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ATI 4890 cutting out in games

Incognito2me

Incognito2me

Incognito2me

Associate
Joined
15 Sep 2007
Posts
24
Ok, so very recently my graphics card has been cutting out when I try to play any fullscreen games. I've had it all setup for over a year, played the most graphically intensive games with no problems. But suddenly, whenever I try to render fullscreen graphics, both my monitors lose signal from the card. Sometimes the sound keeps playing, sometimes the sound glitches into a buzz. Sometimes the fan on the GPU revs up like a jet engine, sometimes it just sits there like nothing is wrong. It does the same thing with just one monitor as well.

Any ideas? Is there any kind of program I can run to help track down the problem? I would suspect the PSU, but then the computer is still running, and I would have thought the whole system would power down if the PSU was acting up.
 
Temps are the big killer of 4890s. GPUz will be able to tell you the temps

linky

The 4890 is a hot card, I had one bite the dust and a friend of mine has also lost his recently...

Aside from temps, what is the rest of your system? Make and model of PSU?
 
The card is running at about 60C idle. When running fullscreen of course, I don't know since it blacks out and I don't have any way to restore it except via restart.

As for the rest of the system:

PSU: Epsilon 700 (700w PSU)
Motherboard: Asus P5k running Latest Bios
CPU: QuadCore Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, 2400 MHz (9 x 267)
Running two harddrives, mouse, keyboard, dvddrive, sound e.t.c

Thanks for the fast responses, I wasn't expecting people to get back to me so quickly otherwise I would have checked sooner :p

*edit: It's worth noting that in all cases, the display is cutting out >instantaneously< after trying to load fullscreen, leading me to think it's not overheating. It's a very unusual problem, as i've had cards fail due to age (game freezes on screen, glitches on screen e.t.c) and due to an insufficient PSU (the whole computer shuts itself down because the PSU is overworked).

*edit2: This problem also occurs on cold boot, as of very recently. Sometimes the card revs up like a turbine, sometimes it just stays quiet. Either way no display. Fantastic!

*edit3: Well it's started doing it in windowed games now too. The temp on the card never went above 65C, but after 30 seconds of play the screen cut out.
 
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Check the card is still seated firmly in the pci-e slot. Maybe uninstall the catalyst and completely remove all traces of ati drivers, then reinstall them or even a different cat version.
 
Ye driver sweep and reinstall i've had nothing but driver problems the past week with 10.9 and 4870x2 (actualy im back on 10.4 now)
 
oap said:
Those temps look ok to me?
Make sure the power leads havent come loose?
Click to expand...

The power leads are definately not loose. I've done everything I can think of - i've taken the card completely out of the slot, dusted it off, checked it's all intact, reseated it, connected both 6-pin cables (they are both DEFINATELY in, otherwise one of the red diagnostic LEDs would flash up a power error).

I've just tried a full cleanoff of the ATI drivers, using driversweeper to pick off any lingering files in safemode after a reboot. Clean install of the latest version - no dice.

I also reset the BIOS to default settings - made no difference. The computer still lost signal after loading a game (which is using a compatible resolution). Sometimes the red 'critical temp' LED comes on and the fan goes up to 'i'm a jet engine and it's time for takeoff!' mode. I'm dead certain it's not overheating though. I even went into ATI Overdrive and clicked 'test custom clocks'. It performed a full test, the temp creeped up maybe 5c or so, but it came back saying it passed and there was nothing wrong. I'm starting to run out of ideas for what it could be. The card itself is only around 16 months old, so it shouldn't be bust just yet!
 
You could try plugging in your 6 pin PCI-E connectors off different PSU leads to balance the load. I had two of the FSP Everest 700W 88Plus PSUs fail to power my 4890 recently. If the Epsilon is like mine it'll have 2 separate leads each with a 6+2 and a 6 pin. One of the supplies worked for 8 weeks and then would just reset all the time, the other was DOA.
 
Tealc said:
You could try plugging in your 6 pin PCI-E connectors off different PSU leads to balance the load. I had two of the FSP Everest 700W 88Plus PSUs fail to power my 4890 recently. If the Epsilon is like mine it'll have 2 separate leads each with a 6+2 and a 6 pin. One of the supplies worked for 8 weeks and then would just reset all the time, the other was DOA.
Click to expand...

I appear to only have two plugs that'll physically fit into the graphics card, and they come off different cables in any case.

I also took some advice mentioned and downgraded to 10.4 after a full clean... no effect. The screen still cut out, the fan sped up and wouldn't stop until I forced a shutdown. Interestingly, the computer actually won't POST for a few seconds after I force a shutdown - if this is normal, or indicative of a specific problem, I don't know. I'm starting to think i'll have to take it into... *shudder* a computer repair shop, although i'd prefer not to have to shell out for it if I can avoid it.

*edit: Ok, the computer is now cutting out during regular use. Whatever the cause, it's progressively getting worse. Performing a rescue on all my files before it goes altogether :P Also when the screen cuts out, any sound being played gets heavily distorted, turned almost into a buzz. Not good!
 
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Do you have a another GFX card you can try out, an older card? Have you tried disabling audio on your pc to see if it makes any difference? Is your directx all working ok?
 
Merlin5 said:
Do you have a another GFX card you can try out, an older card? Have you tried disabling audio on your pc to see if it makes any difference? Is your directx all working ok?
Click to expand...

Sadly, I don't have another card to try - the reason I replaced the previous one was because it essentially died and became unable to render 3d games.

What do you mean disable audio? As in, fully remove audio drivers?

And how would I check my directx to make sure it's running correctly? Although I doubt it's that since it happened during standard web browsing (no directx being used afaik).
 
Incognito2me said:
Sadly, I don't have another card to try - the reason I replaced the previous one was because it essentially died and became unable to render 3d games.

What do you mean disable audio? As in, fully remove audio drivers?

And how would I check my directx to make sure it's running correctly? Although I doubt it's that since it happened during standard web browsing (no directx being used afaik).
Click to expand...

Ah well, my suggestions probably won't help really. Still, if you want to check directx, type dxdiag in your run box. To disable sound, you can go into system/device manager and click right on your sound card to disable it.
 
Merlin5 said:
Ah well, my suggestions probably won't help really. Still, if you want to check directx, type dxdiag in your run box. To disable sound, you can go into system/device manager and click right on your sound card to disable it.
Click to expand...

No worries, worth a try. Dxdiag doesn't pull up any issues. I haven't tried disabling sound because i'm in the middle of backing up data to an external HDD and don't want it to cut out midway :p

I seem to have a running history with failing PSUs (assuming this is what the problem is), and it seems they NEVER have the same symptoms, which makes it so hard to diagnose. In my first computer, it wouldn't boot unless it had been left plugged into the mains for hours. The next one eventually wouldn't play games without overheating and disconnecting. This time it seems the display cuts out and sound distorts when playing games or running video, while leaving the rest of the system ticking over. *sigh*:rolleyes:
 
Mine is starting to go I think :( Was probably adding a 240 into the case and using it for PhysX, made too much heat. Started getting some scrambled textures on Batman and freezes. The cooling in that area of the case with my Fortress isn't great; good thing I never wen't SLI.
 
Next time it happens make a note of the LED sequence on the back of the card. I had this happen to an orignal sapphire 512MB 4870 after about a month of owning it. Luckily overclockers RMA'd it without issue.
Before I RMA'd it the card got to the point where it would no longer boot - it would just sit at a black screen with the fans spinning at 100%.

I wondered at the time if the VRM's had cooked themselves due to the insane temps they liked to run at.
 
^Andy^ said:
Next time it happens make a note of the LED sequence on the back of the card. I had this happen to an orignal sapphire 512MB 4870 after about a month of owning it. Luckily overclockers RMA'd it without issue.
Before I RMA'd it the card got to the point where it would no longer boot - it would just sit at a black screen with the fans spinning at 100%.

I wondered at the time if the VRM's had cooked themselves due to the insane temps they liked to run at.
Click to expand...

LED sequence is [off] [on] [off] [off] which translates to critical temp.

This morning I had MORE new symptoms. From a cold boot, for the first... 10 times? I got a BIOS error.... beeeep beep beep beep. i.e. "Your graphics card is screwed". It's booted up and I left it running all day, continuing to back up data. It seems to be happy enough to do that. Just nothing more :p

Sadly i've had the card for just over a year, so no chance of RMA I think. I threw the box out a month ago because I figured it was out of warranty and wouldn't need it anymore.
 
I have had nothing but problems with my 4890 since i bought it and have a 5 year old enermax 900 watt SLI cert PSU, is that old for a psu or should it still b fine?
 
I'd suggest cleaning it out, remove the heatsink and clear the dust off it. I recently cleared out a friend's 4890 that was having similar issues.

Also, Drex, 5 years is quite old, some of the components may have degraded. What are the exact problems you're having with the 4890?
 
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