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GTX 480 lock-up and stuttering

JamieH

JamieH

JamieH

Associate
Joined
20 Mar 2009
Posts
231
Location
Nottinghamshire
Hello all,

I recently purchased a GTX 480 refurb off of OcUK.

I installed the graphics card on the day of purchase and for the first 2-3 days there was no issue at all. From then on there was an issue with the system. I left the graphics card in and tried to diagnose the issue. I firstly tried the past 3 WHQL drivers from nVidia each time using Driversweeper to clear any traces in normal and safe mode. I then installed the drivers and played a game or watched a video and the system would lock up after 2-3 hours of use. Sometimes this issue would even arise on Spotify where I could play a song and scroll up and down the list and the sound would stutter before the system would eventually lock requiring a hard reset.

I then re-installed the last Creative sound driver in the same fashion as the nVidia graphics drivers but still the issue continued.

In my BIOS I made sure I was on the latest version and ensured that my memory CAS timings were the same as suggested by the manufacturer but tis seemed to not solve the problem.

Finally I made sure all cables were snug and everything was cleaned inside my case with compressed air and I changed the sockets for my SATA cable on my hard drive but still the issue persisted.

I eventually uninstalled the drivers and the PNY GTX 480 from my PC and reinstalled my old BFG 9600GT in the system. Low and behold the system has been running smoothly again with no stutters or lock-ups.

Sometimes the system will run okay with the GTX 480 installed for 4-5 hours but then issues happen with unplayable stuttering across all the games. The mouse cursor will stutter across the screen on my PC. YouTube videos will have severely poor frame rates when anything is played in full screen. This all eventually leads to the system locking up. I have stress tested the CPU and RAM using Prime95 and memtest86 respectively overnight and this had not thrown up any issues. Also from the sensor on the GPU under load it seemed to reach a maximum of 92 degrees but from what I have read this is normal.

I find it strange how this happens in general 2D taks suc as browsing the web or listening to music on Spotify.

I thought it would be worth asking for help on here before I send the card back for an RMA as someone may have had a similar issue.

I am just a little worried that the card will be tested in a 3D benchmark for half an hour or so, prove to be fine and then I will be charged for labour and return postage costs, for me to only use it again and have the same issues.

All help appreciated,

Jamie
 
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It sounds like there's a hardware fault.

If you provide concise instructions on how to test the card and get acknowledgement from them that they know what to test for, you should have no issues.

It might be worth testing it in a friend's computer first if you can, to see if you can repeat the problems before sending it off.
 
Wow, thanks for the quick replies guys at this time especially.

I forgot to add my system specs which would help.

Motherboard: DFI LanParty DK X48-T2RS
Motherboard BIOS: X48DDC24
CPU: Intel C2D E6600 (Stock)
Memory: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB DDR2 1066 (Stock)
Memory Latency: Stock in BIOS
PSU: Corsair HX1000W
Graphics: PNY GTX 480 (Stock)
Sound Card: Creative X-Fi Xtrememusic
Sound Driver: 2.18.0015
Operating system: Windows 7 Home Premium x64 SP1

The only problem is I don't have a friend who has a powerful enough PSU to test the card on.

I have an older Hiper 530W modular but I don't think it would provide enough juice to test in my system.

Do you guys think if I gave them a ring and explained how to test like spoffle suggested it would be noted?

Thanks again,

Jamie
 
I will have to give my old PSU a go then before I send the card off. Just find it weird how it worked okay for the initial few days and with my 9600GT.

Thanks again spoffle
 
No problem :)

Just to note though, testing with just your old PSU wouldn't be enough to rule out the rest of your hardware.

If you test it with the other PSU and it's the same then it just rules out the PSU.

In that case, I would test it on a friend's computer, and if they haven't got a PSU that's good enough, then take your 530w PSU and test that too.
 
spoffle said:
If the PSU was the issue, it should only crop up in 3D mode no?
Click to expand...

Just checking it's not a tinny rippletron lol. Those craplins psus could drop a card off the radar I bet.

@OP

Any idea what the GPU load/usage is when the stuttering before lockup occurs?

Do you have any artifacting during 3d load? I ask because after seeing a member here make a video about making keyrings out of these refurbs (and seeing that pny/whoever had forgotten to apply any tim to the 460) I took my bros refurb 470 apart to discover the memory thermal pads to be all wonky rofl.
 
just worth trying remove the creative sound card and see how you go. (dont enable onboard sound just use it with no sound).
 
Hi,

This might sound strange, but I think I have the exact same problem as you. I am using a gtx 480 in an Asus Maximus III Gene motherboard, 4Gb corsair dominators, Coolermaster M620 PSU, Core I5 cpu.

In most new graphics intensive games, at after playing for some random time, (varies a lot from a few minutes to an hour or so) the game starts having sort of micro freezes, for like half a second (in that half a second the sound is some distorted buzzing). After this occurs once, it keeps on doing it at random intervals until I reboot the pc. I am watching the GPU temps and there are no spikes when this is happening.
If I don't reboot, the freezes keep occurring more and more often until it freezes permanently or reboots on its own. As I write this, it sounds more like a temperature issue or a memory leak. Also it happened while watching hd movies, but less often.

So far I have re-installed a clean windows on a fresh new hard drive, latest nvidia drivers. Also tried default sound drivers and via from ASUS website and Nvidia one from the graphics driver package. Same results, as in no results.

It is starting to drive me crazy. I have no more warranty on my GTX 480 and I would like to keep it for some time. When it works, it really works fine, great fps in games.

Next I will try to keep an eye on other temps as well, not just the GPU, but the airflow is good and there shouldn't be any heat build up. Also I clean the pc regularly so no dust issues either.

Please, any advice or ideas are greatly appreciated.

Did you manage to find a solution?
 
Just to update. I changed my whole PC minus the PSU and the same problem occured. Also tried another PSU and still had the same problem.

This time I really seated the card well in the PCI-E slot of my new mobo and secured it very tightly. It doesn't lock-up in games or anything on the PC anymore.

The only problem is it sometimes refuses to load the screen on boot-up and I have to keep restarting til it loads the windows screen. Sometimes half a dozen times.

I can live with that though until the new gen of AMD cards come out.
 
I bought one of the refurb 480's too man and mine has been fine. Sorry to hear you've had problems with yours.

Sounds as if you've got it working now at least.

Just out of interest do you know which BIOS the card came with?
 
*UPDATE*

Right, the GTX 480 is now locking up in the BIOS screen pretty much straight away. Sometimes it can load windows and then about 20 seconds after it locks up the system and requires a full restart.

I have little doubt that this card is faulty. My PC works fine with the following:

Intel HD4000 integrated graphics
BFG 9600GT 512mb
And now a newly purchased Sapphire ATI Radeon 7700 Ghz OC

OcUK tested it and said it was working in their test machine last time it was sent off but that was when it was tempremental. Now it is consistently locking up every time. Temperatures at idle were in the 70's and load about 96 tops.

It's not as if my case has bad cooling as every other graphics card and component runs consistently cool.

I can't see me ever purchasing a refurb card off here anymore let alone anything as power hungry as that thing was.
 
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You've got one of the PNY refurb cards?

I bought two of these at the time and both run fine. One much hotter than the other but I grabbed a used EK block, it'll be going underwater just as soon as I can afford a new pump and a few other extras.

I have modded it's BIOS down to .825mv idle/blu-ray and .987mv for default 3D clocks. This has dropped my temps quite a bit and it's pulling much less from the wall.

If you'd like I can upload my stock and modded BIOS and you can have a go yourself.
 
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Have you tried replacing the TIM and reseating the cooler btw? Chances are the stock stuff is plastered on there and possibly dried out. My card with higher temps was fully loaded with thick dried gunk.
 
If you could upload or PM me the firmware you mentioned that would be greatly appreciated.

I changed the thermal compound as you mentioned as indeed it was plastered all over the heatsink and chip nicely dried out and applied very thick. The temperatures did come down a little after that maybe 5-10 degrees but still had issues.

I will flash the firmware but if it's still playing silly buggers then it's off.

Thanks Bluntwrapped
 
JamieH said:
If you could upload or PM me the firmware you mentioned that would be greatly appreciated.

I changed the thermal compound as you mentioned as indeed it was plastered all over the heatsink and chip nicely dried out and applied very thick. The temperatures did come down a little after that maybe 5-10 degrees but still had issues.

I will flash the firmware but if it's still playing silly buggers then it's off.

Thanks Bluntwrapped
Click to expand...

No worries man. I'll do this tonight for you when I get back from work.
 
I've put everything you'll need into one archive. Tools + both BIOS files, stock and mod:

Clocks @ stock
Voltage unlocked up to 1.213v
3D - .987v down from 1.025v
2D/Idle - .825v down from .963v

Let me know how you get on :)


Click me
 
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