Asus 4850 fails 2D and 3D test.

[Aussie Greg]

Have been using this Asus 4850 [512mb] card for several months. Several days ago when playing CoH [OF] the game stopped and became non responsive...I noticed this seemed to happen at the point of a bright flash [for instance, an explosion]. I played several more times and the same thing happened each time.
Have run Passmark [What a great little software gem! ] several times: when I run 3d or 2D separately, the card passes, but when I run them simultaneously, it fails.
Is this normal, or does it suggest the vid card is stuffed?
My rig; Asus P5E; Intel E8600 3.3ghz; 4gb RAM; RAID0 [2 x 320gb HDDs]; 700w PSU; Asus EAH 512mb 4850 ATI drivers 9.6;everything standard..nothing overclocked
I would appreciate any input please.

[David (PassMark)]

You have posted your question in the PerformanceTest forum. But I suspect you are in fact using BurnInTest?

What software and version are you using? Which O/S? 32bit or 64bit?

But regardless of all else, system lockups and internal explosions are probalby not a good sign.

[Aussie Greg]

Thank you for replying. Yes, it is a Burnin test, I did not realise that is different to a performance test. Software is Vista Ultimate 32 bit. should I post this elsewhere?

[David (PassMark)]

What are the error messages, it would help if you could post part of the detailed log from BurnInTest.

[Aussie Greg]

Hello. This is a copy and paste of part of last testlog . The statement about incompatibility between 2D and 3D has been the same in all tests.
thanks for your time. AG.
RESULT SUMMARY
**************
Test Start time: Mon Jul 20 21:11:13 2009
Test Stop time: Mon Jul 20 21:26:14 2009
Test Duration: 000h 15m 01s
Test Name Cycles Operations Result Errors Last Error
2D Graphics 0 0 FAIL 90 The 2D memory test is incompatible with the 3D Full screen test
3D Graphics 40 81986 PASS 0 No errors
TEST RUN FAILED
******************
DETAILED EVENT LOG
******************
LOG NOTE: 2009-07-20 21:11:13, Status, PassMark BurnInTest V6.0 Std 1011
LOG NOTE: 2009-07-20 21:11:14, Status, Main Tests started
LOG NOTE: 2009-07-20 21:11:14, 3D Graphics, 3D test starting: Duty cycle = 100. Test on primary monitor (0). (x,y) = (530,357). WxH = 300x200.
WARNING: 2009-07-20 21:11:18, 2D Graphics, The 2D memory test is incompatible with the 3D Full screen test
WARNING: 2009-07-20 21:11:28, 2D Graphics, The 2D memory test is incompatible with the 3D Full screen test

[David (PassMark)]

The 2D memory test is incompatible with the 3D Full screen test.
Don't use the full screen option for the 3D test.

[Aussie Greg]

Ok thanks for the reply. It appears that the non full screen option is only available with Passmark Pro. If that is not correct, please let me know, other than that, I really don't want to spend that sort of money on 'Pro' since I would probably need to use it only once a year or so. Thanks for your time. AG

[Ian (PassMark)]

BurnInTest standard should only run the smaller 300x200 windowed 3D test (not the full screen 3D test).

Can you please re-install BurnInTest standard from here:
http://www.passmark.com/ftp/bitstd.exe

If this does not work, please let me know.

Thanks.
Ian

[Aussie Greg]

Hello Ian,
Thanks for the link. Have downloaded and tested and that is quite different! 3D works in small window now.
Will run test tonite and advise on outcome. CoH still failing at same type of scenario, IE bright flash against surrounding dark area, [different part of the game, so not specific to one scene]
Thanks and regards AG

[Ian (PassMark)]

Could be a video card device driver, hardware or game issue. I would check you have the latest video card device driver, DirectX and game patches.
Ian

[David (PassMark)]

Might the bright flash just a LED on the card? I wouldn't think the card can explode on a daily basis?

[Aussie Greg]

Hello Ian.
Ran test last nite for 100 passes and 'Passed' all tests: 2D; 3D; CPU; and RAM.
Oh well! Now the fun begins trying to find the real culprit. I still think it's in the Video Card, all drivers are up to date and game patches as well. It could be a heat issue as I have relocated the computer to a different position recently.
Many thanks for your prompt input.
Regards Aussie Greg.

[Ian (PassMark)]

To see if it is the GPU overheating, you can load up the GPU better with BurnInTest Pro (the trial version for 15 minutes is probably enough to try). From Preferences->3D, set the number of 3D test windows to 4 and the 3D test window to say 800 x 600 (or bigger - but still windowed). This will load up the GPU more and help provoke a heat problem. Also, the latest version of Speedfan (http://almico.com/speedfan.php) includes some GPU temperature monitoring, so you might take a look at that.

Regards,
Ian

[Aussie Greg]

Hi PmA and Ian.
PmA, sorry, I missed your reply earlier.I think I was not clear in what I was saying about explosions. I meant explosions within the game, like a cannon firing or a shell exploding on a tank.
Ian, I have downloaded the Pro version and run it as you said, and it passed all tests. I have repositioned the computer and removed a side panel and I have replaced the video card with a similar [XFX 4850] card from my other computer, I have done a memory check [no errors], and it is still happening!!!. I have just down a repair install on Vista, will play the game again and see if it happens and if so will do a complete uninstall and reinstall of the game.
I really appreciate both of your thoughts and advice and the time you have taken, especially since it is obviously not a 'Passmark' problem. I have to say that the flexibility of that Pro version is outstanding. Can you use the one purchase to test more than one computer, I have three?
I don't expect , but do appreciate your replies, and I will post a result when [if] I ever figure what is going on.
Regards Aussie Greg

[Ian (PassMark)]

Yes, you may transfer your copy of the software to a different system. After the transfer, you must completely remove the software from the former device. Also, you can install BurnInTest onto a USB flash drive and run it from there (this is a single installation).

Regards,
Ian