7970 not working on Crimson Drivers

Discussion in 'Videocards - AMD Radeon Drivers Section' started by Foxslink, Mar 28, 2016.

  1. Foxslink

    Foxslink Member

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    Hi
    One day I turned on my PC to find a nasty surprise, the dreaded black screen of death, so i had to re formatt and install the OS again, all the drivers and then the latest amd crimson 15.2 driver , after rebooting then I find the same problem again, after windows logo the screen goes black and i cant do nothing about it, no matter how many different versions of the driver I try, the card wont work and the crash keeps happening .
    I even updated the Bios, tried different version of Windows, flashed the Bios, removed the card, cleaned it , put it back, etc, but sadly, so far nothing's worked. Im starting to think this is a hardware issue, either the Card or the Mainboard are doing something wrong, but i cant pinpoint which one is it nor what is the flaw. I will add a link to a thread I made on AMD forums where you can find more details on the story and Specs of my system. Any help will be appreciated
    htt ps://community.amd.com/message/2713969
     
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2016
  2. primetime^

    primetime^ Master Guru

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    GPU:
    Sapphire RX Vega 64
    If the problem starts right after installing drivers then it very well could be hardware issue. -- It really is that simple. i would highly suggest starting an rma request with the maker of the card and figure out how your going to get by while the card is sent off.
    Your probably looking at 2-4 weeks downtime....Could be a good time to get that upgrade if you can afford it. If you have no warranty then might as well strip it down, give it a good cleaning and reapply paste....Maybe even try baking it. lol actually clean it regardless:)
     
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2016
  3. Foxslink

    Foxslink Member

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    Evga 1070 FTW
    Regarding contacting the maker, thats exactly what I did, but i didnt ask for RMA since im not sure if I still have the warranty, i ask them if they could help me, no replies yet i wonder how long it'll take.. Its strange cuz how can I have my Monitor plugged into the VGA and have it working if the card is "dead" , that means its not completely dead, otherwise it would not show anything just like after when i install the drivers, on top of that the card's fans are working too.
    Before all this happened I posted my GPU on various selling pages, even on FB, because I intended to upgrade, but if the card is dead i'll have to pay full price for new card, its a bit hard on the savings but i could afford it gladly.
    Lastly I think puttin some thermal paste on the GPU would help too, since i havent done that for more than a year, which i think is bad, what paste would you recommend? i dont think using the CPUs paste is good choice. I cleaned it yesterday but i didnt clean the old paste on the GPU cuz im out of it right now, ill sure buy tomorrow. Thx for the feedback
     
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2016
  4. TheDukeSD

    TheDukeSD Guest

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    You can try to download a Linux distro (something like Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Mint Mate) and see if it happens there also. You don't have to install it, running the live image should give you an idea.

    If the live image fails to boot (kernel panic) or you end up again with a black screen you probably have a hardware problem (unless the linux image end up corrupted somehow).
    If you get to desktop well try to play a youtube video or something like that.

    My father was having random crashes/restarts. Mint Mate live image gave me a nice kernel panic. In the end it was a memory stick that wasn't staying well in the slot (that memory slot is kinda loose, old mb i'm surprised it still works to be honest :p).
     
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2016

  5. primetime^

    primetime^ Master Guru

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    As far as past there are many thats fine....i usually go for non-conductive white paste...GELID GC-Extreme is what i use currently...and its probably no different than the free tube of thermalright paste i had laying around before that. I believe sapphire goes by a time frame on the serial number.....i would check soon in case its close to running out of time. Im pretty sure they will help you even if you bought it second hand...but once the time is up thats it
     
  6. JaxMacFL

    JaxMacFL Ancient Guru

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    Just updated to latest drivers on wife's pc with 7970, no problems. I would suggest trying displayport/hdmi/dvi outputs and/or a different monitor. Just to cover all bases.
     
  7. Amko

    Amko Guest

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    same problem here,did u fix it???
     
  8. flow

    flow Maha Guru

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    @Foxslink

    Try different pcie slot if available, try cpu graphics, all running fine when in safe mode?

    Flashing or updating a bios on a previously working pc isn't always the smartest thing to do and sometimes causes more issues than before. In any case, it most likely wont fix a failing computer which worked flawless before.
    Flashing the videocard after having flashed a different bios before, is a different story, but only you know if you messed something up. I imagine when you use a different bios, not intended for your video card, could brake things eventually.
     
  9. Blackfyre

    Blackfyre Maha Guru

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    I haven't read the comments yet, but there's no issue with Crimson Drivers. It only happened once. I have a HD7970 with a 280X Bios.

    The driver before Crimson 16.3.2 caused the black screen issue you're talking about (it happened once). Anyway, I inserted the Windows 10 Disk, booted to it, went to advanced boot options, opened the command prompt, and wrote this:

    Code:
    bcdedit /set "{current}" bootmenupolicy legacy
    This allows the legacy boot menu (aka from Windows 7). You restart the PC, and smash F8 until you get the screen which allows you to boot into Safe Mode. Uninstall the driver using DDU, and all is good after that. Boot into Windows 10 and install the latest drivers. This issue only happened once since I got Windows 10 until now. And I've always kept my drivers always up to date.
     
  10. __hollywood|meo

    __hollywood|meo Ancient Guru

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    this is quite inaccurate. the crimson drivers are ****ed. every version of them except the first cause my power states to fluctuate wildly & at random, & every version of them cause random freezes (complete with looping audio) while rendering anything 3d. older drivers do not. it very well could be a driver issue, although here it does seem like a potential hardware issue...maybe necessitating RMA

    ::edit::

    wish i had read his thread @AMD before posting. he disabled the onboard gfx & his problem went away?
     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2016

  11. Agonist

    Agonist Ancient Guru

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    Crimson is just fine.

    Used R9 280, R9 280x, R9 290x xfire, and Fury X with them no issues.

    On my step sons PC, i5 4460, intel igp enabled with second monitor hooked up to that, while using R9 280 for main montior for gaming.
    Zero issues.

    This really does sound like a hardware issue for OP.

    I have a black screen problem with my 280x but its also broken.
     
  12. Blackfyre

    Blackfyre Maha Guru

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    Sorry I was speaking with regards to the black-screen issue there. Which is very rare.

    However, generally speaking Crimson drivers have been an improvement, more consistently released, and better quality.

    AMD is improving my card on an almost monthly basis. GCN 1.0 cards have had the most positives. I can understand why people who have just upgraded to new cards, or running in crossfire would be pissed off there. But we know for a fact AMD is putting a lot of work and effort into that department too.
     
  13. Agonist

    Agonist Ancient Guru

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    I can vouch for that.
    R9 280 I have beats the GTX 670 i have quite handily now.
    CFX improvements actually have been very big in crimson vs catalyst drivers when I had my 290 xfire.


    But I have had zero issues with my Fury X and am extremely pleased with it.
    Ive tried release drivers for Fury X vs 16.3.2 and its quite the difference.
     
  14. __hollywood|meo

    __hollywood|meo Ancient Guru

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    ah, i misunderstood. but yeah for my older card unfortunately its not the case

    my anecdotal evidence suggests they arent "just fine" at supporting their older cards...but as long as new drivers work for new cards, thats really wat matters eh. i just wish i could have that one crimson feature, the flip queue optimization for minimizing input lag, implemented in the older drivers
     
  15. Foxslink

    Foxslink Member

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    i forgot to reply and tell you the good news, the problem was fixed thanks to another user who had the same issue, all i had to do was to disable the onboard Intel HD graphics from device management and everything back to normal. The driver i installed is Radeon Crimson 15.11, im really surprised it worked, i was going to try first the Catalyst one but didnt have to, maybe it would've worked as well.
    But now I feel this driver is not very friendly with the GPU, maybe its intended for more recent cards, not for a 7970, would I notice a performance increase if I switch to an older Catalyst drive? Or maybe i should move to Win8 to have that extra perf over Win7, what do you think? thanks for your feedback
     

  16. flow

    flow Maha Guru

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    No extra performance over win 7 going to either win8 or 10.
    I currently run dual boot win 7 and 10, overal performance for gaming is the same.
    Even both crimson drivers behave the same. Only difference is between 100 and 200 points more in firestrike. A very small difference between both os.

    Newer drivers wont give extra fps in games, but do give you more stability and more solid average fps. Including the certain fixes ofcourse for some highend games.
    So you need to test some of the drivers to pick the one that pleases you the most.
    I ran 15.7.1 on my 7970Ghz card which performed well. Then I upgraded to my current card so can't elaborate on the crimson drivers for 7970 cards.
     
  17. PrMinisterGR

    PrMinisterGR Ancient Guru

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    No, it's not. WDDM 2.0 has noticeable performance improvements in every single game. You might not be so sensitive to lower framerates/microstutter, but the improvements are definitely there, especially for AMD.

    The 7970 has gone up almost 15% during 2015.
     
  18. Starfighter2

    Starfighter2 Guest

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    Problem with Crimson 16.3.2. I was forced to go back to the Windows 10 update driver,since after latest Crimson install, no older Crimson releases worked for me. Constant crashes(CTD), black screens with sound still present, only hardware reset works and after that system is highly unstable. Reverted to 15.201.1151.1008 WHQL and everything is just fine. I lost some advanced features and couple of frames in games, but I can use computer again.Very frustrated AMD user here.:) FX-8300, 16Gb ram and Msi R9 380 Gaming 2G.

    Edit: Recently I RMA R7 360 for same problems in second machine, and now I realize that Crimson drivers are bad for me(at least) something related to GCN 1.1 and 1.2. Instead 360 I purchased R7 370 for second rig and guess what...16.3.2 works flawlessly with 370. Oh well....Second rig is : FX-6300, 12Gb ram and R7 370.
     
    Last edited: Apr 4, 2016
  19. Martin.v.r

    Martin.v.r Active Member

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    Crimson ned more vgpu in some games whit 7970,it will probably depend on what ASIC the card got ????????????? 84.5 here
     
  20. heroxoot

    heroxoot Guest

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    I can confirm this a hardware issue. Happened with my first 7970 actually. What happens is, when the driver is installed the GPU might clock up for whatever reason. This is the issue. It might be bad VRM unable to support voltage, or something else. For me it was that because of a bad overclock.
     

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