Intermittent freezes with new HD 7770

[Jay Hanig]

I have what had been an utterly reliable HP Pavillion a6827c computer. I just installed a new ASUS HD 7770 DirectCU video card Thursday along with a new Antek 750 watt Earthwatt power supply to feed it. Ever since then I've had intermittent freezes until I discovered a work-around.

I am not a gamer and the card is using default settings.

Upon initial installation, I went to the ATI site and installed the most recent Catalyst Software Suite v12.4 dated 4/25/2012. I also installed AMD Catalyst Application Profiles v12.4 Cap 1 dated 5/3/2012. The next morning I discovered it locked up.

I went into my CMOS (I had forgotten to do so earlier) and changed the video setting from PCI to PCI-E x16. Intermittent freezes randomly occurred after the computer sat idle for a while; no change.

I went into Control Panel and reset my computer power setting so the computer would never go to sleep. Intermittent freezes.

I went back into Control Panel and reset the monitor panel so it also would never go to sleep. BINGO! No more freezes.

Now I physically turn off the monitor when I walk away as opposed to letting it go to sleep. While this is workable, it's hardly ideal and not something I ever had to do back when I just used the on board video and the original 300 watt power supply.

Does anybody have a better solution?

[automaticman]

First, try going to 12.3 or the beta 12.5 drivers. I've heard nothing but problems about 12.4.


Next, I'm really betting that the freezes are being caused by the deep idle sleep state of the new 7000 cards. I know a lot of people solved issues by disabling ULPS (used in both 6000 and 7000 cards). Do a search about turning off ULPS and see if there is a way to also disable the new deep sleep as well. I've seen quite a few threads about ULPS.

[TristanN777]

Originally Posted by Jay Hanig

I have what had been an utterly reliable HP Pavillion a6827c computer. I just installed a new ASUS HD 7770 DirectCU video card Thursday along with a new Antek 750 watt Earthwatt power supply to feed it. Ever since then I've had intermittent freezes until I discovered a work-around.

I am not a gamer and the card is using default settings.

Upon initial installation, I went to the ATI site and installed the most recent Catalyst Software Suite v12.4 dated 4/25/2012. I also installed AMD Catalyst Application Profiles v12.4 Cap 1 dated 5/3/2012. The next morning I discovered it locked up.

I went into my CMOS (I had forgotten to do so earlier) and changed the video setting from PCI to PCI-E x16. Intermittent freezes randomly occurred after the computer sat idle for a while; no change.

I went into Control Panel and reset my computer power setting so the computer would never go to sleep. Intermittent freezes.

I went back into Control Panel and reset the monitor panel so it also would never go to sleep. BINGO! No more freezes.

Now I physically turn off the monitor when I walk away as opposed to letting it go to sleep. While this is workable, it's hardly ideal and not something I ever had to do back when I just used the on board video and the original 300 watt power supply.

Does anybody have a better solution?

I think I do actually. I have had a similar problem, where, after in desktop mode anywhere from 5 min to 3 hr after boot I would get a BSOD that read something like 'an attempt to reset display driver failed and windows has shutdown to prevent damage to your system' failing driver was "atikmpag.sys" (im paraphrasing...)even though i got that message over 80 times in less than 2 months)
Anyway after a LOT of hours, 1 broken keyboard, 1 broken monitor later I was playing with my BIOS and changed the Link ASPM for the slot my GPU is in from "disabled" to "L1" and it works perfectly. Not a single BSOD or lack of performance whatsoever. BTW options "L0s" and "L1 and L0s" did not work, I had to set Link State ASPM to "L1" only under my Northbridge settings.

Hope this helps someone as I was unable to find ANY threads about this when I had trouble.
cheers!

[automaticman]

Nice find, but that option will be specific to the AMD chipset you are using. It does remind me to mention turning off Link State Power Management in the windows power options control panel though.

[TristanN777]

Originally Posted by automaticman

Nice find, but that option will be specific to the AMD chipset you are using. It does remind me to mention turning off Link State Power Management in the windows power options control panel though.

Good point. My system uses the AMD 870NB and SB850. As far as having ASPM turned off in Windows... It didnt do jack in my case. I think that actually MIGHT have been the issue though. After switching it to 'L1' state in BIOS actually fixing the issue, made me think that there is a compatability clash between the GCN arch, Cat driver, and Windows, or perhaps all the above.
But I am fairly confident after wasting close to a hundred hours of my life fixing this, that if one is able to find and play with these options should fix it.
Surely AMD is aware of this issue and working on it right?

[Jay Hanig]

Originally Posted by automaticman

First, try going to 12.3 or the beta 12.5 drivers. I've heard nothing but problems about 12.4.


Next, I'm really betting that the freezes are being caused by the deep idle sleep state of the new 7000 cards. I know a lot of people solved issues by disabling ULPS (used in both 6000 and 7000 cards). Do a search about turning off ULPS and see if there is a way to also disable the new deep sleep as well. I've seen quite a few threads about ULPS.

What I've done is look into the ULPS setting as you suggested. I found two keys that include "enableulps" but the second one was actually "enableulps_NA". I left the latter one alone but changed the value of the first to a zero. I went back into the control panel and re-enabled the sleep settings for the computer and the monitor and then rebooted. It's been a good 16 hours and no freezes. With any luck the ULPS setting was it.

Thanks to everyone who tried to help me. I will repost if it freezes again and will install the older driver set (v12.3) at that time as well.

[Desi26]

Your not alone on this one. On my Sapphire 7950 OC I experienced the same thing. Besides the system locking up, If I power down my monitor, upon return once it hits the sleep mode, the monitor never comes back out. It just displays the "No input detected' message and the monitor would turn off. This would then require a hard reset, until I disabled to 'Never turn monitor off'. No more issues, but I have a feeling a lot of 7000's series owners using the 12.4 drivers are experiencing similar issues.

[Jay Hanig]

Originally Posted by automaticman

Nice find, but that option will be specific to the AMD chipset you are using. It does remind me to mention turning off Link State Power Management in the windows power options control panel though.

I don't appear to have that option on the power options page. Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

[automaticman]

Originally Posted by Jay Hanig

I don't appear to have that option on the power options page. Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

go to Power Options -> Edit Plan Settings -> Change Advanced Power Settings -> PCI Express -> Link State Power Management

[dc740]

This has been fixed in latest Catalyst 12.6 beta drivers.

Changelog:

With the release of the AMD Catalyst™ 12.6 Beta driver (“Catalyst”), AMD would also like to announce that we are moving away from our Monthly Catalyst release plan. Our goal is to ensure that every Catalyst release delivers a substantial benefit to our end users; as we have today with the release of the Catalyst 12.6a Beta. We will still continue with the Catalyst naming convention; Catalyst: Year.Month. You just won’t see a new driver every single month. We are confident that this will only benefit the end user; you’ll only need to upgrade to a new Catalyst driver, when it makes sense.

We would also like to announce the introduction of our new AMD Issue Reporting Form. We made a number of improvements to the older Catalyst Crew Feedback form, making it more comprehensive, ensuring high quality feedback. Feedback is very important in every product company’s life, especially in our fast paced environment. This is not just a check-box for us – we take these reports very seriously. We will review every report posted here and investigate every issue encountered. Please use this form whenever you encounter something worth mentioning.

Resolved issue highlights of the AMD Catalyst™ 12.6 Beta:
AMD Radeon™ HD 7900, AMD Radeon HD 7800 Tri-CrossFire™ configurations + Eyefinity BSOD when launching a DirectX application.
AMD Radeon HD 7900, AMD Radeon HD 7800 Eyefinity/Multiple Display configurations BSOD when using desktop applications.
AMD Radeon HD 7900, AMD Radeon HD 7800, and AMD Radeon HD 7700 cards hang when system goes to sleep.
Tearing on Eyefinity configurations when different display connector types are used.
Poor Elder Scrolls: Skyrim CrossFire scaling seen in AMD Catalyst 12.4 (back to CrossFire scaling found in AMD Catalyst 12.3).
AMD Catalyst Control Center – intermittently missing Overdrive page.
AMD Catalyst Control Center – missing GPU Activity gauge.
AMD Radeon HD 7900 CrossFire Configuration – system hang after cinematic in Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Crysis 2 -random system hangs when run in DirectX 9 mode.
Heroes and Generals: Blocky corruption in scenes with smoke effects when run in DirectX 11 mode.
Disabled HDMI audio when the connected HDTV is powered Off/On.

Feature highlights of the AMD Catalyst 12.6 Beta:

Dual Graphics enhancements – new application profiles

Supported Dual Graphics configurations:
AMD Accelerated Processors for Desktop PCs
AMD Radeon HD 7660D (A10-5700)
AMD Radeon HD 7560D (A8-5500
Notebooks with AMD Accelerated Processors
AMD Radeon HD 7660D (A10-4600)
AMD Radeon HD 7640G (A8-4500M)
AMD Radeon HD 7520G (A6-4400M)
New profiles have been added for the following game titles:
Diablo 3
Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
StarCraft 2
Portal 2
Call of Duty Modern Warfare
Call of Duty Black Ops
Future Catalyst releases will continue to add Dual Graphics support for additional titles

[trackfactory]

Hello all, I am a newbie who came across this forum after purchasing an ASUS HD 7770 DirectCU video card along with a new Antec 750W PSU.

I noticed Jay Hanig did the same back in May. I'm not having any hang up or freezing issues (as yet). But I did have all kinds of issues with this card out of the box.

I am a video editor and purchased this card after my existing card crapped out on me. My needs were a dual monitor setup with a 3rd display output to an LCD TV (simultaneously) and in the $200 range. The sales rep at Micro center recommended this card. I told him I wanted a card with 2 DVI outputs and 1 HDMI output. He told me they didn't have such a card that could display all those outputs simultaneously, so he recommended the HD 7770, which has 1 DVI out, 1 HDMI out, and 2 mini displayport outs. He then proceeded to sell me a mini displayport to DVI adapter.

First off, when I installed the card, I noticed my system sound stopped working. Decided to tackle that after I got the displays configured. I have to say, that AMD VISION engine center SW that comes with the card is the worst. Frustrating to use when trying to configure multiple monitors to say the least. I must admit most of the frustration probably came from trying to get the mini displayports working. After much frustration, I called ASUS tech support and they said the mini diplayport to DVI adapter (they called it a dongle) was not on their qualified list. they sent me an email with a link to a site that had a list of "qualified" dongles. The one I needed cost $90. I guess that's why the called it a dongle instead of an adapter. supposedly it needed to be powered (Active) and although the one that was sold to me with the card says it's active it didn't work. the one on the qualified list also had an additional USB connector that is supposed to be connected to a USB port for power. I'm not sure why a card like this would need additional power to interface with a 3rd monitor.

So after dealing with the card for a day, I turned to my sound issue. Turns out it seems this AMD VISION engine center SW interferes with my Realtek audio drivers. I had to reinstall the Realtek drivers and reasign it as the default audio device. Everything OK? Not so fast. I had to reinstall and reassign 3 times while working on the system. The audio feature in the card SW (not on the card itself) kept trying to take control.

So sorry for the long post, I needed to vent, but has anyone else come across anything like this with this card or similar cards? I was not familiar with the Displayport outputs until now and find it strange that a $90 dongle is needed to output to a third display.

Maybe someone can recommend a decent card in the $200 - $250 range that can run 2 DVI and 1 HDMI or other display output simultaneously?

Thanks in advance,

[airbud7]

$25.99...http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812200944

Read the Feedback...Keyword=Active Adapter...Not Passive...

[kn00tcn]

for the sound issue... well first, VISION means you have an AMD based mobo as well as a gfx card, did you express install or do custom so you can see which components were being installed?

the hdmi audio on the cards for years have used realtek, so it seems somehow that interfered with your mobo's onboard sound which is also realtek