AMD 7970 weird startup problems

[harkoslav]

Hello guys,

I got very weird problem and I'm running out of ideas on how to fix it.

It all started about a month ago when I first noticed the problem, my computer went to sleep mode and after turning it back on, my computer would restart and I would get BSOD (Thread_stuck_in_device_driver). I kinda ignored it, and as I decided to play CS:GO after a few weeks of pause, there were terrible stuttering, almost every 3-4 seconds, just for a short time and the game was unplayable.
I was about to completely format my disk, and reinstall Windows 10 since updating my gpu drivers didn't fix the issue, and then everything went downhill. I installed Windows 10 which already installed newest AMD drivers on the first boot, everything seemed fine, I restarted my computer, everything OK, tried going into SLEEP mode, on the wake up all I got is black screen and no signal on the monitor (no restart this time). This was the first thing I did after clean Windows 10 installation, and it didn't work.
I also tried reinstalling my drivers, using DDU, to some older version. It resulted in screen going completely black after waking up from sleep mode. Now after waking from complete shutdown I would get black screen with only mouse cursor on it. Tried pressing windows key + P, all sorts of things I googled, nothing seems to work.
Interesting thing is that this exact thing started happening on shutdown. When turning my computer on after it was shut down, all I got was black screen with cursor, then I would restart it and it would boot but you could see some corrupted pixels on the screen which would go away pretty fast, and when logged in, I would get notification error from Windows that my display driver crashed and recovered.
I even tried doing clean instalation of Windows 7, and everything was pretty similar, no wake up after sleep, problems on shutdown.
Then I flashed my motherboard BIOS to the newest version, made clean Windows 10 installation once again, but this time I installed Crimson 15.11 drivers, and still no sleep wake up, and now I even get THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER BSOD after turning my computer on from shutdown. But thing that is pretty weird is that whenever I restart my computer, everything boots just fine, there was never BSOD, only on shutdown and sleep. Also, I tried playing CS:GO and there were still exact same stuttering.
As you can see, my GPU is pretty much an overkill for this configuration (C2D,..), I never overclocked it, and never pushed temeperatures above 70 degrees since in most cases it only reaches 60% GPU usage cause of cpu bottleneck.

I started thinking that my gpu is faulty, but I tried running furmark for about 30 min, and everything was fine, no artifacts, nothing indicating that something is wrong, Heaven benchmark also run without any problems so I'm pretty confused.
I ran MEMTEST for 10 passes so I think my RAM is fine, also stressed my CPU, everything seems to be fine.

Please help!!!!


My configuration:
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
GPU: XFX 7970 DD Ghz Edition
MOBO: GIGABYTE P35-DS3P
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8200
PSU: CORSAIR TX 650
RAM: 4 GB DDR2

 

[chuck216]

What version of the Catalyst or Crimson drivers are you using. There is a known issue where due to energy savings "features" in those drivers they can cause R9 series cards to have the exact problems in games you are describing, and even trottlle 3D clocks down to 2D speeds in more CPU intensive areas.

The Drivers may be seeing your 7970 as an R9 280X which it basically is, or actually vice-versa, the 280x is a rebadged 7970.

Though the most recent hotfix for Crimson has a slider to turn off "energy saving" and help prevent the stuttering etc.

Fair warning though it didn't do anything to address the slow clocks in at least 1 game I play with my R9 390.

 

[harkoslav]

What version of the Catalyst or Crimson drivers are you using. There is a known issue where due to energy savings "features" in those drivers they can cause R9 series cards to have the exact problems in games you are describing, and even trottlle 3D clocks down to 2D speeds in more CPU intensive areas.

The Drivers may be seeing your 7970 as an R9 280X which it basically is, or actually vice-versa, the 280x is a rebadged 7970.

Though the most recent hotfix for Crimson has a slider to turn off "energy saving" and help prevent the stuttering etc.

Fair warning though it didn't do anything to address the slow clocks in at least 1 game I play with my R9 390.

I tried Catalyst 14.4,14.12, all Crimson drivers (15.7,15.7.1) including hotfix 16.2.1 and 16.3 and currently using Crimson 15.11. All of mentioned gave me similar results (can't wake from sleep, black screen, driver crashing, etc).
I'm thinking of installing older Catalyst drivers, like Catalyst 13.2 but I'm afraid it wouldn't work as planned since I'm running on Windows 10...

 

[eidairaman1]

make sure the motherboard bios is latest

 

[harkoslav]

make sure the motherboard bios is latest

As I already said, I flashed my motherboard BIOS to the latest version, and it didn't help.

 

[eidairaman1]

http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/28441-gigabyte-latest-beta-bios-2.html

you may need to go to Intels site and see if there are any Chipset drivers from them for Windows 10. I'm unaware if W10 can use W7 or 8 Drivers even...

 

[95Viper]

Turn off any overclocking.
Turn off and un-plug PSU from wall socket; then, either remove the CMOS battery and/or, if you have a reset jumper, reset the bios (CMOS).
Put the battery back, if removed, after 15+ seconds and/or put the jumper back to normal position... plug back into wall, turn on PSU.
Test it.

Reseat your GPU in the slot.
Also, if your card has a bios switch, try the other position.


Quote from: Bug Check 0xEA: THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER

Cause
A device driver is spinning in an infinite loop, most likely waiting for hardware to become idle.

This usually indicates problem with the hardware itself, or with the device driver programming the hardware incorrectly. Frequently, this is the result of a bad video card or a bad display driver.

 

[harkoslav]

http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/28441-gigabyte-latest-beta-bios-2.html

you may need to go to Intels site and see if there are any Chipset drivers from them for Windows 10. I'm unaware if W10 can use W7 or 8 Drivers even...

I checked Intel's site and there were not any chipset drivers for my system. Also ran their Intel driver update utility, and it didn't find any drivers I could download.

 

[eidairaman1]

did you have this issue in Windows 7?

 

[jaggerwild]

I started thinking that my gpu is faulty, but I tried running furmark for about 30 min, and everything was fine, no artifacts, nothing indicating that something is wrong, Heaven benchmark also run without any problems so I'm pretty confused.
I ran MEMTEST for 10 passes so I think my RAM is fine, also stressed my CPU, everything seems to be fine.

LOL@ memtest(JOKE!)
Fur mark will cook your video card. Sounds like a dead GPU, after installing Windows 10 did you up date it first? Then install mother board drivers, then video drivers.........

 

[harkoslav]

Turn off any overclocking.
Turn off and un-plug PSU from wall socket; then, either remove the CMOS battery and/or, if you have a reset jumper, reset the bios (CMOS).
Put the battery back, if removed, after 15+ seconds and/or put the jumper back to normal position... plug back into wall, turn on PSU.
Test it.

Reseat your GPU in the slot.
Also, if your card has a bios switch, try the other position.


Quote from: Bug Check 0xEA: THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER

I did everything you mentioned except GPU bios switch, which I don't have. After I turned my computer on, got BSOD (THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER), followed by reboot which was successful (usual behavior).

 

[95Viper]

Must be a different version... I was looking at this... my 7970, I got in the closet has one, although it is a Sapphire one.

It would be like on this XFX 7970 over the XF in XFX:

 

[harkoslav]

did you have this issue in Windows 7?

On windows 7 I tried with Catalyst 14.12 and 14.9 I think. Sleep mode didn't work too, CS:GO was stuttering, so yeah. Except windows 7 BSOD didn't say thread_stuck_in_device_driver, or atleast I didn't manage to see it cause it happens pretty fast.

LOL@ memtest(JOKE!)
Fur mark will cook your video card. Sounds like a dead GPU, after installing Windows 10 did you up date it first? Then install mother board drivers, then video drivers.........

Well I don't think it's dead, cause I tried 3DMark and Unigene Heaven benchmarks, and it ran completely normal, as before when everything was working properly. Windows 10 was updating itself on installation and on the first restart. The video drivers were already installed by Windows 10 on the first boot.

Must be a different version... I was looking at this... my 7970, I got in the closet has one, although it is a Sapphire one.

It would be like on this XFX 7970 over the XF in XFX:

Looks like I have different version. On my GPU there is no switch, only 2 unconnected holes on PCB marked with SW1.

 

[95Viper]

You might want to try running a disk check and a virus scan, too.

Just wondering... are these clean installs of Windows 7 and 10 you are trying on... What I mean, are these installs new, disks cleaned, and installed after the problem started?
If so, it is not a Windows or driver problem... more than likely, it would be hardware...

 

[harkoslav]

You might want to try running a disk check and a virus scan, too.

Just wondering... are these clean installs of Windows 7 and 10 you are trying on... What I mean, are these installs new, disks cleaned, and installed after the problem started?
If so, it is not a Windows or driver problem... more than likely, it would be hardware...

Yes, they were clean installs. I formated whole disk, then installed Windows 7/10, aswell as drivers after the problem started.

I'm going to test my gpu in my friend's configuration on windows 7 to see if it really is hardware problem.

 

[Frogger]

Looks like a bad or dirty Pcie slot one of the fingers on the card is not making solid contact.
You need to test the card in another system, a friend or PC shop. Once you make sure the card is good then have a good look @ the MB pcie slot make sure to check the back of the board too. Good luck

 

[Filip Georgievski]

Why are every onr jumping to the conclusion it is the GPU??
I had a similar problem a month ago, same exept my pc wouldnt boot 3 - 4 times in a row before finally booting up. It wouldnt restart from button or windows restart. I wouldnt wake up as well.
My solution was tweeking the RAM and CPU and now everything works perfectly.
I would suggest to check this out and try it. It may save a whole lot of work.

 

[OneMoar]

sounds like just anouther case of amds shitty power-management
try disabling ULPS

 

[harkoslav]

So yeah, this acctually happened, I tried my gpu on my friends computer, he was running windows 7 with drivers Catalyst 14.9, and everything worked perfectly, even sleep was working as normal, no probmles at all. I installed 15.7 on my computer now and same BSOD happens. Tried 14.9, same thing as before. Looks like it's not probably driver issue since its happening to no matter which I install. So it appears gpu really isn't the problem, maybe its something to do with OS (altough I tried win7 before, with similar crashes on startup) , or motherboard?

 

[masands]

Having same issue as you OP but with an XFX HD7950. See my thread here: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/is-my-xfx-hd7950-dead.221014/

 

[chaosmassive]

So yeah, this acctually happened, I tried my gpu on my friends computer, he was running windows 7 with drivers Catalyst 14.9, and everything worked perfectly, even sleep was working as normal, no probmles at all. I installed 15.7 on my computer now and same BSOD happens. Tried 14.9, same thing as before. Looks like it's not probably driver issue since its happening to no matter which I install. So it appears gpu really isn't the problem, maybe its something to do with OS (altough I tried win7 before, with similar crashes on startup) , or motherboard?

if all other configuration in software of your friend counterpart has identical with your softwares (driver and OS),
then the potential problem lies in your hardware part, try to check your pci-e, do memcheck, last but not least check your PSU

 

[jaggerwild]

My configuration:
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
GPU: XFX 7970 DD Ghz Edition
MOBO: GIGABYTE P35-DS3P
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8200
PSU: CORSAIR TX 650
RAM: 4 GB DDR2


Anybody see anything funny here? How did you get windows 10 drivers for the motherboard?

 

[95Viper]

My configuration:
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
GPU: XFX 7970 DD Ghz Edition
MOBO: GIGABYTE P35-DS3P
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8200
PSU: CORSAIR TX 650
RAM: 4 GB DDR2


Anybody see anything funny here? How did you get windows 10 drivers for the motherboard?

No... enlighten us, please.

How did you get windows 10 drivers for the motherboard?

Just a guess, here... as this is what I do.

If Windows 10 install does not find the drivers or, if, I need updated drivers; then...

He/She probably does what I, and a lot of others do when the MB vendor does not post them... Gets them from the OEM: like, Intel (ACHI, chipset, possibly, lan, wlan, IRST, etc.) drivers from Intel, Realtek drivers from Realtek, Lan drivers from (Intel, Realtek, Atheros, etc.), AMD drivers from AMD, and so on.
There is, also, Station-Drivers and other third parties who post them.
And, lastly, Windows Update catalog is a good place. (To use Windows Update Catalog site, you need to use Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later)

 

[eidairaman1]

Id say take your parts out of case put mobo on box, fully insert the gpu, ensure the gpu and cpu fans are clean, reseat the ram. If your board has ulps in it, try turning it off. If all else fails, it could be the psu or motherboard or ram.

 

[Moofachuka]

try another pci-e slot, and try different 6 pin connectors if available