16 month GFX card FUBARED?

Players on the BF2 forum after posting this issue think my 16 month ATI Radeon 9800+ PRO 128MB is dying on me.

My BF2 was fine 5 hours ago, and now it isn't, what's gone wrong and how do I fix it? I haven't changed anything between now and then, but here's a collage of some screenshots of my BF2 now :S

http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/8295/problems7yv.jpg

Other games still run perfectly fine.

Also if I could just add, those pictures in the plane, and the command HUD; the game didn't look like that when I took the screenshot; I was actually screenshotting my text looking like some odd ancient japanese or something.

 

Just need to add, the card is not overclocked.

 

Latest drivers from www.ati.com ?

Also, have you got all the latest patches installed?

I don't think this is a hardware problem, but more a game/driver problem.

 

Latest patch has been installed for a good few weeks now, and surely the drives haven't updated in 5 hours? I'll give it a whirl but I seriously doubt it's a driver issue.

 

It's not definitely the solution, no, but these things can help.

Have you tried uninstalling the whole game, then installing the full patch, not the incremental?

 

Heskey, just as a curiosity, use Speedfan or Motherboard Monitor to check on the voltages (mainly the +12V).. If you do, please post them back..

I have a Nvidia 6600 TD, but my games started showing artifacts too all of a sudden, and MBM and SpeedFan and several other show low voltages.. maybe we have the same problem: power supply dying.. not the video card..

John

PS: I changed my HD recently, so i reinstalled the entire WINXp (with SP2) and tried several drivers for the video card.. nothing worked, except forcing HW T&L off with 3DAnalyze..

 

Here's what mine looks like:
http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/3180/trackmaniaartifacts2yo.th.jpg

Sorry for the double post, but i either can't edit my post after closing the browser, or i need glasses..

John

 

Since I got my new Processor put in I HAVE needed a new powersupply, my Pc would restart on it's on like once every week, but because it wasn't a biting issue I've not really seen any dire need to get a new one just now,

My Pc needs a 400V power-supply but it's still running on the old 130V one from when I had my celeron; is this the issue?

I've re-installed BF2 and the artifacts, and off-centre view are back to normal, and the only issues are some buttons and texts still aren't right, for example:

'Update Servers' button is now get_serverlist, and the box saying 'Updating Server List' now says 'MODAL_SERVERS'

In game when asked to accept or decline it says: PRESS |1001|PAGE UP|1001| to |1001|ACCEPT|1001| etc as can be seen on one of my pictures.

I'm going to look into getting a new power supply now; I know I've needed one, but up until now it's not been an annoyance.

Right now I'm completely re-installing BF2 after a re-start, and hoping that works

 

I hope you mean a 400W and not 400V

I'm surprised your PC can take off wiht a 130W psu too, so yeah try a new PSU and fingers crossed

 

MY BF2 is working fine now but Black & White 2 just started showing artifacts;

Yeah sorry, 400W but now I don't know

To tell the truth I realise the 230V sticker on the back of my PC just means the input; thus I know NOTHING about my current power supply, except it's now powerful enough.

How can I find out more about it, and find out which PSU I now need?

 

A friend thinks it might also be worth investing in a 2nd fan,

sorry for double post.

 

I unistalled my graphics drivers and re-installed these Omega drivers I've heard so much about, based off the 6.3 drivers for my card; everything seems to be working lovely now.

 

Glad you got it sorted

I thought straight from the beginning it could be a driver problem, I know ATI cards have had a lot of conflict with BF2, and ever since I switched to an nVidia card I've had no problems.

With regards to a second fan, yes it would be advisable as a cooler system generally gives a better performance, but I wouldn't put anything else in your case until you've invested in a new power supply.

To find out the power supply wattage, open up the case, and the details should be on the side. If it's at least 350W I'd say you're ok, what are your specs with processor, motherboard and memory?

 

I'll find out for you, but I wouldn't say it's okay because the PC keeps restarting now and then; usually when it'd need high voltage. I kept a record:

5th March
6th March
15th March
17th March
18th March
18th March
21st March
29th March
14th April

As for the processor, MB and Mem they're all brand new and are:

MOTHERBOARD: (Will give when I crack open my case; I bought it specifically in line with my processor though)
PROCESSOR: AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3700+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.2GHz
MEMORY:1024MB RAM

 

With that setup then, you need at least 400W.

 

And when it comes to power supplies, bigger is always better. It won't hurt it to have a bigger one, and if it needs to draw more than just miminmum power as it often does with games of this nature, that extra is always helpful.