Forum Home
Press F1
Thread ID: 96408	2009-01-09 10:50:00	ATI card problem	samnorr (13776)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
736729	2009-01-09 10:50:00	A week ago, I posted this (pressf1.pcworld.co.nz) question about my HD4670 video card stopping my Windows XP PC coming out of hibernation. Unfortunately, none of the suggestions I got were of any help. Just yesterday, I downloaded and installed the latest Catalyst drivers from the ATI website, and what-do-you-know, the problem seemed to be fixed. That is, until today when I tried hibernating again. Upon coming out of hibernation, right at the point where the login screen would normally show, I got a BSOD error message that pointed to ati2dvag.dll (which I think must be the display driver?). After some searching on the web, I found some information pointing to overheating as the cause of the problem. According to the Catalyst Control Center, my card was running at 42 degrees celsius, which didn't seem that high, considering I had just been playing quite a graphics intensive game. So, after trying hibernating again multiple times in succession with the same result, I decided to leave the computer in hibernation for a few hours to cool down. I have just turned it back on about an hour and a half ago, and amazingly, it came out of hibernation perfectly. The temperature now reads 38 degrees. I wouldn't think 4 degrees difference in temperature would cause any problems though, and even if it would, why would it only cause a problem on hibernation wake-up? Any thoughts?	samnorr (13776)
736730	2009-01-09 18:47:00	Why do you need hibernation? Its just a big problem. And your card isn't hot at all	pctek (84)
736731	2009-01-10 02:57:00	Why do you need hibernation? Its just a big problem. And your card isn't hot at all As I said in my other question that I linked to above, my PC takes a very long time to start up (probably around 10 minutes to finish loading from the time I click on the username in the login screen) - which I think must be because of both the considerable number of startup programs I have, and my aging five year old hard drive. So hibernation is almost a neccessity for me. And if my card wasn't hot, why did the problem go away after the computer had been left for a while?	samnorr (13776)
736732	2009-01-10 03:21:00	my PC takes a very long time to start up So hibernation is almost a neccessity for me . And if my card wasn't hot, why did the problem go away after the computer had been left for a while? Fix it . Don't use workarounds that cause more problems . WHY YOUR PC SLOWS DOWN OVER TIME 1) Not enough RAM, Win XP needs 512mb to run properly, Vista should have at least 1GB . 2) Get rid of Spyware . 3) Windows Bloat The longer you use Windows, the more disordered your registry can become, especially if you regularly install and uninstall software . Many applications, on being uninstalled, leave behind “orphan” registry entries . They don’t remove all traces of themselves; causing problems such as sluggish performance, system lockups, or a bloated registry that takes longer to load on startup . The NTFS file system contains at its core, a file called the master file table (MFT) . There is at least one entry in the MFT for every file on an NTFS volume, including the MFT itself . NTFS uses MFT entries to define the files to which they correspond . All information about a file, including its size, time and date stamps, permissions, and data content is either stored in MFT entries or in space external to the MFT but described by the MFT entries . As files are added to an NTFS volume, more entries are added to the MFT and so the MFT increases in size . When files are deleted from an NTFS volume, their MFT entries are marked as free and may be reused, but the MFT does not shrink . Thus, space used by these entries is not reclaimed from the disk . Because utilities that defragment NTFS volumes cannot move MFT entries, and because excessive fragmentation of the MFT can impact performance, NTFS reserves space for the MFT in an effort to keep the MFT as contiguous as possible as it grows . Therefore the only cure for bloat is to wipe the PC and do a fresh install from scratch . And I mean your card isn't over the temp it should be .	pctek (84)
736733	2009-01-10 05:46:00	Fix it . Don't use workarounds that cause more problems . WHY YOUR PC SLOWS DOWN OVER TIME 1) Not enough RAM, Win XP needs 512mb to run properly, Vista should have at least 1GB . 2) Get rid of Spyware . 3) Windows Bloat Firstly, thanks for taking the time to explain the MFT to me . The cause of the slow startup has been puzzling me for a while . :) My PC has a healthy 2GB of RAM, and I scan for spyware fairly regularly . That just leaves reason number three, Windows bloat . But if the only way of curing that is a clean reinstall, then is it not simply easier to use hibernation instead of shutting Windows down every time? Besides, even if I reinstalled Windows fresh and it loaded on at a normal speed again, it would still take longer to do so than it would to come out of hibernation (where all the startup programs would already be loaded) . Of course it would be of great benefit to have Windows and this MFT fresh again, but wouldn't it mean losing all of my settings, updates, installed programs, saved games, etc? I know I can backup my important files (photos videos, etc) to my external drive, but how could I transfer everything else? And are you sure the slow startup is not just a case of having too many startup programs (I have at least ten)?	samnorr (13776)
736734	2009-01-10 06:16:00	If you uninstall programs that you don't need & remove items from the startup list that don't need to be there. Then run ccleaner, you will find it will go a whole lot better. Of coarse if you have a antivirus program that does a scan every time you start, that won't help.	Driftwood (5551)
736735	2009-01-10 06:31:00	New profile is the quick fix!	SolMiester (139)
736736	2009-01-10 09:18:00	If you uninstall programs that you don't need & remove items from the startup list that don't need to be there. Then run ccleaner, you will find it will go a whole lot better. Of coarse if you have a antivirus program that does a scan every time you start, that won't help. I just ran CCleaner yesterday - it seems to make no difference at all. I use Avast, does anyone know if it performs a startup scan and how to disable it? And will it make any difference?	samnorr (13776)
736737	2009-01-10 09:21:00	just create a new account and check the start up time after logon....a 10min wait suggests a corrupted user profile to me...	SolMiester (139)
736738	2009-01-10 11:05:00	just create a new account and check the start up time after logon....a 10min wait suggests a corrupted user profile to me... But... a new account would have it's own separate startup programs would it not? So of course it would load quicker (which it did, when I tried it in the past), because it would have hardly anything to load on (unless I installed every single startup program on to the new account). Not to mention all the other separate settings that another profile would have that I don't want to lose, like desktop and Start menu icons, bookmarks, iTunes library, etc. I can't simply just create a new account and delete the old one.	samnorr (13776)
1 2