3850 GPU crash? {losing my mind}

doctorcilantro

first of all, I really appreciate any advice or guidance...I've been at this a while, so many thanks to those wiser than I.

Been working on this one here (GPU crash? BAFFLED by 3850 - Page 2 - PC Perspective Forums), and I'll try not to forget anything, here goes:

A. New system. DFI P35 UT, Q6600 @ 3gHz, Hyper-X clocked at 800mHz.

Stability:

1. Prime95 (quad-core) ran for 32 hours while Windows based memtest ran on 1000mb or RAM.

2. Ran 3dMark 06 for about 7 hours.

3. ATI-Tool for 10 hours > Scan for Artifacts (high temp 58C)


I seeing random crashes where the screen turns into vertical lines; sometimes grey and black, sometimes reddish tinged. it looks like a pinstripe suit!

I have turned off VPU recover and ATI hotkey poller. Using 7.11 from HIS website. I watched an entire movie last night. I can achieve 1080P dxva on hd material. I crash always on the desktop...closing FF or clicking an icon.

I have XP with windowblinds 6 running. 2GB RAM.

Temps never get over 47C on the gpu, when looping 3dmark. BIOS and software-based hardware monitor do show 3.27 on 3.3v - PSU is brand new Power & PC Cooling 610w Silencer.

B. 18 times out of 20, I get a hard crash. No soft power down, no mouse, nothing. I have to hard power down the PC.

Twice I have seen artifacts and corruption which resolved itself; once with a vpu recovery from ATI.

I'm never doing anything intense on the system; thanks for the link - that is the fix I tried. NOTE - I have not seen any corruption or artifacts as of installing 8.1

C. Minor tweaks hoping to avoid re-install:

1. ATI Hotkey poller was apparently not disabled; now it is.


2. Updated IDE driver to Jmicron (2006) whereas the old dual-channel pci controller from 2001 was installed.

3. Used driver genius to install newest Intel chipset package and other secondary drivers e.g. card reader

If I get this crash again I am going to un-install all ATI software and run drive cleaner, cross my fingers, and re-load the 7.11 Cats......

Could be a heat issue I guess but just doesn't feel like it given all the stress testing I did.

D. Strangeness abounds:

Catalyst Overdrive reports that stock is 300/829.

When I open ATI Tool to try to underclock the core is stated to be at 369.

When I go back to Catalyst control, I see the core is suddenly at 760! Temps are rising fast! When I try to select Defaults in Catalyst it doesn't work, I have to manually use the sliders to get to stock.

1. Why the discrepancy in core reporting?

2. Maybe the core is being bumped up at random times, certainly seems like a 100%+ increase in core would cause a crash.

Not sure about the discrepancy, but going to take a guess here:

The sliders for the clock & memory were way up there at 700 and 900+, so even though stock settings are applied, what might have been happening is that something was triggering those slider settings to be applied.

I have moved the sliders all the way down to stock, but I guess I could test by leaving them up and going into Catalyst and checking. I had experienced about 5 crashes in twelve hours.

E. Electric Bill suggests:

"If I might suggest something.

Go here http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_ca...p/radeonxip-xp and download Catalyst_7.12_Driver and Catalyst_7.12_CCenter.
Do not download the Catalyst Software Suite - the CC won't work.
Go to RivaTuner v2.06 download from Guru3D.com and download RivaTuner 2.06

Uninstall everything connected with ATI in Control Panel.
Uninstall ATI tray and whatever other ATI tools.
Boot into Safe Mode and run Driver Cleaner and Cab Cleaner.

Install Catalyst_7.12_Driver.
Install Catalyst_7.12_CCenter
Install RivaTuner 2.06

If that doesn't help maybe a clean installation of XP or an RMA."

F. I un-installed, used DriverCleaner, and was able to install the 8.1 dd then the ccc. Since ccc is only available for 8.1 as part of the "suite".....I used it, and luckily it worked.

So far I have not seen the grey bars, but I do get black screens or a no video/no connection vga disconnected screen after running a slideshow all night. Nothing else crashes this rig except J. river Media center and I highly doubt that this is the source of the problem and I haven't bveen able to run a similar test (slideshow) other than extreme stability tests like Prime, 3dmark, and ati tool.

The ATI 8.1 documentation mentions quite a few game related black screen fixes ....

Given the "change" in type of crash (now black screen rather than grey bars) does this sound hardware/driver related? I want to RMA the card but I guess I should try a fresh install.

I really thought that I found the source of the error with the "slider" issue I mentioned earlier.

In fact, with this fresh Catalysts install, the Overdrive is locked by default but greyed out sliders are up at the aformentioned settings: 750/950. I'm going to unlock Overdrive and move those all the way down to 300/829. I still have my suspicions that the card is overclocking itself a la "Repo Man" style.

I REALLY don't want to re-install windows, and I really don't even have the time to do a test re-install which would be optimal to see if the Os is the source. I'm getting close to an RMA but I guess a re-install of Windows would tell me a lot......

DC

doctorcilantro

What does this mean from the 8.1 documentation; seems like my problem:

The Windows XP operating system no longer hangs with a blank screen when running the Run Automated Clock Configuration Utility. Further details can be found in topic number 737-31611

DC

Dan Elliott

I too have had 4 lockups very similar, not a hard lock as my system is fine but my gpu displays green vertical bands. All four have occured while browsing the internet. First 3 happened in IE7 and had one with Firefox. Had 2 of them with Cat 7.12's and 2 with cat 8.1's. My system is close to a month old and sbsolutely baffled by this one, I even emailed HIS but they appear to be a waste of time.

Dyre Straits

Although for an older video card, this information should be helpful:

Documentation

The cards are designed to use lower default speeds when running simple 2D applications. Then, when running any 3D application, the timings of the video card will increase to the speeds selected in the Overdrive option. This likely is what you're seeing and thinking it's a discrepancy.

Also, without reading entirely through your OP, I think you said you have a HIS-made 3850? IF so, it's my understanding that HIS already overclocks the cards by default. So, some of this problem you're having, if this is the case, may be due to too much overclocking being done. If the problem goes away when you lower the clocks, that's a pretty good indication that this is what's happening.

Please verify the rest of your system's components not specifically stated in the OP.

Rizen

I had a similar problem with my his 3850 (720/910) though i only got the black screens when overclocking the card. what worked for me was downloading RivaTuner and manually setting the fan speed to 60%, this kept black screens to a minimum for me now i only get them if i exceed 800/1050.

Dyre was right the 3850 does use seperate 2D and 3D clocks to reduce power consumption 300 is 2D and the 750 would be the 3D so its nothing to worry about its just how the card works

Dan Elliott

I was wondering about the reduced timings in 2D, my set up has exhibited no signs of instability in any gaming scenario I have thrown at it (and its had lots).