Random BSODs (HD 7970)

[cstrosser]

I appreciate all the responses and suggestions. I'm going to do some logging with GPU-Z to see if I can find any patterns. I'm considering exchanging it for another tomorrow just for my own piece of mind, but I have little confidence that I will see a change based on the reports floating around out there. I'll keep everyone posted.

[Pill Monster]

Originally Posted by cstrosser

I appreciate all the responses and suggestions. I'm going to do some logging with GPU-Z to see if I can find any patterns. I'm considering exchanging it for another tomorrow just for my own piece of mind, but I have little confidence that I will see a change based on the reports floating around out there. I'll keep everyone posted.

Well put it this way; if you swap out the card and still get BSOD then it's pretty unlikely (but not impossible) the GPU is to blame but yeah still could be anything...

But if you don't get anymore bsod's you'll know the card was faulty for sure...that's how I see anyway.

So you have a 50/50 chance of eliminating the problem by returning the card yeah?

[cstrosser]

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

Well put it this way; if you swap out the card

...

But if you don't get anymore bsod's you'll know the card was faulty for sure...that's how I see anyway.

Agreed!

[bishi]

I'm still not sure its a faulty card. Can you try it in another machine?

How about installing windows to a new partition just to test that it isn't conflicting drivers.

you could even try as someone mentioned - installing CCC on the new OS but ONLY install the drivers component making sure not to install CCC etc, and if CCC is running kill CCC and MOM.

And finally, it may sound obvious but dont install any software that does anything with the display layer such as steam or origin in game overlays, Teamviewer / VNC monitor drivers etc

[mattfca]

I had this same problem when I first upgraded my CF6950's to the 7970.

It was a driver issue, I had to delete all old drivers then install drivers fresh.

The card is not at fault.

[cstrosser]

I decided to exchange the card just to be on the safe side. I'll keep everyone posted.
-Chris

[cstrosser]

Well, as I figured, this is not caused by a faulty card.

[Pill Monster]

Originally Posted by cstrosser

Well, as I figured, this is not caused by a faulty card.

Awesome. Have you trued running just one monitor yet?

[cstrosser]

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

Awesome. Have you trued running just one monitor yet?

Should I physically disconnect the second monitor, or just leave it off?

[Pill Monster]

Originally Posted by cstrosser

Should I physically disconnect the second monitor, or just leave it off?

Disconnect it.

[cstrosser]

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

Disconnect it.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give it a go.

[Pill Monster]

Originally Posted by cstrosser

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give it a go.

Hey mate have a look at this..
http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles...rmessages.aspx

[cstrosser]

Yeah, that was the first place I looked after getting the card. Unfortunately, mothing there was helpful.

[adrock311]

I keep having the atikmpag.sys 116 BSOD with 6870 crossfire, it only happens when a game is starting up, and not every time.

[cstrosser]

Update: No BSOD since the 12.3 drivers

[Rzeki]

trifire xfx 7970s 3way eyefinity with random crashes on all three cards running individually, and all combinations of xfire, running 12.3 reporting in.

[adrock311]

Originally Posted by Rzeki

trifire xfx 7970s 3way eyefinity with random crashes on all three cards running individually, and all combinations of xfire, running 12.3 reporting in.

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

from here: http://forums.wowgrunt.com/sc2/threa...3438&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\Contr ol\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)

[HarryRag]

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.

[cstrosser]

First BSOD since update happened overnight. =/

[cstrosser]

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.

[Krogtheclown]

Originally Posted by cstrosser

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.

use 11.12 the original driver and that should do it.

[ibfr33k]

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.

[cstrosser]

Originally Posted by ibfr33k

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

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.

[cstrosser]

Originally Posted by Krogtheclown

use 11.12 the original driver and that should do it.

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.

[rflair]

You should none the less test your PC.