Left 4 Dead 2's driving me NUTS!!

[Dr Mordrid]

Got L4D2 PC version for our son for XMAS and it's been nothing but trouble and frustration. If it weren't software we'd return it

Core2Duo E7400 2.8 ghz
2 gig RAM
ATI Radeon 4350 HD 1 gig PCIe with latest drivers
300g HDD 15% full
Windows managing swapfile automatically
XP (virus and adware scanned)

Partway though gameplay it seizes up (the video drivers crash); the desktop goes to minimal colors and soon the system restarts. >20 instances just yesterday.

If any one has an idea I'm open to it, though we've already tried most of what's on the 'net; disabling vsynch etc. Even turned off artificial intelligence in the ATI Catalyst control panel.

Windows reports that the ati2dvag driver has crashed before it resets. The Event Log follows.

Event Type: Information
Event Source: ACEEventLogSource
Event Category: None
Event ID: 0
Date: 1/8/2010
Time: 8:51:38 PM
User: N/A
Computer: [redacted]
Description:
0000000010: 2010-01-08 20:51:38:046 FAILED:ADL_Display_PossibleMode_Get with status : -3 For Adapter Index :0
Error Called by: ATI.ACE.CLI.Aspect.DisplaysOptions.Graphics.Runtim e.RT_DisplaysOptions::GetADLAllPossibleModes processID:00916 threadID: ( ) domainName: (ccc.exe ) assemblyName: (CLI.Aspect.DisplaysOptions.Graphics.Runtime, Version=2.0.3615.38646, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Elie]

Hi Doc, check the following...

1-heat, make sure the fan on the video card is running. Sometimes they seize up. Is the video card overclocked? Could be the issue as well

2-did you update the drivers for your video card?

3-though the video drivers crashed I would also check the audio drivers as well

4-try running the game in lower resolution to see if that helps

5-perhaps you can change the video card PCIe slot

6-maybe AMD has fixes for that specific game, try the makers of L4D and see if they have something to fix random crashes.

Hope this helps

[Dr Mordrid]

1- passively cooled and new. No O/C.

2- latest, as stated

3- new audio card & latest drivers & also tested with embedded audio; no difference

4- tried and failed already

5- already tried that

6- checked and no

also refreshed all the M/B drivers and updated the BIOS

that said I checked the Steam/ATI etc. forums and it appears it's a known issue with the game itself, but with no resolution yet

[Evildead666]

Passively cooled cards are for well ventilated cases.
If it only seizes up while gaming, it heat.
Put a 80mm fan directly on the passive heatsink, and up the rear case fan to evacuate heat more.

If it doesn't crash, there you are.
Passive cards generate huge amounts of heat, and that has to be pulled from the case.
generally you can put a low power fan to one, which doesn't increase the noise over the other fans, and the heatsink will work much better.

edit : Left for dead 2 isnt a hugely demanding game. It should play on almost any system. That being, a 4350 isn't a real gaming card, unless you're at 1280x1024 max....

edit2 : In fact it s 64-bit bus for memory, and only 80 shader cores, 16 clusters. Its a little bit faster than an integrated chip. probably 2x, except even integrated can get a 128bit memory bus...
The fact it has 1Gb of memory is meaningless. Its DDR2 memory, which is very very slow.
This shouldn't even be getting hot.
If its new, take it back and get a refund.
Look for any card with at least a 128bit bus for memory. and either GDDR3 or GDDR5.

Sorry to be a bit blunt, but gaming is not really possible on such a card. My friend who is very knowledgeable in servers and Windows server, bought a complete lemon as a graphics card a few years back, and still hasn't quite recuperated from the humiliation ...

edit3: My point being, such a card 4350, is usually bought for people who need another screen, not for gaming.
The driver team will not view such a card as important in the gaming world. if is displays windows fine, leave it at that.

[Evildead666]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_ATI_Graphics_Processing_Units#Radeon_R700_.28HD_4xxx.29_series

[cjolley]

Doc,
If that turns out to be the problem try an HD4670
At $70 great performance for the money.
I got a Sapphre brand 512 meg GDDR3 card for Christmas and I'm pretty impressed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102854&Tpk=sapphire%20HD4670

Does have a fan though...

Chuck

[mmp121]

How does the card work when running a basic 3D test, say 3DMark06? Does it even run the demo? What other games, if any does he also run? I presume they all work.

[Nicram]

You should use Matrox card, then it will not crash at all.