ATI Radeon 5870

[etch666]

<p>Just installed this new card today after my old nvidia card broke down.</p><p>I am using Windows 7 64mb but this crash has also occured on Windows vista 64mb.</p><p>At first this card works beautifully in game.....but after 10-20 mins every time the display goes haywire with colours and polygons everywhere and I have to do a hard reboot to get out of it.</p><p>I have tried with the latest drivers from ati, the drivers on the CD, and the drivers that are recommended on this board sadly they all end in the same result. I have also uninstalled the old nvidia drivers before installing the new ATI drivers.</p><p>I have played fallout 3, vanguard, oblivion all for hours with no trouble at all, the only game I crash on is EQ2.</p><p>Anyone having the same issues or can offer a suggestion?</p>

[etch666]

<p>Have tried everything to get this working and nada.</p><p>Am I the only one? At my wits end here.</p>

[Laedarr]

<p>I'm sure you've probably checked this already, but have you made sure you have enough power to run the card?  That 5870 should use a minimum of 500w even though I think the minimum specs say 450? </p><p>Have you made sure that your card is plugged into the power?  Sometimes I looks like it is, but you really have to give it some muscle to make sure it's connected right.</p>

[etch666]

<p>Yeah I got both 6 pin connectors full pushed in so they click. Its a 1200w psu so I dont see how it can be a power issue.</p>

[etch666]

<p>Couldn't get this resolved. I know some peopple use this card for EQ2 with no problems, however I cant play it for more than 20 mins without a crash and BSoD.</p><p>Out of ideas.</p>

[BungFoo]

<p>Stupid questions, did you update DX9 and did you try removing the eq2_recent.ini file? from the eq2 install directory?</p>

[Jeeshman]

<p><cite>etch666 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Just installed this new card today after my old nvidia card broke down.</p><p>I am using Windows 7 64mb but this crash has also occured on Windows vista 64mb.</p><p>At first this card works beautifully in game.....but after 10-20 mins every time the display goes haywire with colours and polygons everywhere and I have to do a hard reboot to get out of it.</p><p>I have tried with the latest drivers from ati, the drivers on the CD, and the drivers that are recommended on this board sadly they all end in the same result. I have also uninstalled the old nvidia drivers before installing the new ATI drivers.</p><p>I have played fallout 3, vanguard, oblivion all for hours with no trouble at all, the only game I crash on is EQ2.</p><p>Anyone having the same issues or can offer a suggestion?</p></blockquote><p>From your description of the problem, that sounds like a hardware fault.  You may want to re-seat the card by pulling it out and firmly reinserting it to ensure it's making a decent connection with the PCI-E slot.  </p><p>The problem also may be brought about by the graphics card overheating.  There should be a way in the card's settings to force it to constantly run its fan at 100% which may solve the problem.  If you can't find a way to force the fan speed in the card's settings, you can do it using an application called <a href="http://downloads.guru3d.com/RivaTuner-v2.24c-download-163.html" target="_blank">Rivatuner</a>.</p><p>My nVidia cards (SLI configuration) will eventually crash unless I force fan speed to 100%, and EQ2 is the only game I have to do this with.</p>

[Tro]

<p><cite>Laedarr wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I'm sure you've probably checked this already, but have you made sure you have enough power to run the card?  That 5870 should use a minimum of 500w even though I think the minimum specs say 450?</p><p>Have you made sure that your card is plugged into the power?  Sometimes I looks like it is, but you really have to give it some muscle to make sure it's connected right.</p></blockquote><p>The recommended PSU wattage for a given graphics card is based on an average computer system as a whole and also includes  the  graphics card power requirements. The real power issue for graphics cards is the amps on the +12v rail . My card requires 38Amps on the +12 v rail so I got a PSU that has 60Amps on the +12v rail. So even though you may have a 500w PSU, it still may be lacking the needed amps on the +12 volt rail.</p><p>But this has the appearance of a overheating issue especially when you say:</p><p>"but after 10-20 mins every time the display goes haywire with colours and polygons everywhere"</p><p>Make sure the fans on the card are actually working and if so do what someone else suggested and get the rpm's on those fans higher.  If that changes nothing I would suggest RMA the card.</p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p><cite>Talsmar@Crushbone wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>But this has the appearance of a overheating issue especially when you say:</p><p>"but after 10-20 mins every time the display goes haywire with colours and polygons everywhere"</p><p>Make sure the fans on the card are actually working and if so do what someone else suggested and get the rpm's on those fans higher.  If that changes nothing I would suggest RMA the card.</p></blockquote><p>I know this isn't good news but I need to agree with Talsmar.  Either the card is overheating or the memory on the card is going bad.  Overheating seems like the most likely possibility.</p><p>Check to make sure all of your airways are clear and that all the fans are spinning.  If the issue persists then RMA the card while it's still under warranty.</p>

[etch666]

<p>Thanks for the replies, since I made this post I have tried many things to get this working.</p><p>Turns out this error is a "atikmdag.sys" error, at least thats the file it points to on the BSoD, looking it up on google there is no real solution, just a ton of things to try and hope for the best.</p><p>I have ran the game with fan speed at 100% and the card underclocked, it still crashes.</p><p>The temperature of the card reads as approx 50 degrees when it crashes. I have played vanguard, oblivion, fallout 3 and left them on all night and woke up the next day to find the game still playing fine.</p><p>I have enquired about returning the card but they say they will run a test on the card and if they find the card to be fine, they will send it back to me and charge me for shipping. For all I know the card is fine, since it plays all my other games flawlessly.</p><p>The only thing left I havent tried is reinstalling eq2.</p>

[bluefish]

<p>seems to be an ATI driver problem and yes I understand you tried the driver and on the cd, the latest driver and another set.</p><p>after searching... this problem is nothing new .. people have been getting this error for a couple of years now</p><p>You can try reinstalling EQ2 but my gut tells me your problem won't be fixed till ATI addresses this issue with a new driver release</p>

[Tro]

<p><cite>etch666 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Thanks for the replies, since I made this post I have tried many things to get this working.</p><p>Turns out this error is a "atikmdag.sys" error, at least thats the file it points to on the BSoD, looking it up on google there is no real solution, just a ton of things to try and hope for the best.</p><p>I have ran the game with fan speed at 100% and the card underclocked, it still crashes.</p><p>The temperature of the card reads as approx 50 degrees when it crashes. I have played vanguard, oblivion, fallout 3 and left them on all night and woke up the next day to find the game still playing fine.</p><p>I have enquired about returning the card but they say they will run a test on the card and if they find the card to be fine, they will send it back to me and charge me for shipping. For all I know the card is fine, since it plays all my other games flawlessly.</p><p>The only thing left I haven't tried is reinstalling eq2.</p></blockquote><p>Is that 50 degrees F or Celsius? Also one thing to consider:</p><p>I know you say you play other games and the card works fine and i am not familiar with how hard those games make the card work but I think I can say with confidence that EQ2 is very taxing on the card meaning that your graphics card will likely run hotter playing EQ2 vice the other games.. If that is accurate then it could still be an overheating issue.</p><p>Like I said the fact that it fails every 10-20 mins is a clear indication of overheating.</p><p>I have never had a company tell me they will test the (Suspected) failed part and if it tests good they will send it back and charge me shipping.</p><p>They just give me an RMA # and I send it back and shortly after get a replacement. That kinda sucks but what can ya do about it..</p>

[etch666]

<p>Degrees C.</p><p>Yeah I have a hunch I will have to quit eq2 because of this, I don't really want to but I can't play it like this <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.</p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p>The heat numbers you are quoting don't seem too far outside the norm but everything you've posted indicates a heat issue.</p><p>The colors and polygons appearing everywhere is a major indication that your memory is burning up.  It's generally referred to as 'artifacting'.  The fact that it is happening after a certain period of time makes a heat issue seem even more likely. </p><p>How much time do you have left on the graphics card's warranty?  I'm guessing that the card will continue to degrade for a while longer until it gets to the point where it is effecting your other games as well.  I had a similar issue with an older 6800 ultra.  The problem started like you're reporting with EQ2 so I played some other games to pass the time.  It suddenly and finally self-destructed when I was playing Diablo 2 a few days later.  I suppose if you're worried about having to pay for shipping on the RMA then you can wait a few days while it continues to destroy itself.</p>

[etch666]

<p>Fed up with trying to fix this now, gonna do my best to send it back and get a nvidia card instead.</p><p>Thanks to all who posted</p>

[nkognegr0]

<p>funny thing i am having same issue. i look at these post about heat related and i dont think thats the issue. the only game i am having and issue with is eq2 it crashes every 10-15 minutes sometimes i can get an hour or so. i think this happened to me before with another video card and i believe its a setting in eq2 menu i am gonna keep looking for a fix. i didnt have this issue before the last patch same video card so who knows its a big headache i know that.</p>

[nkognegr0]

<p>i got it running fine with my 5870 now i just went in the menu turned off or down a lot of things. i will turn them all on one by one to see which is locking up the game. i have my profile set to high performance and im playing in 5860 x 1800 resolution! eyefinity works great on eq2.</p><p><img src="http://hiphopvids.net/eq1.jpg" /></p>

[etch666]

<p>Let me know if you manage to fix it, if this company sends it back to me I will still have to look for a solution.</p>

[Troubor]

<p>Sounds like the OP is sending the card back so probably too little, too late but to be honest I haven't had any issues with mine (well like the OP's issue, I have a minor issue but I'll make a new thread for it).</p><p>One other idea...did you go from Nvidia to the Radeon 5870?  If so, did you run something like drivercleaner to clean out the Nvidia drivers first?  It's uncommon, but files left over from another brand's drivers can corrupt an install.</p><p>I also noted one other thing.  This wasn't with EQ2 but when I first install the drivers and reboot, 3dMark Vantage doesn't render right, the water either doesn't render at all or renders all over the place in weird colors.  I have to do a second reboot, and then 3dMark Vantage works fine.  That's only after initially installing new drivers though.</p><p>ADDENDUM:  Still going to do a second post on this in more detail, but I do have 2 x 5870's in Crossfire.  I noticed in full screen mode with Crossfire on, I get terrible framerates, at least based on what I'd expect.  Windowed mode, or turning off Crossfire in either full screen or windowed my framerates are fine.  Image quality is always fine regardless though.  This is using both the 9.10 drivers (current non beta) and 9.11 beta, along with some older release canadate drivers for the 5870 posted on October 13th (I guess they were a 9.10 beta?). </p><p>I have other minor issues that I'm working around fine, but again I'll go into details in another thread so I don't hijack the OP's thread too much.</p>