You've heard this before from me

[ray_MAN]

About a year ago, I got a ATI Radeon 9800 Pro. It was amazing playing games. I installed The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and all of a sudden, my happiness came to an end. The game got a VPU Recover message and my computer froze. I thought it was only that game. Over the next few months, more and more games froze and got the VPU Recover message. Soon, it became every game I play.
About 2 months ago, I called ATI and they said my power supply wasn't up to enough to handle. The call ended up being $28. So, I spent a month saving for my new power supply. I just got a 500 Watt PSU (I was thinking towards the future) for about $180. I popped it in, and I played the Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory because that game froze and it would tell me if I fixed the problem. Well, SC:CT froze after 1 minute of gameplay. In total, I spent $208 on something that didn't fix my problem.
I am inclined to believe that my card is overheating. I have checked many websites and they say that a VPU Recover message occurs due to overheating. I cannot understand why my card is overheating because it is not overclocked and there is a lot of air intake and outtake. There is no dust on the card because I clean the computer out frequently. I also have the latest drivers and such. I have tried getting other types of drivers to no avail. Even reinstalling my card will not fix the problem. I think it is a problem with my card, and I cannot afford a new one now that I spent all of my money on a power supply.
Is there anything I can do that will be cheap or free?

A small list of games the freeze:
UT 2004
Deus Ex: Invisible War
BF 2
HL 2
CS:S
SC:CT
Tony Hawk's Underground 2
Guild Wars
Morrowind
Rainbow Six 3
Warcraft 3
World of Warcraft
Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault
(Every game that freezes is played at the lowest settings. [except HL2])

My specs:
P4 2.53 Ghz
500 W PSU
768MB DDR RAM
ATi Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB

 

[JNightshade]

The same thing happened to me, and it took me forever to figure out what it was. The solution was actually really stupid and simple, but here it goes: your PC needs a vacuuming. With me, I had so much dust in my box that my video card was overheating and my PC was shutting down. I just blew some compressed air into my fans, shopvac'd out everything else, and I haven't had the problem since! (This was 4 months ago)

 

[ray_MAN]

Vacuuming the computer would create static electricity, right? I do clean out my PC with compressed air almost monthly.

 

[NeptuneUK]

meh vacuuming works for me. but i took everything out of the case....

 

[JNightshade]

When I did it, I just made sure everything was safely tightened in, and vacuumed. It worked fine.

 

[Asus]

I would also turn off AGP Fast Write. It doesn't give you any performance improvement but can cause instability. Either turn it off in driver settings or in the bios.

 

[ray_MAN]

I turned off the fastwrites a while ago. It makes no difference.
For what it's worth, my computer gets very loud while playing the games listed above. Maybe that's a sign that my fans are trying to cool everything down.
Also, the fans on the video card I've had before this stopped working. That was an nVidia 4200 128MB.

 

[J_Tweedy]

yeh well it does sound like its a heat issue- get an aftermarket hsf on that vid card, tidy up your case.
What are your temps under load btw?

 

[ray_MAN]

I never was able to find out the temperatures. I have programs, but they suck. Any suggestions?

 

[JNightshade]

if you right click on your desktop, then click the "advanced" button under one of the tabs, it'll take you to a special ATI window. The "Overdrive" tab shows your current video card temp.


at least, that's how I do it...

 

[Asus]

9800Pro doesn't have that. It doesn't have a temp. sensor.

 

[aaryn101]

Get ATI tray tools, it tells you your GPU temp, and lets you control your fan speeds.

 

[ray_MAN]

Ok, I will try that later. Do you think flashing my card in BIOS would do anything?

 

[sinkoman]

No, the 128mb 9800 pro doesn't have a tempurature sensor.

Beyond me. Lately, i've been hearing allot of problems like yours with your card.

Makes me glad i'm off my 9800 pro, although it was a excellent card for the money.

 

[ray_MAN]

Here's the plan:
This week I am going to call ATi tech support and explain my situation. I am then going to ask if they can send me a replacement card. Surprisingly, the warranty is a 3-year warranty, so I have a while to go.
If they refuse to send me the card, I will void the warranty and flash the card in BIOS.

 

[Asus]

I don't think flashing the bios will fix your problem. hehe
Maybe you should get some thermal grease. Take off the heatsink, clean it then apply. Maybe it will help with the overheating. Although that would void the warrenty. Call first like you said.

 

[ray_MAN]

To be honest, ****ing with my card is the last thing I want to do. I don't have enough money for another one, so a mistake would be devastating.

 

[Glirk Dient]

Perhaps you need to buy a better heatsink/fan for your vid card. Also, when you get that error feel your vid card and see if it is hot to the touch. Leave the case open and that might also help to keep it cool.

Don't worry about screwing it up...vid cards are a whole lot more durable than you think. On top of that it is pretty easy to switch the heatsink/fan.