Official GIGABYTE Forum
Questions about GIGABYTE products => Graphic cards => Topic started by: Elocor on November 09, 2010, 02:58:13 pm
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Hi!
I have read a few posts and replies on this forum regarding this card crashing when starting games etc. I have this issue to. I can surf the web and use applications how much i want but as soon as i start a game, thats when the problems start. Some times i can play for hours and sometimes it just crash after a minute or two and the whole system crash, i have to take out the power to restart it. I had the card sent in for RMA but they say its nothing wrong with it. Last time i sent it in i even sent my motherboard and cpu (as its baught in the same place) and there was nothing wrong whith anything they said. I have updated both the motherboard bios and the gfx card bios to F3. Although i have not yet tested the 260.99 driver from nvidia only the 260.89. Gigabyte says it might be my ram blocks that might be the cause. Anyone else that have solved these type of issues with replacing the ram. My thoughts are that it might be the psu but im not sure at all.
Any Ideas to what might cause my problems?
Systems Specs.
Processor: AMD Phenom2 X4 965 3,4Ghz
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4 (Rev 1.0)
Powersupply: Corsair TX 650W PSU
RaM: Corsair XMS3 DHX DDR3 1333MHz 4GB CL9
Graphic card: Gigabyte Geforce GTX 460 OC 1GB
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate
Bios mobo: F3
Bios gfx: F3
Edit: I have tryed with another pair of Ram blocks by the way. Corsair Dominator DHX+ DDR3 1333MHz however they mean that i should try value ram.
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Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.
It's possible that the memory is causing problems. To check the best thing is to run Memtest86+ on the modules one stick at a time for at least ten loops each. If you get any errors the memory is faulty.
Memtest86+ http://www.memtest.org/
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A friend of mine actually did test my Ram blocks while i tryed his (the second pair or Ram blocks) with no issues. I do not know if this is the memtest he used but there was no errors. I just put the stuff back together again after i recived them from RMA so will try out 260.99 and report back soon.
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OK but a friend testing them in his machine doesn't really carry a lot of weight. They might be fine there but no good in yours.
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Ahh. Cool. gona test that then. Same story with 260.99 though. gona check the memory and see what that gives.
Edit: Also monitored the temp on cpu and gpu and none of them exceed 50 celcius when the computer crash. So no heat issue atleast on thoes.
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Well at least the temps seem ok. Just keep us updated and we will hopefully get the problem sorted.
Something that has just come to mind is have you ever tried to run your memory at a faster speed that 1333?
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Hey i recognize that ui or whatever you call it. i think thats been run from an obuntu cd on my machine during a work day whitout any errors. That would be with both blocks in the machine though and probably one test if it does not loop itself. Would that give you any info or should i remove a block and then run it 10 times?
Edit: Nope it has always been set to 1333 in bios.
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It would be better to run Memtest on a single module at a time for at least ten loops. That way if there are any errors you will at least know where they came from. You could run it on both at once but then you would have to run it again if there was a problem.
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Ok will do. In the meantime. The rest of my system should be ok right? Or is the psu on the limit?
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You are still running the Corsair 650W, yes? If so it shouldn't be e problem.
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Yes i do. Cool, and thanks. i will start up the mem test when i leave for work tomorrow on one module and hopefully it'll be done when im home for lunch and then i can test the other one. Or do i need to manually restart the test? Sorry for beeing such a noob ;)
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No once set up and running it should just carry on until you stop it. Then of course you will need to physically change the sticks over and start it again.
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Cool my plan will work out then :)
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Iv been running the memtest on each Ram block and it shows no errors. it looped 18 times on one and 11 or something on the other. Any other suggestions? Was thinking about reinstalling Win 7 and install the display driver only and a game ofcorse to see if its a driver conflict. Does that sound resonable?
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Obviously your memory is fine so that is one thing out of the way now.
A clean install is always a good idea if you are having problems of asny kind as at least you know where you are coming from and that there are no stragglers left around from previpous programs.
If you decide to do this then install Windows and then the chipset drivers and graphics drivers and try and keep everything else to a minimum.
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Im afraid a reinstall with only the driver 260.99, chipset and WoW installed, the problem remain. After about 5 min the whole system just freeze :(
Any other suggestions?
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Try an older driver. There have been quite a few problems with the newer drivers so it might work better with an older one.
It's always possible that the PSU could be just fiinding it a bit much with the overclocked card but I wouldn't have thought so.
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As part of the trubleshooting with support and my reseller (cant remember which) we actualy downclocked the card to the stock speed with no change. Will try an older driver as you say. Anyone in particular i should be looking for?
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I am not sure to be honest but I have asked my colleague to have a look at your thread as he knows more about AMD than I do.
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Hi there,
until last week I was running this Mobo but with an ATI card not NVidia. I had been using the F4a BIOS without any problems so maybe it would be worth trying that as it might help.
Have you left your RAM at the Default settings in BIOS are have you manually set the timings?
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Its the default settings i have not changed anything in the bios. Cool havent checked the bios updates for the mother board in a while. Gona upgrade to F4A as soon as i get home and report back.
Edit: Was looking at erlier drivers and the furthest back i can go is 258.96 it seams. Know if that driver is ok to use (i could be wrong but i think i used this one when i first got the card.)?
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Hi there,
that driver should be OK. Do you still have the original Install Disk that came with the Graphics Card? If you have it might be better to try running those.
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Cool. Thanks alot. Going on my lunch break in three minutes so gona install bothe bios and the original cd drivers and see how it goes.
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When you update BIOS remember to use the QFlash Utility rather than @BIOS and also remember to load Optimised Defaults in BIOS after you have completed the Update.
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Yeah qflash used when updating. Have not done the "optimize defaults" yet though. Will do that as soon as i get back home again after work. I uninstalled the current 260.99 driver by following a guide on how to uninstall in properly with driver sweeper and all. There was a link to the guide in a previous post on this forums. Installed the drivers on the cd which followed the card. Didnt have time to check what version it was before i had to sprint back to work :)
Will give it a test run tonight after the optimize bit is done.
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Nope still crash the system however i was on skype with a friend during and this time we could still speak meaning the whole system did not go down as it has in the past. So i guess thats a step forward. Any other ideas. Im back to my old HD3870 whitch works fine.
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In that case it sounds like it is only the graphics sub-system that has gone down.
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What can i do to prevent that? :)
This is the first time i'v been able to speak after the crash.
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You did say the card has been RMAd before didn't you but without anything being found? It's just that my feeling would be to send the card back now.
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As part of the trubleshooting with support and my reseller (cant remember which) we actualy downclocked the card to the stock speed with no change.
Did you leave the card at stock or have you over clocked it again?
You could try adjusting the PCIE Clock frequency in BIOS and see if that helps. I wouldn't suggest making a big change but try increasing or decreasing in steps of +1 or -1 each time but don't go above 105 or below 95. Sorry I can't be more precise but finding the right setting is really dependant on each individual PC and graphic card. If I was going to guess at where to start I would probably try increasing the PCIE Clock frequency to 101 MHz or 102 MHz. The only way of finding out if things improve is to try running the PC again and if it crashes try increasing the frequency again. If you get to 105 MHz and nothing has improved try again but starting at 99 MHz and then try decreasing it if it still isn't stable.
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Yepp its been in two times actualy. only tested at the reseller though. The second time i sent in the gfx card, motherboard and the cpu as it was all bought at the same place and they all were returned with no issue lable.
Ok i will try that. Thanks again.
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Hi!
I don't mean to be finicky, but to be sure RAM's good it need at least a 24h run with memtest (lets assume it's good).
PSU might not be operating withint it's specifications. And when stressed unable to output enough juice to the VGA card.
It's probably unlikely but stranger things has happend. I would A. Try my card in my friends rig (assuming his PSU is powerful enough).
If that works alright, B.Try another PSU on your own rig.
Btw, you have my sympaties, looking for errors on your own rig is so bloody boring and tiresome. Sure it's pretty easy if you have
a double set of everything in the PC, but most people don't so...
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Here's a brainiac... I'v tested the card in two other computers. The first computer has the same issue and that is AMD based. What i can remember of the speccs are that he have a Phenom II but 2.8ghz or something, 2x 2gb ddr 2 ram blocks. Here's the twist though. The second computer it has been tested in seams to run it ok. I might need to run some longer tests and stuff on that one but it ran longer than it has ever run in my rig. The second computer is intel based with Core i7 thats all i realy know about that rig. I doubt its a incompability issue with these cards and amd as i think the web would be crawling with people with the same issue in that case. But maby it can give you guys any ideas.
I will try the PCI-e clock you suggested Absic and see what happens.
Thanks again!
Edit: btw thanks Elajt! I have all my stuff from my old rig still with me for times like these. :) And actualy i have tested another psu in the system with the same issue however its only 550w so i cant be sure its enough. Also Corsair (Corsair VX 550W PSU).
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I have to say that I actually moved away from NVidia Cards on my systems because of issues I was facing several years ago. Although there is no hard evidence that NVidia GPU's struggle on the AMD Platform, I have found quite a few instances where teh only way to resolve Graphic problems has been to switch to an ATI Card.
Whenever I build an AMD based PC, I use ATI Cards as they have proven to be a lot less hassle for me and also for my friends on the AMD side of things.
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Personally I too favour the ATI based cards. I wouldn't install a nVidia card in my machine as I find them just too troublesome, hot and noisy. At the moment I think the majority of their problems come from badly written drivers/firmware but whatever the root cause if they are not stable then I wouldn't want to know.
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You know what Absic. I have always run ATI cards in my previous rigs without any problems ever. But this time i followed a bunch of peoples advice and went for a gforce as it was "more for gamers" and "PhysX is like sweet yo". Been regreting that for quite a while now :)
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If the pci-e clock thing does not work i think im just gona plead to my reseller to take it back and if that does not work i will sell it and buy ATI even if that means me loosing some cash on the deal.
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I wonder how many of those offering advice are doing so from the Intel side of things rather than the AMD platform? ???
In theory, there shouldn't be any problems running NVidia cards on AMD boards but this is computing and s*** happens. Although I don't claim to be an expert on such matters I wouldn't mind betting that there is some form of incompatibility with the motherboard drivers for the AMD Chipsets and the NVidia Graphic drivers although I can't prove that and all the "evidence" I have is purely anecdotal.
All I do know for certain is that switching to ATI GPU's on the AMD platform has given me a lot less headaches and a lot less downtime! :P
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Hi .Elocor, well as you can see from my rig, I have just installed the same card as you. I originally had ATI 5770, but as I am into dvd and bluray, I wanted to back up my collection and the software I use is dvd fab , which is written to operate with Nvidea and hence the change.
I have been watching your post and waiting to see if you got a solution to your problem..I dont do games and therefore dont have the same issues as you, But copying bluray needs lots of processing and it seems to be copying some bluray's. I must admit sometimes when I start up win7 ultimate, on a few occasions it doesn't load and i have to let windows check, and then all works ok.I have also had on a few occasions the graphics stop working when on the computer and a few times where the system loads up and does not install the grahics. I have also tried both the drivers that you mention. I suppose the same as me, you have read lots of people having problems with this card on different forums..Well sorry this doesn't help your problem, but at least your not on your own. Being a newbie I did not know you can update the card bios, maybe absic can advise me on this, as I have seen on Toms hardware site, where someone else was having the same probs and was advised not to update.. :-\
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Flashing the BIOS for your GPU carries the same risks as Flashing the BIOS on your motherboard, maybe more as there is no back-up BIOS on a GPU and is something you should only do if the update is know to cure a specific problem.
If you are thinking of flashing the BIOS on your Graphic card then I would advise looking through this thread: http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,2439.0.html beofre you do so as it goes through the necessary steps.
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Hi again guys. Been testing the pci-e clocking and when i get to 103 and above it just dies almost instantly although at 100 i played for like 15 min. Though i cant go down. the first step on pci-e clocking is auto then 100 and upwards no steps lower like 99. Do i need to activate something or is it just how this bios is built, meaning i cant clock it below 100?
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It's probably due to the way BIOS is written but as I don't have access to your motherboard I can't be certain.
I'm not really sure where to go from here. Have you raised this problem with GTTS? If not, it might be worth while doing that as they maybe able to offer another insight as to what is actually causing you this problem.
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Yes i'v contacted gigabyte support prior to the second time i sent the card back to my reseller for RMA and i followed their advice in trying other ram blocks and trying in another computer which lead to them suggesting i send it back to my reseller which i did together with cpu and Motherboard. But they could not find anything wrong. I do not know how they tested it but they were informed that the problems i had was when starting games and putting some load on the card so i guess they tested it in some game.
But i think im just gona plead to them one last time as i said erlier and if that does not help i will simply sell the card privatly and by myself ATI.
Thanks Alot for your help Absic and also Dark Mantis! Btw. would it be ok if i included our trubleshooting in a mail to my reseller?
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Yes, any information you can give to your seller might help them pinpoint the problems you are having.
I'm sorry to say this but a lot of times I'm not really certain if they actually test things properly and the fact that we have tried so many things here might just help them focus a little bit more.
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I would second what absic just said and often I think it is just something said to shut the customer up. I am sure that many times, especailly when something comes back NFF, and that it definitely is faulty they just haven't tested it.