Nvidia Radeon 9550 causing crashes

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Guest

I just installed an ATI Radeon 9550 256MB card yesterday, replacing a Nvidia
GeForce FX5200 AGP card that worked fine. I'm running a Vista Home Premium
machine with an Athlon XP 3200+ CPU and 1GB of RAM.

The system crashes soon after boot. If Aero is enabled in Vista, it only
takes a minute or two to crash. If Aero is disabled, it usually crashes after
about 20 minutes. The crashes take a few different forms- sometimes the
screen locks up, sometimes the computer randomly restarts, and sometimes the
screen just goes black.

I don't think it's a power or heat problem. I just installed a new 500 watt
power supply. The problem exists even when the side of the computer is off,
and the fans aren't trying to speed up. Also, my last video card (similar to
the new one) worked fine.

Any ideas how to fix this?
 
If the graphics card has a fan, is it working correctly? Did you uninstall
the nVidia card before installing the latest drivers from the ATI website
for your new card?
 
It doesn't have a fan. It's actually kind of weird, because the pictures
online show the card having a fan. Instead, mine has a weird heat-sink type
thing. I got rid of the ATI drivers first, and I've tried the
uninstall-reseat-reinstall thing. No luck.

Thanks
 
amejr999,

You might try posting on a users forum dedicated to nVidia hardware/software
use. Google will find such forums for you. I'm positive that such forums
deal with these issues all the time. It's likely not a Vista problem. Just
a suggestion to think about.
 
Did you download and install the latest Vista drivers from the ATI website
as Cari asked for your Radeon 9550?
 
amejr999,

I just noted that the term "Nvidia Radeon" is a contradiction. A Radeon is
by ATI. I didn't notice that at first.
 
You're right... I meant to say ATI. Oops. ;-)

freddy said:
amejr999,

I just noted that the term "Nvidia Radeon" is a contradiction. A Radeon is
by ATI. I didn't notice that at first.
Click to expand...
 
amejr999,

I should add that you can also find forums devoted to ATI related interests.
One that I visit a lot is www.rage3d.com. This is a very good site.

In addition, since I'm somewhat familiar with ATI, I can assure that a
Radeon 9550 runs very cool and almost always has no fan. Some may put a fan
on it for marketing reasons (looks cool). Even a lot of 9600 cards have no
fan, since not needed.

So what is your problem? I can offer some ideas. First, are you getting
any error messages when you crash? You need to post those, because those are
critical for leading one in the right direction toward a solution.

Also, check a Vista report that logs errors: Click on Start > All Programs
Maintenance > Problem Reports and Solutions. Peruse the report for any
Click to expand...
errors logged and for any suggested solutions. Vista logs errors, and should
do so in this case. Post back on what you find. You may have the famous VPU
Recovery issue. Let us know.
 
Hi,

First of all I did post an rage3d, but no one has replied yet, so I will
keep trying here.

When it crashes, there's never an error message. I checked the problem
reports area and there are a ton of errors in the Windows category. They all
seem to be pretty much the same, so here's one of them:

Description
A problem with your video hardware caused Windows to stop working correctly.

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: LiveKernelEvent
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033

Files that help describe the problem (some files may no longer be available)
WD-20070530-1829.dmp
sysdata.xml
Version.txt

View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a
copy of the files could harm your computer.

Extra information about the problem
BCCode: 117
BCP1: 9A8277F8
BCP2: 8A101814
BCP3: 00000000
BCP4: 00000000
OS Version: 6_0_6000
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 768_1
Server information: 70413317-323b-4a37-aaf8-b8c368923da1

Hopefully you can decode this!
 
amejr999,

OK, thanks for the clarification. I did a google search, and it looks as
though a BCCode is usually associated with a driver problem, though there are
numerous BCCode error types (not only 117).

I don't know specifically which driver is the problem, though the likely
suspect is the video card driver. It's common knowledge that video card
drivers have been having issues becoming compatible with Vista. As drivers
evolve, they become less prone to have issues with
Vista.

Moreover, the Radeon 9550 is not compatible with Aero, so if you're running
Aero, that could be the cause of your crashes. To run Aero, you need no less
than an ATI 9600 with 128 MB (more is better) of RAM. Don't run in Aero and
your problem may be over.

In any case, it does no harm to update your video card drivers to the latest
version if you haven't already done so. If you want to do this, download and
install the most recent driver from the manufacturer's website. If you do it
that way, read, understand, and follow the instructions for installing the
drivers. It's important to do it right because installing video card drivers
can be tricky.
 
I just tried analyzing the dmp file listed there using Microsoft's debugdiag
program. They're all giving me an error message in the analysis:

Type Description Recommendation
Warning
DebugDiag failed to locate the PEB (Process Environment Block) in
WD-20070530-2121-01.dmp, and as a result, debug analysis for this dump may be
incomplete or inaccurate.


It is recommended that you get another dump of the target process when the
issue occurs to ensure accurate data is reported




Script Summary
Script Name Status Error Code Error Source Error Description Source Line
CrashHangAnalysis.asp Failed 0x80010105 Line 9186, Column 3



That's pretty much all the info in it.
 
amejr999,

I just reread your other posts and noticed that you've already updated to
the latest drivers. I missed that earlier. No matter. Her is the bottom
line (hold your hat): I think you likely made a mistake buying the 9550 for
use in Vista. It's a pre Vista Card. I'm not sure how the ATI Vista drivers
work with pre Vista compatible cards, but I'm suspicious that there likely is
a compatibility problem there as well. Sorry, I could be mistaken, but given
your experience with the card, it doesn't look good. My recommendation is to
get a fully Vista compatible card, and that begins with a Radeon 9600 and up.
They don't cost that much these days. Even a 9800 is cheap, but it's not my
money. I like spending other people's money. Ha, ha. That's my story and
I'm sticking to it.
 
Freddy,

I think you might want to change your story. ;-) I checked before I bought
the card, and the Radeon 9550 has been certified by WHQL for use with Vista,
and the newest drivers from ATI expressly support the 9550 on Vista. So
while there might be a compatibility problem (that wouldn't be too big of a
shock!), it's supposed to work.
 
amejr999,

OK, I can accept that it's supposed to work, but even if you can get it to
do that, it won't work in Aero. In addition, the error report shows that you
have a driver problem. So, all I can add is to uninstall the previous
drivers and reinstall to see whether that helps.

The only other thing I can suggest is that you check your system for
unsigned drivers. You do this by running a Vista app that will do this, as
follows:

Click on Start > Run, and in the window enter sigverif.exe press OK. This
program will run and display all unsigned drivers on your system. Not all
unsigned drivers cause crashes, but you don't know until you check it out,
because some do.

Since the error report shows that you have driver crash problem, it could be
some unsigned driver doing it. You just have to figure it out by a process
of elimination. Post back for additional information.
 
The 9550 with 128 or more memory meets the requirements for Aero.
It is the 91xx and 92xx cards that do not.
I assume that the OP has checked to be sure his BIOS is up to date.
Also the OP might try uninstalling the 9550 and putting the 5200 back in.
If that still works then I suspect a faulty 9550 card.
 
JW,

Yeah, but you're really pushing the low end of the envelope. You'll get some
sort of minimal Aero experience. Why bother. Don't use the 9550. That's a
fact. If anyone wants to experience Aero for what it's intended to be, get a
card better than the 9550. You won't be sorry. Don't kid yourself.
 
I totally agree with you I would not recommend a 9550 to anybody but that is
not the question which was will it work.
I would only recommend at a minimum and X1600Pro(until the X2xxx card are
available) or a Nvidia 8500GT'
 
JW,

It's hard getting people to focus on the fact that Aero comes in various
levels, from minimal through high. People focus on the marketing that says
this card is Aero compatible. The conclusion, then, is that it's fully Aero
compatible. Just try explaining that.

Another point that's hard to get across is the concept of evidence. For
example, you'll always get this response when someone's system crashes:

Heat causes crashes. You have a heat problem. Evidence?

Running out-of-date drivers causes crashes, update. Evidence?

Bad card causes crashes. You have a bad card. Evidence?

I've seen a lot of good cards returned because of this kind of approach to
solving crashing problems. Vendors sell those cards as "open box" or "used"
specials.

So I agree, lets get back to the issue at hand, which is finding evidence
for the problem. For starters, we have evidence contained in an error report
that shows there is a driver problem. This is evidence. Now, find the
driver. This takes a systematic approach no different than any type of
problem solving.
 
FWIW, I just RMA'd it back to Newegg. When I get the replacement I'll report
back. Thanks for the advice.
 
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