[Aided Onslaught]

So I just got my radeon 5850 today and it was working fine when I first installed it. I was running fallout 3 on highest settings, but then after about 10 minutes of play the screen turned black. I press reset and found that my previously white bios font colors are now purple.

After turning it off and then on again it was back to normal however it still goes to the blank screen from just simply sitting in windows, and the bios are back to being purple.

I tried going into safe mode to uninstall the graphic drivers, but you can't do that in windows 7. Anyone have any ideas?

CPU: i7 920
Motherboard: asus p6t D v2
Ram: 12gbs

previous card installed was a 1950pro and no problems.

I think i need to provide more information but I'm really pissed right now and can't think sorry.

 

[makotech222]

you could switch back to the 1950pro, uninstall the drivers, then put the new card back in?

otherwise, i think its a PSU problem.

 

[Aided Onslaught]

I got the drivers uninstalled, and used the ones on the disk I just played a little more fallout and it seems to be okay...some artifacts here and there...

I think I might have had the card in too tight becaue I took the screws out and it is working now...I also think it was the drivers. We'll see...

Also I don't believer it's my power supply it's a 750W corsair.

 

[makotech222]

power supply should be solid then.

Try installing some new ones from the internet, i think catalyst 7.11 is the latest? i could be wrong i dont have ATI.

If youre getting artifacts still after driver update, try bumping up the fan speed. card could be overheating a bit.

 

[Aided Onslaught]

I have 9.11 first from their site. I just put the 9.10 ones on from the disk and it seems to be doing fine...no crashes yet...I'm going to screw the card in here and hope it still works fine.

 

[makotech222]

Usually the latest drivers are the best. I know nvidia always has beta drivers and im usually on those right away.

 

[Aided Onslaught]

Well...it just did the same thing, purple writing in the POST, it was running just fine, but in fallout 3 it just stopped again. No signal on the tv, hard restart.

 

[makotech222]

Hmm seems to me to be either the PSU ( even though its high quality, it could still be messed up) Overheating (i know ATI likes to keep the fan low on standard) or a bad cable connection (are your pci power cords connected to the card correctly?)

 

[Aided Onslaught]

I'm thinking it may be overheating as well, I'll run it in window mode and see here. My pci power cables are fine. I've had it running in just windows and it hasn't had any problems, so it might just be a driver issue. The only thing that scares me is the POST text colors changing to purple, I've never seen that before in my computer life.

oh yeah I have the XFX XXX edition of the 5850, that could help...

 

[n_w95482]

If it's changing during POST, then it's definitely not the OS or drivers. Open up the Catalyst Control Center and go to the ATI Overdrive section. It'll list the temperature there.

 

[Cid Highwind]

I would also not rule out having faulty memory chips on the GPU, it's not the most common but also not something you can't rule out. But well, check for heat first. I don't know how the card behaves during booting, because in idle it should not be able to overheat at all, given it's use of 20W.

 

[capo_2k]

I've seen purple on BIOS screens before...it happens when the VGA cables, plugs or sockets are a little bit crappy. (If you pull the VGA cable out of the back of the computer slightly you'll probably find that the colours get messed up (when the red, green or blue data gets lost). You may also find that if this is the case, then Windows may disconnect the "monitor device" due to the crappy data connection...hence no signal in Windows.) I know it's a long shot, but worth checking out.

Also, I don't wanna pi** on your bonfire or anything, but I've had 2 XFX cards over the last 3 years...and they've both died within 18 months! Personally I'm never gonna get an XFX card again.

Good news however is that if you've just got it new, it'll be under warranty so you can just get that b**ch replaced or repaired for free.

 

[Aided Onslaught]

Last night I ran the windows 7 system test. My cpu hit 70C and system went up pretty high as well. I forgot to bring up the ATI utility however I will check after work. I'm going to try installing a fan see if that will help.

I also have all of this in a HTTC case (it's huge..) under my tv. First computer since my 486 to be on it side and not standing up.

I tried a different HDMI cable. Here is the weird thing about the colors. The logo keeps it's red color on the bios, just the text changes. I'm wondering if it's a asus thing.

My theory is it gets too hot and the signal goes off (hasn't happened with the new cable yet, as I said more testing after work) and when I restart it the heat is still effecting it leaving a purple color instead of white.

 

[makotech222]

cpu hitting 70? thats pretty hot, though i only have an e8400.

 

[Aided Onslaught]

Okay I just added a 80mm fan that is running at just under 3000 rpms. the idle temps are lower, yet my cpu hit 77C this time. What the hell?

Also i was looking at my video card the whole time and it never got about 68C. I'm going to try playing some fallout 3 here...God this is annoying.

can anyone recommend a cpu cooler that is short than 6inches?

 

[makotech222]

did u apply thermal paste whena ttaching the cpu fan?

Were you running your computer before with no fan on the cpu??

 

[Aided Onslaught]

I used the paste that came on the stock cpu cooler, I have arctic silver so I might have to put that on and see if it helps. The reason I didn't put it on was becaue my first motherboard was DOA and didn't feel like waiting.

Anyhow I just played a good hours of fallout 3 in windowed mode so i could see my cpu temp and gpu temp.

cpu never went above 55 I'd say and gpu never went about 91 (the fan kicks upa notch and cools it down quiet fast)

That's cutting the ressolution from 1080 to 720. I do think the fan is helping, I still don't think the gpu is getting enough air however.

 

[StriderVM]

That sound like a busted video card.

Change the video card to anything else then boot, if it doesn't have the visual artifact in the BIOS, RMA the card immediately.

 

[makotech222]

LOL you were running a game with no cpu fan? that would likely destroy the cpu pretty fast.

My gpu never gets above 80 on any game, but my fan is set manually to 90% whenever i overclock.

 

[Aided Onslaught]

Who said anything about no cpu fan?

Anyhow I bought a new cpu cooler and it dropped the temps down enough that I don't mind, still hotter than what I want, but I'm still working on it.

I think everything was working fine. I played fallout 3 for well over an hour and no problems. When I get a circle saw drill (what are those called if you know what I'm talking about) I'll make two holes on the side and put a fan grill on them to make air flow not a problem at all.

thank you to all.