4870 trouble (Black screen, crazy RPM)

Do you get any HDD activity when powering on, like is it loading windows at all rather than just sitting there idle? If it is loading the OS, then it could very well be the card but if it's just sitting there doing nothing it might be PSU related or something else...

Its bad return it.

Well if you could kindly link me to that thread then, rather than shout out claims about me being some sort of undercover PR worker for NVIDIA, that would be helpful.

warrenty time

[those tools used to flash ati bios do not support GDDR5 memory, the bios u flashed with is only 64 KB while the 4870 GDDR5 uses 128K bios. you can flash the original bios back with another graphic card and dont touch the bios again until the newer version software comes out.
It's not a big deal, dont worry about it. just flash it back. dont use ur backup one, it's also 64KB, download a bios from somewhere and make sure it's 128 KB

Good luck




AMD/ATI,
Markham,Canada

huarui is right i think......the 4870s make some major noise when the system is first turned on....before the bios gets them under control....

I dont know if you flashed your bios....but it sounds like its not working properly.

Well tbh I don't know what "Flashing the bios" is so I don't think I've done it, I did however install the stuff that came with the mobo on a disk, maybe that is what you are talking about?

I'm going to take the card out today and delete the drivers for the card and set my mobo back to stock settings.

Where are the drivers stored on vista so I can get rid of them?
And how can I "Un-Flash" the bios.

Thanks.

Well I installed a 8600GT, booted and left the PC uninstalling the drivers, I come back and BAM, black screen.

So dunno WTF is going on. Mobo is to blame?

if the 8600GT doesnt work either, then that might not be the card's problem. it's possible that's the mobo's problem or due to some other components. u ought to test every component before asking this question.
Good luck

What is your PSU?

PSU is a Corsair 520W

i presume you plugged in the extra power to the cards? , 520w should be enough if its a corsair , btw dont install a new card until you remove the drivers first if you can help it. id lean towards it being the motherboard also , what motherboard and chipset you using?

Hm I'm wondering if I need a new PSU, GPU alone needs 500W.

Mobo is ASUS P5Q Pro, dunno about chipset :S

PSU should be fine, that 500w is the total system draw, so unless you have masses of hdd then you will be ok. Im afraid your problem is more serious.

Maybe try the card in another pc, but it sounds like the card might be a dud.

This may causes by the heat. 4800 serie is well known for its overheating. under full loaded a 4850 or 4870 could run as hot as 100-110*C

may be screen saver?????

Wow Nvidia as previous card and no one told him to wipe drivers with drvier cleaner????? Or there is one nvidia wipe tool out there I believe. Though it seems this is a situation with the cards.

i have a similar if not the same problem.

a few weeks after i had put my new computer together my grapichcard started crashing every now and then. after some forum-tracking the best solution i could find was that the swapping between 500 and 750mhz clock speed wasnt working propperly. and this cused the crashes during alternating loads in games.

yesterday i flashed the bios, just changed the 500mhz idel to a constant 750mhz and lowered the minimum temp treshold. That night i turned off my computer properly like always and when i turned it on the next day i was met with a black screen. Does this seam like a bios failure? after flashin the bios i obviosly restared the computer and then it worked just fine for several hours. why wait till the next afternoon to go A wall?

should i send it in or could i easelier fix this myself. (don't have another PCI card to use for flashing with the old bios atm.
But in such an atempt would it work to use another PCI-express card? or do u need to use another port cus u have to disable the one ur flashing is on.... just thinkin out load at the end here...

any help is appreciated