*sigh* more problems with video card; help!

[brantmacga]

So. . . .

I got a new power supply today. I took my computer to the computer store and let them look everything over. i asked for something in the 500-700W range; they said a 400W was all that i needed, and that they build gaming computers all the time w/ 400w power supplies.


after a few minutes of running FS, my graphics card shuts off. I don't know enough to know if its because of the power supply or a driver problem.


so lets assume for a minute its a driver issue.

where would i get the right drivers? i went to the manufacturer website and downloaded the newest driver for the graphics card; should i be looking at chipset drivers, etc. . .

how do i determine exactly what i have and then find the driver for it?


I have an AMD Sempron 3400 CPU, 2GIG RAM, ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO AGP 512MB video card.


Connected to the power supply, by the way, is two HDD's, DVD/RW, CD/RW, motherboard, CPU fan and case fan, 3.5" floppy drive. The vid card said 270W minimum power supply.


Other than the FS issue, the card is working great. menu's, various graphics, etc. . .are loading so much faster than the FX 5200.

Thank you so much if you can help!

[NickN]

'my graphics card shuts off' does not tell me anything

what do you mean by that and exactly what happens

And that store is full of it.. most decent systems use a 500-550watt PSU, newer ones with the better quads and video cards use 600-750

with an AGP card you would not need 650 unless overclocking a quad core processor but 500 is very possible

[brantmacga]

"shuts off" = no signal being sent to monitor.

I don't know any other way to explain it. The monitor LED begins to flash as if the computer is no longer on. The vid card fan is still running, but it no longer sends any video. this has only happened with FS.


FS is still running when this happens. I hear adjustments i make to the throttle,  flaps, etc. . .

[NickN]

OK, can you exit FS via keyboard strokes and when this happens does the image return?


Does this 'shut down' happen right away or does it take time to appear? If so, how long?

[brantmacga]

No I can't tab over to another program or return to the desktop.

The only way I've found to get the video back on is to restart the computer.

I left it running for a few minutes earlier after this happened and eventually I heard the program freeze up.


The time it takes seems to vary, and also seems dependent on the graphics settings of the program. Minimal graphics gives me an extended period to run FS until the video is lost. If I run it wide open it can take anywhere from 1 minute to 5 minutes.

It is only happening in-flight. If I run FS for a couple of minutes, and then exit the flight and start another one, I can keep it going for quite awhile.

Thanks for taking the time to respond Nick; I really appreciate the help.

[brantmacga]

okay so here's what happened next:


I was able to tab over to my desktop just before i lost video again.

there was a dialog box for the video card control software that said it had to be reset because drivers were no longer responding.

i closed flight simulator and proceeded to reinstall the drivers.

i was prompted to reset after install, and then my computer started repeatedly restarting. it would never get to the windows screen; i'd see the bios and boot screen, and then it'd restart.

i removed the video card and connected to on-board video and had the same problem.

i unplugged everything from the motherboard and made several connection changes until i could get windows to load.

i honestly don't know what i did the last time to finally get windows to start, but right now i have nothing but a hard drive connected to the board and i'm using the on-board video.

[brantmacga]

sooooooo


i tried to do a complete reinstall of the card.

i followed the directions which said;

delete all video drivers, disable on-board video, then go into bios and set to AGP, shut down, install card, boot up.

i did all that. nothing happens now. on-board doesn't work, new card doesn't work.

i can't get into my computer. i brought it up to my office to use this one and do some searches.

if anyone reads this in the next few minutes or hour and knows what to do, that'd be great.

[NickN]

You need to get that system to a tech.. there is nothing I can suggest remotely that will help. If that system is not booting at all you may have a defictive board

[brantmacga]

You need to get that system to a tech.. there is nothing I can suggest remotely that will help. If that system is not booting at all you may have a defictive board

i'm quite positive i now have a defective board.


without going into details, lets just say its now a doorstop.

[brantmacga]

so,

anyone else ever erased their bios?


we can start a club to console one another.