X1800XT not starting up

benlanky · 1 May 2006 at 19:40

Hi

I've mentioned this in another thread, but thought I'd better start my own up rather than hi-jack.

The problem isn't affecting gameplay at all and it doesn't crash after it's been working for a while, but about half the time I log on, the screen goes black, the 'no signal' message appears, the fan on the gfx card spins loudly, then I get my normal desktop. The rest of the time I get either a black screen or blue screen and I have to restart, which is a pain. After that it usually starts properly, but occasionally it takes more than two goes to get it working.

I've had my card for just over a month, but it's done this from the start - I assume it's a problem with the card, but a friend of mine suggested the mobo could be causing problems too....

I have an rma number from overclockers, but wanted to check any other options before I send it back - any ideas or help would be really appreciated.

Cheers

benlanky · 1 May 2006 at 21:01

Any ideas anyone? Should I post this in the general section too?

I have done a search on here and google, but this seems to be a first, I never seem to have much luck with graphics cards....

Cheers

Ben

Camalot · 1 May 2006 at 21:04

Me and a friend have just bought this card, he is getting exactly the same trouble with his to !

Can't test my own yet still need to order other pc parts.

Hope theres no fault in these cards.?

benlanky · 1 May 2006 at 21:16

Camalot said:
Me and a friend have just bought this card, he is getting exactly the same trouble with his to !

Can't test my own yet still need to order other pc parts.

Hope theres no fault in these cards.?

me too, although I haven't seen any mention of it anywhere else so I thought it was just me....

I'd be interested to hear about your friend's card though.

Cheers

Camalot · 2 May 2006 at 05:27

Im not really sure on his motherboard and i haven't really heard of yours either. I would personally think its down to the motherboard. You got any other you could try?

I bought the asrock duel sata and my x1800xt 256bm will arrive today but i cant test it until may 12th when i get paid because i still need to order my cpu, hdd and psu!

Think he said his mobo was gigabyte cant remember tho will have to ask him. I wont forget this thread tho

Ill see what happens when i put my new pc together next weekend.

Charlie Bravo · 2 May 2006 at 10:49

I get the same problem with my X1800XT. I've got an Asrock board.

benlanky · 2 May 2006 at 14:03

Charlie Bravo said:
I get the same problem with my X1800XT. I've got an Asrock board.

Different mobo to me, which suggests it's the gfx - have you tried anything to sort yours out or just live with it?

Camalot - my only other motherboard has an agp gfx slot, so can't try that, interested to hear if you (or anyone else) get the same probs when you get your system working though.

Cheers

Magnum_Force · 2 May 2006 at 14:53

I had a problem with random restarts and such when playing games and in desktop, and also had no POST occationally and a blank screen, it turned out to be my motherboard (an Asus A8N-E :mad:

). To rule out your motherboard, look for signs such as BIOS Checksum errors during crash's, sometimes you may even get a BSOD with a IRQ error on them. The only way I can think about ruling out your gfx card is using ATITOOL and run a stress test on it for a fair few hours, and see it it comes up with artifacts, even then it's not 100% certain.

Camalot · 2 May 2006 at 15:56

Charlie Bravo said:
I get the same problem with my X1800XT. I've got an Asrock board.

Is this the new duel sata one? I've just bought this to. If so, have you tried BIOS 1.8?

Charlie Bravo · 2 May 2006 at 16:51

I've got the Asrock K8NF4G-SATA2 (s754). The card is fine in Windows and when playing games, it's just that I have to boot the PC twice to get a picture on the screen.

benlanky · 2 May 2006 at 17:07

Charlie Bravo said:
I've got the Asrock K8NF4G-SATA2 (s754). The card is fine in Windows and when playing games, it's just that I have to boot the PC twice to get a picture on the screen.

That's exactly what happens to mine - once it's working it's fine (brilliant, really

) but it usually takes two goes to get my desktop up on the screen.

Magnum_Force - I never get any bsod messages, just a plain black screen (as if a signal is being received, but it's just blackness) or sometimes a plain blue screen (like the desktop background, but with no icons or anything on it), but restarting pretty much always sorts it out.

It's not that annoying really, I just worry that it could be a sign that more could go wrong long term....

I might get it sent back tomorrow then

Killajaz · 2 May 2006 at 17:39

Just received mine, I have the same problem too!
ASUS A8N-E.

First time booting with the old omega drivers system boots fine. Windows does not recognize the card however. I un-install and reinstall. Windows still doesnt see the card properly. I cleaned up all ATI related files with driver cleaner and rebooted. Black screen. Refitted the card. Boots on the 3rd attempt. Installed Catalyst 6.4 from ATI. During install i get an error msg saying something like 'zero video installed'. Then WDM starts installing...
Rebooted with the new card recognized. Will test some games now and see how it goes.

post back in a mo.

Camalot · 2 May 2006 at 18:14

Not looking good AT all. If this happens to me i will be very annoyed !

Have you tested with cat 6.4 yet?

Charlie Bravo · 2 May 2006 at 18:20

Camalot said:
Not looking good AT all. If this happens to me i will be very annoyed !

Have you tested with cat 6.4 yet?

I am using Cat 6.4. It doesn't really bother me but makes me wonder if Sapphire gave OcUK a dodgy batch :confused:

Camalot · 2 May 2006 at 18:24

Charlie Bravo said:
I am using Cat 6.4. It doesn't really bother me but makes me wonder if Sapphire gave OcUK a dodgy batch

If they have, and this is dodgey, will ocuk rma it and send me a working one?

Bit strange everyone having same problem?

Killajaz · 2 May 2006 at 18:40

Camalot said:
Not looking good AT all. If this happens to me i will be very annoyed !

Have you tested with cat 6.4 yet?

I got cat 6.4 installed. Tested one open gl game (Quake2, LOL

) and it works. I had a good run on NFSMW just now and it looks AMAZING. No problems so far. The screen does flick from time to time in 2D however.
Dont know why...

Currently running ATI overdrive to check clocks and temps.

Will post back in a mo.

Charlie Bravo · 2 May 2006 at 18:42

It's not during games that we're having problems, it when you go to boot the PC up. The PC boots but there is no picture..... hit reset and it boots again with a picture.
Happens every time without fail.

Camalot · 2 May 2006 at 18:43

Good, thanks. You tried to turn PC off and on to see if you get this blank screen error again?

Dont suppose you play WOW? Dying to see what FPS this card gets in wowlol :eek:

Charlie Bravo · 2 May 2006 at 18:45

Camalot said:
Good, thanks. You tried to turn PC off and on to see if you get this blank screen error again?

Dont suppose you play WOW? Dying to see what FPS this card gets in wowlol

Can't say I have, I just hit reset each time.

Don't play WoW I'm afraid mate, just flightsim and thats got a graphics engine dating back to 2000.

benlanky · 2 May 2006 at 20:41

Camalot said:
If they have, and this is dodgey, will ocuk rma it and send me a working one?

Bit strange everyone having same problem?

I spoke to ocuk yesterday and they gave me an rma number, but said it needed to go to the manufacturer for testing before they'd send me a new one.

Sounds like me and Charlie Bravo have the same problem, it must have been a dodgy batch from ati, cos mine's badged as a connect3d. Have to pack it up then, I hate changing gfx cards, the 1800 only just fits in my case....