Multiple clients reset my video card

Since I updated to the last viewer version 1.23 I can no longer open multiple clients without having my computer freeze until my graphic card driver resets the display.



Same problem with Imprudence 1.2.1 and Emerald 1.23.5.1101 or any combinaison of the three.

I have updated my graphics drivers to the last version available, and also have downgraded the graphics options that didn't help.

It is quite annoying because I often use the multiple clients when I am building to pass stuff to my alt and check the perms and the scripts are correct.

Did anyone else experienced the same issue or must I consider it's my computer which is having problems?

Perhaps an earlier version driver would work.

Possibly there is a setting to change in Catalyst, such as turning off Catalyst A.I., anti-aliasing, etc.

Possibly telling SL in the Graphics Hardware Options not to use all the video ram.

Thank you SuezanneC, I just tried downgrading the RAM the problem still arises. Also tested my video card ram with VMT, which found no errors.

It seems that the problem only happens when i use the interface (dialogs, menus, ...) which puzzles me.

Sent the report to ATI maybe something will happen.

The ATI 48xx series seems to be problematic with SL. In this thread

/111/46/351375/1.html

the OP eventually upgraded to Windows 7 and the problem disappeared - another person claimed they had the same experience when they upgraded to Vista. Which would seem to indicate something in the XP drivers is not compatible with SL's recent clients.

The current "weird diamonds" thread is also an ATI 48xx problem, tho different from yours.

Sorry can't be more help!

OK, i had the weird diamonds but since i disabled most of shaders in attempt to solve this issue it's no a problem anymore.

I've planned to upgrade to Windows 7 at some point, just lazy to do it,I will try with Linux in the meantime.

And yes, it seems that SL+ATI = troubles

Thank you for the input Nika.

There are other reports of problems with version 9.12 of the ATI drivers, which this chart

http://developer.amd.com/drivers/ccc/Pages/default.aspx

indicates is what you have based on an id string of 8.681-091124a-092495C-ATI.

Some folks have reported success in solving the "diamonds in the sky" problem by changing to an earlier version, such as 9.11, 9.10, or something in the 8.xx series.

I have had an unrelated problem with ATI drivers for years, and found that it was solved by going back, not to a fairly recent version, nor version 8, nor version 7, but all the way back to the one of the oldest driver versions I could find, version 6.11, I think it was. I'm not suggesting that you try that version, just that problems with drivers can't always be solved by using the latest nor by using one or two of the versions just before the latest.

Some folks swear that every uninstall and reinstall of drivers should include the use of a driver cleaner. Some like the ten dollar Driver Cleaner, at http://www.drivercleaner.net. Others say that the free Driver Sweeper works ok; that is apparently located at http://phyxion.net.

When the freeze occurs, do you get an error message? Is so, what is the exact text of the error message? (Exact text allows searching for the error message, paraphrases don't.)

Yes I get a message from ATI VPU recover, then it opens Outlooks Express and creates an email to send to ATI with the crash report data attached.

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/3518/vpu.jpg

Do you have multiple monitors?

No just one screen, I checked on Linux it works like a charm, including atmospheric shaders without diamonds and all, so it's a Windows issue. The Linux version doesn't let the streaming sound play but it can be worked around with an external player or with emerald.