780G users. What Catalyst driver version are you using?

[apisto]

Hi, new Sage user here.
I have set my HTPC up on a GIGABYTE GA-MA780G-UD3H motherboard.

I have been getting "Video driver has stopped responding" errors and "Graphics adapter is stuck in an infinite loop" BSoDs. Mostly this happens when I am running SageMC, but sometimes with the stock UI too.

I have the Java heap set at 1GB, and am running XP Pro with hardware acceleration turned on in SAGE.

I was wondering what catalyst versions everyone is using with their 780G boards, especially the GIGABYTE GA-MA780G-UD3H, and is that version of the drivers stable for you.

Thanks in advance for everyone's time.

-Andy

[alfi33]

I have a Gigabyte 780G board and have been using it with SageTV for close to a year. Originally, I had some stability issues as well.

I'm running XP Pro SP3 and so far the only Catalyst version I've found that is stable for me is 8.10 (but I haven't even bothered trying of the last couple releases). I get BSOD on just about every other version I've tried. I wonder if this board is just more compatible with Vista...

Also, I find my system is extremely picky about which decoder I use. I've tried Avivo, PureVideo, and Cyberlink PowerDVD7. I experienced seemingly random crashes with all of them. The only one that works well for me is the "InterVideo NonCSS Video Decoder for Hauppauge."

Also, VMR9 does not work very well for me at all. I have to leave it on Overlay or else I get lots of tearing.

Now my system is very stable using the driver version and settings I mentioned above. I very rarely have any issues with it anymore and video playback is pretty much flawless. I do wish I could use VMR9, though.

[thorforyou]

The most stable setup that i have found for my 780g setup is to be sure that you remove all ati software using drive sweeper . Do not remove the device drivers only ccc, and the display driver.

Now reinstall the ati software. Then open ccc and disable catalyst ai, then in in the refresh display section choose center timing. This is an obscure solution but I get display driver stopped once a week instead of once per day since I implemented this soulition.

Another thing to try is to run msconfig and check boot and then advanced. Then check the boxes for cpus and memory putting in the correct values for your system.

I wish that ATI would fix their drivers or Microsoft would fix vista because this problem is as old as the hills.

Good luck

[alfi33]

Originally Posted by thorforyou

This is an obscure solution but I get display driver stopped once a week instead of once per day since I implemented this soulition.

Good luck

Once a week!? Ouch! Are you using Vista or XP? Which ATI driver version are you using?

[apisto]

Thanks for the valuable info, thorforyou and alfi33. I will give your suggestions a try and see how it goes and then report back. I hope I can get it to being at least nearly perfectly stable, though, because even once a week will kill the WAF.

[Polypro]

I threw in a 7600GT that I had lying around...end of problems.

P

[apisto]

Originally Posted by alfi33

I'm running XP Pro SP3 and so far the only Catalyst version I've found that is stable for me is 8.10 (but I haven't even bothered trying of the last couple releases).

alfi33 - To clarify is that "driver Packaging version" 8.10 or "Catalyst version" 8.10?

[apisto]

polypro - I am trying to avoid having a separate graphics card, but if I eventually have to resort to one, than I will.

[alfi33]

Originally Posted by apisto

alfi33 - To clarify is that "driver Packaging version" 8.10 or "Catalyst version" 8.10?

I've installed Catalyst version 8.10....but I find the decoder I choose to be just as important to my system's stability. I imagine it has something to do with how the HD3200 does hardware acceleration.

I haven't had the system crash (or even a reboot) in months now.

[apisto]

alfi33 - Thanks again for the info. I will try the 8.10 Catalyst drivers tonight.

In regards to the decoders, when you were trying out different ones, is that something where you just deinstalled the old decoder in the "add/remove programms" manner and then installed the new? Or is it like video drivers where one may need something special inbetwen like a special program to remove the old decoder or a fresh OS install?

Also, I don't own any Hauppauge products so I will have to try some other decoders.

Thanks again.

[apisto]

Thorforyou - I could not find the "center timing" setting.

[alfi33]

Originally Posted by apisto

In regards to the decoders, when you were trying out different ones, is that something where you just deinstalled the old decoder in the "add/remove programms" manner and then installed the new? Or is it like video drivers where one may need something special inbetwen like a special program to remove the old decoder or a fresh OS install?

It's definitely not a bad idea to uninstall decoders that you're not going to use. Many times you can do this just through "Add/Remove Programs." However, in my case I have not done that (yet). I just select the decoder that I want SageTV to use in Detailed Setup. The others are still in there as available options. What do you have selected now?

Originally Posted by apisto

I don't own any Hauppauge products so I will have to try some other decoders.

I am sure there are others that will work just fine. I just have not come across any others that work for me.

I believe your source and your capture method play a role in decoder selection as well.

[thorforyou]

I am using cat 9.4.

I have been running stable with 10 days of uptime now.

To use center timings open ccc in advanced mode and go to the hdmi section, then on the first item there are three choices. Maintain aspect ratio, center timing is the last choice.

There are other reasons for a stopped display driver. These include underpowered psu and heat issues.

I had the display driver problem for more than a year and the center timing trick seems to have fixed the prob for me.

There are some write ups from microsoft about trdlevel which is a regestry dword that can be added to you registry to cause a bluescreen instead of an auto recovery. This can help you get more information about what is really failing.

Look on google for trdlevel if you want more information about that. Here is a link, but there are many others from users in the same boat as you and me.
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device...m_timeout.mspx

Once again good luck. I am off to vacation for a week so I will not answer any posts until I get back.

Cheers
Thor

[apisto]

alfi33-I have not installed any decoders yet other than what is installed by XP itself(if any) and SageTV. In the Sage settings menu there are two choices SageTV defalut and the other choice which I can't remember at the moment( I am not in front of the HTPC now). I have tried both with comparable results. If 8.10 does not fix things I will go through decoders to see which helps. My source is simply liveTV through my HDHR and TV recorded by sage. I am not going to bother with much else until I get the TV part working right.

[apisto]

Thorforyou- Ahh, I couldn't find that setting because I have it hooked up to a monitor via VGA "on the bench" until I get everything working. 9.4 is what I am running now while I am having these problems. So I will give another version a go. I have a PC Power and cooling 380W PSU, which should be plenty for the integrated video, 1 HDD, and a BE-2400 CPU. Heat also occurred to me but the NB is not getting too hot. I suppose that could be a bad sign actually if they forgot to put paste between the NB and the heatsink. Maybe I should pop that off and take a look.

Thanks for the help and enjoy the vacation.

[apisto]

I installed the Cyberink PDVD7 codec. This seemed to help stability, but whoops no picture on HD TV and recordings! So I removed Catalyst 9.4 and installed 8.8 CCC and drivers. With this change I got the HD picture back. It is to early to tell if it is rock solid, but this combination is definately more stable. CPU usage is reduced as well.

I will report back after a longer term test of this combination.

Thanks again for all the help!

[dcardellini]

I had major BSD's occurring randomly, and often when pressing fast forward (watching OTA-HD and Firewire-HD mpeg2 material).

I was very fortunate to find a recording that consistently would crash system at the same exact place e very time. My other two clients, HD100 and 690g PC client all worked flawlessly with this same recording, so I knew it was not the source.

I went through and tested each version of CCC as follows:

9.2
9.1
8.12
8.11
8.10
8.9
8.8

At 8.8, it NO LONGER CRASHED. Went back and forth several times, and 8.8 was the magic bullet. Never have weird crashing anymore.

Not completely delighted, though, with quality. Often when I resume from standby, I have a choppiness that will not go away unless I reboot. Even at best, 1080i material seems a bit dodgey when watching sports.

I seem to remember a smoother picture on 9.2, but the crashing was killing the WAF (happening two-three times in an evening).

Really waiting for the next gen MB of something, and refuse to put a graphics card into this machine, based on some weird obsession on my part.

Running Win XP SP3, using Purevideo decoder (long story about Cyberlink, but not now), and Cole2k pack for my other mkv and other codec needs.

Any suggestions welcome here.

[thorforyou]

For me the culprit seems to be the trdlevel.

Experiement with the trdlevel dwords in your registry and tou might be in luck.

Adding an increase to the trdlevel timeout worked well for me and has reduced my crashes.

[thorforyou]

I have been experimenting with the trdlevel documented by Microsoft in
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device...m_timeout.mspx

Cut and paste the following into a file and name it trdlevel_set.reg
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers]
"TdrLevel"=dword:00000003
"TdrDelay"=dword:00000010
"TdrDdiDelay"=dword:00000005
"TdrDebugMode"=dword:00000002

This seems to prevent most 'display driver has stopped errors' in my ati cards.
I have tested in both hdmi and vga setups. Of course my setup may not be typical so test and use at your own risk.