• AnyStream is having some DRM issues currently, Netflix is not available in HD for the time being.
    Situations like this will always happen with AnyStream: streaming providers are continuously improving their countermeasures while we try to catch up, it's an ongoing cat-and-mouse game. Please be patient and don't flood our support or forum with requests, we are working on it 24/7 to get it resolved. Thank you.

Video driver crashing continuosly and recovering

Watching Pirates of the Caribbean tonight on HD, brilliant picture quality, took me 20 minutes to experience the first crash, but the crashes are still there... but more infrequent now that I removed the Fusion tv card and created a fresh install of Vista.
 
I have also logged my displeasure with the support website for Gigabyte (the card manifacturer). They reminded me that my videocard requires a PSU of 450W at least.
I will check tonight to see what my PSU is like, I suspect it might be a 350W.
Could this be the culprit? It sort of makes sense.
By removing a card, I reduced the power consumption of the PC, but not enough for the card to be able to manage all the time.
At peak times (dramatic background change when playing a BlueRay disc or fast action scene) the card tryes to draw power but it fails to acquire what it needs, therefore crashes the video drivers.
It would be nice if that is all it is...
 
That's very possible. You said you removed other cards, as well, right? Which all lessen the load on the PSU. That's definitely a good avenue to check out.
 
I am pretty sure now that I think about it, that it is a Fortron 300W. Very quiet power supply, but also not powerful enough I guess to handle a blue-ray disc. I have another power supply in a different PC, might not be a 450, but should work for a quick test tonight.
 
Give it a shot and see what happens. Couldn't hurt to try it out. But 300, yea, definitely not enough these days.
 
I believe the NVIDIA GeForce 6200 is the last card that had a minimum requirement of 300 watts for the PSU. I had one in an older Dell system that had originally come with a NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440. Anything higher than the 6200 would have been beyond reasonable for the PSU.
 
Last edited:
You can't overstate the importance of a good PSU. You can have the best components in the world, but, if they aren't getting sufficient CLEAN power, game over.
 
SamuriHL said:
You can't overstate the importance of a good PSU. You can have the best components in the world, but, if they aren't getting sufficient CLEAN power, game over.
Click to expand...

Most definitely. It's, of course, always wise to have a PSU that is actually more than you really need so that when you do upgrade a videocard or whatnot you don't find yourself handcuffed by the power requirement of the new hardware device.

PC Power & Cooling make very nice PSUs.
 
I'm partial to the antec PSU's and cases myself but as long as you get a good, known brand you should be good. The problem I have with my antec HTPC case is the power supply is only 380 wihch is not a lot of juice. It's sufficient for my rig, but, both the case and the PSU don't allow for much expansion. And it's a mini-atx PSU, so, finding a good replacement that's affordable (i.e. less than I paid for the case!) is difficult.
 
gnollo said:
I am pretty sure now that I think about it, that it is a Fortron 300W. Very quiet power supply, but also not powerful enough I guess to handle a blue-ray disc.
Click to expand...

That's not the problem. It's not powerful enough to handle the video card properly in addition to everything else you have installed, and you require a minimum of 18 amps on the +12 volt rail for an 8500. The quality of the +12 volt rail is extremely important.

I do not really trust anything other than PC Power and Cooling PSUs anymore.


I'm partial to the antec PSU's
Click to expand...

I once was and am not any longer after having to RMA 3 Antec TrueBlue TruePower 480 Watt Power Supplies several years ago and an Antec NeoPower 550W power supply last year.

The Antec TruePower 850W Quattro power supply is decent (much lower RMA reports).
 
Last edited:
Wow, I've never heard of that many problems with Antec equipment! Snikes!! I've not had any problems with my antec PSU's. I've got 3 of them in the house. 2 of them are MANY years old and still kicking strong. Couldn't be happier with them tbh. I don't have experience with PC Power and Cooling but I know both you and DLaD recommend them highly. If I ever need a new PSU I'll be sure to check them out.

But, gnollo, that's 3 of us that believe good quality power is the key to a stable system. ;) I'm sure you probably agree by now if you didn't before. Webbie, DLaD, and I run extremely stable machines with very few problems. This would be one of the main reasons why.
 
SamuriHL said:
Wow, I've never heard of that many problems with Antec equipment! Snikes!! I've not had any problems with my antec PSU's. I've got 3 of them in the house. 2 of them are MANY years old and still kicking strong. Couldn't be happier with them tbh. I don't have experience with PC Power and Cooling but I know both you and DLaD recommend them highly. If I ever need a new PSU I'll be sure to check them out.

But, gnollo, that's 3 of us that believe good quality power is the key to a stable system. ;) I'm sure you probably agree by now if you didn't before. Webbie, DLaD, and I run extremely stable machines with very few problems. This would be one of the main reasons why.
Click to expand...

Yes, the PSU is the foundation of a system. Have a bad PSU and it doesn't matter what hardware you use elsewhere because it can cause major issues. I'm using a PC Power & Cooling 750 Quad (Red) and loving it for now. Come the next generation of video cards who knows what kind of PSUs will be required. *sigh*

Not to totally digress but you made me think about it and now I'm annoyed again... the most complicated and infuriating thing about my entire system when I built it was my Lian-Li case! *sigh*
 
SamuriHL said:
Wow, I've never heard of that many problems with Antec equipment! Snikes!! I've not had any problems with my antec PSU's. I've got 3 of them in the house. 2 of them are MANY years old and still kicking strong.
Click to expand...

The modular neopowers did suffer from some issues, especially in combination with some MSI motherboards. And those Trueblue Truepower power supplies did not impress me at all. I believe the issue was with very specific models. The Anctec Quattro 850W appears to be an excellent power supply.


I don't have experience with PC Power and Cooling but I know both you and DLaD recommend them highly.
Click to expand...

They do produce the most highly respected power consumer power supplies in the industry currently (that situation may change, but for now, they are excellent).

But, gnollo, that's 3 of us that believe good quality power is the key to a stable system.
Click to expand...

Yes, since I overclock, I can't afford to be using a power supply that doesn't provide clean and stable power to my system(s). A good powersupply is the cornerstone for all good computers. Far too many consumers and system builders "cheap out" when it comes to power supplies.
 
Last edited:
DrinkLyeAndDie said:
Yes, the PSU is the foundation of a system. Have a bad PSU and it doesn't matter what hardware you use elsewhere because it can cause major issues. I'm using a PC Power & Cooling 750 Quad (Red) and loving it for now. Come the next generation of video cards who knows what kind of PSUs will be required. *sigh*

Not to totally digress but you made me think about it and now I'm annoyed again... the most complicated and infuriating thing about my entire system when I built it was my Lian-Li case! *sigh*
Click to expand...

Never dealt with Lian Li. I've always read good things about them, but, you didn't seem to have a very pleasant experience from what I recall. :) This is why I stick to my tried and true antec cases for the most part. They've yet to let me down. (And I think Webbie's case experience was worse than even yours. What a nightmare for you both.)
 
It's funny that power is one of the least thought about things by most consumers but has such a huge impact on stability. And it's also one of the most difficult to track down and troubleshoot. I have machines that have literally been running for 5 or 6 years now with no problems at all (my linux server in the basement and my HTPC in my bedroom....both using antec power supplies and the linux server is in an antec case). I attribute that kind of stability to the fact that they get clean, stable power. Unstable power can fry machines faster than you can imagine. And even if it doesn't, it will cause REALLY bizarre problems/crashes/etc. My friends have bought cheap power supplies and regretted it severely. They'd always laugh at me when I paid premium for an Antec. Yet I rarely had problems. :) (And when I did, it was my own stupidity. You know, plugging a new graphics card into a mobo with the PSU plugged in and not switched off. Wasn't the healthiest day I've ever seen for a mobo. Smoke isn't good, right? :D)
 
SamuriHL said:
Never dealt with Lian Li. I've always read good things about them, but, you didn't seem to have a very pleasant experience from what I recall. :) This is why I stick to my tried and true antec cases for the most part. They've yet to let me down. (And I think Webbie's case experience was worse than even yours. What a nightmare for you both.)
Click to expand...

Both Drinklyeanddie and I have received cases from Lian-Li and Zalman, respectively that came with screws that were tightened far too tightly at the factory. The first one that I received, I couldn't remove the 3.5" bay panel due to stripping screws.

I couldn't be happier with the midtower Zalman I have now, but that was a PITA at first, yes.
 
Last edited:
Webslinger said:
Both Drinklyeanddie and myself have received cases from Lian-Li and Zalman, respectively that came with screws that were tightened far too tightly at the factory. The first one that I received, I couldn't remove the 3.5" bay panel due to stripping screws.

I couldn't be happier with the midtower Zalman I have now, but that was a PITA at first, yes.
Click to expand...

Admittedly, both of your situations worked out in the end. It still would have annoyed me beyond belief if it had happened to me. The case doesn't worry me as much as power and motherboard for system stability though. Having a nice case is useful if you want to swap out parts a lot, but, even a cheap case with a great power supply can lead to an awesome system. That's the situation I have with my HTPC in the bedroom. Crappy case, hard to work on, but, yet with that antec psu in there, it runs great. So, for me, if ever I'm going to skimp, it'll be on the case. That way I can make sure I get better components like the mobo and psu. However, you freaks want the best of everything which is understandable. ;)
 
[OT]

SamuriHL said:
Never dealt with Lian Li. I've always read good things about them, but, you didn't seem to have a very pleasant experience from what I recall. :) This is why I stick to my tried and true antec cases for the most part. They've yet to let me down. (And I think Webbie's case experience was worse than even yours. What a nightmare for you both.)
Click to expand...

I don't remember how many times he returned his. My third case that I now use still isn't really right. I got tired of RMA'ing the case and NewEgg was getting somewhat annoyed, as well. They actually strongly recommended that I not even order the case the third time since I had problems with the previous two! I was also stuck paying for 3 cases because to expedite resolving the matter I RMA'ed one and bought another. I had a ton of money invested for a couple months until all my credits showed up on my credit card a few months later. I'm just living with the fact that I can't reverse the swing of the door. With the previous two cases I couldn't get the fron panel off at all because the screws holding it on wouldn't budge without stripping. If I couldn't remove the front panel then I couldn't access the fan filters to clean them. In short, being unable to remove the front was something that couldn't be lived with. Of course there is also the odd fact that my case spec-wise doesn't really exist. It has space for more 3.5" HDDs than the case is supposed to support. That's great by me. One of these days when I'm patient enough I'll just take the front off the case and take it to a hardware store and get them to either loosen or drill out the problematic screws that cannot be removed.

I did contact Lian-Li. It's been a couple months. No response. Pretty sad. I've never heard anything negative about them but my impression of them is that they make beautiful looking cases but their QC stinks and their support is nonexistent. Oh well.

[/OT]

Anyway, yep, I think a PSU upgrade should help gnollo out.
 
Last edited:
That's truly a shame. I'd hate to spend that kind of money on a case to have those kinds of problems. Not fun.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top