Display freezes/reboots and Direct 3D fails...

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Corribdis, Mar 23, 2006.

  1. Corribdis

    Corribdis Private E-2

    Problem: My display freezes randomly forcing me to reboot my system. Direct 3D test causes a display freeze at 7 interfaces. System occasionally reboots spontaneously and also freezes during installation of EQ2 game. Graphics adapter is approximately 3 years old. All else is new (6mos or less) gear.

    Gear: AMD Athlon 3K+ @ 2.16GHz
    Mach Speed Viper V881DAS MB - fresh BIOS update
    DDR 400 RAM 1 GB
    Apollo GeForce FX5200 128 MB graphics adapter BIOS 4.34.20.18
    Forceware 84.21 drivers instaled today after cleaning w/ DC Pro
    O.S.-Windows XPHome w/ SP2 and updates

    Could my graphics card be faulty or is there something else I can/should look at first? I could find no BIOS update for this particular card btw. I would appreciate any suggestion. Thanks!
     
  2. Rikky

    Rikky Wile E. Coyote - One of a kind

    When did this problem first start-has it always done this:confused:

    Create a restore point,then use this cleaner,download and install the latest directx from microsoft

    http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4347

    Is your harddrive new also?Have you checked event veiwer for any errors\app hangs,control panel,admin tools

    clean out any dust and check your temperatures,check all fans are spinning
     
  3. Corribdis

    Corribdis Private E-2

    Sorry for the lack of info. The problem started maybe a month ago and has gotten increasingly worse despite new drivers, reinstalls, etc. HD is less than 2 weeks old, 80GB Seagate barracuda 7200rpm. No hangs, one timeout DHCP related, nothing else. System cleaned today fresh, all temps within limits except cannot check GPU temp. Fans are spinning and airflow seems at least nominal. Thank you for the prompt reply! Will d/l cleaner and reinstall directx and repost. Thanks again!
     
  4. Corribdis

    Corribdis Private E-2

    I did as suggested and then re-intalled DirectX 9.0c and re-installed fresh video drivers after using Driver Cleaner Pro. Still having same issues and still having display lockup at 7 interfaces screen before the pc crashes and reboots. :confused:
     
  5. Rikky

    Rikky Wile E. Coyote - One of a kind

    Try disabling auto reboot see if we can get a bluescreen and mini dump,not sure how much help it will be:confused: ,control panel,system,advanced,startup and recovery-settings,uncheck auto reboot then run the directx tests

    Have you installed the latest chipset drivers for your motherboard,alternatively get the latest hyperion from via

    http://www.machspeed.com/specs/viper/viv881das.htm#drivers
     
  6. Corribdis

    Corribdis Private E-2

    Ok...thanks for the fast reply! I'll disable reboot and post what I find.
     
  7. Corribdis

    Corribdis Private E-2

    Ok, disabled auto reboot and nothing shows up. System hangs until the monitor shuts down (usually 30-45 sec) and then I am forced to reboot it (this is while testing at 7 Interfaces). During other applications, it just freezes and stays frozen til I reboot the system. By the way, yes those are the drivers I used as updates for the motherboard. Gah.:mad:
     
  8. Rikky

    Rikky Wile E. Coyote - One of a kind

    Just to be clear when testing direct3d the first test 'directx7' gives an error failed to connect to directx 7 interface then the freeze :confused:

    Also was your OS installed in this computer,you were having this problem and bought a new harddrive 2 weeks ago,installed XP and the problem was still there on a fresh install of XP:confused:

    have you installed the latest hyperion driver?
     
  9. Corribdis

    Corribdis Private E-2

    Not exactly. When I test Direct Draw, etc., those tests turn out fine. When I start the Direct 3D test it first brings up the "test 7 interfaces" button. I click that and the screen blacks out for perhaps 5 seconds or so, then I see the cube, frozen and stationary. It stays frozen for perhaps 45 seconds, then the monitor clicks and appears to shut down. The monitor acivity light stays red (monitor off position) but the rest of the system seems to be running although no input commands are accepted or acted upon. This is ONLY during direct 3d tests. I repaired my old system recently with a new HD and new Windows XP Home OS (legal COA, etc). The problem WAS present before and after the new OS install. I began having trouble perhaps a month BEFORE since I have been using the same video card. The problems I listed have been increasing in frequency for the last month and I was unable to find any solution.

    Diring other usage, the monitor will randomly freeze and no keyboard commands are accepted. I am forced to reboot then. Ctrl+Alt+Del do not function either. Rarely, the entire system automatically reboots spontaneously, although that is a very rare occurence. Hope this helps and thank you!

    WUPS! Forgot to add - Yes I am using the latest Hyperion driver.
     
  10. Rikky

    Rikky Wile E. Coyote - One of a kind

    Have you another system you can try the card in,looks like it could be dying,I cant understand though why only the direct3d tests dont work,this would point to a software problem and a clean windows install would have cured it,the tell tale symptoms of a card dying are garbled graphics,rainbowing,ect even through the loading of XP,do you have anything like this :confused:

    Have you tweaked your bios at all or tried the bios defaults?

    Have you tried reseating the card,Hmmmm I'm scraping the barrel :)
     
  11. Corribdis

    Corribdis Private E-2

    My install is a fresh clean one and no, I have done nothing to tweak any of the settings. I updated the bios and thats the only thing I did but that was less than a week ago. I see no rainbowing, tearing or garbled graphics which is why I am unsure whether the card is at fault or not. I run the system in either safe bios or performance optimised settings and it makes absolutely no difference at all. Pulled and reseated the card at least 3 times with no change.:confused:
     
  12. Corribdis

    Corribdis Private E-2

    Off the wall question. Could a bad RAM stick be causing this? Both are new (less than 6 mos old 512MB PC3200 sticks) but I couldn't think of anything else except a bad video card.
     
  13. Corribdis

    Corribdis Private E-2

    Ok..I quit...LOL Thank you for all the help and suggestions but I am gonna weasel out and buy a new card. Again, my thanks!
     
  14. Rikky

    Rikky Wile E. Coyote - One of a kind

    No problem:) ,I just wish you could fix it,dont give up yet I'm sure other members will have suggestions:) yeh I suppose ram could be at fault,usually you get at least one BSOD with ram so I dont think it will be the problem,I also dont see how it would be specific to the video directx tests,try downloading and running memtest from the download section,also download toast and see how long you can run it for just to rule out the cpu:confused:

    can you try the card in another machine :confused:

    http://majorgeeks.com/Toast_d867.html

    http://majorgeeks.com/MemTest_d350.html
     
  15. splitt3r

    splitt3r You are now the victim of a drive by title change

    My dad has that card and the fan seems to be going bad after only 8 months. might wanna check to see if the fan is spinning, it sounds like ti could be an overheating problem.
     
  16. Corribdis

    Corribdis Private E-2

    I can't try the card in another machine (wish I could), but I upgraded the cpu cooler just in case and also pulled the memory and tested each stick. No problems there on memtest and none with Toast. I checked visually splitt3r, and the gpu fan is running...how effective it is I have no way of testing but yeah this acts like a hot card to me too...except that direct3d fails always...even after the card has been cold a while. Ideas, suggestions?:confused:
     
  17. splitt3r

    splitt3r You are now the victim of a drive by title change

    sounds like a dead card then, if you can afford to, and have agp you could get a 6800gs to replace that video card. it is a really nice gpu, better than mine.
     

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