POS ATI 4850 'display driver stopped responding'

U

urbanriot

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 30, 2006
Messages
159
So, brand new Sapphire 4850 on a fresh install of Vista in a well cooled chassis causing "display driver stopped responding" multiple times in Vista x64 with Aero enabled.

Talked to some folks, suggested that maybe Aero was overheating things. Having used Nvidia exclusively for a lot of years, I didn't think this would be the problem as I was running Aero with my 8800GTS fine. Sure enough, ATI control panel reported the temperature as being 80 degrees with stock settings. Jeez!

Did some googling, found a few threads that suggested increasing the fan % to lower the GPU. Enabled the ATI Overdrive and increased fan threshold to 40%. (why the fuck can't ATI allow people to manually increase their fans without going through a ridiculous method of enabling overclocking, then editing an XML file!?)

Temperatures have dropped to 58 / 60 degrees in Windows Vista w/Aero.

Unfortunately, the system now blinks a few times after using it for a bit then f#@king blue screens. Temps still at 58 / 60, GPU clock at stock 625MHz, memory at stock 990MHz.

Just in case it was the drivers that were out when I installed were causing issues (8.8), I upgraded to 8.9. No difference.

Coming back to ATI has been a real bitch, and I'm ready to throw this card through the Window. I picked up an 8600 last week to use temporarily, which works fine, while I sort this POS out.

Anyone have any suggestions? Bad card?
 
you can use the fan fix much talked about to adjust your gpu fan speed to cool the card appropriately.

its also possible that you are facing yet another 64 bit dilemma seems like nothing wants to play well in 64 bit environment
 
I had a similar problem with one of my ATI cards few years back. Turned out to be a bad card. If you have access to another computer, try it out and see if it works. If not, then yes. the card is bad.

Are you using the latest BIOS as well? When I first got my 4870x2 it kept playing up, though updating the BIOS fixed it.
 
mine did that. reflashed to stock bios and it fixed it for now. Guess my card was getting to hot. Still hits 90+ but doesnt have the problem anymore. I would redo the thermal paste but it would void the warranty.
 
Fan speed matters, TIM does not, unless you call ~2c off 90c a giant leap. Not outta my ass, someone on guru3d did it w/ his 4850.. can't find the post though, was during the week of the initial release inside a thread : \
 
My sympathies to you as I'm having the same issues but with the EVGA 260 GTX. Just built a new system with this card, two fresh installs of Vista x64, 4 different video drivers, bios updates on all hardware, swapped out ram in all different configurations and I even RMA'd my card once already. Still having the "driver stopped responding" problem. Looking around on the internet hasn't gotten me anywhere either. I have now ordered a new motherboard and I'm ready to try RMAing my card again if the new board doesn't help. Good luck with yours and please let me know if you find something that works for you!
 
If the card is screwing up like that and increasing the fan speed fixes it, then return the card. The card should NOT be overheating at stock settings, you should NOT have to turn up the fan just for it to run stable. If you do, then clearly there is something wrong with the card and you should return it. If it can't handle what ATI designed it for (ie. stock fan speeds), then its clearly not good quality and probably wont last very long even if you do turn the fan up.
 
conghelach said:
you can use the fan fix much talked about to adjust your gpu fan speed to cool the card appropriately.
Click to expand...

You may have missed where I said,

"Enabled the ATI Overdrive and increased fan threshold to 40%."

But thanks ;) Also threw on Vista 32-bit with Aero and it also has problems.


So far the card's been stable underclocked at 500 / 750 but what's funny is that the temperatures are NO DIFFERENT than they were at at 625 / 993!

I'm going to call tech support in an hour or two (they're in California time, I'm in EST) and see what they have to say. I agree with Tudz, I shouldn't have to manually adjust fan speeds for a card to perform at stock settings.
 
Spoke with a pleasant gentleman at "Althon Micro" who I suppose is the company that owns Sapphire. He asked for my P/N and SKU of the card, and said I need a BIOS flash for the card, so John Vuong might have been right.

Burning a DOS boot CD-RW with the flash as we speak, will update after testing...
 
So far so good. Without enabling the fan hack, temps are acceptably less than 70 degrees post BIOS flash. Fan is noticeably louder though...
 
Had this same issue, was bad RAM about a year ago. Try some memtest86+ goodness, try XP if you like, it will prob do it as well. Maybe replace the card.
 
So are we fairly certain this isn't a case of actual driver issues? Driver stability is factoring into my GPU decision.
 
Heh, it's not RAM.

Not a driver issue either, although it's utterly retarded that you have to edit an .XML file to adjust things like fan speed, especially if you have the ability to outright overclock your card with a click of a check box and slide of your mouse.

It was definitely, 100% a sku issue that's been sorted out with a newer BIOS flash. I've set it back to automatic fan speed and my idle temps are considerably lower than before... unfortunately, as I said, the fan's a lot louder.
 
Well glad to hear you were at least able to get it resolved. Sucks that the fan is so much louder though :(.
 
If it's any consolation, Mercury: my ASUS 4850 at stock speeds idles between 48-50C and hasn't even gotten to 80C under load (that's running CoJ with everything on high, 1440 x 900, DX10, and 2xAA).

Using an Antec Sonata III with two 120mm fans.
 
I'm having a similar issue with a Sapphire 4850. Where did you get the bios from?
 
Glad you had the issue resolved, most motherboards need their BIOS's to be updated with new cards anyway.
 
RamonGTP said:
I'm having a similar issue with a Sapphire 4850. Where did you get the bios from?
Click to expand...

"Spoke with a pleasant gentleman at "Althon Micro" who I suppose is the company that owns Sapphire. He asked for my P/N and SKU of the card, and said I need a BIOS flash for the card"

Obtained the number from:
http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/company/contactsapphire.php

USA technical service :
Email:[email protected]
Tel: 1-909-594-3128
Fax : 1-909-594-9771

You hit a number for tech support, which doesn't work, so I hit 0 for reception. A gentleman answered the phone and I asked for tech support, and he asked how he could help me... from there, after explaining the problem, he emailed me a BIOS flash.
 
Lender said:
My sympathies to you as I'm having the same issues but with the EVGA 260 GTX. Just built a new system with this card, two fresh installs of Vista x64, 4 different video drivers, bios updates on all hardware, swapped out ram in all different configurations and I even RMA'd my card once already. Still having the "driver stopped responding" problem. Looking around on the internet hasn't gotten me anywhere either. I have now ordered a new motherboard and I'm ready to try RMAing my card again if the new board doesn't help. Good luck with yours and please let me know if you find something that works for you!
Click to expand...

Lender,

I had a similar experience building a new rig for a family member. The problem was an Asus P5Q Pro motherboard. We threw that POS out (although the shop verified it as a faulty board) and bought a Gigabyte EP45-DS4 and its been smooth sailing since then.

While i am sure many will disagree with me, ive found asus motherboards to be utter shit. The last 3 asus boards ive used have all made me pull my hair out.

Funnily enough, their Asus DVD-RW drive crapped out a few days ago. Hmm maybe I just have bad luck with them, but im staying away for the time being...
 
urbanriot said:
"Spoke with a pleasant gentleman at "Althon Micro" who I suppose is the company that owns Sapphire. He asked for my P/N and SKU of the card, and said I need a BIOS flash for the card"

Obtained the number from:
http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/company/contactsapphire.php

USA technical service :
Email:[email protected]
Tel: 1-909-594-3128
Fax : 1-909-594-9771

You hit a number for tech support, which doesn't work, so I hit 0 for reception. A gentleman answered the phone and I asked for tech support, and he asked how he could help me... from there, after explaining the problem, he emailed me a BIOS flash.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I went ahead and flashed mine already using the updated bios' that were available at techpowerup.com. Hopefully it does the trick.
 
Yeah, I'm running Vista Aero. Funny thing is, I still can't test my card using ATI Overdrive without the driver crashing and causing a reboot, even at stock clocks. But I can run Furmark all day long without a problem.
 
arman01,

I sure hope its not the ASUS P5Q mobo because it's not yet installed! I have a Biostar T-Series in now and I'm having the issue. Decided to buy the ASUS P5Q Pro that was in the deals section. I'm going to install it this weekend and I sure hope it fixes it :eek: Glad to see OP got his issues resolved, I'll post my results once I install my new mobo this weekend :D
 
RamonGTP said:
Yeah, I'm running Vista Aero. Funny thing is, I still can't test my card using ATI Overdrive without the driver crashing and causing a reboot, even at stock clocks. But I can run Furmark all day long without a problem.
Click to expand...

PM me your email, I'll send you the flash & instructions they sent me. This seems to be an 'official' fan fix BIOS, and it might be better than the update BIOS flash you tried.
 
I have the 4850 with no modifications. It idles in the mid 60s, but gets to 80 when gaming. If you look online, you can find the ATI Catalyst 8.10 beta drivers, which has a manual fan control. Hopefully it makes it to final release.
 
RamonGTP said:
PM Sent
Click to expand...

If you're in x64, you'll need to flash in DOS. I couldn't get any of the Windows ATI flashers to work in Vista x64.

Also, make sure you use the -f switch to force it (as per the instructions). My card wouldn't take the flash without forcing it to ignore the difference in P/N's and SKUs.
 
urbanriot said:
You may have missed where I said,

"Enabled the ATI Overdrive and increased fan threshold to 40%."

But thanks ;) Also threw on Vista 32-bit with Aero and it also has problems.


So far the card's been stable underclocked at 500 / 750 but what's funny is that the temperatures are NO DIFFERENT than they were at at 625 / 993!

I'm going to call tech support in an hour or two (they're in California time, I'm in EST) and see what they have to say. I agree with Tudz, I shouldn't have to manually adjust fan speeds for a card to perform at stock settings.
Click to expand...

Lol, pretty obvious you got a defective card. I'd return it asap. NM, didn't read the shole post. If your going to flash your video card bios, use a usb flash drive, it's a lot faster than floppy.
 
JohnM said:
If your going to flash your video card bios, use a usb flash drive, it's a lot faster than floppy.
Click to expand...

Lol, talk about not reading but thanks for coming out... "Burning a DOS boot CD-RW with the flash as we speak, will update after testing..." :p (Would've used one of my many USB flash drives, but I can never find them when I need them).


Card was at 89 degrees after exiting a half hour round of TF2, then received that damned "video driver not responding." Temps are much better idling in Windows Vista Aero, but card is still overheating.

Going to RMA it tomorrow...
 
Just thought I would update. Installed ASUS P5Q Pro mobo, updated drivers in Vista, no more display driver problem! Everything seems to be working great now! Seemed to be either hardware conflict between my video card and motherboard or could have been driver conflicts in Vista with the mobo drivers and video drivers. No idea what was really wrong, all I know is that its fixed. I hope you get your problems solved soon, good luck!
 
Wow, big mistake buying Sapphire... On top of the costs involved in shipping the card to them, they want to charge an additional $25 - $45 'administration' charge.

From their RMA department:

"Note that, Sapphire is not a Canadian company and their head office is in
Asia (Hong Kong). Sapphire warranty covers free parts/labor only.
Therefore, for any RMA claims against Sapphire, we have to send the card
back and fore to Asia, and back to you afterwards, so there will be costs
involved (Administration and Freight). Cost is ranging from CAD$25-CAD$45
depending on your location/province."
 
urbanriot said:
Wow, big mistake buying Sapphire... On top of the costs involved in shipping the card to them, they want to charge an additional $25 - $45 'administration' charge.

From their RMA department:

"Note that, Sapphire is not a Canadian company and their head office is in
Asia (Hong Kong). Sapphire warranty covers free parts/labor only.
Therefore, for any RMA claims against Sapphire, we have to send the card
back and fore to Asia, and back to you afterwards, so there will be costs
involved (Administration and Freight). Cost is ranging from CAD$25-CAD$45
depending on your location/province."
Click to expand...

That sucks. Have you tried going through the reseller that you bought the card from?
 
Just built a system using Asus P5Q Pro and dual 4850's that has had no issues. There are some crap Asus boards floating around no doubt. Some of us get lucky and get a good one :)
 
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