VPU recover?

[eggsploezhon]

Wow, my first post is for an error, that's not ominous.

Anyway, when I play Civ 4 and any of the expansions, I am treated to my screen going black, still hearing the music, than an error message tell me that "VPU recover has reset your graphics accelerator as it was no longer responding". Huh? It only does this with Civ 4. Not with Oblivion, GRAW, anything. Below are some specs....

Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3
2046MB RAM
AMD Athalon 64 X2 Dual core processor 4400+
128MB ATI X1300 (crappy card I know, but Oblivion runs great)

Also included is Dxdiag

If anyone has run into this before, please help!

 

[ori]

welcome to CFC

try a newer graphics driver - yours is http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownlo...spx?type=2.4.1&product=2.4.1.3.7&lang=English

 

[eggsploezhon]

welcome to CFC

try a newer graphics driver - yours is http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownlo...spx?type=2.4.1&product=2.4.1.3.7&lang=English

LOL

I actually just did that. Apparently the drivers and card are now classed as "legacy" as of late September. It actually fixed the problem. I managed to play for 1-hour straight (it would freak out before at random, but never did I get past 20 minutes of play).

Thank you for the help and for the welcome!

 

[eggsploezhon]

Never mind! Worked like a gem for a day, now, any of them freeze for no reason at random times, whole comp just freezes up. I have to hard restart. This last time it was just suddenly blue/green lines across the screen, then the blank screen of sadness. WTH?

Edit- I tried opening the comp and blowing out dust, placing a fan behind my comp fan, messing with the graphics card, ect.

 

[ori]

sounds like the graphics card is nearing the end of its lifetime
does this only happen with civ4? when it happens does the computer make louder than usual noises?

 

[eggsploezhon]

sounds like the graphics card is nearing the end of its lifetime
does this only happen with civ4? when it happens does the computer make louder than usual noises?

Yeah, it's only with Civ4. No, though, the computer does not get any louder. I installed speed fan. My core temp is 9C, and my HDO is anywhere from 45C to 50C, idle.

 

[ori]

is it any better with reduced graphics settings?
it sounds like an overheating graphics card - now Civ4 is known to stress some cards much more than it should...

 

[eggsploezhon]

is it any better with reduced graphics settings?
it sounds like an overheating graphics card - now Civ4 is known to stress some cards much more than it should...

Actually no, it's not any better. What can I do about the graphics card overheating?

 

[ori]

check that the graphics card cooler is working (that is the fan is running)
make sure there is no dust inside the computer