Serious ATI Radeon Video Card Problem or what?

[radar_1_2000]

I have an 900MHz AMD Socket A, Thunderbird, in an A7V MB. ATI Radeon 64MB Video Card, 256MB RAM.
I have Directx 7.0a, and the latest video driver from ATI I just updated yesterday. This is what happened.
Games have been working fine. I wanted to try the "Video IN" feature and video capture capabilities with my video card. Hooked up my camcorder and started using the "Video In". It was working fine, and I was able to capture some pics. Then a lock up! Now keep in mind that this has happened to me before updating the driver and after.

It locks up, and I have to hit "RESET" to get out of it. When the computer starts to boot back up, it goes into the Windows System Check,(due to not shutting down Windows).
When it gets about 30 percent through the check, I get 3 BEEPS from my computer tower, and I lose all video. Then the only way for me to recover is to UNPLUG all power from the computer and plug back in. "RESET" will now work at this point. I can't even push the power button on the tower to kill power. Shouldn't I be able to do that????
Now, when the computer starts back up, it puts me right into my SETUP BIOS. It's on the ADVANCED MENU, and is showing me that my DRAM Frequency is [100MHz]. To the right is says this:

"During the last boot-up your system hung for an improper DRAM: Bus Frequency Ratio. Your System is now working in safe mode. (Bus:100 MHz, PCI 33MHz)"

I can reselect DRAM Frequency to 133MHz at this point and start to boot again. Now if I let Windows do it's system check again ( due to not shutting down Windows properly), it will again beep 3 times and I will lose video.
However, if I boot into safe mode, I can get into Windows, SAFE MODE, and then do a restart from there. Everything is back to normal now!!. Something is happening when Windows is doing it's check that caused loss of all video. I think that if I EXIT the Windows System Check I can get into a normal Windows boot also, but not sure.
I will ad, that I did lose video once right at the lock up when I was trying to do video captures. Just lost it all.
What's going on here???

I've also notices that rarely can I do a Ctrl-Alt-Del on any other lockups I've had since building this computer. I haven't had that many lockups, but when I have, I have to hit RESET to get out of them.....

Appreciate any help or comments

[glc]

I would guess that your ram is not happy at 133.

[radar_1_2000]

GLC,

Do you mean I might have a bad RAM stick. I have two 128MB sticks. Would you suggest that I take them out and have them tested somewhere?

Or, can I run at 100MHz? And why don't I have this problem with any other applications? I know the video card as 64MB or RAM itself, could there be a problem with that?

Please tell me more when you have time. I'm waiting on a response from ATI, but who knows when I'll get that. Their telephone number doesn't even work......

Thanks

[radar_1_2000]

I tried leaving my DRAM Frequency at 100 MHz. The problem is still there. I did video capture for about 10 minutes and I lost video.
I find that if I reset, and then "EXIT" from the Windows System Check before 54 Percent done, it will boot right back into Windows with no problems. If I let it get to 54 pecent, I get 3 beeps, and lose video. What's Windows doing here?
I went back to video capturing. This time took only 7 minutes to lock up.
Reset and tried again. This time when I clicked on the ATI Icon, and then "VIDEO IN", it locked up right away.

I was able to us my switch on the tower to turn it off. I think last time I might have hit reset, and tried to kill power in the middle of that and it wouldn't let me.

Do you still thinks it's a memory problem? Windows driver problem? Video Card problem? Any ideas?

[Toaster]

Sounds to me like a memory error. Set BIOS memory speed to 100 and remove one module. Repeat for the other module testing each, one at a time. If you have a "CAS" or "RAS" ram timing option within BIOS, set to "3". The system is having difficulty with memory or allocating this memory.
Check your AGP memory size and set to 64MB.
The memory on the vid-card may also be the problem. Is the card running reasonably cool or is the card hot to the touch? It seems when the system uses memory from the vid-card its having some difficuly in making space without crashing into another address. Check your system drivers for updates (4in1 and the like). Then, the remaining option is that the vid-card is "problematic" with either the systemboard and/or CPU. (that spells incompatability)
Less likely is settings on the vidcard. If you are overclocking the card, set to defaults and try again.
Make sure all cards are seated fully.

[radar_1_2000]

I've went into my Bios and I have some questions.

I have the following settings.

SDRAM Configuration............[By SPD]
SDRAM CAS Latency...............[3T]
SDRAM RAS Precharge Time........[3T]
SDRAM RAS to CAS Delay..........[3T]

I can change the Configuration to "User Define" do I need to change any of these or leave "By SPD" which defaults the next three items to "3T"?

Also,

AGP Fast Write..........[Disabled]
(What is this, and should it be Enabled?)

Video ROM Bios Shadow.......[Enabled]
( Should this be Enabled? or Disabled)

I will try testing my memory modules one at a time.
As far as temperature goes, I haven't felt my Video Card, but I do know my processor was running at 43.5 degrees C, and my MB was at 30 degrees C. I don't expect a problem there, but will check my Video Card next time for heat....
Thanks for your help everyone.....

[radar_1_2000]

Changed out both memory sticks.
Still got varying degrees of lockups with each stick. Doesn't seem to be a bad memory stick unless they are both bad. ( I would think unlikely especially when I don't have a problem any other time.
Sometimes just got an "Illegal Operation" message and closed the program. Once it automatically did a reboot while doing video capture. Most times required hitting "Reset" and rebooting after locking up.

Had DRAM set at 100MHz at times, then switched back to 133 MHz. Lockup does not aways cause it to boot into 100MHz safe mode. Most times stayed at 133MHz with no problem

Video card is surprisingly cool to the touch, no temp. problem here.

Thought I had the problem fixed once. I "Enabled" AGP Fast Write in my bios. Played video and did captures for 22 minutes before a lockup.

Found that when I had to reboot, and Windows does the scan disk, when reached about 54 percent, it beeps 3 times and video goes away.
However, if I hit the "Control" Key, Windows will finish the Scan Disk, and boot into Windows normally.

Can anyone tell me what's happening with this scan disk?? Why does it stop at 54 percent and beep 3 times, lose video. Then if I hit "Control" it will continue and boot normally.
By the way, I did scan disks when I got into Windows and never had any errors.
Waiting on a reply from ATI. Anyone else have a suggestion? Drivers are all up to date as far as I know, including 4 in 1 drivers.

Thanks

[Alfie]

Do you have any devices in the slot next to the agp card?
Do you see any conflicts in device manager?
Have you checked at Microsofts database for any known issues?
What about ATI's?
Do you have the latest 4in1 drivers from VIA?

[radar_1_2000]

1. I have no devices in the PCI slots next to the agp card.
in fact, the two slots below it are empty. The only thing that might touch it is a fan power cord that may drape near it.

2. Haven't checked for conflicts in device manager. I'm familiar with device manager, but to be honest, how do you check for conflicts there?

3. Haven't checked the Microsoft database.

4. I have been to ATI's troubleshooting and FAQ's web page. I seen a problem with the TV OUT and they were recommending updating drivers and ensuring you have DirectX 7.0. I did that, incase my problem was related, but hasn't worked. I should search through more of there database.

5. I downloaded and installed the latest VIA 4in1 drivers just last week.

[Tiretool]

A conflict in device manager will show up as any item marked with a yellow ball with a black exclamation mark inside it. If you have anything with this symbol next to it check and see what it's properties are and if possible install or re-install the drivers, or just remove it and reboot windows.

[radar_1_2000]

I went into Device Manager and looked at every device. Found no Conlict symbols as you described.

Question?

Under the 'System Devices', The following have the message "No driver files are required or have been loaded for these devices"

VIA CPU to AGP Controller

VIA Tech Standard CPU to PCI Bridge

Should they have drivers?

Also, last week I downloaded and executed the latest VIA 4in1 driver version 4.24. I am confident I remember everything made sense and it installed itself. However, where are these driver?? I can not find a matching description for these in device manager. For instance the following four were supposedly updated when I did this:

IDE Busmaster 2.1.49
VIA AGP Driver 4.03
IRQ Routing Driver 1.02
VIA INF Driver 1.02

Where do I look under to see that these drivers are installed?