Going NUTS here! Asus 4870, signal loss problem since cat 9.8's

The problem: Randomly the monitor will loose signal and go into power saving mode, computer still running, have to hard reset. This is sometimes while gaming or just browsing the internet or just on the desktop.

Athlon X2 5000+ BE @ 3.1, Asus HD4870 512 DK Top, Corsair TX750 PS (Yes I need a CPU MB upgrade)

Got the card in February I think and it has been fine till the Cat 9.8 drivers came out, before those I was on the 9.6's.

I have both XP and Vista 32bit, each on there own drive, I use the bios boot selector (F11) to select which OS to run.

Since I have more games in XP, I use it more and installed the 9.8's there first and that's when it started happening.

Now when it does happen two of the four leds on the card will light up red. D1601 and D601.

LEDS on HD4870 cards

D1601 - Red LED On, shows critical temperature fault

D1602 - Red LED On, shows External power connector A was removed

D1603 - Red LED On, shows External power connector B was removed

D601 - Red LED On, shows critical Core power fault

Now when this happened, I thought maybe bad power, so I tested it while computer was still running after it happened with a multimeter and voltage was fine at I think 12.23 volts. Should be with the 60amp 12v rail.

Temps have always been fine, its the fancy Dark knight edition with the fancy ass cooler. (I never buy stock cooler cards anymore, hate hot running cards)

Well after all this, you may say the card's gone bad right?

But wait, I tried going back to the 9.6's (clean install) and it worked fine again. What? Why? So I thought I'd try a clean install of the 9.8's this time, same problem. Again I went back to the 9.6's, again it was fine. Then the 9.9's came out,so I tried them and it seemed ok, but it did loose signal once so far, still testing.

So yesterday I wanted to get back into Fallout 3, so I booted Vista, which was using the cat 9.8's and having the same signal loss problems, since the 9.9's seemed ok in XP I tried them in Vista. (installing over the old ones) Was browsing the forum and Baam, monitor goes off. Same damn shit! Rebooted, a while later it did it again, I was getting PISSED!

So I clean reinstalled the fucking old 9.6's and once again, all is fine. browsing, playing Fallout 3 (cranked) for like seven hours, not a damn problem.

So my thought is ATI have done something different to the 9.8, 9.9 (never tried the 9.7's) drivers that this card does not like, I can't find a whole hell of a lot about the two red leds.
I don't see how it could be the card, since its fine with the other drivers.

So after this long read, if you got through it all, does anyone have any ideas?

I really don't want to rma the card, but just might if its still doing this after the 9.10's come out. I'm gonna copy this on the ATI forums sometime as well.

I am at a loss (no pun intended)

i really doubt its the card.. now the question is does this only happen on the desktop or does it happen in game as well.. if its just the desktop.. then the problem is with the 2D settings.. either somethings screwed up in the cards bios or in the drivers.. but for the heck of it.. try installing furmark and running it for a while and see if the display shuts off with the 9.8 or 9.9 drivers.. if it doesnt, then we know for sure its something in the 2D settings causing the problem....

what id do is try and look through this forum and try to find the ASUS support guy thats on here.. and ask him if hes heard of any issues like this..

I appreciate your reply, It does do it in game as well with the 9.8/9.9's, I can't seem to make it happen, it just happens whenever. Sometimes after a few minutes or half an hour. Now the 9.9's and Vista seemed worse, maybe five to ten minutes after boot every time.

I have tried about everything I could think of. It does it sometimes a few minutes after a cold startup and after its good and warm, so its not a temp issue.

I really think its a ATI driver/ASUS 4870 issue, I'd bet the are more people out there with the problem, it just hasn't surfaced yet as a major issue. Most users aren't update whores like those of us here.

Played fallout for many hours Saturday and never had a problem, that is with the 9.6 drivers in Vista.

Asus support guy? Ok, thanks.

The card could actually be faulty. The drivers might be accessing the hardware in a way that's different from the older drivers, thus uncovering previously unseen flaws in the card. I don't know how likely such a scenario is, but I wouldn't rule it out.

I also think it may be the card. I have a launch sapphire 4870, have put on every new driver release and run the card overclocked folding or gaming 24/7. No errors like yours, yet.

Matrices said:

The card could actually be faulty. The drivers might be accessing the hardware in a way that's different from the older drivers, thus uncovering previously unseen flaws in the card. I don't know how likely such a scenario is, but I wouldn't rule it out.

Click to expand...

Yea, that has been a thought of mine as well. If it does it with the 9.10's, its RMA time.

The card doesn't seem to be sold anymore, so if there isn't an exact replacement, how does ASUS handle it?

I PM'd the ASUS guy. See what happens.