Help! Video card install, system unstable

[Chazwurth]

O.K. I bought a new video card to play a game I had sitting here for a year, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, and now I have run into problems. I installed a new Sapphire x1650 Pro 512 AGP card to extend the life of my older pc, see specs below, and now when I try to play the game it starts to load and then restarts my system. When the system restarts it states that it has recovered from a catastrophic system failure (or something to that effect). I have downloaded and installed all updates for my hardware and for Windows. I have tried to install the drivers several times, but no difference. Any help would be appreciated. Sounds like a software problem, or driver problem to me, just not sure where to start. Oh I was running onboard video until this "upgrade" if that makes a difference.

MSI K7N2GM-V
AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 2.09 GHz
1.5 GB ram Kingston
80 Gig MAXTOR harddrive
Windows XP Professional SP3 32 bit

[chuck4456]

Originally Posted by Chazwurth O.K. I bought a new video card to play a game I had sitting here for a year, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, and now I have run into problems. I installed a new Sapphire x1650 Pro 512 AGP card to extend the life of my older pc, see specs below, and now when I try to play the game it starts to load and then restarts my system. When the system restarts it states that it has recovered from a catastrophic system failure (or something to that effect). I have downloaded and installed all updates for my hardware and for Windows. I have tried to install the drivers several times, but no difference. Any help would be appreciated. Sounds like a software problem, or driver problem to me, just not sure where to start. Oh I was running onboard video until this "upgrade" if that makes a difference. MSI K7N2GM-V AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 2.09 GHz 1.5 GB ram Kingston 80 Gig MAXTOR harddrive Windows XP Professional SP3 32 bit

What are you using for a power supply?
Did you connect the power adapter to a power source? There is a mini plug at the end of the card and an adapter should have come with the card. That needs to be connected.

[Chazwurth]

Yes the cable is connected to the power supply which is an Enlight 350W GPS-350BB-104 D. I just looked at the 12V specs on the sticker and it is only 18A, I bet you are right and that is my problem, under powered. The only reason I bought the cheaper card was so I didn't have to buy an new power supply. What is the Amp rating required for this card, more than 18A?? If so any suggestions on a budget power supply that is good quality. Is the video card I bought even a decent card? I only have an AGP slot, no PCI-e.

[chuck4456]

Originally Posted by Chazwurth Yes the cable is connected to the power supply which is an Enlight 350W GPS-350BB-104 D. I just looked at the 12V specs on the sticker and it is only 18A, I bet you are right and that is my problem, under powered. The only reason I bought the cheaper card was so I didn't have to buy an new power supply. What is the Amp rating required for this card, more than 18A?? If so any suggestions on a budget power supply that is good quality. Is the video card I bought even a decent card? I only have an AGP slot, no PCI-e.

That's a very good card. I've used it in a couple of older AGP systems.
Games quite well.
It does require an ample PSU though.
This should do everything that you need it to do:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139003

[Chazwurth]

So you think that could be the problem, the power supply. I didn't know how many amps it would need, but that looks like a really nice power supply with plenty of power. I just noticed when the system reboots itself I do hear a faint click from inside the case. Is Corsair a really good company?

[liambl]

I don't think its hte PSU. A friend of mine put an X1650 pro AGP in a stock Compaq computer (Athlon XP2400+, 512MB DDR ect) and it runs fine on the Compaq 250w PSU last I heard.

[chuck4456]

Originally Posted by Chazwurth So you think that could be the problem, the power supply. I didn't know how many amps it would need, but that looks like a really nice power supply with plenty of power. I just noticed when the system reboots itself I do hear a faint click from inside the case. Is Corsair a really good company?

CORSAIR PSUs are quality units.
I have a buddy using two of those in folding rigs that run 24/7. No problems.
That particular model basically matches up to your hardware specs. It's not the SATURN V but it has a high amp single rail that can deliver you full power at all times. As I said, it should be all that you need.
I'm just basing my suggestion on experience with two of those cards, BTW.

[Chazwurth]

Two things: First off I noticed that the power leads on my power supply are labeled p3, p11, p7 etc... does it matter which one I used (it is connected to P3 with no other devices attched to this one). Second when I installed the video card are there drivers for the onboard video that need to be uninstalled first. I didn't delete any video drivers prior to install, could that be the problem?

[Chazwurth]

Hello everyone. This is the message I get from Microsoft about my Bluescreen/system shutdown while trying to play Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter.

Details
Product: Windows Operating System
ID: 1003
Source: System Error
Version: 5.2
Symbolic Name: ER_KRNLCRASH_LOG
Message: Error code %1, parameter1 %2, parameter2 %3, parameter3 %4, parameter4 %5.

Explanation
A blue screen (Stop error) was reported. The message contains details about the error. A matching event with Event ID 1001 might also appear in the event log. This matching event displays information about the specific error that occurred.


User Action
No user action is required.


Would an underpowered power supply cause a bluescreen and then a system restart?? Or did I do something wrong when installing my new Video Card??

[flanzig1]

When installing a new video card, you should first uninstall video drivers for the existing video, be it on-board or a plug-in card. With on-board, should also check in the BIOS to see if there is a spot to disable on-board video. Then you can add the new video card and load the drivers for it.
If you didn't uninstall the on-board before installing the new card's drivers, best thing to do is ininstall the new card and drivers uninstall the on-board then install the new card and drivers.
As for the PSU, your probably close to pushing the limits of the PSU.

[Chazwurth]

Looks like I will be ordering that new power supply tonight just in case. I would hate to destroy some other components because of a cheaper power supply. As far as disabling the on-board video in BIOS I didn't see a spot to do that, so I guess I am O.K. there. I do see under add or remove programs NVIDIA Windows 2000/XP Display Driver and NVIDIA Drivers. This is an NVIDIA chipset motherboard so I was a bit afraid of deleting the wrong thing. I would assume I would just delete the NVIDIA Diplay Driver to delete the onboard video drivers???? Are they the same thing? Thanks.

[Chazwurth]

Alright, I uninstalled the drivers for both the onboard Video and the new Video card. I reinstalled the drivers for the new Video card and I get the same thing. Still get a blue screen that goes into an immediate reboot. I then get the error message: "windows has recovered from a serious failure". I didn't physically remove the Video card from the computer at anytime during the uninstall reinstall, would that make a difference? Thinking back I probably should have uninstalled the new Video card drivers, physically removed the Video card, uninstalled the onboard video drivers, physically installed the new card, then installed the new Video card drivers. Any thoughts...or is the consensus still an underpowered power supply??

[chuck4456]

Originally Posted by Chazwurth Alright, I uninstalled the drivers for both the onboard Video and the new Video card. I reinstalled the drivers for the new Video card and I get the same thing. Still get a blue screen that goes into an immediate reboot. I then get the error message: "windows has recovered from a serious failure". I didn't physically remove the Video card from the computer at anytime during the uninstall reinstall, would that make a difference? Thinking back I probably should have uninstalled the new Video card drivers, physically removed the Video card, uninstalled the onboard video drivers, physically installed the new card, then installed the new Video card drivers. Any thoughts...or is the consensus still an underpowered power supply??

Good evening.
You said on your first post that your system would reboot when you opened the game.
Is it rebooting all of the time or only when you open the game?
Which is it?

[Chazwurth]

The computer runs great and has great video when online or when watching a DVD. The only time I have a problem is when I try and play Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (the only reason I upgraded to non onboard video). I open the game and I get to the main screen. I choose start a new campaign and the game starts to load...this is when I get a blue screen, for about half a second, and then the computer reboots. I then get the message "windows has recovered from a serious failure". I tried to reinstall the game thinking maybe I had a corrupt file, but I still have the same problem.

[chuck4456]

Originally Posted by Chazwurth The computer runs great and has great video when online or when watching a DVD. The only time I have a problem is when I try and play Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (the only reason I upgraded to non onboard video). I open the game and I get to the main screen. I choose start a new campaign and the game starts to load...this is when I get a blue screen, for about half a second, and then the computer reboots. I then get the message "windows has recovered from a serious failure". I tried to reinstall the game thinking maybe I had a corrupt file, but I still have the same problem.

OK.
Sounds like the power supply is just crappin' out. Technical term there.
Your video card is under maximum load when the game is loading.
It appears that this a general consensus.

[Chazwurth]

Alright. I am ordering the new Corsair power supply, I will update the post after I receive and install it. Thanks for all the help.

[chuck4456]

Originally Posted by Chazwurth Alright. I am ordering the new Corsair power supply, I will update the post after I receive and install it. Thanks for all the help.

Good luck.

[Chazwurth]

$82 later, and about 10 hours into this whole video card install and I am at the same point Installed a new Corsair VX450W power supply and the game still crashes!! I am so disappointed Great power supply though, nice and clean with the wrapped wires, really saved space in my case. Any thoughts on this....??????? It must be driver/software related.

[Chazwurth]

O.K. so I downloaded omegadrivers for the ATI Video card and guess what...it now works. So it was the drivers all along. Anybody have any experience with omegadrivers? I just hate to not have the ATI drivers as designed. Any thoughts?

[liambl]

Omega drivers are just the standard ATi drivers with a few tweaks added to enable advanced features. ATi actually supports using Omega drivers on their cards. BTW, which version official drivers did you use. I think anything after 7.9 has problems with AGP cards.

[Chazwurth]

Nice. I was trying 8.8 at first then I tried the previous two versions, I think 8.7 and 8.6? Well at least I know that it was the drivers now. You would think that ATI would fix this problem, especially since this is an AGP card and it was bundled with version 8.6 drivers.

[Chazwurth]

O.K. so the OmegaDrivers fixed the Video card issue so that now the game works. The problem I have now after installing these "modified" drivers is that my computer is now real slow, especially when on the internet moving from one site to the next, just seems to be about half the speed or less than before. Any suggestions? I heard there is some sort of fix for the ATI AGP cards but can't seem to find it on the ATI site for this X1650 pro AGP card.