Video card Problems

[Homer]

OK I have a

Abit Kv7 motherboard
AMD 2.10 Athlon XP
768 Ram
AGP Slot for this New* Video card Powercolor - Radeon X700", well it was kinda working good from the beginning, but now my PC is taking like 15min to load after restart and a bunch of weird things are going on like web Sites freezing along with programs, so I took out all the drivers and installed the one from the internet.

I installed the one from the disk it came with in the beginning, but then I went to play HL2, and it said your driver is outa date? and it gave me a link to the Radeon site to a new driver, well I know I have to uninstall the old driver and put in the new one so i did, then I played half 2 after I installed the new driver from the site, and everything was working god, then about 3 restarts later I get this message in Bold Red letters on a black screen saying The Video cards power is not connected? I thought the AGP was the power but there is another little white power connector much like a Floppy Drive Power Connect on the side so I plugged it in and I guess everything went back to normal, But thats when the freezing and crap started happening, and at one point it said that my D: drive was not working? so I unplugged it from the power thinking that the Card is taking power away from the HD so it's causing an Error..

I uninstalled all the drivers and got the driver from Power Color, because thats were I got this Radeon Card from, HL2 takes like 10min to load along with XP taking 10min to load as well, I need some freakin help please.

If you gonna help please have wisdom with video cards, I don't want stupid posts like, OMG why did you buy that, or start going on on how your video card is better, or you can't help because you don't have any problems with your card... Thank You.

[<SaF>Sgt.S0apy]

ive got a radeon 9800pro. i use the old catalyst drivers version drivers, not the 6.5 drivers. i get the message saying drivers out of date put when i use the new drivers i have probs playing games, my advice is to use the older catalyst drivers.

[DraKon2k]

install the catalyst 5.1, I'm using it too, and everything works fine, while with the 5.6 I get some problems with bf2. If steam says that your drivers are outdated, just select "Continue Anyways"

[Homer]

ok will try that, and let you know, thanks

[emery]

How many volts is your PSU? If it's only like 300 or 350w then the x700 might be taking too much power, thus crashing your PC because the otehr components dont get enough power or vice versa.

[Core433]

I don't believe this is a driver issue, as you have tried multiple drivers and none of them seem to make things better. You should change back to the latest driver available from ATI for your card. Three major concerns (with gfx card driver ruled out) that would seem to fit your situation:

Is your hard drive really old, and unprotected, do you regularly scan for viruses? If not, you might want to get a trial version of norton or something and do a full scan for viruses that can severely slow down performance.

Otherwise, I would check your power supply unit (PSU) like Steiner said. An inadequate PSU can cause reboots or otherwise crappy performance. With a powerful graphics card and a fast processor you would need around 400-450 watts to be on the safe side.

Have you checked your processor temperature while the gfx card is running? If the processor overheats your system will become really really stagnant. Never touch your processor while it's running, but see if you can find something to measure the processor temperature with. Or, check if your mobo comes with temperature diagnosis capabilities. If not, place your hand over the processor without touching it, and see if it's obviously too hot. Poor airflow of your case and a crappy processor fan can make a processor overheat really fast. If your processor overheating is the problem, I'd buy a good processor fan for about $50. Make sure you have thermal paste between your fan and your processor if you do install a new one, or else it will fry.

You can ask me more about this stuff if you do diagnose your computer to have one of these problems.

[Homer]

Ok i'm gonna go into the Bios and check the watts and such.

But heres another problem, I have a 2.10 ATHLON processor, and the Mother Board does not recognize the processor, and it's set to 2800(333) in the Bios, and the lowest it goes is 2400(333) and the highest is 3400(333) there is also a custom setting were you can make up your own setting but how would i know the settings for an 2.10 AMD Athlon?

[emery]

um whats the model of thet Athlon? 3000+ or 3200+?
I guess you can look up the fsb speeds from google. Then you can manually set them in BIOS. Judging by your description, it could be that your system is straining your PSU and also your components could be overheating.

[killertomato]

Ok i'm gonna go into the Bios and check the watts and such.

But heres another problem, I have a 2.10 ATHLON processor, and the Mother Board does not recognize the processor, and it's set to 2800(333) in the Bios, and the lowest it goes is 2400(333) and the highest is 3400(333) there is also a custom setting were you can make up your own setting but how would i know the settings for an 2.10 AMD Athlon?

As for the CPU, you might want to grab the book that came with the CPU (if you still have it / ever got it). Wrong placement of jumpers might cause the motherboard not to recognize the CPU.

Succes

[Homer]

Ok guys get on MSN or Xfire and help me out...... NOW!!!!! :D

[SgtH3nry3]

How many volts is your PSU? If it's only like 300 or 350w then the x700 might be taking too much power, thus crashing your PC because the otehr components dont get enough power or vice versa.Yes the Molex connector on your X700 means it needs more power.

So with an ordinary PSU you won't make it...

If you want a pure PSU you should look for Antec TrueControl and Enermax PSU's they are the best atm.

[Homer]

Well on the box of the Video card it says 300W ot above is recomennded, I have a 300W PSU.

I think it's the driver, I don't know if I should us the powercolor driver or the radeon driver.

And when I install everything from the disk, and then find an Update to I delete everything that I installed from the disk or what?

[Core433]

Well on the box of the Video card it says 300W ot above is recomennded, I have a 300W PSU.

I think it's the driver, I don't know if I should us the powercolor driver or the radeon driver.

And when I install everything from the disk, and then find an Update to I delete everything that I installed from the disk or what?

300W is really, really, really weak. I think it is likely a cause of your problem, since other parts of your rig might draw more power than the box's suggested bare minimum. BARE MINIMUM. Additionally, the wattage on the PSU isn't an absolute indicator of its performance. If you have one of the generic, crappy, comes-with-case type PSU's, the performance might not be optimal. You are going to have to upgrade your power supply in the near future anyway, if you plan on upgrading your computer and move along with the times, so why not just buy one now?

The Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W Power Supply (the one I use) is really nice, quiet, and provides enough power to make my system run super smooth, and I have a more intensive system than yours, so it would be a good investment. Antec power supplies are known to be really reliable, and even if it doesn't solve your problem, it will make your computer run faster during times when you need the extra power, and you can use it for quite a while into the future. It also only costs $75, so I don't see why you wouldn't. Of course this is only a suggestion.

When you update your drivers, you shouldn't need to manually uninstall your old version, just update drivers and it should automatically write over for you. If you try different drivers and it doesn't solve your solution, just buy a new PSU. Or just buy one for good measure, it's a win-win situation.

[1st Sgt. Burke]

K first off try this. Open up your case. Find a Molex connector that isnt attacthed to ANYTHING. Just straigth to the PSU. If your PSU isnt too bad its just cuasing problems because your drawing too much power on that line with other stuff on the line. Hence the hard drive issue. So Find a Molex thats has nothing on it, not even fans.

If it still continues to bog down your PSU is probably not up to the task. I didnt really read the mobo thing but give this a shot first.

Also think about it this way, even if your computer is like a Lamborghini, with a sh*te battery (PSU) the car aint gonna start.

[killertomato]

Ehm,

It's an accu. A Lamborgini has an accu (like most cars). And I should know...


Furthermore Homer; I don't think it would hurt to buy a stronger powersupply anyway. A 400 Watt powersupply should be around the $25 - $30 if I'm correct.

[Homer]

Ok now that I think about it, I'm thinking it's the power, I did change the plugs from the PSU and it slowed my fan down and made one stop..!!!!

I don't have a "by it self" plug so I think I should go get a new8 PSU...

[emery]

Yep I think it might be the PSU.

[Homer]

I think when I add in the 160HD and the DvD Burner, among all the fans, I think I sucked the Amps dry..lol

[Homer]

It was an Microsoft problem, I solved it by Zeroing out the Hard drive and reinstalling XP, and everything works great, lets just up it stays this way...

[Albert_Wesker]

Glad you solved the problem, but are you still using the old ati drivers or the new ones?

[Homer]

O i'm using the ones that came with the disk, kinda scared to change them you know?

I just skipped the Update Driver warning from HL2 and moved along.. :D

[Schrem [506th PIR]]

Never change a runnign system. NEVER CHANGE A RUNNING SYSTEM!