6950 problems

[james888]

My second 6950 is giving me trouble. Its a 6 month old msi twin frozr II. It was unlocked but has been flashed back to original bios. It has been having inconsistent clocks in games and just fine in bitcoin mining. I also have been getting random colored pixels from time to time.

Its been doing this.


I was testing with furmark and monitoring with msi afterburner.
1- 800 clock speed. Running inconsistently just above 600
2- 600 clock speed
3- 650 clockspeed
4- 600 again
5- bitcoin mining at 800

Lowering the clocks to 600 works as seen above. I am guessing it has problems in games because they use more of the architecture compared to bitcoin mining.
I had the same pixle coler problem when I first tried overvolting when I got the card. I just never overvolted. Lowering the voltage works to stop the pixle color.
I hoped flashing back the original bios would solve the problem but it turns out that it is not the case. The only change is my btc mining speed.

Rma/warranty is not an option

All I am looking for is thoughts and suggestions
Also... Would crossfire still provide a performance increase if the second card is down clocked to 600?

If all else fails it still mines bitcoin at a pretty good speed

Edit:
More information is further in the thread. I have been testing this card for close to 6 hours now. The card does work again for sure. I believe its original problem, and continuing problem, is voltage related. It does work. I can now push the voltage up some. It still is a weak card though and shows that every once in awhile and usually right after a restart. If I push to far in an overclock, which I was really trying to push it, I start to smell something and it can not be detected by windows at all. I have done this twice but wont do it again. I already had the card in my mind as dead so no worries. How do I get it to be recognized again? Well I can't get it to. It just sorta eventually comes back. Maybe something, like the voltage controller, has to cool or something. I am really starting to speculate with that. I do smell something though. A kinda metallic smell. Probably led. I do have an open window with a fan, and an air filter going.

This is ridiculously interesting that this card has come back. It is equally ironic it has come back practically on April fools day. I am glad it is back, but only with a grain of salt. This card has been getting worse and worse and I thought it was going to die very soon. Maybe it still will.

[james888]

What is that faint noise...? Is it... Oh wow, Crickets!

[erocker]

Originally Posted by james888

getting random colored pixels

Sign of a broken card. You could try flashing the bios again in case something went wrong the first time. You could also try doing a reinstall of the drivers.

[james888]

That is what I thought. I just wanted a second opinion. Thank you. Maybe I imagine crickets...
At least it still mines at 380 m/hashes.

[eidairaman1]

Originally Posted by erocker

Sign of a broken card. You could try flashing the bios again in case something went wrong the first time. You could also try doing a reinstall of the drivers.

thats the main drawback of unlocking cards, you can cause more damage than necessary, thus becomes irreversible

[james888]

The flash to my knowledge worked great for about 5 months. The card had problems before then anyway. I will unlock it again for bitcoin mining. It does that just fine, as shown as #5 in the picture

[eidairaman1]

Originally Posted by james888

The flash to my knowledge worked great for about 5 months. The card had problems before then anyway. I will unlock it again for bitcoin mining. It does that just fine, as shown as #5 in the picture

if you had troubles with it before unlocking it, why didnt you just return it for something else or a replacement!

[james888]

That remains a mystery to myself. I will go no further on that. Thank you for your help. It is always a pleasure

[james888]

I feel my resurection powers surging... anyways...

The card has progressively became worse. I have used it exclusively for bitcoin mining as It can not play games anymore. Or could not.

The card is fixed now. Or at least working. I have no idea why. Since the card seemed to be getting worse. I tried overclocking a ton for bitcoin mining. Computer froze and I had to reset it. Turn it back on. Try again. The card was overclocking very very nicely, unlike before. Card was running hotter than before too, but didn't care because of it being a near dead card. It was running at around 95. I then restarted to place another fan pointing at it. It now runs about 80 with high overclock.. This is what I did.

The results are astounding and confusing. The card is working as if it had no problems. It overclocks like it never ever did. It plays games again.

What is this an April fools miracle! Why does my graphics card suddenly work?
Removed crossfire connectors. Card now recognized again... Maybe it just thought it was one device or something. It also had to install amd high def audio device

It seriously is working and I have absolutely no idea why. I did take it out of the computer for about 24 hours. I don't think it will last either. I am now stress testing it like the CIA on aliens

Edit: Stress tested it too hard. Computer went bsod from overzealous overclock. Restarted to find the card isn't recognized by windows... hmmm

Removed crossfire connectors. Card now recognized again... Maybe it just thought it was one device or something
I still get random colored pixels though. So not completely fixed.

[zootac]

Originally Posted by james888

I feel my resurection powers surging... anyways...

The card has progressively became worse. I have used it exclusively for bitcoin mining as It can not play games anymore. Or could not.

The card is fixed now. Or at least working. I have no idea why. Since the card seemed to be getting worse. I tried overclocking a ton for bitcoin mining. Computer froze and I had to reset it. Turn it back on. Try again. The card was overclocking very very nicely, unlike before. Card was running hotter than before too, but didn't care because of it being a near dead card. It was running at around 95. I then restarted to place another fan pointing at it. It now runs about 80 with high overclock.. This is what I did.

The results are astounding and confusing. The card is working as if it had no problems. It overclocks like it never ever did. It plays games again.

What is this an April fools miracle! Why does my graphics card suddenly work?
Removed crossfire connectors. Card now recognized again... Maybe it just thought it was one device or something. It also had to install amd high def audio device

It seriously is working and I have absolutely no idea why. I did take it out of the computer for about 24 hours. I don't think it will last either. I am now stress testing it like the CIA on aliens

Edit: Stress tested it too hard. Computer went bsod from overzealous overclock. Restarted to find the card isn't recognized by windows... hmmm

Removed crossfire connectors. Card now recognized again... Maybe it just thought it was one device or something
I still get random colored pixels though. So not completely fixed.

whats the caps looking like on that gfx card ?

[james888]

Ill take a look. I'm really not sure if they look bad. I did bake it a little while back but it didn't help anything... unless it was delayed by a month. Thanks for responding. I'm like so excited yet frustrated by this card suddenly working again. Also what should I look for if looking for bad cap. Like a crack or discoloration

[zootac]

Originally Posted by james888

Ill take a look. I'm really not sure if they look bad. I did bake it a little while back but it didn't help anything... unless it was delayed by a month. Thanks for responding. I'm like so excited yet frustrated by this card suddenly working again. Also what should I look for if looking for bad cap. Like a crack or discoloration

http://www.irebuildmarantz.com/badcaps.html

This link give you some help on them what two look for
On caps going Bad some times its just a bloated cap craping out

[james888]

I don't see anything wrong with any of them.

This is the same card. I don't really know why I am including this.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/M...ages/front.jpg

So I have been testing this card for close to 6 hours now. The card does work again for sure. I believe its original problem, and continuing problem, is voltage related. It does work. I can now push the voltage up some. It still is a weak card though and shows that every once in awhile and usually right after a restart. If I push to far in an overclock, which I was really trying to push it, I start to smell something and it can not be detected by windows at all. I have done this twice but wont do it again. I already had the card in my mind as dead so no worries. How do I get it to be recognized again? Well I can't get it to. It just sorta eventually comes back. Maybe something, like the voltage controller, has to cool or something. I am really starting to speculate with that. I do smell something though. A kinda metallic smell. Probably led. I do have an open window with a fan, and an air filter going.

This is ridiculously interesting that this card has come back. It is equally ironic it has come back practically on April fools day. I am glad it is back, but only with a grain of salt. This card has been getting worse and worse and I thought it was going to die very soon. Maybe it still will.