Random BSODs (HD 7970)

[cstrosser]

Hi all,

I have tried just about every driver set out there. Right now I'm using the latest official betas (8.96-120315a-135399E). The only GPU-intensive application I use is X-Plane 10, an OpenGL-based flight simulator. I have never experienced a BSOD while using XP10; however, when I'm trying to do my work, I find I get random BSOD. When I'm not using XP10, I am usually using OneNote, Firefox, Zend Studio 9, and VirtualBox. This is when GPU usage is at its lowest.

Can anyone provide any insight into this problem? I'm so close to returning this card for the new Nvidia...and I've been an AMD guy for many years.

System Specs:
Windows 7 SP1 (64-bit)
Intel Core i7-2600 (no OC)
16GB DDR3 RAM
(2) OCZ Vertex 3
(2) 7,200 RPM HDs
3GB XFX Radeon HD 7970 Core (no OC)
750w Thermatake PSU

Thanks,
Chris

[ipredator]

Did you check if idle clocks are correct? And did you fresh install the few drivers you tested, with Driver Sweeper/ATIman uninstaller?

[Valagard]

Try uninstalling drivers with ATIMan, then installing new drivers

[cstrosser]

Alright, per your advice, I ran ATIman and cleaned everything out. I am now getting a kdbsync.exe error on startup.

kdbsync.exe cannot be started up because OpenCL.dll is missing from the computer.

[Portman87]

Try this one http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles...07Support.aspx and use Atiman Uninstaller 6.3.1. Driver Sweeper isnt working for me.

[cstrosser]

As for idle clock speeds, it is usually around 500 MHz, and goes up to 925 MHz occasionally. It's at 500 MHz most of the time during idle operation.

[bishi]

what BSODs are you getting?

[cstrosser]

Originally Posted by bishi

what BSODs are you getting?

It's an atikmpag.sys error. Just went throught the whole ATIman thing, so we'll see if that helps.

[Portman87]

Check if installation is complete without errors and warnings at the last window.

[cstrosser]

Originally Posted by Portman87

Check if installation is complete without errors and warnings at the last window.

I've never encountered an error during the driver install process.
-Chris

[sb.0326]

Are you running dual monitors? For me I can only use two driver versions at the moment because every other one returns a BSOD withing 5-6 minutes everytime upon boot up.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=360149

Thread I had regarding this issue.

[cstrosser]

Originally Posted by sb.0326

Are you running dual monitors? For me I can only use two driver versions at the moment because every other one returns a BSOD withing 5-6 minutes everytime upon boot up.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=360149

Thread I had regarding this issue.

Thanks for the response. I am running dual monitors, but I cannot reproduce the BSODs by waiting a certain amount of time, and can't seem to find a pattern. They are random... I went more than 24 hours without a crash at one point.

With the most recent drivers, it seemed like it was better for a while, but it started up again. No crashes since ATIman uninstall but that was only 50 minutes ago, and I wouldn't say I was getting a crash every hour.

Thanks again! These forums have been a big help so far.

-Chris

[sb.0326]

I can certainly empathize. Nothing more frustrating than spending your hard earned cash on something that maybe kinda sorta sometimes works.

Least for me I could narrow it down and single out the cause.

Hope the new drivers work for you..

[aoya]

I have this problem too. The only one that works no problem is RC11.

[bishi]

see if giving your cards +20% power helps

[cstrosser]

Some benchmark results:

FurMark v1.9.2 - 1280x720 (FS), AA:0, DynBkg
FPS: 74/101/83 (min/max/avg)
Score: 4997 pt. (83 FPS, 60000 ms)

FurMark v1.9.2 - 1920x1080 (FS), AA:0, DynBkg
FPS: 43/45/42
Score: 2579 pt. (42 FPS, 60000 ms)

3DMark 11
3DMark Score: P7594
Graphics Score: 7772
Physics Score: 7372
Combined Score: 6743
GraphicsTest1: 34.59 FPS
GraphicsTest2: 39.2 FPS
GraphicsTest3: 48.06 FPS
GraphicsTest4: 23.18 FPS
PhysicsTest: 23.41 FPS
CombinedTest: 31.36 FPS

The other HD 7970 cards seem to be scoring much higher. These results seem awfully low for a card of this caliber.

Thoughts?

[adrock311]

Originally Posted by cstrosser

Hi all,

I have tried just about every driver set out there. Right now I'm using the latest official betas (8.96-120315a-135399E). The only GPU-intensive application I use is X-Plane 10, an OpenGL-based flight simulator. I have never experienced a BSOD while using XP10; however, when I'm trying to do my work, I find I get random BSOD. When I'm not using XP10, I am usually using OneNote, Firefox, Zend Studio 9, and VirtualBox. This is when GPU usage is at its lowest.

Can anyone provide any insight into this problem? I'm so close to returning this card for the new Nvidia...and I've been an AMD guy for many years.

System Specs:
Windows 7 SP1 (64-bit)
Intel Core i7-2600 (no OC)
16GB DDR3 RAM
(2) OCZ Vertex 3
(2) 7,200 RPM HDs
3GB XFX Radeon HD 7970 Core (no OC)
750w Thermatake PSU

Thanks,
Chris

try this! disable flash video hardware acceleration and also hardware acceleration in main browser options in all web browsers.

stopped the atikmpag.sys BSOD's for me.

[cstrosser]

EDIT: I spoke too soon (seconds...literally). I just had another crash, although this was different. Instead of getting little black rectangles, a frozen mouse, and a BSOD, both screens went black. I tried switching the monitors on/off, and switching cable modes to see if that brought it back. During this time, I could hear the audiobook I was playing in the background; however, I know it was frozen because both CAPS and SCRLK were not working. I ended up resetting the computer after waiting two minutes.

So I made it a little over a day without a crash--from 3/23 @ 15:04 to 3/25 @ 02:50.

Last Crash: 2012/03/25 2:50 AM

PREVIOUS MESSAGE: So far so good. I left the computer running overnight and no crash. Hopefully this will persist. No BSOD since: 03-23-2012 15:04

[cstrosser]

Got two more crashes within the past 24 hours. The first happened when I left my computer on overnight. The second when I walked away for maybe 5-10 minutes. Still no updates from AMD. I also sent a message to XFX, but have no received anything back yet.

[Pill Monster]

atikmpag.sys BSOD could be a TDR (timeout & recovery) error if it gives code 116.

Often nstalling the drivers without CCC or preventing CCC from running at startup stops the bsod, also, maybe try the latest 896 12.4's, they are really good....

Do you have an antivirus running or maybe DaemonTools this can also cause the tdr bsod...

I uninstall from device manager then run driver sweeper, reboot and install the new drivers through device manager instead of using the Catalyst Installer... that always works for me...
Your startup error can be fixed by running CCleaner and deleting the AVT startup entry...

[cstrosser]

Thanks for the response!

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

atikmpag.sys BSOD could be a TDR (timeout & recovery) error if it gives code 116.

Often nstalling the drivers without CCC or preventing CCC from running at startup stops the bsod, also, maybe try the latest 896 12.4's, they are really good....

I've had the most luck with the 896 drivers, but to be frank, they still suck. My HD 7970 has better benchmarks than my HD 6870, but I get better in game performance from my HD 6870 (Laminar Research, makers of X-Plane 10, is partly to blame). In addition, I don't get the crashes with the HD 6870. I'm close to returning this thing...thankfully I'm still in the 30 day window.

Do you have an antivirus running or maybe DaemonTools this can also cause the tdr bsod...

I use Norton Security Suite. Now I'm curious...any other HD 7970 users out there use Norton?

I uninstall from device manager then run driver sweeper, reboot and install the new drivers through device manager instead of using the Catalyst Installer... that always works for me...

Per the advice of others, I used ATIman to uninstall the drivers. I did a clean sweep and tested each version. The 8.96-120315a-135399E drivers are the best, but still have the BSOD problem, as stated.

Your startup error can be fixed by running CCleaner and deleting the AVT startup entry...

I actually ended up fixing this one by reinstalling the drivers, and selecting the SDK option.

[Pill Monster]

If you can run the 6870 without a bsod then chances are it could be the card. If all else fails RMA it...at least that way you'll eliminate the card as the cause.

I think someone else with an XFX 7970 posted recently with problems too, his card was freezing up.

[cstrosser]

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

If you can run the 6870 without a bsod then chances are it could be the card. If all else fails RMA it...at least that way you'll eliminate the card as the cause.

I think someone else with an XFX 7970 posted recently with problems too, his card was freezing up.

Until we have non-beta drivers, I don't know think we can give a probability either way. That's half the battle. AMD has told me, "Once official drivers are released we can assist with troubleshooting." The AMD service rep said the official drivers would likely be out on Wednesday of last week (3/21). That didn't happen, and they haven't responded to any subsequent emails.

I am pretty close to doing what you have suggested though... exchanging for another HD 7970 or returning the card. This has been an exercise in frustration.

Just to add some detail... the crashes typically happen when I am away from the computer. In addition, I have experienced a bunch of crashes while doing desktop-type tasks; however, I have never experienced a crash while using X-Plane 10 (OpenGL-based flight sim). Watch though...now that I have said this, I'll get one. =/

[Agent-A01]

yeah maybe try increasing stock volts a tad. if no fix it looks like its time to rma the card

[Valagard]

Sounds like the card is failing, RMA it