Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB game severe problem?

[Bubbleman]

:eek2: Well one day I started up Warcraft III frozen throne like normal and all the sudden the monitor turned black and went to standby (like it was shutting off of some sorts).

So I opened the case and the card was quite hot, (about 2 months ago I had similar problem but it went away, the fan on the video card turns on and off sometimes) so i installed a fan that blows onto the video card.

Then my problems stopped.


So I restart my computer and play WoW and the screen freezes and its all distorted boxes lines and colors. I restart again and get the microsoft serious fatal device error or something.

Says my display driver "ati2dvag" has failed or stopped.

now ati sounds like radeon so its definantally a video card issue.

My comp doesnt freeze at the desktop or anything. It only crashes during games it seems, I blew out all the dust of my comp, but I dont think that helped.

Im not sure if I downgraded some drivers which might cause this... or i need new ones.

But im still unsure what the real issue is. I doubt my card is dying because wouldnt it be freezing at the desktop too?

Specs

2.44 Ghz Intel pentium 4 pro
Power supply= 450-500 watts
1gb ram, radeon 9800 pro 256mb

Please help me short media crew!!! :aol: ;D :banghead: :-/

[Bubbleman]

seems like it hasnt froze up yet after i blowed the dust out.... hmmmm

[Bubbleman]

nevermind it just froze while playing WoW like 10 minutes after I started. my mouse got locked up, i could move my mouse left and right then the screen goes black.

helpz

[Thrax]

Follow this (http://www.driverheaven.net/showthread.php?p=916684) procedure precisely. Once you've done so, get the new Catalyst 6.7 from www.atitech.ca -- install them only after you've completed the guide, and do it in regular windows.

[Bubbleman]

Alright ill with do this.

But before I do you sure its not a heating issue? I guess it was a driver issue

[Leonardo]

It could be a driver issue. It could be a heat issue. It could a driver issue exacerbated by heat.

[Thrax]

It's my educated guess that it's a driver issue. I've had this symptom with WoW on some older versions of the Catalyst drivers, and a fresh install of the drivers fixed the issue right up. If it's not drivers, well atleast you've got a shiny new set installed. :)

I'm just narrowing the possibilities, really.

[Bubbleman]

Yeah heh thanks for the help. Ill post back soon.

rofl at leonardos post

[Bubbleman]

ok

Im installing a 6.8 version of catalyst not the 6.7 does it matter?

[Thrax]

6.8 is a better choice. Always get the newest drivers that you can.

[Bubbleman]

ok its installed. do I do service packs and updates? dont think so

[Bubbleman]

ok i got it all hooked up

no crashes yet but it runs really laggish now

[Bubbleman]

Ok so after a couple days with the drivers reinstalled it has been running really really sluggiiiishhhhhhhhh.

And it crashed the other day with low settings, so I think its another driver problem or its just a plain heat problem

ooor

I need a new card, which i think my card is the best AGP card on the market and my mobo has no PCI-X

plz help!11 :Rocker:

[Bubbleman]

ya thinking about getting a new vid card...

[GrayFox]

ok i got it all hooked up

no crashes yet but it runs really laggish now
Downgrade back to 6.7 this happened on one of my machine as well.

[Bubbleman]

how?

[Thrax]

Install the 6.7s.