Gigabyte 7970 OC - strange artifacts and problems.

[khaki777]

Hello!

My problems with a Gigabyte 7970 started about two weeks ago, while surfing the internet, pixels started to flash randomly on the screen and about 1 min later PC got completly freezed and screen turned black (no signal) or completly white/green. This problem has occurred about 10 times in 2 weeks (now this happens not as often as before). Once, instead of pixel flashing, there was screen flickering, and after that PC freeze with white screen.

Anyway, I saw, that the weird artifacts are often apperaing after BSODs - when PC crashes and resets itself, the artifacts are appearing in BIOS screen. It's like a concidance, because I'm getting much BSODs, average 1x per day, because of incompability of sound card drivers (but that's not a problem)

My PC Specs:

CPU - i5 2400s
GPU - Gigabyte 7970 OC
MOBOs - Gigabyte ga-b75m-d3h, MSI B75MA-P45
PSUs - ModeCom Volcano 650W, OCZ StealthXStream 500W
RAMs - 4GB 1333, 8GB 1333
OS: Windows 7 64bit

I decided check the 7970 on other components, so I've tested second MOBO, PSU and RAMs...
I got an idea to make some manually initiated crash BSODs with ctrl+ScrollLock registery method. But, the artifacts it Bios were still appearing on all other components. Those artifacts in BIOS are appearing like 1 per 10 BSODs. After that I can't boot PC normally, only via Safe MOde, because I'm getting glitched BIOS. I've made some pictures to show the problem.

Also, I've checked my old HD 6970 with manually initiaded BSODs, but there were no artifacts.

I've also checked the 7970 with OCCT by 8h Error Checking test - but there were no errors and temps were fine... I didn't get any artifacts in gaming.

I'm confused, because I wanted to sell this card before the problems stared to appear. It works completly fine, but those artifacts in BIOS after BSODs and pixel flashing crashes (but this problem didn't appeared in 4 days) are worryring me.

I know this problem is pretty weird and it won't be too easy to help me. But is there a possibility, that it's not a problem with a GPU? I didn't tested any other versions of drivers (I'm using OMEGA 14.12), but I think, it's not a driver problem if the graphical glitches appears in BIOS, right?

I have even checked that 7970 with a Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P with AMD Phenom x4 965 BE, but I couldn't get any artifacts by manually BSODing the PC... Werid.

I send You some photos, ignore the Polish language

In BIOS:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/ntf7rac2awy2lun/DSCF5310.JPG

In safe mode, it looks like this:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/unxirjw0775vglc/DSCF5308.JPG
http://www.mediafire.com/view/7mzd94sbtba3pyq/DSCF5309.JPG

BSOD after BSOD, when I try to enter Windows not via Safe Mode:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/6bz57h9ol4tgr4p/DSCF5312.JPG

BlueScreenView code:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/jz1hplmjde1kx61/BSOD.png

I don't have any photos of pixel flashing. I tried to capture them with Print Screen, but there weren't any artifacting pixel flashes on the image. Is that normal?

I'm sorry for my not-so-good English 😉

 

[06yfz450ridr]

hmm what are your temps for your card? I would say its odd it passed occt and it is doing this. I would try underclocking your card and checking the voltage. check for a bios update on it and if possible switch the bios on your card if it has a switch for it.

it seems like your card is on its way out

you may be able to rma it if it is still under warranty

 

[khaki777]

67-70°C max in demanding games with stock 1000/1375, pretty much the same temps with 1100/1475, but I've OCed it once only for tests. As I said, I don't have ANY problems in gaming with this card, it performs as well as a brand new 7970 in terms of FPS and performance. It's a second-hand card bought for low money, now I'm trying to send it back.

I'll check for a bios update as You suggested.

Thanks for reply!

 

[06yfz450ridr]

it may be as simple as a bad cable try swapping that out first.

hdmi or dvi? or even dp?

could be a bad cable or adapter if you are using one

 

[khaki777]

It's a cheap HDMI cable. But system crashes and BSODs because of the cable?

But thank You, I'll try an another cable 😉

 

[06yfz450ridr]

It's a cheap HDMI cable. But system crashes and BSODs because of the cable?

But thank You, I'll try an another cable 😉

nope I would narrow it down I havent heard of that first brand psu, I would swap it out for the ocz, next try using the two different power cables for your card not sure if you may be using one for both connections.


check you motherboard for bios updates, restore the defaults and check your memory settings , use only one stick and set the timings manually to what it should be for that stick.

now enter safe mode with networking and download ddu http://www.wagnardmobile.com/DDU/

next download the new amd omega driver, run ddu and remove the amd drivers. it will reboot.

now you can run the new driver update and test to see if this keeps happening, change the cable and try another cable to your monitor not via hdmi say dvi if you can.

also reseat your gpu, i had similar issues and i eventually saw my second card wasnt all the way seated, drove me nuts till i saw that.

 

[khaki777]

This ModeCom Volcano is a pretty old, but good PSU. I have used different power cables. I've reseated the GPU many times. Also, I have been using 1, 2 and 3 sticks at the time to check, if it's a RAM problem. But it wasn't. Right now, I'm using one stick. Also, I've tried different BIOSes on MSI and Gigabyte MOBOs, but it was still the same.

Now, I'm going to do all the things You suggested. Thanks!

 

[khaki777]

Ok, I've made everything You suggested, but the problem still occurs. I installed an older driver, because 14.12 is the newest one. I've even removed MOBO out of the case to make sure, that a GPU is seated correctly. I still have to try a diffrent cable.

I've created a video to show, how it looks like:

1. I'm manually initiating harmless crash BSOD,
2. PC restarts itself and artifacts are starting to pop up,
3. I'm selecting "Start Windows normally",
4. I'm getting a glitched ATI driver BSOD,
5. PC restarts itself and everything is normal again...

https://www.mediafire.com/?5z9d4x49un4zcga

 

[06yfz450ridr]

so this card does the same thing on another pc?

 

[khaki777]

It does the same on Gigabyte ga-b75m-d3h and MSI B75MA-P45, but I couldn't get any artifacts on Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P with AMD Phenom x4 965 BE by manually initiating BSODs method. Weird. So, it looks like it's getting glitches only on B75 chipset with i5 2400s.