Radeon 3870X2 Blue Screen

[haydox]

*** I've summed most of this up into post #2. If you think you have an idea though please read this lot as there is way more detail!

I recently reinstalled Vista Ultimate 32 on my PC as it was getting slow(er!) and I wanted a fresh start. So I formatted my C drive, reinstalled Vista and the latest ATI graphics drivers (9.10).

However now when I'm trying to play a game (tried CoD6 and Dragon Age so far), either just as the level loads or a minute or two into the actual game, it freezes, shortly followed by the sound, then either just locks up (and I have to do a manual restart) or gives me a Blue Screen. What's also odd is that earlier today I played Dragon age for a good hour or more and it worked fine, then when I tried just now it crashes! Same goes for CoD6, yesterday I played for about 4 hours (in two 2 hour sessions) and it was fine, now it crashes when loading the level! Nothing has changed since either yesterday when playing CoD or this morning when playing DA!! I am totally at a loss for what to do!

When it restarts the Windows Solution thing comes up saying there was a Video Hardware error but doesn't offer a fix.

I've tried installing 9.6 drivers and CCC but it still did it and as I type this I'm installing 8.12 (these are old drivers I still have on my computer).

I know it's not overheating because I checked the fan speed and core temps using Riva Tuner shortly before a crash and the fan speeds increased and kept the core temp at just over 70 (I've seen it at about 81 when playing CoD6 and I'm almost certain these cards don't cut off that cool). I can't remember where I saw it but I'm sure I saw something mentioning the video memory (possibly during the BSOD or in the error report).

I can only hope the 8.12 drivers work, but I doubt it! Any ideas anyone? I never had these problems before I reinstalled Vista. I really hope the card isn't on it's way out, I could do with not having to spend another load of money!

Thanks

Edit: Forgot to say, I have a Q6600, 4Gb DDR2 RAM, Hyper 680W PSU.

Update: Just had my computer open, took the card out, cleaned the dust off the bottom (hardly any) and plugged it back in. Also changed the plug on the back my monitor was in (a while ago it stopped working for some reason, but it's working again now!). Started Dragon Age again and after 20 seconds in game the game CTD but instead of a blue screen I got a message in the system tray saying the graphics driver failed but has now recovered...

Update 2: Just tried DA again (!) and this time it didn't even get into the game, just locked up on the menu and BSOD on me.

I'm beginning to think the card may be buggered as I've tried several different drivers, ruled out heat and tried reseating the card into the PCIe slot and checked both the power cables and it still doesn't work! Also, yesterday when playing CoD it kept BSOD when I loaded it until I lowered the graphics settings, now even on those low settings it doesn't work, so something seems to be deteriorating!

 

[haydox]

Ok, I've realised that with all my updates the OP has got quite large, so I'll sum it up here!

- System: Q6600, 4Gb RAM, HIS Radeon 3870X2, 680W Hyper PSU, ASUS P5E mobo.

- BSOD or just complete crash requiring a manual restart when trying to play a game.

- Not temp (rarely tops 80) and fan scales (checked with Riva).

- Windows reports the error as a video hardware failure.

- Tried multiple driver versions (8.12, 9.6, 9.10)

- CoD initially BSOD when the level loaded until I dropped the graphics settings, then it worked fine, today it doesn't work at all (won't even get past the intro videos).

- This morning Dragon Age worked fine, now CTD, crashes or BSOD after a few seconds of being in the game. Dropping graphics has no effect.

- Cleaned the little dust that was in my case and on the card itself, checked the power cables and reseated the card into the PCIe slot (not tried the other PCIe slot as it would place the fan about 5mm-1cm away from the base of the case so maybe not too good for cooling)!

Looking on the internet this seems to be a common problem with a wide range of cards, both ATI and nvidia. There are several software fixes and none have worked, and based on the fact that the problem has got worse over the course of today it seems more likely to be something hardware related deteriorating! Thankfully the EU Law that extends guarantees to 2 years covers me so Overclockers will either replace or refund (hoping for a refund as I don't want to risk it happening again and they don't even sell the card anymore)!

 

[Noobster15]

Yea go get a new card, not worth the hassle.

Refund/Exchange/

 

[haydox]

I've contacted Overclockers. Just got to hope now that they accept the return (which hopefully they will as it's a law), and that they either believe me on the error or are able to replicate it themselves!

If they don't accept the return the only thing I can try is a complete reinstall of Vista and a format of my C drive!

 

[haydox]

Crap, Overclockers are using the Sales of Goods act and claiming that 1 year is reasonable warranty for a graphics card so are refusing to help!

Only thing I can try now is re-image pc, failing that completely format my C drive and reinstall Vista, and then buy a new card!!

Is there anything else I could try? I was thinking maybe a bios update as I've never done one of those before, however the graphics card has it's own bios so I don't know if that will do anything.

 

[xupaguy]

uk sales of goods act govers all electrical goods for 6 years, if product isnt performing for the purpose it was sold and desinged for. look into it, cant remember the full details, but you might also find details on the bbc website, it was on a programme called rouge traders or something like that.

 

[haydox]

uk sales of goods act govers all electrical goods for 6 years, if product isnt performing for the purpose it was sold and desinged for. look into it, cant remember the full details, but you might also find details on the bbc website, it was on a programme called rouge traders or something like that.

Yeah, it's the Sales of Goods Act that OcUK are abiding by instead of the EU directive which gives me an instant 2 year warranty. Under the SoG Act they have to provide a warranty, up to 6 years, which covers a reasonable time. Reasonable time is, in this case, judged by the expected life span of the product.

In not giving me 2 years they are basically saying that the £300 card is only meant to work for 1 year!

Needless to say I've pointed this out to them and said that I'm prepared to go to the county courts (small claims courts). They could get away with only giving me a partial refund (£150 for example, half of what the card was new as its almost 2 years old), so I hope they do that, I'd accept it! I don't really want to go through the hassle of courts and have never had a problem with them before.

Update: Got a reply requesting the serial number of my card so they can contact HIS directly and try to find a replacement (they haven't sold it for a while and only stock the single core 3870s with the IceQ cooling so I don't know what success they will have). Fortunately they didn't want to go to court, that would have been a fair bit more hassle!