video card crashes while generating spawn icons

Garry's Mod general
#1

system specs:
AMD Athalon64 dual-core @ 3.2 ghz
ATI Radeon HD 3850 2 GB ram
4 GB dual-channel ram
Vista/Xp dual boot

I’ve been having a really annoying problem with gmod. My Video card crashes(screen goes black with white bands of static) when ever i generate spawn icons(it wont generate 1 icon), take screen-shots(any game), or use fraps(whenever i record). this also happens in in other games too, but the card seems to recover, but in gmod it doesn’t. i can tell my system doesn’t crash because i can still hear sound(itunes). this basically has been happening ever since i installed Xp. none of this happens in vista.

Edit: i don’t think my video card is damaged becuase in vista it works fine, and my drivers are up to date (12/17/2009 the latest on the ati site)

#2

Ok first off, I used to have the same card as you and never had a problem with gmod. Try closing all external apps like iTunes, MSN, Browser ect… Also try running it in windowed mode if you use itunes and such.

#3

well i tried that no dice, and i ran in windowed mode and fullscreen btw could you tell me what version your drivers are? i don’t think the problem is directly related only to gmod. it happens in other games too, like when taking a screen-shot and auto-saving(in fallout3 and oblivion).

#4

2 ways to fix it is to: delete the spawnlist folder in settings

Add “spawnicon_disablepreload 1” into launch options.

These fixes sometimes work, but not for me. i am going to re install windows soon.