supply = more power! + NO more voltage alarm
Making shore one system fan is attached = NO more alarm for the fan.

It may work or it may not, but hay that's life