Considering this only started when I put the new vid card in, less than 2 weeks agao, I am hoping it's just the card. I also hope it does not cascade an issue down onto my mobo as I wait for an RMA card to get stocked.

I guess I just leave my PC on as much as possible for a little while.

Thanks guys!

I wouldn't worry about secondary effects. I seem to have under-supplied my 9600GT on a few occasions (running at a 300W supply does that sometimes) but the mobo doesn't mind, even the 9600GT doesn't mind.

The whole thing reminds me about my Razor Diamondback Plasma mouse. It will occasionally not come up active when XP finishes loading - on the second system now. The reason seems to be that it can't draw enough initial power on boot. Such stuff is a hardware design problem (and often only felt in combination with certain mobos), I hope it's not specific to your brand of HD5850.

If you had a no-name PSU I might argue that the PSU can't deliver enough peak load on initial power, but not with an Antec.

Yeah, seems like it is the card...


http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18063487

Aye, what I thought. They must have too generously specified the power needed to initialize the card.

I hope my HD5870 will not do such tricks... shame for you though, as an RMA does not guarantee a resolution in this case. Maybe get a 5870?

I would love to but you would have to convince my wife

I updated the bios on my mobo yesterday in hopes that it might help. No joy. However, I did learn that Asus has a nifty bios based utility that will upgrade your bios using an image on a thumb drive. That was neato!

Some of the ASUS boards now even include a web browser in Bios to go online and download updates.

Hhmm, I wish you luck with the RMA, but chances are if it's a known error across a range of different vendors, then the 5850 is simple designed to draw a bit too much power upon initialization. Maybe a different mobo or PSU would "do that" but if your other components are close to specification...

We have the issue at our company with the wireless 3G modems - Lenovo laptops are very close to specification for USB power, and those modems draw a bit more, so they don't always work.

Meaning, it's not technically your other components fault - if they are delivering the specified voltage and amperage - but it could be easier to fix by swapping them (in hope to find a part that supplies more than specified) rather than RMAing the card.

And compared to swapping these boards (PSU and Mobo) it'd be much easier and cheaper to ebay the RMA card (after testing) and get a 5870.

My VisionTek HD4870 would Randomly do this on boot. It is currently in RMA after putting up with this crap for about a year. The final straw was failing to post with the D1603 led being lit up when the error occurs. You may want to check if the card has diagnostic LEDs on it. I have a 700watt power supply & I also checked mine with an 800 watt too but it did not fix it.


SlackAdjuster

I lit them up with a craptastic newegg review and they responded asking me to contact them to resolve this. Hopefully they decide to cross ship a part to me.

I may have missed this, but did you try the suggestions?