Big problem with new sapphire HD4850 512

Shy_Dave!

Hey guys, sorry for the long post I wanted to get all the information in it for you!
I recently purchased this card and it worked fine first day. Second day I have completely random crashes in which my monitor goes into standby and my fan(s) spin up.
I restart the computer and everything is normal until the next random crash. This occurs when computer is both idle and under load. Temperatures are fine.
I have seen a few threads on the Sapphire forums with the same issue. Most of the advice concerns power supply units.
I have no real knowledge of power supplies but my one seems to be on the list of certified psu's for this card.

MB: EVGA nForce-650i Ultra, Socket-775
https://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=335355

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
https://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=330169

RAM: 2x Corsair TWIN2X PC6400 DDR2 2GB KIT CL5
https://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=312054
+
2x 2Gb OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 Special Ops Edition
http://www.memoryc.ie/products/descr...kit/index.html

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3
https://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=442785

PSU: OCZ StealthXStream Powersupply 600watt
Input Voltage AC 115/230 V /////////// Output Voltage +3.3, +5, +12 V
https://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=336401

Monitor: 19" MAG Innovation using a VGA to DVI adapter.

HDD: Samsung SpinPoint T166 250GB SATA2
https://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=329044
+
A 250gb Maxtor ata drive (Specs unknown).

DVD Drive: Samsung ata (Specs unknown)

Fans: 120, 80, 80.

OS: Win 7 RC (64-bit) & Vista Ultimate (32-bit)
Video Card Driver: Catalyst 9.8
Various stability tests show everything as fine.
System clean of any viruses/issues.Nothing is overclocked.


Reseated the graphics card and changed the power supply connection going into it. Changed my SATA HDD's connection on the motherboard. Changed to a newer VGA to DVI adapter into the back of my gpu. I have even changed my power lead for a newer one. Still this random crash after a few minutes or a few hours of the computer being on. Your help would very much be appreciated on this issue.

marco_polo

Leave the case open and next time see if either of the two LED at the back of the card light up red, after the crash and while the PC is still running:

(Not sure how you tell which is which )

HD4850 LEDs

D1601 - Over temp protection enabled

D1602 - EXT 12V fault

Effluo

well in fairness it could be anything, don't know why you think it's the 4850.

Considering you just did a fresh install it could be just a problem with one of the operating systems...

try swapping in and out other components, other graphics cards, different ram modules, one at a time, try them in different slots.... have you done a mem test and chkdsc?

?

Shy_Dave!

Never actually did a fresh install, just popped in the card and installed the drivers. I've ran chkdsk and am in the process of testing one ram module each night with memtest. A few people seem to have had the same problem with the card after installing it

Solitaire

Sounds like a possible driver issue - if it was power or overheating then the system will crash and immediately restart, not hang about making the fans whiz. That sounds like a bent driver install, possibly polluted by old ATI or nVidia drivers.

Effluo

Download "driver sweeper" from 3dguru.com

Supposedly ati's and nvidias uninstallers don't quite cut it and it's the only way to actually get a clean install of the drivers

Shy_Dave!

Thanks a lot, will try it now. I do have a feeling my old nvidia drivers didn't fully uninstall but I've never seen that create much issue before!

Shy_Dave!

Just a quick update, I have discovered that when the problem occurs an LED lights up, this one: D1601 - Over temp protection enabled.
The temperatures are very normal when this occurs so eh, what? , I have reset my bios by removing the battery as a last attempt to fix it.

I used driver sweep to remove all traces of nvidia drivers.

ScumLord

I had something similar and it turned out to be faulty ram.

Xtreme4you

I have exactly the same problem, and i'm really mad. My vendor updated the BIOS (of the graphics card) but the system keeps freezing, so he suggested me to reinstall vista (64bit)!!???:mad:
He run a dozen of tests but nothing happened, hence the problem is not predictable and can't be reproduced. So I'm stuck with this **** of a card and do not know what to do next.

Any suggestions?

Greetings from germany.

Effluo

Did you do all the things that were said on this list?

Anti

2 different sets of ram, have you tried with just 1 as not all ram are happy to play with each other. Remove one set and try again.

Xtreme4you

The vendor performed a memtest without result, so no faulty ram, what else?

Effluo

Anti wasn't talking to you, it's actually quite confusing the way you butted in on this thread. To get proper answers you should start your own thread.

State everything that's in your system + everything that's been done to it.
If the crashes have been completely random or if you think there might be some trigger etc.

Every problem is different

Xtreme4you

my problem is exactly as described above!

Solitaire

And you have an identical system with all the same components?? :cool:

Xtreme4you

ATI HD4850 512 MB Sapphire
OCZ 500 Watt StealthXStream
MB Asus P5QL Pro Sound P43
Intel E7400 Box Core2Duo
DDR2 Corsair 4GB 800
HD: WD10EADS western digital
Windows Vista Business 64

Shy_Dave!

Just to update my situation and to help if I can - The problem still occurs for me, I have found no total solution but by using the standard graphics card drivers that come with my os (being windows 7 in this case) I have found the problem to occur far less.