Andrés

Hello everyone, just became a member.

I have a problem with my vcard and i really hope someone can help.

I got about 4 months ago a MSI 7900GT, and was working fine till a couple days ago. I was playing oblivion and got a lot of weird lines on the screen and finally the computer froze. After a few seconds, i got a blue screen error, something about my memory being dumped to prevent damage...
I rebooted after the counter finished and everything seemed normal. I started oblivion again but it froze after a few mins again and this time i got a blue screen error that said something about a infinite loop...

This time, things got worse. When i finally rebooted, the startup screen showed a lot of weird points all over... and they stay till windows loads. If my vcard drivers are loaded, i cant get into windows... i can only get in if im in safe mode or if my drivers are uninstalled. If drivers are up, i get the infinite loop error and/or memory dump.

I tried several drivers, and updated vga and motherboard bios, but nothing has helped at all.

Well any help is greatly appreciated...

Oh i forgot... im running Wxp, fully updated, MSI K8N Neo4 Motherboard, Soundblaster Audigy2, 1Gb Ram...

TheMatt

Hola Andrés,

Download and install the 84.21 drivers from this thread: http://www.techsupportforum.com/hard...a-drivers.html

Andrés

Hi Matt, thanks for your reply.

Well just tried the drivers and it didn´t work. Got a bunch of whit dashes during driver installation, and comp froze. Had to reboot on safe mode, and remove drivers. And im still getting al the weird dots and dashes on starup screens... :(
I wonder if there could be hardware damage, since i dont see how a driver could fix the dots as soon as i turn the pc on... :(

TheMatt

Download RivaTuner from my sig below and post the GPU temps it displays. Also, try running the computer with the side panel off and a house fan blowing into the case.

Please post what PSU you are using, including the brand, power output in watts, and the amps on each +12v rail (and how many +12v rails there are if there are more than one).

1 g0t 0wn3d

have you dusted out the video card since you got it try removing it and blowing into it with a air can

Andrés

Coudn't use rivatuner since i cant load windows if video drivers are installed. Did try it again, thou. Tried installing drivers and loading in safe mode to see if i could use Rivatuner but it doenst work on safe mode. Windows does work IF no video driver is installed, but then i cant get any info from rivatuner, since it doesnt have a target adapter.

My Psu says 500Watts and has 16Amps on the 12V rail.

Also, the card had very little dust on it. Sprayed it anyway...

dai

not enough amps on the 12v rail,it must be a cheap generic psu if it only supplies 16a on a 500w

Andrés

Could that have damaged my vcard? or do i just buy a better PSU? Card had worked fine for months... and im really worried about the dots and dashes on boot up... and bios setup looks so messed up... what i dont get is why windows looks fine (at least without drivers).

dai

see if you can borrow one to try first,in safe mode it runs on the basic driver and does not pull much power till it hands over to windows and the card

Andrés

Will do, will post as soon as posible. Thanks for all the advice.

Andrés

Well im back. Tried a friend's 600W Thermaltake PSU. Same thing. Tried my card on his rig, card didnt work either. After reading a lot, it seems that its a problem with this specific card, MSI 7900GT. apparently a lot of people have this same issue, after a few months use, the card weirds out. Some ppl have RMAd 2 or 3 times and still have the same problem, wich really pisses me off... no hope for me, since i'm in south america. It may be 3 or 4 months before i get the card back... and it may come back with the same problem.
I've tried to contact MSI to try to find out if its worth my trouble sending my card back to the US. I dont think it will.

It may be cheaper and better to just get a new one, since a friend can bring it, so no internatinal shipping. If anyone has any experience with this sort of thing, i would really appreciate any advice.

Anyway, since it seems that im going to be buying a new card, i've been looking aroung and my budget is around US200.These 2 cards are my main choices, EVGA 7959gt and ATI RADEON X1950XT,but im not sure, i have no experience at all with ATI. I have read around and well both seem like very good cards, and are basically the same price.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102067
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130074

I looked in tomshardware but htere is no benchmark for the XT model, only XTX. Opinions?

mattlock

Those are both fine cards. I'm an Nvidia Fan my self , although I've got 2 9600xt that are still going strong. Evga carries a lifetime warranty. I've used several of there cards in various systems and haven't had to RMA one yet.

TheMatt

The card might have been damaged from heat or lack of power.

In case you are wondering, the X1950XT will be quite a bit higher performing than the 7950GT. But it takes more power. You will want to look at one of these PSUs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371001

Here is a good deal on an X1950XT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102067

Sapphire is the eVGA of ATI.

Andrés

Hi, im back. I've been doing a some research on the PSUs, and im a little confused. Most cards recomend 22+ amps on the 12V rail, and not even the 700W PSUs seem to deliver all that. Most PSUs have 18 or 19 amps, mabe 20... so how do i choose the PSU? i read the stuff on the forum about PSU's.. but im not finding currents that high . Anyway im considering buying a PNY 8800GTS, if i get a little more cash.. if not, im going with the X1950XT.

These are the PSUs im considering any1 know if it would be enough to power either card?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817171014
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817152026

Is the Antec recomended on the previous post better than these? amps arent much higher... ant its more expensive... Could it power the 8800GTS?

My other components aren't that power hungry... AMD X2 4600+, WD SATA HD, DVD W/RW drive, Audigy2 ZS, 1Gb DDR400 RAM, MSI K8N Neo4 Mobo...

mattlock

You do not want the Raidmax very poor Quality, I'll have to check on the Coolermaster. Most of the techs are recommending a 700w or higher PSU for the 8800. (It is a power hungry card) a 650 will be fine for the 1950xt however.
You can get the Antec Trio 650 for $78 after a $30 rebate, but today is the last day. I'll be back in a minute with the Promo code.

Here's the code: EMC405FTRUE good for $30 off. So after shipping and the $30 rebate it's $78. Promo code Expires today 4/11/07.

mattlock

Checked out the Coolermaster PSUs. The one you should consider from them is the I-Green series.

dai

with multiple 12v rails add them to gether and the supply gives you an output of about 80% of the total
look for one with a single 12v line in preference to the multiple lines

TheMatt

If you want to go with an 8800, you should look at 750+ w of power. The PC Power & Cooling 750 w silencer is an excellent quality PSU that will get the job done.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817703006

This is also a good PSU.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817256009