4850 troubles..

[shoelace]

I'm running:

q6600@3.2ghz g0
asus p5q pro
4gb a-data ddr2 800
250gb wd 7200k
sapphire hd 4850 @ 680/1103
asus 23.4" 1080p
ocz stealthxstream 600 psu
windows 7


I have owned my 4850 for several months, semi overclocked, but running fine with no hiccups whatsoever. i was browsing newegg the other day and saw that i could add a second 4850 to my system for only $101.19, shipped. So of course I did.
i used one pcie 6pin cable for my old card, and a molex 4-to-6 pin adapter for the new card.

The install went fine, but then when I started to play a game (l4d) all maxed at 1920x1080, the computer locked up. The last sound made repeats/stutters and the image stays frozen until i manually turn off my computer.

After the problem occured i tried all of the different drivers available for the 4850, but no luck. I removed the old (working) card and placed the new one in it's place as a 1 card setup. However i left it on the same cable it was using in the crossfire setup. After 5-20 minutes of play, it would lock up, only this time the screen would have no picture, just a big blur.

I then tried it using the cable that worked with the old card, and encountered no problems when gaming. However when i would open a movie in windows media player 12, it would freeze after ~5 seconds.

I have the old card back in now, and windows media runs without freezing, games run fine.
It sounds to me like the new 4850 may be bad, but the switching of the wires caused me to think that maybe it's an issue with my power supply. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I just want to know if i need to rma this card or buy myself a new psu.
thanks.

 

[xsever]

You are saying you're using Windows 7.

Did you use the latest driver for Windows 7? (ATI_Catalyst_Windows7_8.612)

I am running a single 4850 with 7 RC, and things seem to be fine.

Make sure you uninstall the driver you have, run some registry cleaners, and then install the new one.

If the problem persists, it could be your second power supply cable.

Report back, and we'll see what can be done.

 

[shoelace]

Alright, so I downloaded that new driver. I cleaned out my old drivers and installed the new one. I ran stress tests but could only get them to stress the main gpu. I opened left4dead to play, and the main menu was using ~20% of the main card and ~10% of the secondary. Then it will just freeze. Sometime it will do it instantly, and sometimes it will take 5 mins or so. I have yet to actually get into a game before freezing though.

psu?

 

[shoelace]

Here's another thing..i just finished playing bioshock for 15 minutes...it ran fine and utilized the two cards almost 50/50.
A weird thing this crossfire is.

 

[xsever]

It is either crossfire in Windows 7 that is causing that or your PSU. Not an easy problem based on the results we are getting.

Can you try to run single, and crossfire in another Operating System. Vista or XP?

That will allow us to know if it's the OS or the PSU.

Also, maybe if you have a voltmeter, you can see if you are getting 12V on the 12V rails. Let's leave that till the end though.

 

[EXT64]

Yes, we need to isolate some of these variables. Right now it could be the card, the PSU, or Windows 7 (beta drivers). Do you still have the old OS?

 

[shoelace]

Problem solved.

The windows7 driver is what was causing all the headache. Installed that and good to go. I had a previous win7 driver installed, but I guess it was a different/non functioning one, lol. As for freezing in left4dead...it's an issue with multi-core rendering, so i disable that and it's better as well.

Stress testing still only utilizes one core, but gaming is 50/50-60/40 and I'm more concerned with real-world application than a stress test.

Thanks for the help and advice. This is why I love this forum.

 

[xsever]

Great to hear we solved it. I told you that new driver they released won't disappoint you!

 

[Jacks_85]

ok i am reviving this because i am having similar problem but my OS is vista...

wondering if anyone can give me some insight

 

[Ray Adams]

Ok. Yesterday I spent whole day reinstalling my computer. Because I have a few games I can not play. Call of Juarez 2, Bionic Commando. When I play this game my both 4850 boards heated up to 100C and computer restarts. I have good new PSU FSP Epsilon 900W with 90A on +12 rail. So this is not PSU. I have tested games with no overclocking on main CPU - same result.
I have Windows 7 RC. Also tested leaked RTM (have no idea is it real or not), but have same problems. If in Bionic Commando I have 100C and restart , in CoJ I have only about 90C on both boards but same restart. So it seems this is problem of Catalyst driver for me. Have tested 9.6, 9.7 no success.