BFG FX 5700LE OC'd crashing, I have a question. Options

[beano311]

My BFG GeForce FX 5700LE OC'd crashes with either a CTD or BSOD which is usually produces the error "IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL." I am 90% sure that it is my video card because I have encountered this before, I overclocked my card a little too much and the samething happened. I got that one replaced with the card I have now, thanks to BFG's amazing warrenty. I knew it was the video card because I replaced the motherboard/CPU and tried different memory. Now this one is crashing, mostly when I am playing a graphic intense game, although it also crashes randomly (like when I was in the middle of typing this post). I have overclocked this one with Cool Bits, but not too much like before.
Now, my question is, before I try to excange this one, is there anything I can do and not have to exchange it?
I can supply any other information if needed, and thanks to anyone in advance who attempts to solve my problem.

beano1@gmail.com

This post has been edited by beano311: Jun 29 2005, 02:43 PM

[bigtabs]

What are the clocks on your card at the mo?

[beano311]

I'm pretty sure I set them back to normal, but I'm not exactly sure of the speeds. I'm at work, so I can't check them at the moment, but from the BFG site, the normal clocks are Core Clock at 275MHz (vs. 250MHz on standard, unBFG-overclocked) Memory at 400MHz.
Edit: The drivers I'm using are (I think) the latest Xtreme-G drivers. I'm also pretty sure that the drivers are not the issue, because I switched back to Nvidia's before, and it didn't help. Also, it seems as if it runs for longer without crashing if I underclock it, but not that much longer that it's worth it (It'll run for about minute or two normally, maybe a minute or two longer when it's underclocked).

This post has been edited by beano311: Jun 29 2005, 02:02 PM

[bigtabs]

I also use the extremeG drivers, and have used possibly every driver there is for my 5700LE without problem, aside from encountering the same video issues that everyone is getting with the latest nVidia ones.

Just to be absolutely sure that it's not a currupted driver file, I'd recommend that you uninstall your driver from add/remove programs, use a program called driver cleaner available from this page to remove all traces of the nvidia drivers, and then install the 71.89 nVidia drivers. If this solves your problem, repeat the steps and try your extremeG ones again. If the problem returns, please let me know and consider reporting it on the guru3d forums so they are aware of the issue.

Presuming that doesn't work:

How careful were you when you OC'd, to what speeds did you push it?

Is it possible for you to try the card out in another system? Those current clocks shouldn't be giving you any problems on that card.

Do you have onboard AGP graphics? If so, unplug your card and run a benchmark program repeatedly (such as 3dmark05) for as long as you have the patience. Preferably at least a couple of hours. If the problem occurs, you kow it's not your video card.

[beano311]

I am familiar with the DriverCleaner program and have used it many times before, but I haven't tried it yet to see if it will help me out with this problem. I'll try it when I get home and post the results. The clock speeds were set automatically when I chose to test for the "optimum" speeds in Coolbits. Also, I don't think that I have onboard graphics chips, but I'm pretty sure I have another AGP card I could pop in there. Although I hope it's the motherboard because I really want to buy the $950 FX-57, although I'm perfectly fine with my P4 3GHz/mobo combo I got for $160 .
Also, I noticed your card is OC'd to 401 and 478. Are you using any sort of cooling system on that? (It seems like 250 to 401 is a pretty big jump for the core).

[bigtabs]

It is on stock cooling, the LE has exactly the same core chips as the Ultra. I was perhaps lucky with the quality of the core chip I got, and the fan. Most people tend to get around 350 on theirs. I've heard of people getting their ram up to and just beyond 500, but there's no danger of mine doing that. I get artifacts at about 490.

You shouldn't really be using the detect optimal speeds function. Many an experienced overclocker believes it often gives you false results and can do damage. The best method is start with small 5-10 increments on one clock, testing all the while for stability. When you start to get artifacts, drop it by 10 (or more if you are cautious). Then repeat the process with the other clock. It is slow, but you will be happier with the knowledge that you are pushing your card hard, but safely.

If I couldn't get such ridiculously good improvement I wouldn't OC at all. An extra frame or 2 per second doesnt seem worth it to me. My FPS in UT2004 goes up by around 70% when OC'd.

One word of warning, which you pprobably don't need but I'll say it anyway to stop myself from wishing I had later: Just because I got those speeds doesn't mean you will. I was perhaps quite lucky. You should hopefully be able to get a very good OC yourself with this card. It is famous for it.

[ohgrant]

IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

This sounds like a hardware IRQ conflict to me. To check your IRQ's click start, programs, accessories, system tool's, system information. Drop the check box for hardware resources click conflicts/sharing. If you have any PCI devices that are listed as conflicts try changing the PCI card to another slot if possible. If you have onboard devices that you are not using disable them in the system bios if possible.

[beano311]

Thanks for the suggestion ohgrant. I'll look at that as soon as I get home. It never really crossed my mind that it was an IRQ conflict because things have been running fine for a while before this happened and I haven''t changed anything physical in my computer.
But, I just ran into another problem. While DriverCleaner was creating a new Drivers.cab file, the computer crashed (With the same "IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" stop error) now every time I try to run a clean on that file I get a BSOD with the stop error "MEMORY_MANAGEMENT." I looked this one up and it seems like it has to do with Windows 2000 and I''m running XP. Also now when I try to run HL2 and it gets to the main menu loading screen, I get an error saying something like "Cannot switch to specified resolution. Click ok to restart in a safe resolution." Then it switches to windowed mode and crashes with the same error at the same time.
I've also posted on the DriverCleaner Message board: http://www.driverheaven.net/showthread.php...16&page=3&pp=15

This post has been edited by beano311: Jun 30 2005, 03:28 PM

[ohgrant]

Also make sure you have the most recent chipset AGP drivers.

[beano311]

Well, here's my IRQ list:
IRQ 0 System timer OK
IRQ 1 PC/AT PS/2 Keyboard (84-Key) OK
IRQ 4 Communications Port (COM1) OK
IRQ 6 Standard floppy disk controller OK
IRQ 8 System CMOS/real time clock OK
IRQ 13 Numeric data processor OK
IRQ 14 Primary IDE Channel OK
IRQ 15 Secondary IDE Channel OK
IRQ 32 VIA OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller OK
IRQ 44 Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit OK
IRQ 61 VIA SATA RAID Controller OK
IRQ 64 VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 64 VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 65 VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 65 VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 66 VIA USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller OK
IRQ 72 VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter OK
IRQ 128 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700LE OK

Everything looks ok, as long as I am correct in assuming that the 64 and 65s are ok having the 2 USB contorllers on them?
Also I took this from the conflict/sharing section:

I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF VIA CPU to AGP2.0/AGP3.0 Controller
I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700LE
Memory Address 0xD0000000-0xDFFFFFFF VIA CPU to AGP2.0/AGP3.0 Controller
Memory Address 0xD0000000-0xDFFFFFFF NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700LE
Memory Address 0xE0000000-0xE1FFFFFF VIA CPU to AGP2.0/AGP3.0 Controller
Memory Address 0xE0000000-0xE1FFFFFF NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700LE
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF PCI bus
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF VIA CPU to AGP2.0/AGP3.0 Controller
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700LE
I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB VIA CPU to AGP2.0/AGP3.0 Controller
I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700LE
Memory Address 0xCFC00-0xEFFFF PCI bus
Memory Address 0xCFC00-0xEFFFF Motherboard resources

I assume they're also ok?
I will also grab the latest AGP chipset drivers aswell from DFI's website now.

This post has been edited by beano311: Jul 1 2005, 01:36 AM

[ohgrant]

If it has not been mentioned, I would also try running it in 4x in your bios.

[beano311]

No luck, I'm gonna see if I can try my luck with BFG. Thanks for your help. (It now seems that when I watch videos that it isn't running at 32 bit, or eve 16 bit, color)