X800 XL AGP 3D hangs, last chance before bin

Discussion in 'Graphics Cards & Displays' started by domdom8754, Mar 26, 2006.

  1. domdom8754

    domdom8754 Newbie

    Hello all,
    hopefully someone out there can give some assistance, this website has previously been very useful and informative for mods, fixes and such.

    I have an X800 XL on an AGP bus made by Connect3D.

    It's a long story, but I've basically bought it from some cowboy on-line effort, ended up sueing them due to this issue and now I have my money back and they don't want the card. So am looking to try and fix this issue and sell on since I don't game much any more (thats fatherhood for you).

    Issue is, the card will hang a few minutes into any 3D app (whether gaming; CnC Generals, Sims2 or even a testapp like ati overclocking tool or futuremark). I can still hear the sound running but cannot get the picture back, the monitor just goes into powersave mode. Only a reset brings it back.

    Anything 2D, no issue.
    Now, it's not the PSU, I have a 400w antec which should be fine, and I've tried it in a friends pc with the same manufacturers PSU, same result.

    I'm not convinced it's overheating (it's got the stock cooler, but I did lap the heatsink surfaces towards the GPU and ram a bit and applied arctic silver to be sure), the temp.s recorded on rivatuner never got above 60 odd degrees cent. before it flipped.

    Given that I got my money back I was thinking of trying an arctic cooling 5 rev.2 on it anyway. Perhaps the temp. monitoring is duff?

    Alternatively could a BIOS flash help with the 2D to 3D switch?

    I've seen a few other people have this issue with older radeon cards (9700, 9800) where it wasn't the PSU. They all qualified for RMA so I've never understood whats happening exactly. ATI aren't the most helpful at service,. My experience with faulting this has been that a 9800 works fine (so prob. not AGP bus prob.). General heat in the case is well below 30 degrees centigrade.

    If the above doesn't work or depending on what advice comes back I'll throw it on ebay as a 'sold with fault' But for my own mind, and because I like to tinker, I'd like one more go.

    System;
    Motherboard:
    CPU Type AMD Athlon XP-A (mobile Athlon), 2315 MHz (10.5 x 220)
    Motherboard Name Abit NF7(-S) v2.0 (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 3 DDR DIMM, Audio, LAN)
    Motherboard Chipset nVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400
    System Memory 1024 MB (DDR SDRAM)
    BIOS Type Award (11/21/03)

    Disk Drive SAMSUNG SP0802N (80 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/133)
    Disk Drive Maxtor 6E030L0 (30 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/133)

    DIMM1: Corsair CMX512-3200XL 512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (2.0-2-2-5 @ 200 MHz)
    DIMM3: Corsair CMX512-3200XL 512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (2.0-2-2-5 @ 200 MHz)


     
  2. ZuePhok

    ZuePhok Just Started

    have you checked your ram?
     
  3. domdom8754

    domdom8754 Newbie

    indeed,
    RAM is fine with a 9800. I think the problem is with the card so I was wanting to know whether a BIOS flash might solve it really, or if anyone else had ever got round a similar problem.
     
  4. Chai

    Chai Administrator Staff Member

    Could it be drivers issue? Chipset? Have you tested on another machine?
     
  5. domdom8754

    domdom8754 Newbie

    Chai,
    thanks for taking an interest,I've read some of your other posts. Hopefully you can give me some guidance.

    I have tried this card on another machine witht he same results. Even on a different chipset.
    I'm pretty sure the problem is localised to the card.
    Regarding drivers, I've had some fun & games here. I started on cat 5.4 about May llast year and it was good for a month or so. Then the hangs. I tried many different tests to exclude other factors as mentioned in earlier posts.
    I also tried cat 5.11 when it came out. Seemed ok for week or so then the same problems. I also tried an earlier cat driver, perhaps 5.7. This also cured the problem for a while. Bear i mind I used a driver cleaner between each install and at one point (due to other issues) had to do a complete clean xp install.

    I wanted to know if a BIOS flash could help the switch from 2d to 3d. What does BIOS affect? The way hardware is used or just the awareness of what hardware there is to use?
    Would a damaged pixel pipeline show u in this way? Would it do it immediately or wait for several minutes before causing a hang.
    Perhaps I should flash with an X800 pro bios?

    I was also interested in whether anyone had experienced similar and found the stock cooler to blame, though there must be some dodgy temp monitoring as rivatune never had this running particularly hot (over 70 deg c).

    I see that cat drivers have gone on a way to 6.3 since I last bothered checking. Though I've never seen anything in the release notes about this sort of issue.

    Before anyone else asks, I have also tried disabling shadowing in the BIOS. Disabling/enabling SMARTGART. No change. Either thsat or just a few minutes extra grace.
    Only thing I don't think I've tried is setting AGP bus to 4x.

    Any more thoughts? And particularly is the BIOS flash worth it?
     
  6. Chai

    Chai Administrator Staff Member

    BIOS flash won't solve your problem. In fact, flashing BIOS voids warranty because it's not needed unlike motherboards.

    I think your card is beyond repairable...
     
  7. domdom8754

    domdom8754 Newbie

    ok Chai,
    thanks for the input. I'll throw it on ebay in present state and won't waste any more time on it.

    No cheeky bidding now!
     
  8. PsYkHoTiK

    PsYkHoTiK Admin nerd

  9. domdom8754

    domdom8754 Newbie

    No, no chance of RMA. I would've had to go back through the unscrupulous on line sellers who I had to sue to get my money back in the first place.
    Not sure they want to hear from me again.
    Ebay it is, if anyone fancies a go at fixing and the price doesn't get silly, you're welceom to have a go.
     
  10. PsYkHoTiK

    PsYkHoTiK Admin nerd

    I meant with connect3d direct. I always RMA direct.
     
  11. domdom8754

    domdom8754 Newbie

    Guess could try but I expect they'll just put me through they're supporting company properllerhead (not too bad when they answer your mails). They were the ones who told me I had to go through the cowboys I bought it off and also told me that their refusal to warranty was illegal (much appreciated!).

    Nay danger, got my money back so ebay it is.
     
  12. domdom8754

    domdom8754 Newbie

    nice PC by the way Physcotik, I miss the days when my rig was worth something.
     
  13. PsYkHoTiK

    PsYkHoTiK Admin nerd

    Hey thanks bro. :thumb:
     

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