Problem with 6950

R

ratedm

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 29, 2010
Messages
233
I have an XFX6950 and I'm having this issue when I run anything but factory settings on the video card. I can run 3dmark on stock settings and the first time I touch the settings in overdrive it crashes 5 seconds into the first 3dmark test. The power supply makes almost a surging effect and I've gotten 3-4 different error messages in 3dmark. Also, each time it sends me back to my desktop, windows has the error that my ATI graphics display has stopped working and has successfully recovered. I've swapped out my old PSU for a new one (needed replaced anyway), fresh install of windows7 64bit, tried multiple drivers then did a fresh install with this driver 11.1a hotfix driver, have manual fan control on @ 100% so I know it's not overheating, and I have many stable hours in prime95 with no crashing on my current settings. Here's a video of the sound my pc makes when it happens:

http://tinypic.com/r/2cohc75/7

Any ideas?
 
Also to add, I haven't had any games crash due to the card not actually being pushed in games. I'm just pushing it to see what kind of 3dmark score I can get.
 
Are you fiddling with the clock speeds while the tests are running? If so, don't do that.:)
 
I bumped the core and mem up a little along with the power to 20% WITHOUT touching the fan speed and it ran through. I would assume it has something to do with the fan control... With it on auto it is fine, but I know it's going to get hot.
 
I actually was able to overclock 6970s better on lower Power Tune than higher and that is with an Enermax Glaxy Evo that I have never had an issue. With Power Tune at 20 even at stock clocks I would lock in 3DM11. See what you get from 0 first.
 
MaK2000 said:
I actually was able to overclock 6970s better on lower Power Tune than higher and that is with an Enermax Glaxy Evo that I have never had an issue. With Power Tune at 20 even at stock clocks I would lock in 3DM11. See what you get from 0 first.
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This has nothing to do with the clocks. I narrowed it down to simply the manual fan control. I can max both the core and mem out and 3dmark runs all the way through. The second I enable manual fan and run 3dmark it does that. Just seems like it has a huge power draw for a second and shuts the video down. I can't tell if it's a driver issue or something wrong with the card.
 
Any ideas? Should I contact XFX about this?

I almost feel like it's a driver issue. I can max out the card in overdrive (840/1300) and it doesn't see over 65*C in GPU-Z log on auto fan. It hasn't given me a single issue other than this.
 
Anybody? I'm TDY now and unfortunately/luckily I brought my monitor with me because the LG tv's in my room do not have hdmi inputs.
 
Set everything back to the normal settings and now it wont even run the first test of 3dmark. I've tried 3 different drivers using driver sweeper and also a fresh install of win7 x64 pro to the same result. Also put in a ticket 2 days ago with xfx and no response on my reply. I basically just want a try a new card. I dont care about unlocking and overclocking at 1920x1080.
 
Try using msi afterburner to run your fan profile instead of the amd overdrive settings. MSI afterburner is better anyway and gives better options. You'll want afterburner 2.10 beta 7. Although I'm using 6 and it works fine.
 
Lord_Exodia said:
Try using msi afterburner to run your fan profile instead of the amd overdrive settings. MSI afterburner is better anyway and gives better options. You'll want afterburner 2.10 beta 7. Although I'm using 6 and it works fine.
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All the settings in overdrive are back to default and immediately when I fire up 3dmark it crashes. Running afterburner wouldn't make any difference? I got a response back on my ticket today and their response was to follow steps in a pdf to install my driver :rolleyes: I guess including information in my ticket such as gpu load, system info, driver information and the fact that I tried 3 different drivers (using driver sweeper and 1 being a fresh windows install) makes me appear like I have no idea how to properly install a new driver.
 
ratedm said:
All the settings in overdrive are back to default and immediately when I fire up 3dmark it crashes. Running afterburner wouldn't make any difference? I got a response back on my ticket today and their response was to follow steps in a pdf to install my driver :rolleyes: I guess including information in my ticket such as gpu load, system info, driver information and the fact that I tried 3 different drivers (using driver sweeper and 1 being a fresh windows install) makes me appear like I have no idea how to properly install a new driver.
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What about other aspecs of your system. 3dmark is crashing and that sux but does your system run games like it's supposed to. Perhaps the problem is 3dmark. remove that program, re-download it (make sure it's the updated one) and reinstall it. Perhaps your download is corrupt.

Scratch all of that if your crashing whenever you launch a game too. I'd never rma a card because 3dmark was crashing on it if everything else works but hey, that's just me. ;)
 
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Lord_Exodia said:
What about other aspecs of your system. 3dmark is crashing and that sux but does your system run games like it's supposed to. Perhaps the problem is 3dmark. remove that program, re-download it (make sure it's the updated one) and reinstall it. Perhaps your download is corrupt.

Scratch all of that if your crashing whenever you launch a game too. I'd never rma a card because 3dmark was crashing on it if everything else works but hey, that's just me. ;)
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I ran the "Heaven" benchmark tool and it crashed on test #7. I also ran the Passmark Performance tests and on the 3d test it crashed as well, 2d ran fine.
 
Does all of that crash if you remove the overclock on your cpu? Also have you tried running a memtest and checking your event viewer system log to see if you have any errors or warnings?
 
Lord_Exodia said:
Does all of that crash if you remove the overclock on your cpu? Also have you tried running a memtest and checking your event viewer system log to see if you have any errors or warnings?
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Yeah it crashes if I remove my OC settings. I was actually having this issue since before I OC'd/unlocked my cpu. When I kept getting blue screens when Windows was trying to boot I ran memtest overnight for multiple passes and all was well. Just for the hell of it I flashed the shader bios on the card last night and although it worked, I can't flash the original bios back on to it. With the different bios on it, the card still had the same actions. Really don't understand why winflash locks my pc up when I attempt to flash the original bios back to it. Tried multiple times with the same result. Switched to the secondary bios, saved it to my HDD and tried flashing that to it and it locked up multiple times as well. PC just freezes...
 
ratedm said:
Yeah it crashes if I remove my OC settings. I was actually having this issue since before I OC'd/unlocked my cpu. When I kept getting blue screens when Windows was trying to boot I ran memtest overnight for multiple passes and all was well. Just for the hell of it I flashed the shader bios on the card last night and although it worked, I can't flash the original bios back on to it. With the different bios on it, the card still had the same actions. Really don't understand why winflash locks my pc up when I attempt to flash the original bios back to it. Tried multiple times with the same result. Switched to the secondary bios, saved it to my HDD and tried flashing that to it and it locked up multiple times as well. PC just freezes...
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Yeah dude, you tried enough, just rma this card. The only other possibility is you have a bad pcie slot or you power supply which is a quality unit is a rare dud of the batch. If those things are easy for you to be able to test

Another vga in the pcie slot and another psu, go for it. Otherwise it's the card. I'm even leaning towards the card but at this point those are probably the only 2 other things left. It'd be nice if you could give your rig a clean bill of health beyond a shadow of a doubt.
 
Another thing might be worth trying is switching the bios option on the card itself?
 
Also like to add that I added the psu after I got the video card and my other radeon card worked fine. After I narrowed it to the video card I did a fresh windows install on the 11.1a hotfix driver.

Gotta love dealing with tier 1 support. I might just call and see what they say. Problem is I am on the road and I don't have the box with me. Are they going to give me a problem since I flashed a different bios on the card and can't get the original to flash back to the primary bios? I've about had it with this card and ati drivers that I'd love to just get a refund.
 
I think your card is bork. I have the same card. Have flashed to 6970, re-flashed to stock, set fan to 100%, flashed to 6950 shader unlock. Never had any issues with it. On drivers 11.2.
 
I agree tbh. Stop beating about the bush and RMA the card. The replacement might work flawlessly for years for all you know.
 
Use MSI Afterburner to control your fan. The fan control in CCC is about is lame as you can imagine.
 
ratedm, please shoot me a PM with your ticket ID and I can get an RMA issued for that card. If you do it after I am gone today then I won't get it until Monday.
 
tangoseal said:
Use MSI Afterburner to control your fan. The fan control in CCC is about is lame as you can imagine.
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Dumb question, can I avoid installing CCC altogether and only use afterburner? I faintly remember a few years ago simply being able to install the driver and not having to install CCC...?

XFXSupport said:
ratedm, please shoot me a PM with your ticket ID and I can get an RMA issued for that card. If you do it after I am gone today then I won't get it until Monday.
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Thank you. PM sent. I'm tired of troubleshooting!
 
XFXSupport said:
ratedm, please shoot me a PM with your ticket ID and I can get an RMA issued for that card. If you do it after I am gone today then I won't get it until Monday.
Click to expand...

Got the new card yesterday BTW. Thanks again.
 
XFXSupport said:
ratedm, please shoot me a PM with your ticket ID and I can get an RMA issued for that card. If you do it after I am gone today then I won't get it until Monday.
Click to expand...

Good to see you still around [H] forums.:D One of the reason I bought Alpha Dog 8800GT and now I went with XFX 6950 ;)
 
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