Driving Me Nuts! - Black Screen / Vertical Lines/Stripes

[xenoclix]

Hey all! Hope all is well and going better than me at the moment - bout to loose the last bit of my hair if i can't fix this little problem i am facing ;p. I have been at it for the past week or so...

Anyway!

Bout 2 months ago i purchased a 5870 - great card, love it. After that 2 months the screen went black and didnt turn on again even after reset (tried friends computer and same thing - loud fan noise aswell) - so i got it returned and replaced on the spot at my store.

New 5870 i put into computer, and different issue - i now get vertical lines after 1minute to 10minutes into play in various of games from Steam games, to MMOs.

This card was in my E6600/P5B CPU/Motherboard while i did upgrade yesterday aswell to a I7 950 and a P6X58D-E Motherboard and i still continue to get the lines.

I have done a couple of re formats of the computer what is running Win 7 Ult 64bit edition.

So i had a look on the forums, websites etc seeing what some fixes might work.

I have tried the various tweaks in the fan speeds, and so forth by downclocking and overclocking and no luck that i see. I have tried various drivers from the 9.1 beta, 10.1 hotfix, 10.10, and currently back to 10.11.

I have contacted Sapphire regarding this and what they said back is my sku - graphic card has the latest VBIOS - shouldn't be a problem with it.


That is annoying coz i cant claim RMA apparently and store i got it from saying its my computer and i have to deal with it or get a RMA from sapphire what i cant get.

In the meantime, is there anything else i can try and do to see if i can fix this problem?

I have tried working on this for the past several days and no luck, any help would be greatly appreciated!!

My current new specs below:

CPU: I7 950
MTB: ASUS P6X58D-E
Pwr: Antec TP-750 (750W) TruePower
RAM: G.SKILL 6GB KIT DDR3 RIPJAWS C8 1600MHZ
GPU: Sapphire HD 5870
OS: Win 7 Ult 64bit

Here are some stats of what i can think of showing you.

Some pics -

PSU

The Problem

 

[streetfighter 2]

Welcome to TPU!

First question: Is your monitor broken? (I've seen a couple of broken LCDs with that exact same pattern of vertical lines.)

Second question: Why can't you get warranty service from Sapphire for your card?

Using this site as a visual reference:
http://www.playtool.com/pages/artifacts/artifacts.html
It appears that you have DVI corruption. To me that sounds reasonable. My first inclination is that the problem is external to the graphics card.

 

[xenoclix]

It shouldnt be the monitor as the 22" 226bw monitor has been working with my other cards fine.

Well the msg that i also got from Sapphire implies that i cant get one - they said that the vbios is the latest and that i have to claim warranty through my supplier

 

[Black Panther]

store i got it from saying its my computer and i have to deal with it or get a RMA from sapphire

Sapphire said that (snip) i have to claim warranty through my supplier

Be firm with your supplier - tell him if he doesn't honour his part you'd have no choice except to take legal action.

P.S. could you try the card in another computer, so that you rule out what the supplier is claiming?

 

[streetfighter 2]

It shouldnt be the monitor as the 22" 226bw monitor has been working with my other cards fine.

Well, as long as you're sure.

Feel free to try some of the stuff on this page (I know you already did some of it):
http://www.playtool.com/pages/dvitrouble/dvitrouble.html#dvicorruption

If all else fails try using a VGA cable.

Well the msg that i also got from Sapphire implies that i cant get one - they said that the vbios is the latest and that i have to claim warranty through my supplier

They're just trying to get out of doing their jobs. Lean into them a little harder and come prepared with technical terms. Be polite but forceful. Feel free to tell them how many of their products you've bought and how all your friends are using their products (even if it's not true).

Ditto to everything Black Panther said.

 

[Volkszorn88]

I had the same issue back around 10.2 or so, when 10.4 and 10.5 came out, fixed the problem right up and haven't had it since. And i'm currently only on 10.11 as well.

Also, if worse comes to worse since you just purchased your gpu, you can always try to RMA it.

 

[xenoclix]

Thanks for the replies!

Before i take it back and hassle the store regarding my 2nd exchange - because "apparently" i am the only person who has returned the 5870 back to their store and it would be suss if i bring it back again.

Even though if they have a look on the internet so many people have had problems. So i will try what you said be friendly and forceful to the Sapphire tech crew to get a RMA number back from them and then get it replaced... maybe another card model if thats a option but i doubt it.

In the meantime i will try another HDD with windows XP/Vista 32bit version - because some people say 64 win 7 is the cause due to an update, but many say its not.

Will also possibly try another PSU and see if its just dropping.

Other than that i cant think of anything else - and me and customer has done everything he could to try and get it working without voiding the warranty such as changing the BIOS etc.

 

[Volkszorn88]

The lines were/is a known issues. From what I know, for the most part it's software related, not hardware. But some small cases have shown that it is hardware.

The small percent that were unfortunate to have faulty gpu's were because the card was over heating. What temps are you getting?

 

[xenoclix]

The lines were/is a known issues. From what I know, for the most part it's software related, not hardware. But some small cases have shown that it is hardware.

The small percent that were unfortunate to have faulty gpu's were because the card was over heating. What temps are you getting?

According to the GPUZ im getting ~40C

 

[streetfighter 2]

Will also possibly try another PSU and see if its just dropping.

If the problem were related to the PSU then your computer would probably just crash. At the bare minimum you'd have a driver crash. At idle clocks (157/300) the HD 5870 takes up something like 30W, which is practically nothing.

 

[Volkszorn88]

Oh sorry I totally over looked the screen shot.

40c is perfect. Could just be you need to find the right driver. Did you flash your card's bios recently?

Also, go into your bios and see if there's enough power being put out to the PCI-x16 slot.

 

[xenoclix]

Oh sorry I totally over looked the screen shot.

40c is perfect. Could just be you need to find the right driver. Did you flash your card's bios recently?

Also, go into your bios and see if there's enough power being put out to the PCI-x16 slot.

Alrighty ill have a look at the BIOS now and see what type of power is coming through.

Also, no i havnt done any flashing of the BIOS - for one i don't know how, and two it would void the warranty if i did what im not 100% comfortable doing, but saying that alot of users had luck with that.

 

[xenoclix]

This is what i got in the BIOS for the voltage -

I have never really looked into the BIOS screen before and honestly dont know my way around fully either so hope thats what it is .

 

[micropage7]

have you tried to change the slot? and check on your chipset or graphic option on bios, personally i guess this is kinda hardware
btw have you try it on other cpu? does it run well?

 

[streetfighter 2]

This is what i got in the BIOS for the voltage -
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/9516/voltage.jpg

I have never really looked into the BIOS screen before and honestly dont know my way around fully either so hope thats what it is .

OH MY GOD IT'S HORRIBLE. CALL THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION AND LET THEM KNOW YOUR COMPUTER IS USING 1.21 GIGAWATTS.

Nah, just messin' with you.

Looks fine. Voltages are all well within spec. Unfortunately that screen won't show the PCIe voltage. I think this path is fruitless though because you already said that you tried the card in another computer and experienced the same issue. Clearly this is not a power related issue (as I've stated twice now).

I'm assuming that I interpreted your gobbledygook correctly...

This card was in my E6600/P5B CPU/Motherboard while i did upgrade yesterday aswell to a I7 950 and a P6X58D-E Motherboard and i still continue to get the lines.

 

[xenoclix]

have you tried to change the slot? and check on your chipset or graphic option on bios, personally i guess this is kinda hardware
btw have you try it on other cpu? does it run well?

Mmm, ill try the card in my other x16 slot - thanks didnt think of that!

As mentioned in my OP, i had the same issue within my last motherboard / CPU - E6600/P5B CPU/Motherboard.

I have also just replied and sent another support ticket to Sapphire regarding what i have recently done aswell.

I havnt had not one single problem with my old HD 4890 that worked great for the year or two that i had that installed on my old system and new.

 

[Solaris17]

also pro tip i used to get some weird artifacts with one of my old GX2's turned out i didnt screw it down hard enough to the case and the card was leaning disrupting the connection to the other pins. i made sure it was centered screwed it down tight problem solved.

 

[micropage7]

also pro tip i used to get some weird artifacts with one of my old GX2's turned out i didnt screw it down hard enough to the case and the card was leaning disrupting the connection to the other pins. i made sure it was centered screwed it down tight problem solved.

yeah, thats right sometimes it started from small thing that we aint pay attention to

 

[xenoclix]

Alrighty, i have changed the cards slot to the other PCI-E and still same issue.

Ive been working on this all day, doing my head in now - so im going to have a sleep lol. If you have any other suggestions please let me know and ill give it a shot.

When monday comes and still not fixed and or reply from Sapphire im gonna bring the whole computer into the shop and tell them fix it or new card! lol.

Ive done the best i could with this and the knowledge i know and learnt :*(

 

[micropage7]

:shadedshu
i dunno, it could be from hardware, or have you checked the vga heat or try it on other rig?

 

[qubit]

Your card is faulty, like others have said. Don't let those barstewards at the shop get away with it.

Bullshitting you that "no one else has reported the problem Sir <sarcastically>" is the oldest trick in the book and a classic sign that they're trying to defraud you by denying you warranty.

Think about it, what does it matter whether only you has had this, or 100 others? None. It's irrelevant. The only relevance is that your card doesn't work and you have a right to a warranty replacement. When shops try this shit on me, I raise my voice right there and then and call them out on it, making sure other customers can hear clearly. Works pretty effectively.

You could try flexing the card gently and seeing if that causes this lockup. A bad board is often sensitive to this test. I think you have already seen this problem in another computer? That would also verify the card as bad.

Graphics cards are generally very reliable, so the fact that you have had two faulty cards in a row might just be the shop applying sharp practice (fraud) in selling cards they know have slight faults with them which they got for "cheap" and then denying warranty to as many people as possible. Perhaps Sapphire know that this is from a bad batch that shouldn't have been sold and is why they denied you warranty? Heck, try giving them the serial number and asking this very question!

Finally, the shop really can't argue that a dead card is just "you" or something funny with your PC. Try killing it so it won't run at all and then they can't make any excuses. The trick of course, is to do this without leaving a mark. How to do this?

One way is to supply the power pins with a reverse voltage for a few seconds, or a higher voltage, eg 24v into a 12v input. When you do this, make absolutely sure that you have the card removed from the PC!!

How you get the sabotaging voltages to the card I'll leave to you to figure out, but suffice to say that a cheap generic power adapter (doesn't have to be PC related) with a high enough voltage and perhaps AC output will do the trick.

(When testing it, try to do so with an older PC, just in case the no-faulty card takes out the mobo. It's unlikely to damage it though.)

I did this to a faulty WD drive: the bearing noise never seemed right from day one (kinda loud and raspy) and after a couple of years, it was obviously making some strange and irritating noises. However, they were the kind of noises that WD might have argued were "normal", so I made sure it never spun up again with this little technique and replaced it under RMA as "dead".

The plan worked beautifully and I got a slightly better model back, which works properly.

 

[RejZoR]

I had a similar problem. Black screen with thin colored vertical lines all over the screen.
It only happened on Win7 64bit (had Vista 64bit before and it never did this). I also had graphic card in the PCIe 16x slot below the one where the graphic cards usually are (near northbridge).
And with drivers older than 10.10e hotfix.

Now i've moved the graphic card to upper PCIe 16x slot, cleaned the drivers with Driver Sweeper, installed 10.10e and so far i haven't got it. Can't really say what fixed it but no more of this crap anymore.

 

[micropage7]

I did this to a faulty WD drive: the bearing noise never seemed right from day one (kinda loud and raspy) and after a couple of years, it was obviously making some strange and irritating noises. However, they were the kind of noises that WD might have argued were "normal", so I made sure it never spun up again with this little technique and replaced it under RMA as "dead".

o.. o.. i guess if WD read this post they aint gonna sell their stuff to you anymore
yeah, i ever did the same thing, do 'magic' then marked it as 'dead'

 

[xenoclix]

Thanks for all the replies so far!

I did another clean install with Win7-64bit and installed everything again. Same problem.

So tomorrow im going to take the whole damn computer in, tell them to get it working or another card.

I think i have done what i can as a customer, with all the evidence and trial and errors i have done i honestly believe it is a faulty card and thus should get another card.

Also msged Sapphire and waiting for reply now regarding RMA just incase my store are total stooges and wont return it without a RMA.

Too bad Sapphire dont have a call center that i can contact regarding this - dont like waiting 3+ days for a simple reply that dosnt mean anything lol.

 

[xenoclix]

I had a similar problem. Black screen with thin colored vertical lines all over the screen.
It only happened on Win7 64bit (had Vista 64bit before and it never did this). I also had graphic card in the PCIe 16x slot below the one where the graphic cards usually are (near northbridge).
And with drivers older than 10.10e hotfix.

Now i've moved the graphic card to upper PCIe 16x slot, cleaned the drivers with Driver Sweeper, installed 10.10e and so far i haven't got it. Can't really say what fixed it but no more of this crap anymore.

I have swapped the card in both of the PCI-E slots and still a no go. Too bad i dont have a windows vista/xp etc anymore to test it on to see if it is actually a windows 7 64 problem - would suck if it really is...