ATI Dots and 3 red led lights on card

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Darcey

n00b
Joined
Dec 28, 2011
Messages
30
Hi,

I have just bought the MSI ATI Radeon HD 6970 2048MB Twin Frozr III GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card. And am having some issues with it.

I have 2 monitors:
Dell 3007WFP (30")
and the Samsung S27A750DS

The Dell only has a single HDMI connector which is plugged into 1 of the HDMI sockets on the graphics card.

And the Samsung is plugged in via DVI cable to DVI slot on the card.

The problem is the NVIDIA I had running run everything fine and no problems at all. However the 6970 is drawing dots all over the dell screen and some strips or lines flash every so often. The strange thing is that it doesn't draw the dots on the Samsung screen.

I've tried different cables and adapters but it always ends up with the dots...

Also the card has some LED lights on it. The instructions didn't say what they are for at all and I've been googling and there is not much about it there either. But read usually means bad, I have all 3 red led's lit...

Here are some photos of the issue from my mobile.

Machine spec:
PSU: 650w
RAM: 12GB DDR3
OS: Win 7 x64
HDs: 4 SATA + 1 SSD
OPTICAL: 1 x BR RWDrive
GFX CARD: ATI Radeon HD 6970 2048MB


1.jpg

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I've seen the same thing trying to push 1080P through a 50 foot HDMI cable. Using 720P worked fine. I'm not a believer in spending big money on HDMI cables but I have seen evidence of poor performance on longer cables. BTW 50 feet is kind of pushing it for HDMI so I switched to a HDMI-CAT6 extender and it works very well. This might not be your problem but maybe try another cable (EDIT: NM I see you have) and you might have better luck. Could be the output on the new video card is weaker than the old one.

This is what I use:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10105&cs_id=1010504&p_id=6532&seq=1&format=2
 
My computer and monitor are less than 3 feet away from eachother and the cables are short to match.

The thing is going crazy now, 2 more pics.

5.jpg

6.jpg
 
Everything is fresh downloaded from the website 10 mins ago.

Catalyst Control Center - 2011.1109.2212.39826, and info page:
cat.jpg
 
Card is new arrived on sat, Dell works fine with the old Nvidia card. I think its the card.
 
I bet you a pin on the DVI cable is bent or something is obstructing the connectivity of the pin. Straighten out the pin or try a new cable.

What 650w PSU are you running? Could always try a new one. Make sure that the fan is running smoothly on the GPU, also take off the case door to improve circulation and see if that helps.

Could also uninstall all past traces of your Nvidia drivers with something like Driver Cleaner.net or Driver Sweeper. I'd run it for ATI as well and just do a clean install.
 
Save you tried plugging the Samsung monitor into the HDMI port on your card? Even if you have to use an adapter from DVI, that will narrow down if it is the card or not. Could be a physical Defect.
 
I've tried different HDMI Cables, DVI Cables with adapters to HDMI even display port to DVI with an adapter to HDMI lol (most of them get no picture at all) but i've noticed that the ATI card don't play well without restarting the machine.

The artifacts are on the desktop so the card is not even under load. Temp is at 47 deg c.. Side is off the machine.

Nvidia's software has all gone and it's still the same. I've had to remove the ati software a few times to get the dell to turn on and be detected as enabled by the ati catalyst software.

PSU is corsair 650W
 
Even if it is brand new, i would say that you won the lottery of bad luck and the card is indeed going bad on arrival.
 
I thought HDMI cant do a resolution of 2560x1600 and up, I might be wrong though.
 
Yep, DVI - Dual is the only 1 that works but covers the screen in dots (on my dell).
 
Last edited:
check the cable, that happens to me once, i change the cable and everything works fine again
 
I've already tried other cables. But if I used the supplied DVI-D cable it works with the nvidia card ;)
 
Looks like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFSkFSBwcK8

I had the problem too, and I narrowed it down to the monitor. Did you buy your 3007 used/refurb?
For me, it seemed it didn't like the signals from some cards. This occurred with some of my cards, though some cards were worse than others. It's one of the reasons why I sold my 3007 for a U2410 instead.

X1900GT = no issues
GTX295 = appeared once in a while
5870 = comes every hour. the worse card to cause this
GTX460 = no issues
6950 = appeared but infrequently
6850 = no issues
 
I'm getting something similar with my Gateway XHD3000 30" monitor. On my XFX HD6950 I get the flickering red dots wherever black is supposed to be. It doesn't happen on my other monitors *BUT* the Gateway is the only monitor I have that needs dual-link DVI. The single-link DVI connector works fine, and the Gateway works great on my ASUS EAH6950 (I run Crossfire). The card used to work so I am having the XFX card RMA'd. When I get it back I'll know for sure. Normally I would say it is a fifty-fifty chance it's the monitor over the video card, but that second HD6950 of mine that works (albeit a different manufacturer than XFX) makes me suspicious that it is the video card.
 
im going to guess its electrical noise on the cable, pop by radio shack and get 2 snap on iron ferrite chokes like this some times it takes more than just a straight pass though, might have to loop it 2,...3... 4 times, so maybe grab some different sizes, return what you dont use... ( or keep them for other projects)

this used to be a big trick with older crt monitors, digital is supposed to fix this issue, but truth be told if it is electrical it can be interfered with.

most cords already have ferrite chokes in them, but that dose not mean they implemented enough filtering.
 
@rUmX: I bought the Dell 3007 from new, I did get it replaced due to ghosting issues. A guy arrived collected mine and gave me another one.

The cable that the dell runs on is the DVI Dual-link (I took a look at the pins to double check and the pins are all perfectly straight on both ends). The cable has next to never been moved, or unplugged unless changing graphics cards.

Palit GTX 570 - Platinum - Runs the Dell fine.
MSI 6970 - Like's to get dotty with it.

I'm still waiting for OCUK to get back to me on the RMA ticket, but till then my primary monitor is on the floor gathering dust and I now have:

Left monitor - Hanns-g - 27.5" (HDMI to DVI-D cable used) - No dots.
Right monitor - Samsung 27" S27A750D (DVI to DVI cable used) - Not dots.

Really wish they would standardise these video cables, so that there's just 1 for tv, games consoles, pc tft etc. I've spent a silly amount of money on cables and adapters now.

@rUmX: I saw a post on your youtube video, some guy fixed it by overclocking the older card?

Well I'm going to buy 1 more DVI-D to DVI-D cable from scan and try and try and get the samsung to work via the mini display port to display port cable even though I'm not using eyefinity.
 
I hope the new DVI cable will fix it for you, but I have my doubts. I'm not sure if buying new or refurb has anything to do with it, but I bought mine refurb off ebay for around $800. Can't justify the "New" price of it, too rich for me...

As you've said, the dots don't appear on your other monitors which leads me to believe it could be your monitor not liking the 7970, unlike the 570. After I got rid of my 5870 (sold to a buddy and guess what? No dots on his 1920x1200 screen) and bought a 460 (was waiting for 6950/70 release) had no more dots. Thats when I nailed it down to the monitor.
 
@rUmX: Do you know anything about the led lights on the 6970 card? I have a load of green ones and 3 red ones lit up and there is zero documentation with the card saying what it means.
 
I believe those lights are for the Power Phase indicators. Many midrange and high end motherboards have such lights too.
 
Yep I've got them on my Gygabyte mobo... But the red ones never light up, if they did it would tell me there's something seriously wrong, which makes me think... Red lights on 6970 gfx card, is there something wrong?
 
I really, really don't know what to tell you about that one. We'd need a veteran TFIII over to come in and chime on that.
 
I had one person who seemed to know on another forum somewhere but he baffled the hell out of me naming stuff I think only a full time electronic engineer would only understand. I will email MSI support and ask them, their online manual is apdf of what came with the card which is about as informative as plug it in and close box.

Cheers for all the info guys, has been very helpful :)

I will post on how it goes, if rma happens and new one produces same results etc... It may help someone else in the future.
 
That's good. Really would like to see you figure this out. It really sucks to have this happen with such high end and expensive equipment.
 
Well there's been a new development today... I left the PC on over night accidentally playing a movie in loop. The Hanns-G is now getting the red and green dots in the gray close to black areas. I'm now starting to have hope it's the card. Still nothing back from OCUK however...
 
Just called OCUK about the RMA form I sent, apparently they never received it... Ironically I had to call them up as the card transaction system wasn't working on purchase either....
 
Well.. Finally got all this ironed out...

1. Post back to OCUK for RMA - £10
2. Overclockers RMA - Card is working fine. - £12 post back charge
3. Pulled out the GTX570 and plug in the 6970 in still dots all over screen
4. Latest drivers downloaded.
5. Swaped DVI port the monitor is plugged into, get no dots, but now I get a max screen res of 1280x800 and cant for the life of me get 2 TFTs working at the same time now either lol
6. Tried DVI-D to HDMI connector, no dots but still cant get anything over 1280x800 or my other TFT working at the same time.
6. Called OCUK RMA - nothing we can do it worked for us.


Regarding the LEDs on the card, not even OCUK know what they do.


Moral of the story.
Don't buy ATI.
 
When I used to deal with lots of systems and GPUs (high end stuff), that almost always signified a dying card. We usually RMA'd them immediately.

Disappointing, because my current system is starting to do that occasionally. But, the video card is a few years old now.
 
I can't even get it replaced as OCUK didn't find anything wrong with it (about a month old), but worst of all they didn't test it on anything with a resolution above 1920 x 1080 which I think it would have shown the red and green dots everywhere.

I will try contacting MSI instead.
 
Darcey said:
Moral of the story.
Don't buy ATI.
Click to expand...
So one DOA card means you won't buy any AMD card again? That's silly. If anything it has more to do with the manufacturer of the card, not AMD.


As far as the red lights are concerned... They always mean something is wrong with the card. I've had them a couple times, once I forgot to plug in the power cables, the other time the card had shifted when I moved the case and I had to reseat it in the slot. I always assumed it meant something wasn't connected. I have never seen documentation on what they mean, but I do know sometimes those lights are labeled on the circuit board in tiny font. There is usually one near the plugs labeled "pwr" or "power" or something similar that lights up when it is unplugged. See if there is a label that might clue you in.
 
I have a failing LCD screen that looks like that ... but it's green dots.
 
That's what I said to "overclockers", that the RED lights usually mean something is wrong, they said ignore it... :\

The LEDs have tiny text next to them stating LED1 to LED14, nothing meaningful.

The only other connections on the card are what I assume to be the crossfire ribbon cable connectors (2 of them) I have no leads that plug into them so that's what my best guess is.

I ran MW3 at 1920x1080 with the red and green dots. Was quite comical, apart from the gaming not working in full screen mode anymore and the insane red and green dots everywhere the card ran the game quite smoothly lol. (Game goes straight to full screen no probs with the GTX 570 - no amount of the google and classic ctrl enter fixed that).

I will see if I can get a video of the game running with the dots, will be a good one to show MSI when I call them up in the week.
 
Can this be a power suply issue?i think that cards needs a lot of juice,maybe it just doesnt get enough power. Also in all your tries did u try another friends computer?that way u will know for sure if its the video card problem. I had few times those dots on my screen also,after a cold start. I just powered off/on my monitor and it fixed my problem.
 
I have 2 machines (work backup and primary), it has been tried on...

Backup machine:
Corsair HX 1000W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU
EVGA nForce 790i Ultra SLi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard

Primary machine:
650W PSU SLI Compliant (runs the GTX570 no problems)
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard

Both result in the same.


Monitor tests:
1. DELL 3007WFP - Dots (unless plugged into alternate DVI port on back of card which case the resoltion wont go higher than my mobile phone)

2. Samsug 27" S27A750D - 1920 x 1080 - No dots

3. Hanns-g 27.5" - 1920 x 1200 - No dots but after a few hours you can start to make them out in the dark grays.



As to restarts, computer was restarted more often than I usually do in a month today and the monitors leads pulled a number of times and plugged in on full power off and while powered up. Always resulted in the same.

Couldn't get any visuals from the display port on samsung monitor even when using single display and plugging the display port cable in. Tried while Dell DVI-D was plugged in and it just remainded blank. The GTX570 however outputs a signal on the displayport.

Also I get the feeling that the ATI software is a bit clumsy in detecting whats plugged in and when it's unplugged. Quite a few times i've booted up with neither screen working. (Dell & Samsung). Often it just wont allow combinations of resolutions (extended not single screen covering 2 monitors) and it's help doesn't really clarify the problem. Then 1 monitor will be disabled and when you enable the other the other 1 would be disable. I was like... wtf..


I will take the 1000W PSU out of my backup machine and place it in my primary machine and test just to be 100% sure before I start bugging MSI. But I don't see why the 650W wouldn't work as it has already proved itself with running the GTX570.
 
OP, it's AMD, not ATI, just fyi.
AMD hasn't used the ATI moniker since the HD5000 series.
 
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