GeForce 7950GT

[Nick888]

Hi,

I've got a GeForce 7950GT and I seem to be experiencing some problems in game with my Graphics Card. It's been working fine on all games I play but all of a sudden today as soon as I load a game up and get in game the screen goes in to 'Power Saving Mode' - this is the first time it's ever done this.

I have no problems just using Windows normally.

I thought i'd uninstall the drivers and install the latest up to date ones. That has not worked either.

It seems whenever the graphics card has to perform it gives up and goes it to 'Power Saving Mode'

I wondered if it could also be the PSU not being able to power it enough?

I've had my machine for about 3 years+ now. Here is my spec:
GeForce 7950GT 512
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+
2.61GHz
2GB of RAM
Windows XP SP3

Two games that I play are Modern Warfare 2 and rFactor. Both have done the same thing.

One thing I have noticed is that rFactor shows me having a 1024mb card, but mine is a 512mb, could this be causing the problem?

Kind regards,

Nick

 

[Alex74]

Does this mean that as soon as the card starts rendering 3D your screen goes into 'power save mode'?
Do you still hear sound?
Does this happen every single time you play now?
When it happens, is the computer totally unresponsive or are you able to return to the desktop? (via, say, ctrl-alt-del/ctrl-shift-esc/alt-tab/Win-D/etc)

For some reason, your screen isnt receiving useful input from the graphics card. If the driver isnt the problem, it may be the card itself.
Do you or does a friend of yours have a PC you can put your 7950 in to test?

Also what model is your PSU?

 

[Nick888]

Does this mean that as soon as the card starts rendering 3D your screen goes into 'power save mode'?

Yes mate, exactly, for example rFactor, as soon as I turn my wheel and put my foot down it will go in to Power Save Mode

Do you still hear sound?

The sound just keeps playing over for an example the sam rev of an engine going over and over

Does this happen every single time you play now?

Yes, tried it online, offline. The works, always happens.

When it happens, is the computer totally unresponsive or are you able to return to the desktop? (via, say, ctrl-alt-del/ctrl-shift-esc/alt-tab/Win-D/etc)

Yes, I have to reset fully, I can function mouse, keyboard, alt tab anything, the monitor is in that mode and I have to restart the PC to regain control.

For some reason, your screen isnt receiving useful input from the graphics card. If the driver isnt the problem, it may be the card itself.
Do you or does a friend of yours have a PC you can put your 7950 in to test?

I haven't tested the card on another machine but I have switched to a different monitor to see if it was the monitor doing it and it did exactly the same on a different monitor, leading me to think it's more so the card.

Also what model is your PSU?

I can't remember off the top of my head I will check it out tomorrow morning and let you know.

Just to add also for some reason I think it's reading my card wrong all of sudden, as I said previously rFactor seems to read my card as a 1024mb not 512mb, could this be related at all?

Thanks for all your help mate, appreciate it.

Nick

 

[AMG]

Do you smell a burning smell also? coming from the PC if so that is a likely sign the power supply giving in or something is giving in more like

 

[Nick888]

Currently, I cannot smell anything no.

 

[Alex74]

What does the NVidia control panel say about your card? (should have a system information button somewhere) If it displays the correct info then i wouldnt worry about the incorrect value in rFactor.

Try reseating the card in its slot. If at all possible, try using it in a different PC. That'll be the best way to confirm whether it's a problem specifically with the card.

You could try running an application like ATiTool to see if you get any corruption in its test image. If you want to test your video RAM, here's handy program. Also maybe try 3DMark03, see if it will run stable.

 

[Nick888]

Right ok, strange things going on.

I've taken all my PC apart cleaned it etc, and swapped the graphics card to the second PCI-E slot. Booted it back up still the same.

I checked Display Properties and noticed that my Display tab was showing Default Monitor on nVidia GeForce 7950GT which I thought was odd.

So I restarted and went in to the BIOS and set it back to default (it already was as default anyway) booted it back up after switching back to the original PCI-E slot and it was working ok. Now in Display Properties my Display showed as LG L1919S on nVidia GeForce 7950GT. Went in game, asked for screen resolution and it was back to normal where I was capped at 1280 by 1024 and that was the same in Display Properties. And I was able to drive again.

I've just rebooted my PC after putting everything back together and it's reverted back to Default Monitor on nVidia GeForce 7950GT and it's crashing again. Restarted my PC for the second time and it still says Default Monitor.

So something somewhere is causing my monitor not to appear and it's crashing the games. If it says LG L1919S it works, if it says Default Monitor, it doesn't work. VERY ODD.

The only new development from that is that the nVidia Control Panel doesn't start up with the PC it says, get this error:
RUNDLL
Error loading C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll
Invalid access to memory location

Cheers all,

Nick

 

[Nick888]

OK, I managed to find a monitor update and since putting that on, touch wood. It's worked ok, just was able to do a full test on rF and seems to be ok at the moment.

I definitely think there's an underlying problem that I think will need addressing soon though, need some money for an upgrade

Never touching Modern Warfare 2 again though - That's how it all started haha.

Thank you all for your help!!

Nick

 

[Fatboyuk2]

sorry not takeing the **** but 2mb ram i think that you ment 2gb and i wood look at geting a new card mw2 it a good game way better than cod4

 

[Nick888]

LOL! Yeah 2GB

Hi guys,

Just a small bit of advice wouldn't go a miss again if possible?

I've left gaming alone all this week and the PC has booted but sometimes need a 1 reboot before coming on in the morning. Decided to go on rFactor tonight, was on it for 10mins with no problems, came off and black screen again and 'Power Saving Mode'

So I think it's when the graphics card either heats up or requires more power it's failing. Is that more so PSU or Motherboard possibly?

Also I had to let it sit for a while before restarting cause when I restarted it straight away three beeps came from the motherboard which was a bit concerning but it did reboot.

I've started pricing new systems but with no money I could do with an alternate temporary solution. I don't have a spare PCI-E card or know anyone locally that does have one. All my mates locally have laptops cause of Uni :/

Cheers all,

Nick