[MNiceGuy]

Just picked up Burnout: Paradise today (a fantastic game I might add) and I'm experiencing something strange. At some point in-game I lose monitor signal. The screen goes black, the monitor reports no signal, but the game (judging by audio) is running happily in the background. This seems to happen every time after approx 20-30min of play. There are only two things I can think of: heat or UAC

Heat:

I'm using the GTX 285 with no 'aftermarket' fan control. There's a 120mm fan in my Twelve Hundred blowing directly on the whole card though so I am skeptical. Also, I can play DiRT as long as I wish without problems.

UAC:

I have it disabled and had it disabled when I installed the game. Is it possible that the game is unable to "handshake" with UAC to disable the 20min power save feature? I say this because I know WMP11 will not disable the screen saver during video playback unless at least one video is played with UAC enabled and the override is allowed to take place.

What do you guys think?

 

[TwoCables]

Do you know what the GPU temps are getting to while you're playing?

I'm not sure how to do it, but you may be able to do have EVGA Precision, RivaTuner, GPU-Z, or the new Real Temp 3.0 save the temps to a log file so that when you have to cold boot, then all you have to do is open the log file. But other than that, I don't know what else to do.

Well, I suppose you could leave one of these open (like EVGA Precision), and the blindly quit the game, then blindly take a screenshot, and then blindly save the screenshot to your desktop, then blindly restart Windows, and then look at the screenshot after it boots back up. lol

 

[MNiceGuy]

Well here's what I found out:

Maximum temp was 67*C. I found after the screen goes back I am able to ALT+TAB to the Task Manager. After that I can actually continue playing for a while again. Turning the monitor off then on after the lost signal does nothing; only ALT+TAB will get the display back.

Also my UAC theory is out the door. My monitor is set to powersave at 20-min but I got black-screened at 39 minutes.

Any thoughts? Card possibly?

 

[TwoCables]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MNiceGuy Well here's what I found out: Maximum temp was 67*C. I found after the screen goes back I am able to ALT+TAB to the Task Manager. After that I can actually continue playing for a while again. Turning the monitor off then on after the lost signal does nothing; only ALT+TAB will get the display back. Also my UAC theory is out the door. My monitor is set to powersave at 20-min but I got black-screened at 39 minutes. Any thoughts? Card possibly?

Hmm. That almost sounds like it might be software-related because you can Alt+Tab out and then back in to fix it. But this is just a guess. But if, by chance, you have the luxury of trying another video card, then definitely go for it. Also, if the GPU is currently overclocked, then put everything back to stock, and play with minimal settings (like 2-4x AA, or none, etc.). Try to play for as long as you can stand that. I recommend playing an old saved game so you don't get too caught up in it so you can keep in mind that it's just a test. Turn on God Mode even.

If it still does the same thing, then it could be software-related after all. Either that, or you need to run Furmark a few different ways in order to check for stability. Well, I guess running Furmark is a good idea regardless.

Either way, I really hope we figure this out.

 

[DUNC4N]

Maybe a dumb question, are you running the latest drivers?

 

[GreddyGo]

I had a similar problem with my gtx280,
Found out to be a PSU problem, PSU was not supplying enough power to GPU during certain circumstances.

Cheers

 

[10acjed]

A PC P&C 750W is plenty powerful enough for a 285 with 60A on the 12v rail it should be more than enough...

As long as its not taking a crap....

It sounds odd as its no display, not lock ups or crashes. Your UAC display settings are controlled by keyboard and mouse so even if its set to turn off it wont affect it.

Maybe different driver? But I would call customer support and RMA the card...

 

[aryuautku]

Is your game pirated?I just made a bench because gta IV would keep crashing to me and it was just the crack.

 

[orbiter]

Try this.. Uninstall your drivers & delete the Nvidia folder in C: before the system restarts, then restart and clean the driver remains out with driver sweeper > Install 182.08 drivers.

It's worth a try as I had a similar problem with GRID on my 295 were it would just stop mid game yet the sound was still audible.

 

[MNiceGuy]

Thanks guys you've been very helpful and earned some +rep.

I'm running the latest drivers on a fresh OS install (and fresh HDDs too). The PC P&C successfully ran a 4870x2 in my sig rig for a few months without any similar issues so unless it's taking a crap I don't think that's it. Also, the my 285 is factory overclocked and I haven't manually pushed it any further. If it's unstable at these settings then I guess an RMA is in order.

I haven't tried lowering in game settings because the game is one of the less-demanding ones I own. At max settings I have yet to notice any dropped frames or slowdowns while playing. If it can't handle Burnout, it certainly won't like GRID, DiRT, and Fallout 3 which is going to be a problem. Oh and I am in fact using a legit copy; picked it up yesterday at Micro Center.

I've also tried Googling the problem and I can't seem to find any similar accounts which would seem to suggest the problem is not related to the game software itself.

RMA time?

 

[orbiter]

Well 67*C is not hot by any means for a GPU and for the likes of GRID you should have no probs at all with a 285. I used to play it at great frame rates on a 8800GT. Do you have another card that you could use to play Burnout paradise on for a while just to perhaps help determine if the problem is related to the 285?

Also does playing DiRT get your GTX285 to 67*C or above without problems?

 

[10acjed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by orbiter Also does playing DiRT get your GTX285 to 67*C or above without problems?

Im not sure if DIRT will, but GRID will for sure, hits about 71c peak for me at 100% fan.

To the OP. I think your card is buggy, I have yet to hear of this problem and have been active with the 285 since first release. It is not a common problem..

Does it do it with all games, or just one game? I have played Ulti Box, I think the longest was about 45min once I got the bike... Didnt fall in love with it so didnt play much (im a grid freak). But did not have any issues with it on my 285...

 

[MNiceGuy]

I played DiRT for quite a while without any problems which is saying something considering the numerous glitches in that game. I bought the card locally and I have two more days to RMA it with them so all things considered, I think it's probably the best bet at this point.

I haven't tried any other games at great length as I've been busy with other things lately and I simply won't have time within my 2-day window to do it. If the problem persists with a new card I will have to continue troubleshooting.

Thanks again guys!

 

[orbiter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MNiceGuy I played DiRT for quite a while without any problems which is saying something considering the numerous glitches in that game. I bought the card locally and I have two more days to RMA it with them so all things considered, I think it's probably the best bet at this point. I haven't tried any other games at great length as I've been busy with other things lately and I simply won't have time within my 2-day window to do it. If the problem persists with a new card I will have to continue troubleshooting. Thanks again guys!

Yep.. If your unsure about the card and your warranty is almost up I'd RMA it just incase it's having issues.

 

[Ictinike]

Not saying this is it but is the card down "clocking" do you suppose?

I'm not familiar with the game but I'm sure it stresses the card enough to keep the 3D Performance profile but you might want to check with RivaTuner.

See my sig link on how to setup Riva to prevent auto-downclocking on the 200 series.

Just something to try maybe at the end to throw out all possibles.

Cheers.

 

[NOT]

i am having similar problem with my 280. haven't tried the alt-tab, i just reboot. vista reports it as a "video hardware error", but not specifically what the problem is. and it only gets reported sometimes.

 

[snowman88]

When your monitor loses signal, it is usually because the card craps out due to overheating. However, it sounds like your temps are fine... I would definitely RMA.

 

[MNiceGuy]

I haven't used Riva to make sure the card is in 3D performance mode but the frame rates suggest that it is. I believe it downclocks to 100/300 which wouldn't support something as intensive as Burnout without showing some very obvious slowdowns.

I went ahead and RMA'ed the card. For those of you with excellent memories this is in fact the same GTX285 that exchanged at Micro Center after opening the box and finding multiple broken QC seals and evidence of some post-production soldering. Interestingly enough it even had the extra two soldered "stubs" for one power connector which means at one time there was a 6-pin and an 8-pin power on the card. This would suggest the PCB has some connection to the GTX280 since the 8-pin was downgraded to a second 6-pin for the 285.

I decided to let it go and see if there were any adverse effects. Turns out there were (hopefully)!

I'm out of town but should be back home soon when I'm crossing my fingers I'll find the issue resolved.

 

[TwoCables]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MNiceGuy I haven't used Riva to make sure the card is in 3D performance mode but the frame rates suggest that it is. I believe it downclocks to 100/300 which wouldn't support something as intensive as Burnout without showing some very obvious slowdowns. I went ahead and RMA'ed the card. For those of you with excellent memories this is in fact the same GTX285 that exchanged at Micro Center after opening the box and finding multiple broken QC seals and evidence of some post-production soldering. Interestingly enough it even had the extra two soldered "stubs" for one power connector which means at one time there was a 6-pin and an 8-pin power on the card. This would suggest the PCB has some connection to the GTX280 since the 8-pin was downgraded to a second 6-pin for the 285. I decided to let it go and see if there were any adverse effects. Turns out there were (hopefully)! I'm out of town but should be back home soon when I'm crossing my fingers I'll find the issue resolved.

Yeah, I guess RMA'ing it is the best thing to do due to the 2-day time limit here, and also considering you can do it all in the same day and never have to be without your video card.

Now, concerning HybridPower, which causes the downclocking, it actually doesn't take very much at all to bring the clocks up. In fact, I can get it to upclock by taking RivaTuner's Hardware Monitor and increase the size of the window to fill most of the display, or "screen", and then quickly drag it around for a few seconds. This puts enough load on the GPU to make it upclock. But, I noticed that if RivaTuner's Hardware Monitor is too small (like the default size), then no amount of dragging will make it upclock.

I can sometimes do this with other things as well. But it can't be done with something like Notepad. It has to have a lot of stuff in the Window like RivaTuner's Hardware Monitor does. Sometimes dragging around a really big high-res picture will do it too. But whatever is being dragged, the faster you can move it around, the better.

So my point is that it will upclock even if you played Descent 1 or something (or Quake 1, or Doom 1). Therefore, that's not what was causing this problem. But that's no longer a concern since it was RMA'd.

 

[xxicrimsonixx]

turn off power saver to turn off monitor every 20 mins (try "never"). See if that helps.