7970 freezes on shutdown, time for RMA?

[Nizmox]

Hi there,

I've been having numerous issues since i have built my latest PC build (specs in sig). I'm also having what I think are memory issues (see thread below)
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh...2#post14636552

But the most annoying problem I've been having is freezing on shutdown. Doing some reading online I read that this relates to hardware acceleration in firefox and flash. I disable hardware acceleration in firefox and this seemed to resolve most of my issues but I was still having issues with flash (in firefox) and I think also in steam. I didn't want to disable hardware acceleration on flash also.

I've tried 12.3, 12.4, 12.6 and 12.7 beta and every driver I had the same issue.
I then stumbled upon this thread on Tom's Hardware...
www.tomshardware.com/forum/348924-33-display-driver-stopped-responding-radeon-hd6870#t2614259
I thought this was worth a shot so I tried it and suddenly, no more crashes on shutdown. Increasing the idle GPU clock and Memory Clock seems to have fixed the problem. Using the 400mhz GPU clock and 900mhz Memory clock worked (stock is 300mhz GPU and 150mhz Memory while idle).

So while I appear to have fixed the problem I'm still debating if I should RMA the card. Does anyone know if this is actually a hardware issue or should i just put this down to AMD's drivers being complete trash and await for a newer version to fix the problem.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. At least I have the evidence to back up the problem being GPU related if I do RMA.

EDIT: I'm now getting crashes in games but this is most probably related to 12.7 beta.

[DarkForceMage]

Does the cpu pass stress testing fine?

[Nizmox]

Originally Posted by DarkForceMage

Does the cpu pass stress testing fine?

Thanks for your response. I have run Prime95 without errors but probably not for long enough. I'm going to run it for a few hours now and see what happens.

Also i'm getting blue screens when running games now which I wasn't getting before so things just keep getting worse. The monitor loses signal so i can't actually see the blue screen but the error is with the atikmpag.sys driver. This is after i've rolled back to 12.4 which was working ok previously *sigh*.

[DarkForceMage]

I found 12.3 worked best when I had my 7970.. But there could easily be other issues Your mem problems could be causing the driver issues..

[Nizmox]

Originally Posted by DarkForceMage

I found 12.3 worked best when I had my 7970.. But there could easily be other issues Your mem problems could be causing the driver issues..

prime95 has been running for over an hour and 15 mins so far and no sign of an error so seems pretty solid on the CPU front (using FFT length 512k). Temps don't get over 63C on any cores.

Yeah is a good point, not sure if i should just RMA the ram and see how it goes once i get a return or just return both at the same time. If it's just the ram then would be a waste. Does anyone know approximately how long it takes to get a warranty processed? does it have to be sent all the way back to the original manufacturer? Parts were purchased from PC Case Gear.

[TaroT]

nope it is software issue with power management i get it on a few of my ati cards including this 7850
but now i have done what was in this link i might test her out

[Nizmox]

Originally Posted by TaroT

nope it is software issue with power management i get it on a few of my ati cards including this 7850
but now i have done what was in this link i might test her out

Let me know how it goes, it immediately stopped my crashing on shutdown issue at least.

[walker_2003]

Run linx for an hr on 'high' a pc can prime95 for hrs and fail linx in minutes.


Flashed your video cards firmware? I had similar issues with a 5870 (bsod in flash videos) firmware fixed.

Also flash mobo to newer firmware.

Also are you running driver sweeper in between drivers? It's near essential to get rid of issues in AMD drivers.

[Cactus22]

Check your memory settings, or use the XMP profile. Doesnt sound like a graphic card issue to me, sounds like a mainboard issue.

I have a 7970 and i dont have any of those issues.

[DarkForceMage]

I honestly think it's something to do with his DRAM timings/voltage + VTT voltage aswell, 4 sticks can always be a bit tricky if you leave things on auto, especially when it comes to XMP profiles.(Which don't even work properly if your trying to use two dual channel packs of ram together).

[Nizmox]

Originally Posted by DarkForceMage

I honestly think it's something to do with his DRAM timings/voltage + VTT voltage aswell, 4 sticks can always be a bit tricky if you leave things on auto, especially when it comes to XMP profiles.(Which don't even work properly if your trying to use two dual channel packs of ram together).

And i'm pretty confident you're right. Update on this thread...

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=1044085&pag=2

Pretty confident there is no Graphics Card or Catalyst driver issue now (currently using 12.6).

[Nizmox]

Please continue all discussion on this thread....

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh...5#post14648435

I initially thought I was having GPU issues but I believe my issues are memory related.