Problems with ATI Radeon 5400-Series GPU

wetnoodle
wetnoodle
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Topic 196784

Hello, everyone,

I recently installed an ATI Radeon 5450 video card into my computer, and BOINC automatically detected it and started using its GPU. Shortly after this change to my computer, I saw an error message saying that the video had suffered a serious problem -- and my computer froze up at this time -- but the video recovered from the problem and all was well, for a time.

The next day, while BOINC was running and using my GPU, and I was in the kitchen preparing some food, I heard Windows Vista starting up, meaning that my computer had restarted for some unknown reason. Vista was kind enough to display the reason for the shutdown, and it had to do with the video card.

So I have had to disable my GPU from participating in BOINC projects.

Just thought I would let you kind people know of the problem.

wetnoodle
wetnoodle
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Problems with ATI Radeon 5400-Series GPU

Within a day or two of posting my problem report above, AMD notified me of an update to my video software, which I installed. I don't know what "issues" the update may have addressed, but I figure it's worth letting BOINC have it again, experimentally, to see what happens.

I shall let you know.

Neil Newell
Neil Newell
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Sometimes adding a new card

Sometimes adding a new card can cause problems like this, especially as it seems e@h works the cards hard. Hopefully the driver solved it, but otherwise could be worth checking the power supply/fans/temperatures.

wetnoodle
wetnoodle
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Hello, Neil, nice to meet

Hello, Neil, nice to meet you, and thank you for replying.

It has been, what, nine days since the driver update? No more problems so far ...
It is too early to declare the problem solved, but I am encouraged to think it is.

My power supply is fine. The cheap one shipped with the computer gave up within a week of purchase. Two electrolytic capacitors failed with a loud "bang" and a flash of blue-white light, but HP sent me a free Bestec replacement. It isn't straining.

Temperatures seem to be fine, too. I did some on-line research since my last post, and the observed temperature range for my GPU of roughly 49C to 52C is perfectly normal (load 43% [BOINC]).

All three fans are working fine - one for the CPU, one for the case, and one for the power supply. I try to keep them clean. The CPU fan is two-speed, but the only time it goes into hyperdrive is during a boot, when the BIOS tests it.

My computer is a six-year-old Compaq, low end. Single-core AMD Sempron with on-the-motherboard video and audio. I upgraded the RAM to 4 GB and added the above-mentioned video card; otherwise, it's still pretty much stock-issue. The additional GPU is what is making e@h really work for me, given what I have to offer to the project. I am a disabled U.S. veteran on a fixed income, so an eight-CPU high-end gaming computer is out of the question, lol.

As you can see, I tend to get a bit wordy - too much so sometimes, perhaps. People have asked me on various forums and channels to help them with technical problems, using one or two lines of text to do it, and I've always found that frustrating because I then have to ask them for lots more information. I vowed long ago that I wouldn't be like that, so now I am annoying by being the opposite.

Anyway, thanks again.

Neil Newell
Neil Newell
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Speaking of power supplies

Speaking of power supplies going bang, I have an expensive Seasonic unit which did the opposite. It wouldn't power up, but after several attempts it went bang with a nice blue white flash from inside and now it's working perfectly! :) I guess whatever failed wasn't essential, but had been shorting the output or something.

Ref. the Sempron, with a GPU the CPU doesn't matter so much - I've been getting good times from a GTX550ti with a single-core Sempron, and you can buy 20 of them for less than the price of an 8-core Intel CPU.

wetnoodle
wetnoodle
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The problems with my GPU that

The problems with my GPU that I started this thread with seem to have disappeared. I guess the drivers update did the trick. It has been nearly a full month, BOINC has been running almost nonstop, and not a single error.

An explosion that started your power supply working? Neil, that's just weird! You might want to check the DC outputs to ensure the voltages are correct, stable, and not contaminated with AC leakage. Sounds like an electrolytic capacitor was improperly installed, or shorted, and failed explosively, which had the effect of getting it out of the way and allowing the power supply to function. One has to wonder what the capacitor was supposed to do that it isn't doing now. There may be no problem at all, but I'm thinking that would be even more weird.

Thanks again.

Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
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RE: An explosion that

Quote:
An explosion that started your power supply working?


Hypothesis Alpha : My guess is that's a biological, probably an actual bug. :-)

There are insect exterminators that work on the principle of an insect siting itself ( the light, the light, the blue light .... ) b/w two voltage rails and thus conducting electricity ( for a short while ). You could have had one of those guys which, when intact, could have prevented proper operation and when vaporised allowed proper operation. Not that you could prove that now .... :-)

Cheers, Mike.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

wetnoodle
wetnoodle
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Hi, Mike ... good to meet

Hi, Mike ... good to meet you, too. Your post gave me a good laugh, and I'm still smiling as I write this. Actinic displays of insect death are always fun. Jeff Foxworthy once quipped, "If you think a bug zapper and a twelve-pack are quality entertainment, you might just be a redneck."

I am sure most everyone on these forums has seen a picture of the original computer bug from 1947 - a moth removed from an electromechanical relay. That is when the term, "debugging" was coined, and it was literal.

In my case, it still is. BOINC and e@h had my computer to themselves most of this past Saturday while I debugged my son's computer, which took virtually all day. We live in a trailer park in the Deep South, so we have bugs in the house: roaches and the spiders that prey upon them. The spiders are welcome; the roaches are not. Well, the two spiders which had taken up residence inside the computer had to go, much as I hated to disturb them.

My other son, the computer owner's brother, accosted me just after I awoke that day to tell me of an error message, so I asked him to show me. The BIOS reported that the PCI controller had failed and, of course, the machine wouldn't start. I knew it was full of the literal sort of bugs, so I bit the toxic end of the bullet and tore it apart. I removed everything from the case but the motherboard, hesitated, and then pulled that, too.

I sprayed the inside of the empty case with RAID. I used cotton swabs dipped in isopropyl alcohol to clean the front side of the motherboard. I used a toothbrush dipped in alcohol to clean the roach dung from the back side of the motherboard, and then gently mopped that up with a towel. I spent hours just carefully cleaning every part of the machine in this fashion, paying special attention to the PCI section of the motherboard and all the exposed data connections where shorts might disrupt IRQs and the like.

I honestly did not expect that computer to work after I reassembled it. I thought my failure to ground myself while handling the motherboard, or permanent damage caused by its live-in guests, would kill it (I found a veritable clan of roaches living in the case -- twenty or thirty of them -- just beneath the CPU portion of the motherboard). I live in a humid climate, so static charges aren't usually a problem, but this thing was too far gone to survive. Still, I gave it my best shot. I had nothing to lose, because it certainly wouldn't have worked the way it was.

I reassembled the machine, with all its pretty cleaned-up parts, and gave it to the son who had reported the problem. He connected the peripherals and pushed the power button. It booted right straight into Windows. I sat back, totally amazed, and was reminded of something Dr. McCoy once said in an episode of the old Star Trek TV series from the early Seventies: "I'm starting to think I could cure a rainy day!"

It has been running perfectly ever since -- well, two days now. I expect it will continue to run until the next insect infestation overwhelms it.

Sometimes you just have to set reservations aside and do what must be done to fix the hardware that isn't working. If you fail, then the hardware still isn't working and then what have you lost?

I know, I'm crowing about my success, but I'm also trying to teach a life lesson: Sometimes you succeed, and sometimes you fail, but you never gain anything by being timid.

Thanks again, Mike, I liked your post very much.

Hope I didn't bore everyone too much.

Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
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I'm definitely a redneck

I'm definitely a redneck then. :-0

Do you have any of these :

they're in every ecosystem, locally we call them 'huntsman' but they no doubt have other vernacular titles. Fully grown about a hand-span across and their role is too eat other spiders and insects. Up there in the Top Ten predators within the exoskeleton kingdom. As you say they are welcome as they keep the trash out and aren't venomous ( DownUnda at least ).

You have done a labour of love to good ends. May all of your work units find pulsars ....

Cheers, Mike.

( edit ) isopropyl alcohol : Solvent Of The Gods

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

Neil Newell
Neil Newell
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RE: Hypothesis Alpha : My

Quote:

Hypothesis Alpha : My guess is that's a biological, probably an actual bug. :-)

I took the cover off the PSU recently, and couldn't see any visible damage (or insect residue). Looks like there's a separate main input PCB in the area the flash came from, so I'm wondering if the flash was from a varistor or other input protection component. Still working perfectly (2x Opteron 280 + GPU + E@H = plenty of PSU load and an effective room heater).

Speaking of capacitor failure though, it's amazing how often I've taken working kit apart to e.g. replace a fan and found blown electrolytic caps inside (loads of kit from the early 2000's suffers from capacitor plague, allegedly as a result of industrial espionange gone wrong).

wetnoodle
wetnoodle
Joined: 11 Oct 12
Posts: 9
Credit: 186836
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Hi, friends, Thanks again

Hi, friends,

Thanks again for the replies.

This is the spider we have in southern Georgia that I am so fond of:

http://www.thejabberlog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/hogna_lenta-img_9763.jpg

They are very large, as spiders go. I used to fear them because of their size, but I've gotten over that. Now I enjoy having the occasional visitor inside the house. In my experience, nearly every spider will simply go about its spidery business and not give you a second glance, if you leave it alone.

The only hazardous spiders native to my area are the black widow and brown widow, which are closely related. I caught a brown widow in my bathroom and was able to relocate it outside without harming it. The two black widows I found in the house, well, I had to just kill them. A bite from one of those can really rack up some medical bills. I have been bitten several times while sleeping, probably after rolling over on the spider without knowing it. I can always distinghish a spider bite from that of an insect because a spider bite results in two tiny, identical red itchy bumps on the skin, separated by one or two millimeters. I don't mind.

I am not the sort of person who carries any baggage regarding race or nationality, but given the year that "capacitor plague" post was written, I suspect that the faulty components were made in China. I have been stung too many times by faulty goods from that country not to have that natural suspicion. In the Fifties and Sixties, "Made in Japan" was the joke. In the early 21st Century, "Made in China" was precisely the same joke. As with Japan, the quality of goods made in China is steadily improving, so let's think kindly thoughts, lol.

Best wishes,
Rick

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