Random BSODs (HD 7970)

Discussion in 'Videocards - AMD Radeon Drivers Section' started by cstrosser, Mar 23, 2012.

  1. Rzeki

    Rzeki Guest

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    GPU:
    xfx 7970 black edition x3
    trifire xfx 7970s 3way eyefinity with random crashes on all three cards running individually, and all combinations of xfire, running 12.3 reporting in.
     
  2. adrock311

    adrock311 Guest

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    if its BSOD 116 atikmpag.sys , try reading this:

    from here: http://forums.wowgrunt.com/sc2/thread.php?id=189278963&forumID=13438&region=us

    THE ABOVE FIXED A LOT OF ISSUES FOR ME, BUT THIS BELOW IS WHAT FINALLY LET ME PLAY THE GAME!

    Credits go to MooMoo

    Link
    http://dev.chiasoft.net/index.php?topic=6987.0

    This applies to Windows Vista/7 Users.
    *Just note, I will not be responsible if you mess something up, but this requires Windows Registry Tweaks, so please make sure you are familiar before attempting.*

    The reason/issue:
    This is crashing is because Windows Vista/7 have the stupid "TDR" built into the OS set at 2 seconds, and it does it kinda poorly in my opinion.

    In plain english:
    Windows Vista/7 checks/polls your video card every so often, to make sure it hasn't "crashed", kind of like a "ping" to the card. Normally, the graphics driver/card responds right away.
    Well what happens is, when you are running SCII and some other Graphics Intensive Games, your graphics card is busy processing the game commands and renders, so it may not respond to windows within 2 seconds. This is the part that crashes the game, as per Windows Default, when the 2 second Timeout Detect Period passed, Windows kicks in the Graphics/GPU/VPU recovery process. (Shuts off and restarts the Video card, and drivers.)
    So at this point SCII just lost the device it was sending all the graphics rendering commands to. Hence the black screen with the lines/ looping sound, etc.

    The Fix:
    We will raise the TDR timeout period to 10 seconds. (this should be sufficient, don't go any higher as it may be bad for your video card IF an actual issue does arise.)
    1. Open Registry Editior (regedit.exe)
    2. Navigate to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers"
    3. Create a new 32_BIT DWORD Key, and name it "TdrDelay" (case-sensitive) and assign it a Decimal Value of "10". (If one already exists, just change the value from 2 to 10)
     
  3. HarryRag

    HarryRag Member Guru

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    Thnx for the info, I'm gonna give it a go since only the cape verdi driver doesn't TDR or Bsod for me.

    small update, crash went to a 117 (pc locked in black screen) instead of the previous 116 which was an BSOD.
     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2012
  4. cstrosser

    cstrosser Guest

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    GPU:
    XFX Radeon HD 7970 (3GB)
    First BSOD since update happened overnight. =/
     

  5. cstrosser

    cstrosser Guest

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    GPU:
    XFX Radeon HD 7970 (3GB)
    The dreaded BSOD during desktop tasks is back. I have many words I'd like to utter, but my bet is that they are against the TOS for this forum.

    I can't say this enough... AMD really f-ed up on this one...very badly. They've managed to make me, a lifelong AMD user, start considering Nvidia.
     
  6. Krogtheclown

    Krogtheclown Master Guru

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    use 11.12 the original driver and that should do it.
     
  7. ibfr33k

    ibfr33k Guest

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    I had some odd off and on trouble when I upgraded from my 5870 to the 7970. It was time for me to do my usual reformat and reload windows 7 and when I did it fixed all the problems I have been having. Before I reloaded windows I couldn't install the 12.4 drivers. But now it installs just fine and my BF3 runs smoother than ever.

    I tried uninstalling then reinstalling with no fix. I used the Atimon uninstaller and it didn't help. So I guess there was something that was being left behind for it to not work smoothly without random lockups. After the reformat, smooth as silk.

    Have you tried reinstalling windows? Might be worth a try.
     
  8. cstrosser

    cstrosser Guest

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    XFX Radeon HD 7970 (3GB)
    It's a valid suggestion, but I'm not willing to give that one a go at this point. I've never had to reinstall Windows to install graphics drivers. I own three other AMD cards that work flawlessly -- HD 6870, HD 6450, and HD 4650. I'm very confident that it is not my system, but instead, poorly programmed drivers.
     
  9. cstrosser

    cstrosser Guest

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    Thanks for the suggestion. I gave the 11.12 drivers a go at one point, and found that they have more problems than any of the recent drivers (at least for what I do). The most recent drivers fixed some issues specific to the simulator I bought the card for (X-Plane), so unfortunately even with the BSOD, these drivers are still far better than the others out there.
     
  10. rflair

    rflair Don Coleus Staff Member

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    You should none the less test your PC.
     

  11. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    Over time, the registry becomes cluttered and files can become corrupt, which can lead to issues. Sometimes, the best way to determine the root cause of a problem, is to start from the beginning. If you really want to solve a problem, you can't rule out possibilities without examining them first.

    If you've never had to reinstall windows over graphics drivers, either you haven't been around computers long, or you've managed to miss the worst of the drivers that have been released in the last 10 years...
     
  12. cstrosser

    cstrosser Guest

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    I've done everything short of reinstalling Windows at this point, which is simply not an option right now. At this point, it's either (a) wait until the next set of drivers, or (b) buy a new card. As long as I have the card, I will keep everyone abreast of changes.

    On a side note, unplugging the second monitor seems to have stopped the BSOD for now. Whether with one or two monitors, if I keep Windows Media Center or X-Plane open, it keeps the card "busy" and no BSOD occurs. BSOD in single-card configuration is caused by idle or non-GPU accelerated tasks.
     
  13. t0xin420

    t0xin420 Guest

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    GPU:
    XFX Radeon HD 7950
    maybe try configuring your profiles and setting your card clocks to 800/1250 at all times rather then let them idle out. i have a 7950 and was getting BSOD's with idle clocks. What I noticed doesnt make sense is the idle clocks seem to be wrong. On previous amd cards i have owned, all idle clocks were at 157/300 but on the 7900 series they seem to be set to 300/150. i dont understand that. maybe itll help. i know that setting my clocks to 3d mode at all times made the BSOD's stop. I was about to RMA the card myself.
     
  14. cstrosser

    cstrosser Guest

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    First off, thanks to everyone for your help. It has been a short but infinitely frustrating journey. I've decided to return the HD 7970 another card that shall remain unnamed. I really really appreciate all the help.
    -Chris
     
  15. IM0001

    IM0001 Guest

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    From what I am reading, it is not the card but something to do with the drivers/system in this case.

    At work I got upgraded to a Dell Precision T7500 and a HD6450. Same exact problem with 3 monitors and doing normal work/web stuff, One screen will black out, then the next, then the last, followed by a BSOD with the same .sys error message.

    Going through installing some newer intel chipset drivers and checking for some other things. It isn't very often, but it is annoying. Never ran into something like this through my 4870X2/5870 days. Hm..
     

  16. ttvd

    ttvd Guest

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    2 x MSI / 7970 / 3GB
    cstrosser, I registered to say that I had (or still possibly have) the same issue as you.

    I have two systems, new lga 2011 (3930k) and old i7-920 x58. When I run one 7970 card (either one), or two 7970s in CF on my x58 system, anything above 12.1 gets bsod, 116 (device time out thing). I use multiple screens connected to primary card (it drives primary 30" and 3 20"s). If i unplug the 20" screens there are no bsods. 11.12 driver seems to work fine. Also, the other day I downloaded new 12.4 driver (one that brings opencl 1.2) and it seems to be working stable so far, I ran 3dmark11 all night and so far i have no crashes (before that it would bsod within 20 mins). I also ran some opencl stuff i wrote a while back and it seems to be working.

    On my lga 2011 (3930k + asus rampage extreme iv) system behavior is more interesting. I don't have bsods, but I do get complete lock-ups with sound looping (typically either happens in 3d application or when flash is playing). I thought this was memory / voltage stability related, but I am starting to think that actually this is indeed caused by 7970s also. I need to further test to verify this.

    I am slightly sad at how amd is handling this, they behave as if there's no problem with 7970s / drivers.

    I also found this on one of the forums:
    I haven't had chance to test this yet, as so far 12.4 are stable for me (with multiple screens).
    My cards are stock MSI 7970s if that's of any interest.

    Hope this helps..
     
  17. Krogtheclown

    Krogtheclown Master Guru

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    I have experinced this same problem with my cards also on 2 different systems. AMD knows but they are keeping very mum on this.
     
  18. ttvd

    ttvd Guest

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    Do you have just BSODs or do you have system lockups too?
     
  19. Krogtheclown

    Krogtheclown Master Guru

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    WIth drivers after 11.12 I have BSOD's in DX 11 games like Crysis 2 and BF 3 in 11.12 I have lock ups with buzzzing in speakers. SO ya i have the same problems you have.
     
  20. pdownloader

    pdownloader New Member

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    I've been having system lockups with sound looping during games (f1 2011, bf 3) aswell but it seems harder to reproduce the problem with 12.3 official drivers. Tomorrow I'm going to be running different voltages to see if I can get some stability.
     

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