techflash

My computer is fitted with a new PowerColor ATi Radeon 9250 card about 6 months ago. Recently, my computer is having some problems that may be caused by it. The following symptoms occur when Windows XP has just started, after the "Welcome" screen:

1. BSOD appears with the following message:
   
   I have to reset my computer.
2. My computer monitor suddenly turns off, then displays "Check signal cable". Later, the monitor enters standby mode. I have to reset my computer.
3. The computer turns on normally, but suddenly the screen turns black and reappears a few times (like when changing screen resolution). The screen now appears permanently with lines everywhere, somewhat distorted (sorry, i didn't manage to take a picture of it). Sometimes, a "VPU Recover" message will appear on the screen, saying that the GPU has been reset. Because of the distortion, I couldn't continue with my work, so I have to restart.

At worst times, the above problem occurs everytime in turn on my computer. After restarting or pressing the reset button, one of the above problems will occur again. I have to reset or restart many times until the system "stabalises" and everything is fine. But, there are also times when I can turn on the computer normally without any problems.

These problems may also long after Windows have started, like playing a game.

Do you think it's time to change my video card?

Addtional info:

1. Before having the Radeon 9250 video card, my computer is installed with a Gigabyte Radeon 9200SE video card. The old card causes the CPU to not turn on, so it was changed.
2. I have the latest Catalyst driver installed for my graphics card model (version 6.5). It seems that later Catalyst drivers won't support my card any more.

jnob

Try cleaning out the old catalyst driver from safe-mode. Then reinstall the latest catalyst driver. However, if you do have the funds for an upgrade you could gain a big boost in performance depending on your current system and budget.

dai

uninstall the drivers from add and remove
reboot tapping f8and choose vga mode
when windows finishes rebooting disable a/virus
reinstall your drivers
reboot the computer
then post back as to where we are at with the problem

Cellus

dai's recommendation is spot on. ATi Catalyst drivers are reknowned to be buggy in certain situations, and cleanly updating them to the latest stable version is always recommended. The current version, Catalyst v6.8, is fairly good (sporting some minor performance increases) and should be installed.

If you still have problems with those drivers, try using a stable third-party modified version like Omega Drivers. Omega Drivers is recognized as a good alternative driver set by ATi and can help more for some people.

http://www.omegadrivers.net

techflash

Is it really a driver problem? I have tried reinstalling ATi Cataylst many times, the last time I removed it through Add/Remove Programs and Device Manager, although not done in safe mode. Cellus advised me to install Catalyst 6.8, but this version does not support my video card. The latest for my card is 6.5. Apart from driver problems, can this be due to a failing video card?

Actually, while typing this message halfway, problem 3 mentioned in my first post occured. Apparently, the GPU has been reset. This was the picture taken after the reset:


In this picture, the start menu and VPU Recover dialog box is shown, the text hard to be read. After that, I restarted and the BSOD keeps appearing when the "Welcome" should appear, and I have to keep pressing "reset" about 10 times until I can continue typing this message.

Do you think buying a new video card fully solves this problem? I afraid that after buying a new video card, I find out that this problem is caused by some other failing component of my PC. After having 2 ATi video cards that didn't work for me, I thought of trying out nVidia's GeForce FX5200 or 6200. What do you think?

Let's say that the problem I'm facing now is due to the video card drivers and I have bought a new video card. What if I take this old video card and install it on my old Pentium II PC running Windows Me (That means the core speed of the GPU is slightly faster than my processor)? What performance boost does it give?

Anyway, thanks you guys for spending time helping me with this annoying problem.

Inactive

that second image you posted looks like a lack of power. what is the make of the PSU? take off the side cover and take a look at the specs on the side. something like below....

techflash

My PSU brand is Enermax, total power 300W. Anything else?

dai

enermax are good supplies but they have their limits and i think you have past it,with what you have and the overclocking
http://www.techsupportforum.com/showthread.php?t=107466

Cellus

freddyhard and dai are definitely correct in saying you do not have enough power coming from the PSU. A 400W supply should be adequate so long as your system specs aren't much more advanced than the video card.

techflash

So by installing a better PSU, this problem will definately be solved? How shall I know whether the video card is related to it?

Inactive

i don't know that the problem will be definitely solved. i was using a cheap 400W PSU (17A on 12V line) and i was getting the same effects as you were. maybe not as bad. i changed the PSU for a seasonic 430W (29A on 12V line). those lines haven't come back since.

i know whats 30W, but its the 12V line is where the difference in distribution lies. i nearly doubled the power going to the video card and HD.

above you had mentioned about getting a nvidia 6200. if you are not going to use 3D applications then ok, otherwise get something a little better. i had a 6200 purely to get a a pc running. i then got an X800XL and there was a big difference in performance.

techflash

After much consideration, I finally decided to change my graphics card first, since I also need a graphics card upgrade to make my PC Vista-capable. Then, if the problem persists, then it should be the PSU.

I have 3 video card options that is within my budget:
128MB nVidia GeForce 6200
128MB ATi Radeon 9550
128MB nVidia GeForce FX5200

The first should be better, right?

Another thing that remains answered - What if I install my Radeon 9250 on a Pentium II computer? Does it offer any performance inprovements?

dai

you are not likely to run successfully vista on a p2 or a p3 and the video cards you mentioned i think you will find,are to new to fit a p2 motherboard
http://www.playtool.com/pages/agpcompat/agp.html

techflash

It think I shoukld have made my question more specific -
I have 2 computers, a P2 and a P4. The P4 is having problems, so I decided to replace its 128MB ATi Radeon 9250 video card with a 128MB nVidia GeForce 6200. Now I would like to install the ATi Radeon 9250 card into my P2 computer which has an AGP slot. So, what are the performance improvements, if any?

dai

i don't think the agp slot will supply the correct voltage on the p2
check with the link i gave you

techflash

It says that the Radeon 9250 is a Universal AGP 3.0 Card...

dai

well it should fit and run at 1x or 2x