Okay guys, i just bought a new comp with a ATI radeon 9550 256Mb card fitted as an extra, and it keeps crashing.

Heres my system

Aopen motherboard
2 x 512 Mb Memory
Dvd reader/ CdRw
Dvd burner
AMD 2800 processor @ 1.99GHz
300 Watt Psu
ATI Radeon 9550 256Mb Card
3 1/2 floppy drive

When i bought it, it was a computer base unit and i asked the shop to add the dvd burner, Gfx card and put a Gb of memory in it.

However the ATI card's drivers were not installed when i bought it, so i done this myself and thats when the probs began. To test how good the card was, i bought San Andreas, and D/L Wolvenstein ET, and both of these games crash within 1min - 10 mins of play.

The driver disc didnt contain the Catalyst Contol panel, so i d/l that from ATI's site, and if anything this had made things worse. Ive tried older drivers, ive tried various things listed on other forums and discussion boards, like turning on/off various options in catalyst,
ive tried turning down in-game settings, tried turning them to max... and im beginning to pull my hair out!

Its even crashing using Firefox, Dreamweaver and Photoshop!

A DVD lasts 15 mins if youre lucky. I searched google to see if anyone was having similar problems with it and it seems quite a widespread problem with this gfx card.

ATI werent much help and sent an automated email every time i asked them for help, ive mailed them 8 times now and to no response, except the automated emails.

Im not new to computers but i aint no genius either, so any help would be great, im going to call the shop back and tell them to take it back, but i really cant be doing with having no computer, its essential i have this for college, and having them fit another card with the same problems is no use to me.

If anyone can help me i'd be extremely grateful.

Yours, Danny

Please detail the nature of the crash...is there any message? reboot? Visual/audio cues?

Double check that large file caching is disabled (There's a Catalyst/Windows XP + >512MB RAM bug that pops up now and then)

• Click Start, Control Panel (Start, Settings, Control Panel for Classic Start Menu)
• Open System
• Click on the Advanced tab and then click Settings in the Performance box.
• Click the Advanced tab.
• In the Memory usage box, make sure Programs is checked.

Thanks man - ive tried doing as you said and yeah the box is checked.

When it does crash, it either gives me a black screen, with sound still running for a min or two, ive tried hitting the windows button to try get me back to XP but this has no use. However, when i hit the Esc key (in San Andreas, this is my Pause Menu key) you can hear the sounds cutting out and making the noise as if it has returned to the Games options screen, but nothing else happens...

With Wolvenstein ET it usually just reboots.

Usually the computer just sits with a black screen and occasionally it boots itself back up into windows (and back into 800x600, the game's setting, not my desktop, it's at 1280x1024) but most of the time my only option is to reset the thing.

I have heard a few stories that 1. my power supply, at 300watts, isnt big enough, and 2. - The card's chip has no cooling method except a heatsink on the GPU, no fan - i have been told i should have a fan fitted to it too.

Thanks for your reply man, muchos appreciated, but still crashing lol!

Yeah, most 9550s are passively cooled (As opposed to active; no cooling fan).

If you do not have any case fans, you should fit at least two first; one at the front (intake) and one at the rear (exhaust). Low end ATI graphics cards do not need serious cooling. However, if your system is suffering from a high environment temperature, they will crash. Attaching a cooling fan to the card will bandage the problem, but the real issue is an unacceptable internal case temperature.

As for PSU, this depends on how close to peak power consumption you were before; By AMD 2800, do you mean AMD Athlon XP 2800+, AMD Sempron 2800+ or AMD Athlon 64 2800+? It helps if you're a bit more accurate.

Thanks again. Im using a 2800 Semperon. For some odd reason GTA:SA will run no probs now - most of the time. Sometimes it will crash right away, sometimes it just doesnt. Maybe moving the computer to a cooler part of the room has helped, it now sits under my window next to the table where the monitor and such is. Previously it was in a large converted built-in wardrobe, where ive now relocated my technics turntables. Possibly there was not enough ventilation in there for it.

As for the fans, there is one at the back, and one on the motherboard. The side panel of the computer has a vent, and underneath the vent, inside the comp, there is a tube which sits directly above the fan, giving it fresh air and not any blown around the computer.

Anyways thanks for all your help and if you have any more ideas of how to improve it let me know. As soon as i get my next student loan im gonna go out n buy a different card, so it should hold until april anyways.

300W is not really enough; you should be looking at 400W or more.

This is not really for the benefit of aggregate Wattage, but the ampage provided on the various currents (Rails).

Well as i said previously the PC i bought was a base unit and i asked for the extra dvd burner, gfx card and and the memory to be upgraded from 256MB to 1GB - after all the fitting was free, so why not? In saying that, i also have, at any one time, two Xbox controllers, the mouse, a 1GB pen drive and an additional USB hub operating off the comp at any one time. Add to this an iPod nano, and i can appreciate the draw of power from the system - especially when it's running for at least 12 hours a day! Ive contacted a friend to install a new psu for me, after reading the forum i thought it would be the best thing to do - i have installed a program to measure temperatues and contolr the fan speeds, and he said the heat is defianetley not a prob, however he did also say that adding anything else to the system would be a disaster, so im going out to price a decent one tomorrow. Id like to thank you for all your help, unlike other forums ive been treated with respect and not been been patronised at all. Anyways, thank you v. much, and dont worry ill be back in here again - great forum! Thanks again!