Question for users of ATI drivers.

[Lythdan]

Okay, I have a question here. I have been getting constant VPU recovers. I think it may be a problem with the drivers I'm using or something. Has any other ATI card users experienced similar problems? What drivers do you use?

Thanks.

[Meek_Monkey]

I want to ask a question first What are constant VPU recovers? OK I have a Radion 9600 Pro card in my computer I have updated it with the latest driver, as I was getting a device stop error. In other words the computer while playing the Sims 2 would just restart for no reason at all it seemed to be getting more frequent so I went to the ATI site and downloaded the latest driver for my graphics card it seems to have stop the restarting. I have notcied that then graphics are a little gliche since I have installed it. If I am watching a sim upstairs a small area will open up and you can see what is going on under the sim upstairs it only is viewable for about 5-10 seconds then it is gone. I also noticed that from time to time I have a light blue square or triangle on the lot it there for about 5-10 seconds as well. It is better than have the computer restarting for no reason at I would rather have the graphics gliches than restarting.

[speedreader]

Yep, I get 'em too.  Actually I am hoping to get out this week and get a new video card with better RAM.  Currently I am running 64 MB which probably just isn't enough with all EP's.  Funny thing is, I never got the recovers until I loaded new drivers for my ATI Radeon 9000 a few months ago.  Course, I couldn't set my graphics very high in TS2 either.  

My fix when this started happening was to adjust my in game settings.  I found I could use medium for seeing the neighborhood and could have clickable neighbors, but the other settings had to be relatively low.  When I reloaded my game this week I started getting the recovers again and haven't fixed it, but I'm pretty sure that's what I did.  It is fixable - once I made the adjustments I didn't get the errors anymore.

Good luck.

[cyperangel]

I have an ati 9600 pro with 256 mb of ram,a nd i keep getting those VPU recover as well. Flipping annoying when your playing any sort of game, and it just goes black for 2 minutes.

My hubby uses a machine with the exact same hardware as mine, and most of the software as well, but he has never had this problem. Ever. (remind me to hijack his computer next time we do a format   )

[Hegelian]

Okay, I have a question here. I have been getting constant VPU recovers. I think it may be a problem with the drivers I'm using or something. Has any other ATI card users experienced similar problems? What drivers do you use?

Have you made any system changes recently? New motherboard or cpu or video card? Have you moved your PC to a location that is warmer than the previous one?

Troubleshooting these kinds of problems from a distance can be difficult. However, spontaneous reboots are usually an idication of power-supply problems:  either your power supply is not adequate for the components in your PC, or it is failing. Or the motherboard connector from the power supply is not firmly seated in the motherboard socket.     There is more to installing a power supply than slapping in the cheapest one you can find that has the nominal output that you want—cheap power supplies, which is what comes in most off-the-shelf PCs, lose a considerable percentage of their rated output as they warm up to normal operating temperature. For more information, go here:
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/technology/myths/

Another problem could be heat, although if the graphics card was overheating, would probably see significant corruption of the screen display. Overheating of the CPU will often cause the PC to shut down without rebooting.

It is also possible that some component in your PC is failing, either the motherboard or the graphics card.I know from personal experience that a motherboard feeding an incorrect voltage to the graphics board can burn out the graphics board.

General hints:

Make sure the inside of your PC is clean and that all fans are working properly.

When you install video drivers, be sure to remove completely all previous drivers first. So if you're updating ATi drivers, remove the existing video drivers first, then reboot and install the new driver.

Even if your Radeon graphics board was not made by ATi, you should use ATi's "reference" drivers, available from the Web site.

I am currently using the most recent ATi driver set with three Radeon boards:  9550, 9800 Pro, and X800 GT. I haven't had any problems with any of the machines.

You may wish to send an email to ATi tech support to see what they might have to say about your problem.

[starrling]

I was getting them too - and looked everywhere for a solution.  After seeing Microsheep's brilliant response  and workaround (disable graphic driver... well... just... duh)  I just went back to my onboard graphics.  Everything works fine.  Yeah, I don't have all the bells and whistles but at least I don't get VPU errors and mysterious shut-downs anymore.

[JoJo]

Get the omega drivers:  http://www.omegadrivers.net/.   

[MissDoh]

I have a ATI 9800 pro with 128mb and I am using the latest drivers and have no problem at all with them.

One thing I remember though is that in order to be able to use the card properly I needed to purchase a new power supply.  The card required a 300 watts, I purchase a 350 watts to make sure.

Since I had an NVdia card prior to the install of the ATI card, I did, like Hegellian suggested, uninstall the NVdia card and removed the drivers prior to the installation of the ATI card.

I did have a few issues with that card and sent it back twice and ATI replace it both times with a new one.  They have a really good customer service, that is for the branch in Canada I have no idea about the other ones.  I sent the card on a Friday, ATI received it on a Monday and on Tuesday I had already received a new card, that is what I call customer service. 

So I would look to see if there are no old drivers still in.  You could even uninstall your ATI card and reinstall it too, it could solve your problem, never know.  And you should definitely get in contact with ATI if you cannot solve this problem.

[Hegelian]

I was getting them too - and looked everywhere for a solution.  After seeing Microsheep's brilliant response  and workaround (disable graphic driver... well... just... duh)  I just went back to my onboard graphics.  Everything works fine.  Yeah, I don't have all the bells and whistles but at least I don't get VPU errors and mysterious shut-downs anymore.

From TweakGuides' ATI Catalyst Tweak Guide:

"VPU Recover

"Enable VPU Recover: VPU Recover attempts to stop any sort of graphics-related crashes or freezes from completely locking up or resetting your machine. While this is a valiant idea, in practice VPU Recover has been known to increase the probability of problems and crashes itself when enabled, and more importantly using VPU Recover regularly is a sign that something is wrong with your system and you need to find the source of the problem. I recommend that you untick (disable) VPU Recover to increase system stability, and then seek out and remedy the source of any problems by using the tips in the rest of this guide, such as those in the Troubleshooting section below.

"Prepare an Error Report: If VPU Recover is enabled, this option will be available to be ticked. If ticked, it means that every time your system has an error which VPU Recover helps recover from, an email will be generated which you can send to ATI disclosing the details of the problem. While this may help ATI in determining the cause of certain issues, more often than not it is completely unnecessary and I recommend unticking this option, even if you do use VPU Recover."

http://www.tweakguides.com/ATICAT_6.html

[MissDoh]

Thanks Hegelian, I just disable VPU recover.  I had no idea having it at enable could cause more problems then anything else. 

Though I did not had any problem so far, since I just reinstall a new card about a week ago I won't take any chances and just disable it.

[Hegelian]

Thanks Hegelian, I just disable VPU recover.  I had no idea having it at enable could cause more problems then anything else. 

Though I did not had any problem so far, since I just reinstall a new card about a week ago I won't take any chances and just disable it.

Well, as the writer says, if VPU Recover is happening often, it indicates some problem in the PC, most likely either overheating or power-supply problems. It is important to recognize that the new graphics cards need a lot of qualitly power and generate a lot of heat. The power connector on cards like the Radeon 9800 Pro is not optional, and good air-flow through the case is essential; this may mean no more than getting a couple additional case fans, one blowing in the front and one blowing out the back. Note that case fans have small arrows marked on one edge to indicate the direction of air flow. Vantec's double-ball-bearing, low-noise Stealth fans are a good choice if you want to keept noise down.

[J. M. Pescado]

Pssh. Low noise is for wussies. A proper, powerful fan sounds like a jet taking off. Mine run off their own independent power supply and have a thrust rating. They're capable of propelling the case across the desk if not braced in place. THAT is a fan.

[neriana]

This is not necessarily a cooling problem; this happens with ATI's drivers on quite a few games. I have an ATI 9600 Pro, and was having VPU recover issues with some games until I switched to Omega drivers. www.omegadrivers.net They have tons of options, work a lot better with OpenGL then ATI's drivers, and generally are much, much better.

[witch]

Can't access that omegadrivers link, neriana, keep getting timed out.

[Lythdan]

Yeah, the link keeps timing out as witch said.

[Hegelian]

It's probably a good idea to get your system working properly with the ATi drivers before messing around with hacked drivers. If you're getting a lot of VPU recovers, then something is amiss in your PC. Covering over the problem with hacked drivers isn't really the best course of action.   

[witch]

Hey Hegelian, your quote about militant librarians made me remember a Tshirt a mate had years ago. There was a lovely logo of a needle and sewing wool twined around an Uzi or something, with some flowers for decoration, then the letters around the image spelled out, "Womens' Sewing Circle and Terrorist Society'.

That was 20 years ago, I guess it probably wouldn't get a laugh today. Cheers for the memory though, I used to love watching peoples' faces as they read the logo.

[Hegelian]

Hey Hegelian, your quote about militant librarians made me remember a Tshirt a mate had years ago. There was a lovely logo of a needle and sewing wool twined around an Uzi or something, with some flowers for decoration, then the letters around the image spelled out, "Womens' Sewing Circle and Terrorist Society'.

The "radical militant librarians" is from a quote from an FBI email complaining about not being able to access library users' records in order to thwart terrorists. No joke! But we all know what a threat librarians are to national security and world order.   

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5049679

[witch]

and the watchers, watching the watchers, begin to wonder if they're being watched....

[SweetCat]

I had soem off those vpu recovers i guess. I am using the latets driver for my ati radeon 9800. I do get those sometimes, but they went away totally when i cleaned my pc. I guess it's time to clean the pc again. But the reboots was mainly for cpu overheating.

[J. M. Pescado]

Crud clogging the circulation system can promote overheating. Insufficient ventilation can be like that. As a rule of thumb, if your computer doesn't sound like an airplane, there aren't enough fans or the fans you do have are little wussy fans. Don't listen to that "quiet" computer shit. A powerful fan is a loud one. Quiet fans are wussy fans.

[Jysudo]

I guess that is why JM must be deaf in RL if he can sleep in his room with the loud fan on 24/7.

[BlueSoup]

JM doesn't sleep.  He gets caffeine injected directly into his eyeballs.

(And even if he does sleep, it's at totally odd hours that are rarely the same from day to day and not for very long periods at a time.)

[J. M. Pescado]

I guess that is why JM must be deaf in RL if he can sleep in his room with the loud fan on 24/7.

Sleep? What is this "sleep" nonsense? Sleep is for wussies!

JM doesn't sleep.  He gets caffeine injected directly into his eyeballs.

Actually, I snort it.

(And even if he does sleep, it's at totally odd hours that are rarely the same from day to day and not for very long periods at a time.)

I saw that, FAT HEAD!

[witch]

You don't need loud fans if you have cooling like mine...

AI Cool-Pipe
It's no longer either quiet operation or low system temperature. The A8N-SLI Premium, with AI Cool Pipe, lets you have the best of both worlds. This unique heat pipe design provides heat dissipation performance comparable to that of cooling fans without the annoying rotation noise.

http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=0&model=539&modelmenu=1

Of course there's always the optional additonal mainboard fan and the video card fan and the case fan... sigh

Or you could do what my mate did, haven't seen the setup yet, but it's on my 'must do' list. Apparently he's running an overclocked Intel chip, he has a water cooling system which involved drilling a hole in the floor of his flat and feeding pipes down into a radiator in the garage. He has a pump involved in this somewhere too...