I recently reinstalled my Windows xp and since that my PC crashes whenever
I try to play games. Otherwise it functions properly, I can watch movies,
listen to music, surf etc.. But every "proper" game that I have tried
either wont start or crashes after a short time. It crashes to desktop
with the usual "send error report / dont send report" notification.
I guess my graphics card is broken since everyting else works. I have played
these games before the reinstall with no probs. I have the newest drivers
for my hardware and the newest directx.
My setup:
Gigabyte KT400
AMD Athlon 2400+
Ati Radeon 9700 pro
1gb ram
Any suggestions? Are there freeware/trial diagnostic programs for graphic cards?
The dxdiag tests gave no errors..
Thanks a lot.
I had the similar problem directed at the ATI driver,
and the way windows uses video memory, and problems with the ATI software.
Here's a breakdown of the problem I had.
I have had this issue, or one similar, since Vista RC1.
"I also tried reverting back to XP ,a and still had the issue
when playing games, So I went back to vista, And have
concluded the ATI software to the problem."
It comprises the system locking up so hard that frequently it is unable to display even a BSOD. Running debugging tools (on the rare occasion that the system is able to write a memory dump) always points to atikmdag.sys as the culprit.
If it happens it'll happen within the first few hours of the system being on (could be 5 minutes after boot-up, or 2 hours). If it "survives", it'll be rock solid from then onwards.
It usually (but not always) happens at the same time the mouse is clicked
It will occasionally happen during boot-up
I also seem to have lost the VPU recover option in CCC, so when it crashes, it's gone.
Here's How I fixed my problem hopefully this might help as well.
Anyone else having issues with the display driver , or random crashes in games
or when trying to dual-boot your system with ATI graphics please read also:
First I downloaded the current release of the catalyst driver.
(The driver only, we wont be installing it per SE, but manually installing the driver in the device manager.
We need to extract the ati software from its .exe that was downloaded,
but not install it,
Once you double click the ati driver .exe it will extract the install
files to c:\ati This is the driver we will need.
Once the program starts to install , CANCEL and close it.
All we needed was to extract the drivers from the executable.
After downloading, remove all of the installed ati software,
Including display driver and Control center (if installed).
Next through the control panel, access device manager.
And uninstall /.disable your current video driver.
(your screen will change to Horrid resolution that's OK).
DO NOT restart the computer . else the OS will install
the basic drivers for it , and we want no driver installed .
Now in control panel Click "add new hardware"
And soon windows will again detect your video card,
When it asks for a driver , browse to the c:\ati folder
where we extracted the newest drivers.
The computer will then install your graphics card using the driver
only and Not ATI's software.
This solved the problem for me both in XP and Vista.
I have since went to VISTA ONLY as my primary OS,
But I had to due the same fixes when dual-booting XP using
Vista under virtual 2007.
Good luck and welcome to the forums.
Be sure to keep us posted.
Thanks for your great answer Jizmak. I did what you suggested but
sadly it had no effect.. Thief 3 still crashes to desktop and GRAW
gives me a error message with "failed to initialize rendering device".
Could this be because I have to boot my Pc in order to delete my
current video drivers (the horrid resolution comes after booting)?
Once you re-install the video drivers via the device manager,
The resolution should be able to be changed back to normal.
You also may need a program called "3d-analyze" (Its free BTW).
Your Graphics is an old first series card,
That isn't going to be supported by GRAW and newer games.
The Program 3d-analyze will replace shaders and attempt to
emulate Hardware T & L . So you can at least play the game,
It wont be perfect there will be tearing and such,
But then at least the game should be somewhat playable.
This Card jumped out at me from the link, It uses PCi-E x16
And it an ATI based card,
SAPPHIRE 100218L Radeon HD 2600XT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
I'm not sure If you have a PCI-E x 16 slot in your computer,
If you DO , then this card would be great for games
and for HD/Blu ray playback. And a good price at 110$ US.
Otherwise your going to have these problems on newer games,
With your older video card,
I changed the resolution after the re-install, but as I said,
the games still don't work. I meant that windows has to boot
before it uninstalls the old drivers, so maybe it installs the
basic drivers at the same reboot? I've played GRAW and Thief 3 on
this hardware setup before, so that shouldn't be the problem. As for
PCI-E, my mobo only has AGP. Guess I'll just have to start saving
for a new setup.. Thank you very much anyway.
