Problem with 6950: games freezes for few seconds

[autior]

Hi guys, I have this strange problem and I don't know what to do to solve it: when I play a game, sometimes the game freezes for few seconds and then 3 things can happen:

• The game return to Desktop and Windows say that Aero has been reloaded (or something like that). The game is stil playable from the point where it has forze.
• Same as before, but with a message from ATI Catalyst about the drivers that have been reloaded.
• The game just continue from where it has stopped.

I have tried to reinstall the drivers but the problem persist. Actually my VGA is an MSI 6950 2GB Twin Frozr III OC Edition, and I'm using that with stock frequencies (and no BIOS with shaders unlocked neither). My CPU is a 2500k, the mobo is an Asrock Z68 Xtreme Gen 3, the PSU a Thermaltake Toughpower XT 775W and the Hard Disk a WD Black Caviar 750GB (by the way, HDTune say that the HDD have no bad blocks). My os is Windows 7 x64. The last time that I had this problem was playing "Might&Magic Heroes VI" yesterday (if I remember right, in background I was running uTorrent, Microsoft Security Essentials, Comodo Firewall and probably jDownloader), but it happened with many games.

I have used OCCT, Furmark and Ungine to stress the card for 1-2 hours, but it pass the test with no freezes (and I don't belive that the problem is related with the card temperature, because I play at a really low res - 1280x1024 - and the case is actually cool - Corsair 650D, stock fans).

Someone ever had this kind of problem? How can I solve it? It's an hw or sw thing?

Thanks in advance!

[erocker]

Try updating DirectX via the link: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downl...ils.aspx?id=35

If that doesn't do it, try using ATiManUninstaller to completely clean out your drivers, you can get that here: http://www.mediafire.com/?0jdko53gk5npzo0 (Link is safe, I uploaded it there)

Then install the latest drivers.

[autior]

Ok, so yesterday I tried some things:

• Tested the RAM with Memtest, I did 2 passes and I got no errors.
• Uninstalled the drivers with Atiman Uninstaller and reinstalled the last ones (CCC 12.8).
• Checked that Directx was already to the last version.
• I downloaded Crystal Disk Info to check the HDD, and it say that's good.

Then I tried to play the same game with in same condition of last time (Might & Magic Heroes VI, all details on High, resolution 1280*1024, uTorrent and Comodo Firewall as programs on background), and sadly it frooze again.

Now I should try the game without the programs in background to check if they are the source of my problems, and if not, what else can I try? Actually the video card is still in warranty, so it isn't really a problem if I have to change that, but I just wanna be sure that it's an hw issue.

EDIT: I tried to launch the game without any program in background and with GPU-Z and RealTemp: the game froze in either way (the average temp was 59°, with a maximum of 68°). I'll ask for the RMA so, and see what happens.

Thanks for the help!

[sobol]

Unfortunately same here. First time I've noticed was 2 weeks ago.
I've played new XCOM and I though it's broken game.
Bought original and the same happen :/
Then I've tried Crysis and same again, but this time I'm sure the game didn't behave like that before.

I've started looking on forums and another guy with on steam XCOM forum with 6900 series has the same problem.

So far I've replaced all thermal stripes tape on the graphic card.
Applied new paste on GPU and cleaned all vents on radiator.
I thought that maybe it's recent drivers problem and ATI's mistake.
Went back to 12.02 which worked fine before but still the same hanging/back to desktop problem.

It should be noted that I've modded my 6950 into 6970.
Restoring back to 6950 doesn't help either.
Autior Is yours been running modded too?


Sig
INTEL Q6600 G0 3.6 - 1.3875V - TR120 BLACK + S-FLEX SFF21E
4x2048 XP2-8000 Mushkin Redline EM@500 5-5-5 2.1V
ASUS MAXIMUS II P45 FORMULA
ASUS RADEON 6950 to 6970 MOD
SAMSUNG 2TB (2x1TB) SATA
CORSAIR HX 650W PSU
ANTEC P182/ DELL IPS 22"/ WIN 7 64 ULTIMATE

[dude12564]

Try using Windows Basic theme when you're gaming.

[sobol]

Originally Posted by dude12564

Try using Windows Basic theme when you're gaming.

Hey, thanks for suggestion.

I've tried that and also classic mode, same behaviour.
I've also switched off windows audio service since I installed a new sound card about 4 months ago. Still same.

The longer I play the game the more often hangs happen.
I think it must be down to some component overheating.

[os2wiz]

[QUOTE=erocker;2743875]Try updating DirectX via the link: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downl...ils.aspx?id=35

Hi, Erocker, I have a special issue with my Gigabyte HD Radeon 6950 2 gb card. I stupidly saw a thread on the web to unlock shaders by loading a modded bios. I did that about 6 months ago. The program supposedly saved my old bios, but it did not. I decided I wanted to revert back to my old bios, but it is not there , only some generic 6950 bios. I don't think Gigabyte will help me , because technically I voided the warranty, even though it is now out of warranty. Now the card is working , but I would prefer to have the legit bios back on the card. Any suggestions? I did use the bios and ATIiwinflash here. But it is a generic bios. Is that the most recent bios for the Radeon 6950? Obviously since it is generic the gigabyte utility to update bios won't read it or permit an update if one is available.

[newconroer]

If all your drivers (motherboard and GPU), Directx, and general windows health is fine, then it would point to some type of faulty hardware.

Anyone checked their power readings on the PSU rails?

How about installing it in a friend's computer as a means to troubleshoot?

[autior]

Originally Posted by sobol

Unfortunately same here. First time I've noticed was 2 weeks ago.
I've played new XCOM and I though it's broken game.
Bought original and the same happen :/
Then I've tried Crysis and same again, but this time I'm sure the game didn't behave like that before.

I've started looking on forums and another guy with on steam XCOM forum with 6900 series has the same problem.

So far I've replaced all thermal stripes tape on the graphic card.
Applied new paste on GPU and cleaned all vents on radiator.
I thought that maybe it's recent drivers problem and ATI's mistake.
Went back to 12.02 which worked fine before but still the same hanging/back to desktop problem.

It should be noted that I've modded my 6950 into 6970.
Restoring back to 6950 doesn't help either.
Autior Is yours been running modded too?


Sig
INTEL Q6600 G0 3.6 - 1.3875V - TR120 BLACK + S-FLEX SFF21E
4x2048 XP2-8000 Mushkin Redline EM@500 5-5-5 2.1V
ASUS MAXIMUS II P45 FORMULA
ASUS RADEON 6950 to 6970 MOD
SAMSUNG 2TB (2x1TB) SATA
CORSAIR HX 650W PSU
ANTEC P182/ DELL IPS 22"/ WIN 7 64 ULTIMATE

Hi. No, I'm running the VGA with stock shaders, core and mem freq. (880/1300), but when I bought the VGA an year ago I unlocked the shaders on the second bios (never flashed a 6970 BIOS) and tried some overclocking, finding out that with stressing benchmark programs (like OCCT, Furmark, 3DMark) I could use high freq. with no crash, but I get crash, freeze and other problem in-game when using a slightly high core or memory freq... So I decided to switch to the stock bios with no OC.

Thanks for the info, I have to try XCOM and see what happen. And if you can get the game "Darksiders II", try it and see if give you any problem (for me, it freeze in various battles for few seconds and then return you to desktop or to the game).

I'm trying to find out all the games that gave me regular and provable problems, so I can point that out to the guys of the assistence service.

Originally Posted by newconroer

If all your drivers (motherboard and GPU), Directx, and general windows health is fine, then it would point to some type of faulty hardware.

Anyone checked their power readings on the PSU rails?

How about installing it in a friend's computer as a means to troubleshoot?

As I said I got a Thermaltake Toughpower XT 775W, it got 64A on the +12V.

Actually I'm looking for a friend to try the VGA, but seems like everyone in my zone is a console gamer and got really crappy PSU..

[sobol]

So I found a reason for my problem. It was OCing the GPU clock to 880mhz on my ATI 6950 and that was no problem until recently. If i clock down to original 800mhz or even 810mhz it works fine. I can have my shader set from 6950 to 6970 mod as long as long as GPU clock is low.

I think it is not due to cooling problem but something has changed with that card.
Why I believe so is that when I bough card and did 6970 mod I did hardcore tests for one week and there was no problem. Now that I've re-done the GPU, memory, power regulator thermal tape and cleaned all dusts effectively restoring cooling efficiency to it's original state 880ghz should be no problem, but it still is.

Originally Posted by sobol

Unfortunately same here. First time I've noticed was 2 weeks ago.
I've played new XCOM and I though it's broken game.
Bought original and the same happen :/
Then I've tried Crysis and same again, but this time I'm sure the game didn't behave like that before.

I've started looking on forums and another guy with on steam XCOM forum with 6900 series has the same problem.

So far I've replaced all thermal stripes tape on the graphic card.
Applied new paste on GPU and cleaned all vents on radiator.
I thought that maybe it's recent drivers problem and ATI's mistake.
Went back to 12.02 which worked fine before but still the same hanging/back to desktop problem.

It should be noted that I've modded my 6950 into 6970.
Restoring back to 6950 doesn't help either.
Autior Is yours been running modded too?


Sig
INTEL Q6600 G0 3.6 - 1.3875V - TR120 BLACK + S-FLEX SFF21E
4x2048 XP2-8000 Mushkin Redline EM@500 5-5-5 2.1V
ASUS MAXIMUS II P45 FORMULA
ASUS RADEON 6950 to 6970 MOD
SAMSUNG 2TB (2x1TB) SATA
CORSAIR HX 650W PSU
ANTEC P182/ DELL IPS 22"/ WIN 7 64 ULTIMATE

[autior]

Originally Posted by sobol

So I found a reason for my problem. It was OCing the GPU clock to 880mhz on my ATI 6950 and that was no problem until recently. If i clock down to original 800mhz or even 810mhz it works fine. I can have my shader set from 6950 to 6970 mod as long as long as GPU clock is low.

I think it is not due to cooling problem but something has changed with that card.
Why I believe so is that when I bough card and did 6970 mod I did hardcore tests for one week and there was no problem. Now that I've re-done the GPU, memory, power regulator thermal tape and cleaned all dusts effectively restoring cooling efficiency to it's original state 880ghz should be no problem, but it still is.

Same here.. I can't say if the GPU was faulty by factory or by my tests, because I did them since I bought the card, so probably I'll never know.

By the way, I did a complete run on XCOM, haven't got any problem but the famous bugs that afflicts the game.

Anyway, we have different VGAs, mine was oc'ed by factory to 880/1300, so even if it's unlucky, it should run at stock freqs. I sent it back to the shop where I bought it (it's still under warranty), now I'm waiting a response.