New card, possible power problem?

itall1337z

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I just bought a Radeon HD 4850. I am upgrading from a 8600GTS. I have been running a 480watt power supply. After installing the card and drivers I recognized there was no sound. I installed the sound drivers again and got fan warning that it was not working and then we removed the side panel and that resolved the fan issues but shortly after we got the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!!!
We removed the drivers and card and replaced it with the old card and drivers computer works fine. We think its a power issue. The new card says on the box that it only requires a 450watt, but in the manual it says 750watt. Do you think its a power supply problem? The card works fine with out the sound and sound drivers, when we installed then thats when everything went funky! :ouch:

-Thanks in advance for any help! :bounce:
 

cwconrad78

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Hard to say. a 4850 definitely does NOT need a 750 watt power supply. I would say a decent 450 watt power supply should be fine. usualy the BSOD is a driver problem/conflict. Sometimes it's hardware. i have a 4850 and 480 watts should be enough to run that ONE card (2 in crossfire is a different story). It's a pretty efficient card.

While you have the 8600GTS installed, update your bios. that could be the culprit. If you are running new hardware on an old bios version, you will run into problems.

After you update your bios, swap cards and boot your machine. Uninstall any ati catalyst or nvidia DISPLAY drivers on your system using the control pannel.

reboot

use this tool after reboot http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/
select both nvidia and ati display and click clean. ***don't click nvidia chip set or ethernet controller if it's an option, only click display***

reinstall 8.8 catalyst

If you have vista 64, the 4850 absolutely will not run on the machine without having SP1 installed. Make sure if you have recently formated your machine that the windows update has picked this up and reinstalled SP1. If you realize SP1 is not installed, you need to first install the service pack and then go back and completely uninstall/reinstall the catalyst drivers... AFTER the SP1 has been installed.


If that still does not fix your problem its a safe bet that you have a cheap power supply. Are you already stressing the power supply? How many Hard drives, optical drives, etc. are you running with the 480watt power supply?



Good luck
 

itall1337z

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I guess I should of listed off my specs first.

Im running a

Computer: HP pavilion a1730

Os: Vista Premium 32bit

Processor:AMD Athlon 64 x2 dual core 4600+ 2.4GHz

Ram:2GB Ram

Graphics Card: EvGA Geforce 8600GTS SC 256mb (trying to upgrade to a Radeon HD 4850 512mb)

HDD:320GB

____________________________________________________________

The power supply runs the 8600GTS, but were running what appears to be power supply problems. We had similar power supply problems when we were first installing the 8600GTS before we got the 480watt. The power supply were running is a Optimax ATX Titan. We were first running a factory 300watt that came with the computer before.

My other question on addition with that is how many times can you flash your bios safely?



 

cwconrad78

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you can flash your bios as many times as you would like safely, if you flash it correctly. If there is a new bios available for your board, you need it. your board released the bios update to keep up with today's hardware changes. I would reflash your bios before doing anything. If that doesn't solve the problem, make sure you have all your windows updates. If that doesn't solve the problem, upgrade your power supply.
 
Your sound died because the HDMI driver installation for your 4870 expropriated your default settings. Just go into Control Panel / Sound and set them back to the device you want.
There are some high quality (e.g. Corsair, Seasonic, Antec) PSUs in the 450W range that can handle a 4870, but 500W is definitely safer.
I am not familiar with Optimax PSUs. How many amps does it claim to be able to provide on its +12V rail(s) ? If that PSU is not up to the task, it will likely croak.
 

itall1337z

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to jtt283

6amp, the voltage max 35, the current max 2A.

Also we tried going to control panel to set the sound device back to Realtek (meh) and thats when it first crashed. As long as we have no sound drivers installed it works fine.
 
Google searches didn't help me too much, as most of the linked sites are blocked at work, however the possibility exists that you have a much smaller PSU that has been relabeled. Also, I didn't find an Optimax 480, but did find a 450.
Extremely dicey...
 
Those numbers sound like inputs. You want the output, on the +12V rail(s). In any case, if you're going to get a new PSU, please don't get a cheap one.
The list at http://www.tomswiki.com/page/Tiered+PSU+Listings?t=anon is dated, but is still a good place to start. If the models you're able to find aren't listed, choose something from a manufacturer who has nothing lower than Tier-3. Although there are occasionally some pretty good deals, expect to spend at least $60, and more likely $80-$100.
 

itall1337z

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the max dc output on the voltage is +12volts, on the current max is +5Vsb

it was bought at a local computer store so it might be a cheap make?
 

itall1337z

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ok so i uninstalled the old drivers, from both the nvidia and ATI, cleaned then with the driver sweeper. I then took out the nvidia card, put in the 4850 and were back to normal, but no sound. Everything else works fine. Were attempting to install realtek sound drivers for the integrated sound card but the website was made by a 5 year old. Anyway we think we got the drivers but not 100% downloaded 2 files. HDMI_R200 and Vista_R202 not knowing whats what. The HDMI had ATI written all over it so we downloaded the vista drivers and this HDMI thingy.
So we hope this works, will give an update if it works. If not I think well have to get a new power supply or sound card. Sad the graphics card was on sale and now im going to spend more then I wanted. :(
 

cwconrad78

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yep that should do it. If using hdmi sound on the 4850 you need to download the new realtek HDMI drivers. then just make sure you right click your little sound icon in the system trey, select HDMI, then click configure: this will tell vista what kind of setup you need (stereo, 5.1, 7.1) then click properties and select all the bit rates your stereo reciever or whatever your have your hdmi plugged into can handle.
 

itall1337z

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see I dont want HDMI. Im running regular 2 speakers. Most of the time just head phones so I dont get why my speakers are set a HDMI. Im not even plugged into my tv.

Were pretty sure its not a power problem anymore. We got it running again and theres no blue screen or anything. But I still have no sound. I attempted to download Realtek drivers but I dont even have the program. It was my default sound but now its Digital output device (HDMI). Not realtek. Everytime I uninstall the drivers or what ever is there it comes back when I restart.

So heres my recap. I have a new graphics card. Radeon HD 4850 I have NO sound. I have sound drivers that is apparently ATIs or from the graphics card. I have uninstalled all my old cards drivers. Installed all the new ones. No sound. I have it unmuted, no sound, I have it plugged in, no sound. I have no realtek control panel and now for some reason I dont have ATI control panel. WHATS GOING ON!!!
 

itall1337z

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ok I FIXED IT!

i went to the bios and the CMOS. And under the integrated sound i enabled it. It was on auto. Now the sound runs fine! This took wayyy to long for a simple video card update! This card better be worth it!
 

jthorn

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Way to go! You persisted and you succeeded.