black screen after playing games for a while (Radeon X1950Pro)

[speedy11131]

I've been having this annoying problem where If I play a fairly demanding game, my LCD screen goes black. "No Signal" is printed on the screen and it goes on standby. Turning the monitor off and on does nothing. The only way I can restore the signal is to manually turn off the machine. (If i leave the computer alone, it keeps playing the game sounds, but after a few minutes the computer crashes and reboots.)

I think my X1950 is overheating because if I set the fan speed to 100% (fixed) it works longer (it still kills signal, but I can play for an hour vs 30 mins for example).

If I open a window and let the freezing air of the outdoors flow in, and use my room as a giant cooler for the PC it's fine. But I don't want to have to wear a coat in my room every time I want to play COD4 or crysis for more than 25 minutes at a time.

BTW: this machine does not have the same specs as the one under my name

specs are:
Athlon X2 4800+
Radeon X1950 Pro
2GB A-DATA RAM
NZXT PP500 Power Supply
160GB Samsung SATA hard drive
DVD-RAM Drive (LG)

 

[das müffin mann]

it is heat related ive had the same problem i just end3d up sticking a bigger fan in my case a 120 also i would say get a case with better airflow if you can, also if your card is oc turn it down a bit

 

[nguyenpeter76]

hmm thats like the dell xps 420 that im returning. it has a ati 2400 pro 128mb. whenever i play a game which was hl2:deathmatch since i got it for free it crashes w/e i use high detail settings. if medium then i can play for decent amount of time then crash. and w/e i scroll though pics it crashes also. but i dont think my video card was overheating but just simply a dud? i wouldnt know why it would be overheating when its factory prebuilt.

 

[Widjaja]

What motherboard?
I get this with certain games if the CPU is OC'd and there isn't enough voltage going to it.

 

[nguyenpeter76]

if u happen to be talking to me, then its the new dell x38 chipset mobo.

 

[erocker]

Speedy, I'm pretty sure the PSU is going to be the problem. However, before you replace that , have you replaced the thermal compound on the 1950 yet?

 

[speedy11131]

Thanks for all the replies.

erocker, no I have not replaced the thermal compound. How would I go about doing that and what compound do you recommend? (arctic silver is good, no?)

The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-M575SLI-S4

 

[Widjaja]

if u happen to be talking to me, then its the new dell x38 chipset mobo.

I was asking Speedy

@Speedy
What's the make of your X1950pro?

 

[erocker]

Thanks for all the replies.

erocker, no I have not replaced the thermal compound. How would I go about doing that and what compound do you recommend? (arctic silver is good, no?)

The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-M575SLI-S4

Arctic Cooling MX-2 is the best! You can get it a www.petrastechshop.com It works a little better then AS5 and it's non-conductive.

 

[Aguiar]

Speedy a clean may be good too.Check for dust in the cooler,maybe is preventing the circulation of the air....remove it from board and clean it well.

 

[erocker]

Very good point. I forgot to mention to clean the heatsink with alcohol before you put the new TIM on. It's a naked core, so the easiest thing to do would be use plastic wrap around your finger to evenly apply a thin layer of thermal paste to the gpu.

 

[peach1971]

@Speedy
What's the make of your X1950pro?

I was about to ask the same, because of a possible hot GPU VRM alert.

 

[speedy11131]

@Speedy
What's the make of your X1950pro?

Standard ATI card.

 

[Widjaja]

Standard ATI card.

I mean't is it Sapphire, Diamondview, HIS, Powercolour etc. . . .

If it's a Sapphire model, I can tell you now, it should only get up to a max of around 81deg in GPU intensive games.
Later games like Bioshock, S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Colin Mcrae DiRT all heatup the card to 81deg.

81deg max is also with default BIOS fan settings.

If your'e using ATT you can enable the temp readout in the system tray so after a while you can quit out of the game and check the temps as it will have the minimum and max temp read out when you place the mouse pointer over the temp in the system tray just so you know what temps your'e getting.

 

[speedy11131]

My bad. After taking out the darn thing, I noticed Connect3D on the fan. I assumed just a standard ATI board because ussually Sapphire, Diamondview, HIS, Powercolor have stickers on the cooler with the big logo and name of card. (Mine was just the red plastic cover on top of the heatsink/fan.)

I managed to clean most off the dust off without taking off the red cooler cover. (there was a layer of dust, so I spun the fan the other way, that dragged the dust along with it. Then I just took it out with tiny tweezers.)

However how do I remove the red cover? I took off the 4 big screws and the 4 small ones in the center on the back, but cooler seems to be glued on?!!?!?
Maybe I'm just being an idiot and I'm missing something...

About the fan thing, I ran RivaTuner (logging the temperature) before I cleaned the dust off, and played Crysis. It killed the monitor with no signal 10 minutes into starting the game, and after I loaded the log, Riva told me the GPU was @ 82º C when it killed signal. This was with fan forced to 100%.

 

[theonetruewill]

The cooler has a sticky compound that attaches it to the RAM sinks. Pull GENTLY, if it really will not budge then DO NOT FORCE IT.

 

[Widjaja]

Dude, I had a little search on your brand of X1950pro.
Your'e definitley not the only one with this issue.

Two things came up.
Power supply and the vItec chip peach pointed out.
Placing one of the spikey Zalman heatsinks on the vItec chip apparently worked.

The psu thing with X1950pros has always been a bit iffy.
I'm running my X1950pro off a 2X18a +12V PSU and there are plaently of other people doing the same, some with even weaker PSUs.
It's recommended by ATi you run the card off a single +12v/30a rail or 2X20a+12v PSU.
I have also come across people with uneven dual PSU rails having issues with these cards for some reason.

Do you know the +12v amperage of your PSU and whether it's multi-railed or not?
Cheapest option will be either to RMA the card or just stick one of those Zalman heatsinks on the vItec chip.

 

[keakar]

i agree with the others, you need better cooling in your case (read my case airflow guide in my sig to see how you can improve your airflow) and i would suggest you also up your power supply to at least a 550 watt.

i recommend this one: ePOWER ZU-550W ATX12V Version 2.0 $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817101021

its a very nice psu, super quiet and the quality is superior to anything in its price range

 

[PuMA]

hey! had the same card and same problem. was running the card with poor 400W psu, and screen went black with no signal after an hour of gameplay. replced the PSU with 630W and problem was fixed. the card needs atleast 450W PSU with about 30A on a single rail PSU.

 

[peach1971]

speedy11131, please install the latest version of Lavalys Everest http://www.lavalys.com/products/download.php?ps=UE&lang=en and report your VRM load temp if available.

Wait... is this your PSU? > http://www.xoxide.com/orion-xp400-420w-psu.html

Power Output:

* Max Output: 420W
* Current:
o +3.3V: 35A
o +5V: 36A
o +12V: 17A
o -5V: 1A
o -12V: 1A
o +5VSB: 2A

Then you´ll definitly need a new one...

See, my bequiet! 400W PSU has 16A + 14A = 22A combined @12V = 264W.

 

[Widjaja]

He said it's not the rig in his specs but the specs he posted in the forst thread

Looks like he should be okay but I did say I noticed some people having trouble with PSU's with uneven amperage even though the amperage should have been enough.

NZXT PP500 has dual rails.
+12V1 = 16a
+12V2 = 17a

 

[speedy11131]

Sorry about the confusion before, Widjaja is correct, the power supply in my profile is from a completely different machine. The machine in question has a NZXT PP500 PSU.

I would like to know however, what's a good replacement cooler (just in case), and how do I remove the red cover? (so I can get the fan properly cleaned) It's idling at 45º (ran it for about 24 hours). Is there a utility to stress the video card without my interference? (i want to leave it running while i'm at school).

Thanks for all your help.

 

[MidgetsRfun]

Hey, question. I have a single 12v Rail PSU, and I'm wondering if that would only cause the screen to go black (thanks to lack of power to the video card) and wouldn't cause the whole computer to shut down. If so, I'd be willing to replace the power supply. It's actually kind of old. I had to buy a 20 to 24 pin power adapter if that's any indication. I just figured the fact that it's 600w would make up for that. However if i need not just 1, but 2 12v rails lemme know.

I have trouble believing its a heat issue, especially since there's arcticsilver 5 on there now...

main hardware:
Asus P5B motherboard
Core 2 E6600 Conroe (non-overclocked)
Sapphire PCI-E x1950 Pro
2gigs Wintec Ampx DDR2 800 (1.8v)
600w Power supply (single 12v rail)

 

[PuMA]

hmm i find this strange, since myproblems were exactly like yours and a beefier PSU solved the problem

to discrabe my problem: playing armed assault or any other game above 1 hours,the screen went black and nosignal came. had to restart.

anyways heres a PM i got from a guy at armed assault forums regarding the nisignal crash:

Hey,

Read your post RE. Monitor saying "No Signal".

I had the exact same problem.

There's no certain fix for it, as everyone has had different solutions for it. I can offer you some of the solutions however!

1.) As soon as the monitor goes into the No Signal thing, switch it off and turn it back on quickly.

2.) Alt+tab back to desktop as soon as the Signal error comes up.

3.) A combination of 1+2. Turn the monitor off, then on, then Alt+Tab ASAP. *this is the solution that worked for me!

4.)**LAST DITCH SOLUTION** Clean out your ATI drivers, and reinstall. Like I said, this is a last ditch option, so if the first 3 I offered you don't work, research the problem some more, as there are several other solutions

Other than that, good luck trying to solve the problem, as I know how frustrating it is!

 

[Widjaja]

Sorry about the confusion before, Widjaja is correct, the power supply in my profile is from a completely different machine. The machine in question has a NZXT PP500 PSU.

I would like to know however, what's a good replacement cooler (just in case), and how do I remove the red cover? (so I can get the fan properly cleaned) It's idling at 45º (ran it for about 24 hours). Is there a utility to stress the video card without my interference? (i want to leave it running while i'm at school).

Thanks for all your help.

Go to the X1K HD2K clubhouse in the clubhouse section and ask TK.
He will know how to open up the cooler.
I'm not too fussy, I just get the air compressor and my girlfriends blusher to cleanout my PC.
She still uses it because she doesn't know. . .

As for cooling solutions, you can use either a AC X2 w/VRM heatplate or Zalman VF700 or VF900 VGA cooler which comes with spiky heatsinks.

As for stress testing video cards I just used ATT 3d renderer and clicked on scan artifacts.