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Sapphire 7970 cold boot issue

S

Spyhawk

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 5, 2008
Messages
400
Ive been trying to troubleshoot this issue ever since I got this card last thursday and Im just about to give up. Problem is that when I first boot up the pc from a cold state, meaning its been off for several hours, a few minuts after I log into windows the gpu starts flickering like the gpu is resetting itself for about 15 to 30 seconds. Afterwards the card works fine. Im able to play games, benchmark and even oc a bit without issues. Its just the cold boot issue that has me pulling my hair out

I got a video showing what it does here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClxE...xt=C38df1f8UDOEgsToPDskJYy79z3STcvdksvvI_vueR

Ive also got a thread working on it here
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33985821
and here
http://www.vgaforum.com/showthread.php?27142-Sapphire-Radeon-HD-7970-cold-boot-issues

Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you
 
It sounds like a hardware issue due to it's sporadic nature as well as only happening on cold boots. At this stage I'd start looking at the amount of time/effort it'll take to fully troubleshoot this vs RMA and getting a replacement card.
 
RealityCrunch said:
It sounds like a hardware issue due to it's sporadic nature as well as only happening on cold boots. At this stage I'd start looking at the amount of time/effort it'll take to fully troubleshoot this vs RMA and getting a replacement card.
Click to expand...

Should I go through Newegg or Sapphire? Which one will give me the fastest option and also the best customer service?
 
I couldn't say myself as I've never used either, but the good folks here should be able to recommend an option. Personally I always try to contact the store first, especially if it's only been a week or two since the purchase.
 
Send it back to newegg if it is less than 30 days old. I have a sapphire and it has been stellar, so you are just unlucky...
 
UPDATE :

I finally decided to give the 7970 another try and purchased a Gigabyte 7970. Removed all my nvidia drivers through control panel add/remove and then used driversweeper to make sure. Turned the pc off, installed the hd7970/latest drivers and went through all the benchmarks/games and even overclocked without any issues. Everythign was working fine. Close pc and head off to work.

About 9 hours later I arrive home, turn on the pc and low and behold...I get the same fooken problem. Bands of tiny yellow dots and verticle lines, then the monitor starts turning on and off. I unplug the monitor cable from the video card and replug it and all is fine. So Im like wtf. If its not the video card, then what is it ? Is it the monitor that is more sensitive to cold boots with the 7970 compared to my 285 or is it the cable ? I really dont know what nto think anymore.
 
Spyhawk said:
UPDATE :

I finally decided to give the 7970 another try and purchased a Gigabyte 7970. Removed all my nvidia drivers through control panel add/remove and then used driversweeper to make sure. Turned the pc off, installed the hd7970/latest drivers and went through all the benchmarks/games and even overclocked without any issues. Everythign was working fine. Close pc and head off to work.

About 9 hours later I arrive home, turn on the pc and low and behold...I get the same fooken problem. Bands of tiny yellow dots and verticle lines, then the monitor starts turning on and off. I unplug the monitor cable from the video card and replug it and all is fine. So Im like wtf. If its not the video card, then what is it ? Is it the monitor that is more sensitive to cold boots with the 7970 compared to my 285 or is it the cable ? I really dont know what nto think anymore.
Click to expand...

Sounds like its your hardware then.

2 different 7970's from 2 different companies....Makes ya wonder
 
DASHlT said:
Sounds like its your hardware then.

2 different 7970's from 2 different companies....Makes ya wonder
Click to expand...

Yeah it looks like the issue is something else but why isnt my GTX 285 affected by it ? Also unplugging/replugging the dvi cable from the video card resolves the issue. Thats another one that has me baffled. What makes this problem hard to troubleshoot is that I have to wait for the pc to be cold before rebooting it if I wanna try to replicate the issue. Just rebooting desnt do it once the pc has warmed up.

Could this be motherboard relatated ? I have a Asus p8z68-V pro/Gen3...One thing I havnt tried is clearing cmos but Im not sure how cmos can cause a cold boot issue.
 
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Spyhawk said:
Yeah it looks like the issue is something else but why isnt my GTX 285 affected by it ? Also unplugging/replugging the dvi cable from the video card resolves the issue. Thats another one that has me baffled. What makes this problem hard to troubleshoot is that I have to wait for the pc to be cold before rebooting it if I wanna try to replicate the issue. Just rebooting desnt do it once the pc has warmed up.

Could this be motherboard relatated ? I have a Asus p8z68-V pro/Gen3...One thing I havnt tried is clearing cmos but Im not sure how cmos can cause a cold boot issue.
Click to expand...

Maybe its something to do with the 7970 being PCI-E 3.0 spec?....I mean I have heard some issues with people getting pci-e 3.0 to work.

I mean but yea its pretty odd. Did you happen to check if there was a new bios update on your mobo?

Did you maybe try a different PCI-E slot?
 
DASHlT said:
Maybe its something to do with the 7970 being PCI-E 3.0 spec?....I mean I have heard some issues with people getting pci-e 3.0 to work.

I mean but yea its pretty odd. Did you happen to check if there was a new bios update on your mobo?

Did you maybe try a different PCI-E slot?
Click to expand...

Ive looked all over the web for something similar and I get nada. Ive checked the asus site for bios/driver updates and nothing new. I could try a different PCI-E slot.
 
Hey Spyhawk I see you got your replacement and still having problems. Try turning off your ULPS see if that works.
 
rombat said:
Hey Spyhawk I see you got your replacement and still having problems. Try turning off your ULPS see if that works.
Click to expand...

Havnt tried the ULPS thing yet.

Ive tried other monitors and had no problems. Seems like my old Syncmaster 245bw is a bit more sensitive to the 7970 than it is to my gtx285. With the 245bw plugged in when I cold boot up and get the corruption and flickering, toggleing the digital/analogue button on the monitor fixes the issue. Unplugging/replugging also. Seems like its not getting the correct signaling at bootup and needs to be reset once loaded in windows. Wierd stuff.
 
Here's my question: what type of PC > monitor cable are you using, and are you using an adapter?

I've had similar problems. Most displayport cables are iffy and will do weird shit when coming back from sleep. I originally used a full sized DP cable with a mini DP > DP adapter, and it would do the very thing you mention. When I swapped cables for a true active mini DP > DP for my monitor, it doesn't do that anymore. I've also seen this on my other GTX 580 system, if I use any type of adapter it does weird things when coming out of sleep.

Have you tried a DVI cable? Does it do the same?
 
xoleras said:
Here's my question: what type of PC > monitor cable are you using, and are you using an adapter?

I've had similar problems. Most displayport cables are iffy and will do weird shit when coming back from sleep. I originally used a full sized DP cable with a mini DP > DP adapter, and it would do the very thing you mention. When I swapped cables for a true active mini DP > DP for my monitor, it doesn't do that anymore.

Have you tried a DVI cable? Does it do the same?
Click to expand...

Im using a DVI cable. My monitor only supports DVI but Ive also tried an HDMI cable with the DVI adapter and still had the same issue with the Sapphire 7970.
 
Anyways gotta go work. Will be back tonight with more troubleshooting efforts.
 
why dont you try a fresh install of windows? you never know.
Maybe some older drivers could affect this.
I am just saying,maybe this is not the case.but i think its worth trying before you rma the card,
and get another one just to find out that you still have the same problem.
And maybe it could be related to an other hardware issues that you might have on your pc.
And also remove any other graphics card you might have on your pcie and try the card on its own.
graphics card with two different pcie versions tend to cause problems.
Maybe you are trying the physx trick? :)
 
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Once in awhile, I get an issue coming out of sleep mode where the whole PC locks up from my 7970. Didn't have this problem with the 6990/6970 trifire setup I had. It's probably a driver problem that will hopefully be resolved soon (being that the 7970 is only a few weeks old).
 
Problem Solved !!

Tried another monitor and no more cold boot issues!! Kinda wierd though that the GTX285 wasnt as sensitive. Thanks all for helping me out on this. :)
 
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