DommiikinzZ

First time I've ever needed to post my problems, usually just spend countless hours hunting down someone else who has done it and reading those posts.

The problem is when playing a game my computer goes into a complete system freeze, after about 1-3 seconds after the screen freezing and losing all control the sound beings to loop the last 1 second of sound played, repeatedly. I was assured it was a graphics card problem, and was told to reinstall the graphic card drivers. I then proceeded to reinstall, 7 times (each time I stopped to see if the crash happened again). It isn't fixed crashing either, it is almost random. For example I feel it is down to what is displayed on the screen, as crashes become more regular depending on the game/map I am playing. Sometimes each crash can be weeks, sometimes it can be within hours. All my PC is roughly about 7 months old. I built it myself, and I have had no other issues. After reading posts Company Manufactured computers with the same GPHX card (and sometimes other GPHX cards) have had the same issue.

My PC set up is;
- Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case
- MSI P35 Neo2-FR Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
- Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz
-Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)
- OCZ 4GB (4x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2
- Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7200S 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
- Samsung SpinPoint F1 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502IJ)
- Hiper 580W HPU-4M580 SLi Certified ATX2.2 PSU

The monitor is something shocking, ancient as well, no idea what it is but it looks older than me, I am sure it's not the monitor that is the problem though.

What I have done to try and fix the problem;

Uninstalled the graphics/display drivers countless times and reinstalled them using different programs and manually.

Uninstalled every single driver and reinstalled using Driver Checker.


Last thing that might help, is the problem has become every couple of minutes since I started playing GTA IV (the shadows don't look quite right, think it might be slightly down to that). Other game it happens on is CSS (counter-strike: source) usually on certain maps though, and on other maps I NEVER get the crash.
Lastly, the image I get on the screen when the crash happens varies. It can the screen just before the crash but with little squares, about 20x20 in pixel copied and moved about 2cm to the left of where it was copied. Giving a pattern of almost checkers. Another is 2 coloured stripes, repeating one after the other, vertical stripes. Colour varies on all, sometimes it is just random colours, sometimes it is the original screen remade.

This crash ONLY happens on games as well.

Sorry this post was incredibly wrong, just wanted to make sure no one had to waste their time asking details, along with that, if I HAVE missed anything out, sorry and will be happy to answer.

(Oh and two forums I read stated the problem could be either Sound Drivers or the PSU, I have reinstalled sound and I think my PSU can handle my set up)

(Running Vista 64-Bit & Nothing is Overclocked purposely.)

Oh, and no error messages when I reboot manually, or when the crash occurs. (Always requires a manual reboot - totally freezes)

Looks like http://www.techsupportforum.com/gami...shes-game.html has exactly the same problem as well ^^

Mcninjaguy

whats your video card? you never posted it here

I think your PSU is reaching its limit and is aging really fast because its running close to 100% capacity when in games and what you want is your psu to be running below 80% capacity.

edit you'll want to run ATI tools to see if your video card has errors
http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/

also can you borrow a 650+ PSU from a friend?

DommiikinzZ

Sorry, it's a ATI Radeon Sapphire HD 4870. And nah I can't borrow a PSU from a friend, and you think that's it? PSU can't handle it? Hmm. If it turns out PSU can't handle it I will buy a new one.

DommiikinzZ

Just ran the error tool for about 4mins, no error.

Tumbleweed36

4870 + Hiper 580 = Will not work. You need a 750 watt brand name power supply in there for this video card to work properly. I recommend one of these brand names:

Seasonic – Any Model
Corsair – Any Model
PC Power & Cooling – Any Model
Thermaltake – “Toughpower” Series Only
Coolermaster – “Real Power Pro” Series Only

DommiikinzZ

100% sure? Don't want to have to open up my PC and go through the nightmare all over again ^^

Tumbleweed36

Quite honestly, one can never be 100% sure. However, I would be very surprised if that was not the issue. Hiper power supplies are known to be very weak even when new and they age very fast. Do you know someone who has a power supply you can try in that rig? If so, give that a try and see if it works correctly.

DommiikinzZ

Thing that confuses me, is it never happens on COD4 where as it happens on CSS, and COD4 is a much more demanding game than CSS. You are probably right about the PSU, I really hope it isn't the PSU though ^^. If it turns out everyone else who replies to this also think it's the PSU and no other fixes work, I will order a new PSU from the ones you recommended.

Mcninjaguy

even if its not the PSU at least you'll have areally nice one in there and a backup for a weaker system

DommiikinzZ

I was having a look on some other forums, (same GFX card, same problem) and they seem to think only like 400-480W PSU is needed.

Tumbleweed36

My assessment is that you need much more power to run a 4870 video card. I would also like to restate that Hiper is a known very weak power supply with very low efficiency and the 580 is not enough power even with a good power supply. I think this combination of things is causing the difficulty you are having.

However, that is your choice to decide what is best for your computer. If you believe you can run that video card with a 400 to 480 watt power supply, then I sincerely hope you don't burn up your other components with an underpowered power supply.

Good luck on solving the issue you have.

Mcninjaguy

me personally I wouldn't run a ATI 3800 series card with less than quality 650w PSU

so for the high end 4800 series card I woulsn't run it with less than a 750w quality PSU

quality PSU

Seasonic - Any model
PC and Power Cooling - - any model
Thermaltake - Toughpower series only
Corsair - Any model
Silverstone - any model
Cooler Master - Real Power Pro series only

quality = 80% + effeciency and the parts used

DommiikinzZ

Ok I fixed the problem, or hopefully anyway. I did 24 hours of forum digging etc. etc. and finally found the fault. Although I agree with everyone who has said that the power supply might not b doing my system any good.

Anyway sapphire released a batch of faulty 4870s as you have probably read. Luckily/Unluckily mine was one of them. So a "quick" (haha) look around and finally found how to do it, flashed the GFX card with the GFX BIOS fix and so far no crashes.

If anyone else has the problem I will be happy to post step by step how I did it and link you to websites I used to rectify the problem.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply and help.

Tumbleweed36

Thanks so much for posting the solution. We all learn when something like this comes up. I do hope you will take a long look at that Hyper power supply so you can have the very best powering that video card. Have a great week.

Mcninjaguy

Im glad you found the solution. I'll have to keep that in mind when dealing with someone who has a sapphire video card.

Did you find out which model #'s were faulty by the way?

DommiikinzZ

Yes, In a way I do. But I have found cases where (for example my case) the card isn't the described faulty card (different P/N and perhaps SKU) yet the same issues with the card (artifacts + freeze). The well known faulty card has a blue pcb and the model is;
P/N:188-01E85-001SA,SKU#11133-00-XXR

The "XX" stand for a number in the cards case. Although my pcb is red and my P/N (i believe without fully checking) isn't the one described. This is where it got risky flashing it. Probably best to suggest rma if they don't fit the exact model. My card's original BIOS was 133-AB68800-XXX, only reason I went ahead with flashing is because a few had already taken the risk with the same card as my own, and seemed to be successful.

I'll check this thread regularly for a while, if anyone needs websites or the files I used uploading I will be happy to help, as the problem has only been recently solved and there isn't much easy accessible resources out there. (I used ATIWinflash - not a good idea, but I also have the files needed for a DOS flash, which I would have done myself if not for MSCD001 driver not found )

EDIT

Although as far as I am aware, flashing with the sapphire tech official BIOS won't void warranty.

Mcninjaguy

yea I recently flashed my GTX 260 and went from the stock levels

Core clock: 575
Shader Clock: 1200
Memory clock: 999

to these clocks

Core Clock: 720
Shader Clock: 1550
Memory Clock: 1250

load temp 69C
fan @ 65%

so did you overclock it? did you just use a different bios?
I've stored the PIN number on my comp in case someone has a problem with their computer maybe I can narrow it down if this does occur again here.

yea you probably should've done the dos flash but if its working then you're good to go.

DommiikinzZ

Nah, I didn't overclock it, no need with the current games out. Plus (especially now I am worried about my PSU) I probably won't due to the extra power supply it will need.

jjjapan

Hey thank you for posting this!

I have the same problem! Please link me to the website, also is it hard to do?


Jess