VPU error

[splatfreak]

I have a ati all in wonder 9200 128MB DDR AGP video card.When I play any game after 10 to 15 min. The screen hangs then goes black.It comes back with a error VPU recover has reset your graphics accelerator as it was no longer responding to graphics drive commands.
I have the latest catalyst drivers from the ATI site.I have tryed to turn the VPU report off then when I play the game minimizes and my desktop screen is all pushed to 1 side.Can some1 help me?

[johnnyis42]

did you uninstall the original drivers you had on there with the catalyst uninstaller utility before you installed the new drivers? if not, get the catalyst uninstaller and run it, and make sure that after you reboot windows has that aweful looking 8 bit color and 640x480 resolution. if it doesn't and it's still looking like a normal desktop, run the utility again, and try to get the last bits of the driver off your system.

when it finally does boot into the ugly desktop, install the latest drivers again, let all the WDM capture drivers and controll panel install and everything, reboot the system when prompted and see if it's fixed.

if by chance you did use the uninstall utility the first time around, try seeing if going back to an older set of drivers helps. guru3d.com keeps an archive, and you can dig them up from the ati site as well, but that's harder than just hitting guru3d.

good luck!

ps if it's happening on any game you play, then disregard, but if it happens only on a specific game, check for game patches.

[splatfreak]

The drivers that came with the card do the same thing.I also used the Omega drivers and have the same problem.I did a google and it looks like this is a problem with a lot of ATI cards.

[splatfreak]

Oh ya do I need the catalyst uninstaller. I just uninstalled from my devices manager.After the unistall I had the 8bit graphics.

[johnnyis42]

nah, if they were the omegas then you should be fine, but make sure they are out of the "add/remove programs" controll panel applet as well. if the 8 bit graphics came up then that means windows couldn't find any driver bits in the various system folders, or references in the registry. if it had, you'd have gotten the question for a file location, and not the "found new hardware" wizard.

[splatfreak]

I have used the New ATI drivers and the Omega drivers.Still have the same problem.last night the screen went black and did not come back with the VPU error.I restarted my computer and it worked fine.With the Omega drivers I can play Unreal 2004 all night with no problems, but when I surf the net and click in and out of screen it hangs go's black and has the VPU error.
I can't find any post on google with a fix.Lots of ATI users have the same problem.NEED HELP BAD

[johnnyis42]

you may want to go through your BIOS settings, and turn off fast writes, as well as any wierd agp settings, and possibly push the speed down to AGP 4x.

[splatfreak]

Fast write is off AGP is down from 8x to 4x.I still have problems

[johnnyis42]

yeah, i was having trouble with my ATI card on an older motherboard exactly like you described. it ended up being BIOS settings. you have fast writes off and dumped agp speed down to 4x, that is a start, but there are probably additional settings that you need to disable.

go ahead and post the exact model of your motherboard so we can check out what you're working with.

[splatfreak]

I have a Soyo Sy-K7VMP2 motherboard.
AMD Athlon XP 2800 barton core 333fsb
2 sticks of Ultra 512MB PC2700 DDR 333MHz
ATI All In Wonder 9200 128MB DDR AGP 4x/2x
In the advanced Bios my Apurature size is set at 64MB.I have changed it from 128 to 64.I gives me more time before it hangs to the VPU error.