Problems with VPU Recover and 3D games

[carloc]

I'm a bit frustrated... my computer is really unstable with 3D games! After 5-10 minutes playing with *any* 3D game something happens that freezes my system... and I have to reboot almost everytime!

Sometimes the ATI VPU recovery is automatically launched
sometimes the screen become totally black
sometimes a strange message appears (low refresh frequency 37Hz-0Hz)


My HW:
Pentium 4 Northwood B 2.4GHz FSB 533MHz(not overclocked)
mobo Gigabyte 8SQ8000-Ultra (northbridge SiS655)
2x 256MB DDR 400MHz SDRAM module (dual-channel configuration)
video card Sapphire ATI Radeon 9100 with 128MB AGP4X
Monitor Philips 109B4 (19")
etc.

My SW:
Windowx XP SP2 (fully patched)
ATI Catalyst 5.3
DirectX 9.0c (diagnostic says it's all ok)


I think it's somthing related to the AGP.
My current driver is SiS AGP(GART) Driver (v1.19a)
C:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\SISAGPX.SYS version 7.2.0.1170

[cash_site]

A lot of people have found the the VPU recover function can be quite buggy... can you try disabling it? is the card a 9100 or 9200?? I have the sapphire 9200 and get same problems

[carloc]

A lot of people have found the the VPU recover function can be quite buggy... can you try disabling it? is the card a 9100 or 9200?? I have the sapphire 9200 and get same problems

It's a Radeon 9100 (which is simply a Radeon 8500 renamed for marketing purposes - just slightly better than a Radeon 9000 Pro).
I'll try to disable the VPU recover...

[Hawkers]

Graphics card or RAM

try swapping the video card 1st with another computer, if the issue countinues try the ram next.

[carloc]

Well... disabling the VPU recover I got only a black screen!!
I tried another video card (an NVidia GeForce FX 5200) but the problem persists.

So I think it could be the RAM... how can I test it?

[cash_site]

Hmm... when you installed the Nvidia card, did you install new drivers too?

To check memory, use MemTest...

Else, try reinstalling your AGP Chipset driver, and Ati or Nvidia drivers...

Did you make any tweaks to windows? I remember there being an issue with Ati cards and Lots of memory, and setting the LargeMemory tweak ? Just a thought.

[carloc]

Hmm... when you installed the Nvidia card, did you install new drivers too?

Yes!

To check memory, use MemTest...

Ok thanks!

Else, try reinstalling your AGP Chipset driver, and Ati or Nvidia drivers...

I tried to reinstall any driver a couple of times.

Did you make any tweaks to windows? I remember there being an issue with Ati cards and Lots of memory, and setting the LargeMemory tweak? Just a thought.

I didn't make any tweaks to my windows! What do you mean with setting the LargeMemory tweak?