GTx 280 pink screen crash on first running 3D game from 2-3 hours rest.

[Bee_Dee_3_Dee]

Jincuteguy,

Based on the symptoms, and the correct explanation that xorbe is giving you, the following is as common as being told to reboot.

Eliminate individual hardware as the cause. There are two ways to approach it.

(1) The first one is to disconnected all unnecessary hardware, and see if the problem goes away. If it goes away, then reconnect one by one and when the problem reoccurs then that last reconnected hardawre is the culprit.

(2) The second is to disconnect one unnecessary piece of hardware, and see if the problem goes away. And then another, and see if the problem goes away. Then another, ... etc. Until the problem does goes away. If the problem goes away then the last piece of unnecessary hardware disconnected was the culprit. (Hopefully a $29 DVD-RW Drive. Or better yet a $3.99 SATA cable. )

Which approach to take depends on the situation.

And cables not being properly seated is also a very common cause- with the symptoms you've described and the expansion/ contraction from temperature changes. But disconnecting unnecessary hardware can lead to exposing the culprit. Checking the connections of the necessary hardware is a must.

GL

[jincuteguy]

I only have a hard drive and a DVD burner in my system. But why is this have to related to the burner and hard drive? isn't it suppose to be just the video card? or maybe not the video card?

[xorbe]

Sometimes the root cause failure, say, over in your system memory, could result in symptoms of a crashing video driver.

Very doubtful it's the HDD or DVD. Most likely the GPU. However, you could try reseating the memory, the cpu, the gpu card, the data cables, the power connectors. If you have 2 sticks of ram, run with just one, and then with just the other. Try relaxing ram timings. Try an extra notch of cpu and ram voltage (safely of course). Probably none of this will help -- but -- you never know.

I bet if you plugged in an identical video card of the one you have, the problem would go away.

[Bee_Dee_3_Dee]

Originally Posted by xorbe

Sometimes the root cause failure, say, over in your system memory, could result in symptoms of a crashing video driver.

Very doubtful it's the HDD or DVD. Most likely the GPU. However, you could try reseating the memory, the cpu, the gpu card, the data cables, the power connectors. If you have 2 sticks of ram, run with just one, and then with just the other. Try relaxing ram timings. Try an extra notch of cpu and ram voltage (safely of course). Probably none of this will help -- but -- you never know.

I bet if you plugged in an identical video card of the one you have, the problem would go away.

Definitely try everything xorbe just said jincuteguy.

And BIOS mite be corrupted too. Load Fail Safe or Optimal. Even Clear CMOS too.

Plus, Does the newest bios update address any issues related to stability?

And be sure not to be using the wrong UPS. I Just had to throw that one in- but most all older UPSs are not compatible with the big PSUs nowadays.

Just make a list of everything you've tried jincuteguy.

Almost forgot, the 4G Corsair Dominator RAM can be tricky but Corsair's support ppl rocked every time i've ever spoke with 'em. And now that i mention it, my latest BIOS updates for my MOBO made the 4G Corsair Dominator I have fully compatible. (I just noticed we both have the same RAM jincuteguy.... well i got the 1066.)

GL

PS
And after it gets fixed perfect, learn Norton Ghost to help rule out the OS in the future.

[jincuteguy]

I rma the card today, waiting for the replacement one to come next week. right now im using a 9600GT card and it's working fine, no crash whatsoever.

[Martin Benca]

Hi.

RMA the card if you want to get rid of this. I have exactly the same problem but since I have 3SLI config I could isolate it. Only one of my GTX 280 cards causes this. It is _not_ overheating, neither power supply or anything else. It is the card. Generally it is not totally broken but right at start cannot run at full frequencies (so quick fix for people having this problem is simply underclock it a little).

Mine after the start when it is cold (was off for a longer time) works ok at 602/1204/1000 clocks but crashes even at standart (602/1296/1107). To make it work stable it is not sufficient or even necessary to (fully) warm it up. You have to let it run for about 3-4 minutes to slightly warm/whatever up (it doesn't even have to run some heavy 3D application, however it does need some warming/time), then turn off and on PC for just a slight moment (sleep on/off is enough). After this all is _perfectly stable_ and I can even easilly overclock it to 675/1350/1242 with absolutely no problems at all.

Just warming it up won't solve the problem. Even if you'll run full 3D for hours underclocked getting the whole system to high temperatures, once you increase the clocks you'll crash. You _have to_ do this on/off thingy to get rid of the problem and you can do it after just a little warming. You don't have to wait long. After that all will be ok.

Either way since only one of my cards causes this it is _definitely_ some hardware problem. My wild guess is some defected part needs to charge and reset (some tyristor or whatever to provide additional line of correct power supply to the chip or something so it can run stable even at higher frequencies).

I didn't RMA it myself since I'm quite happy with my cards overclocking and temperature-keeping abilities and at "standart" clocks this happens only in certain games to me (typicaly WoW title screen reliably crashes immediatelly if this problem is there) so I might have problems to prove my case and I'm not in the mood being without one of my cards for some longer time. I wait until it dies for good then I'll RMA it. If not I can live with it, GT300 is commng soon anyway. :-D However the problem I have now for three-four months and it doesn't seem to get worse.

Usually after PC start I just read some web first then I simply do sleep on/off and can run at even 675/1350/1242 without any troubles. Or if I want to play immediatelly I have Riva Tuner shortcut to underclock it temporarily to stable 602/1200/1000.