Help with Radeon 9600 VPU problems.

[Penumbra]

Alright, I'll explain a few simple specs about my computer system and the problems I'm encountering.
Asus P4P800-E Deluxe motherboard (sock 478)
Intel P4 - 2.4GHz Prescott
Sapphire Radeon 9600 Atlantis with 256 MB of RAM (AGP)
1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR400 Kingston HyperX system RAM

Right now I've been experiencing a few problems that I've deduced to being my AGP video card. Random artifacting had begun but was never too severe. When I attempt to load up my Lineage 2 (MMO) client the system would do 1 of 2 things: 1) Restart, or 2) Monitor would say "No input detected" and turn off but with the system still running. In other words, I go blind but I can still hear my MP3 playlist blaring.

I've updated my entire systems drivers, including the newest drivers for my video card. This only increased the occurences of the problems. I then installed the ATi Catalyst Control Center to see if it had any tools of use to me. The first two times after installing it and testing different driver versions for my card the CCC would attempt to "Automatically configure system settings for optimal performance" and problem #2 would arise (see above for problems 1 and 2).

Once that ordeal was finally over and the CCC no longer attempted to maximize my graphics performance after a system reboot I avoided my game client for some time. Eventually after 45m-2hrs of surfing the net I would once again encounter problem #2. It seemed that the random system restarts (problem #1) had ceased.

Then I began playing with a few settings in the Catalyst Control Center. I found the setting for "VPU Recover" which would reset the VPU in the event of it not responding to the display driver. About 10 minutes after applying this setting, my monitor acted as if it were lapsing into problem #2, however the black screen was restored and the CCC brought up the display message saying the VPU Recover had reset my VPU (as it should) and disabled my Graphics Accelerator.

Since then my system has not been doing random artifacts, but I am unable to run my game's client because "Direct3D acceleration has been disabled" as the message says.

I have never flashed this card to the 9600 Pro (which I've been told can be done) and I've only tried overclocking it way back when the system was brand new (around this time in 2005). Any OCing through the ATi utility would cause my card to artifact. I thus deleted the utility and have been problem free... up until the past two weeks. If I did indeed flash it to a 9600 Pro, would this rid me of my problems?




THANK YOU FOR READING MY LONG POST (unless you skipped to this bold line ).
I'm afraid my AGP card may be dying and it's not time to upgrade (yet). I am afraid I may need to get a new AGP card because this one is slowly croaking, 1 artifact at a time.

 

[Penumbra]

*bump*
I registered on this site just so you could help me! lol. I love helping others too and I've been in other overclocking forums before.
EDIT: here is a screenshot of computer manager.

 

[crosshairs]

The first thing I would do is be sure that the fan is still working...and that the heatsink is not all fouled up with dust.....
It could be a simple as the card overheating.

 

[Penumbra]

Not a heat issue. I have 2 x 80mm fans on the side of my case pulling air out directly underneath the card. My case temps are 36c/35c idle. Usually around 45c on load for the CPU. Immediately after the crashes I touched the heatsink on the graphics card and it was rather cool. I could keep my fingers on there without it burning my hand or anything. I'll pull the card out and see if I can check out the heatsink.

Btw, R9600's don't have VPU cooling fans . It's a budget card which I got for $170 back in 2005.

 

[Penumbra]

*bump*
Still having the problem.
I've reseated the heatsink on the card, hoping to see if it makes a difference.

I had a small razor blade I used to spread the thermal compound around, but it was difficult to spread it evenly. I'm hoping I won't need to get some more thermal compound and reapply it.

I downloaded ATiTool to see if I could see my temperature for the card, but it did not display the temps.

Is there another tool I could use to check the temps of my card to make sure I reseated the heatsink properly?

 

[oakstave]

Hello Penumbra.

I have an old 9600 card... I'm familiar with the heatsinks. Doesn't sound thermally mediated to me.

My inclination is that your card is dying a slow death. It's certainly old enough to be having a few problems.

However, you did say something that gave me pause... that the upgrade to the latest ati drivers caused the problem to get WORSE. That's a little weird.

Have you tried using ati-uninstall, clearing out the registry of ALL ati entries, and doing a fresh reinstall with the cd that the card came with? If the problem goes away, try updating the drivers. They have been known to have corruption issues for no particular reason. I can't tell you how many times I had to do this process with my AIW cards. It's a good idea to save a copy of the registry on your desktop in case it borks the system, but I've done it many, many times without incident.

Edit: I've seen that method of applying thermal paste, and I can't do it that way either! People must have hands like a surgeon, or a lot of practice in the razorblade and mirror scene of the 70's.

I use a single drop of paste, maybe rice-grain sized, right in the center, then put the heat sink on using equal pressure to spread the paste accross the chip. Or you can use a very thin vertical line, and do the same. All those methods work fine. As long as you are getting good temps, don't get hung up on the technique. BTW, paste is cheap. 7 bucks will get you more artic silver than you'll likely use in a decade unless you're a system builder.

Double edit: If you still wonder if it's thermally regulated, try giving the heat sink a blast of canned air, held upside down. Don't go nuts, just a blast. When you hold it upside down, the supercold liquid comes out, cooling the chip immediately. If you're problem dissapears, you got thermal issues.