5870 and Lockups/Freezing

[SwordfishJones]

Okay, I've been lurking and googling for several days now, so I think it's time to post this. I've been getting random lockups/freezes with my new build ever since I installed my new 5870. It can happen 30 minutes after I turn on my computer, or 2 days later. It doesn't seem to follow any rules. Just to be clear, this really did start the DAY that I installed the new card. I had a 9800 GT before, and I had none of these problems. Another issue that I have, although much less frequently after I installed the 9.11 drivers, is that sometimes Windows 7 will say "Starting Windows" and then I'll just have a mouse pointer frozen on a black screen.

My question is simply, why is this happening? Is it the drivers, or did I just get a bad card? I really am perplexed. Build is below.

ASUS P6T Motherboard
HIS 5870 (no OC)
GSkill 6GB 1600 RAM
Intel Core i7 920 (no OC)
Samsung 1TB HDD
WD 1TB HDD
Corsair 950W PSU
Arctic Cooling 7 CPU heatsink/fan
Antec 1200 Case

 

[EXT64]

Normally i would look to your build, but as you have a good PSU and know the system works otherwise, it very well may be the card. I have seen a lot of defective ones recently (well, not a lot, but enough to know it is not impossible). What I would suggest is reformat and reinstall windows just to rule out Software and make sure you have the newest motherboard BIOS. Once all that is done, if problems persist, RMA.

Edit: Also, you could try switching back to you 9800 to prove the system is still 100%.

 

[EXT64]

Edit, when you switched card, did you reformat or uninstall the drivers then use driversweeper?

 

[SwordfishJones]

I did not do that. Do you think that I should driversweeper, then reinstall the 9.11 Catalyst drivers?

 

[EXT64]

Yes, or a reformat. One direction (ATI > NVidia or NVidia > ATI) always has tons of weird problems if you don't driversweep/reformat. No guarantee it will work, but you definitely don't want to risk sending a good 5870 back.

 

[SwordfishJones]

Tried it, still getting random freezes. I am frankly AMAZED that ATI could make me regret a purchase this much. I am going to wait until the 9.12 drivers come out, and if that doesn't fix it I'm going right back to nVidia.

Just unacceptable.

 

[EXT64]

You might want to try RMAing first, but do what ever you like best. Cards are defective sometimes, both ATI and NVidia.

 

[SwordfishJones]

The odd thing is that in all the forums I visit, there are dozens upon dozens of people with the exact same problems, all with the new 5xxx series with Win7 64bit. I really hope that the 9.12 drivers address this problem, or there is a hotfix.

 

[EXT64]

Well, my understanding is that 9.12 should be out very soon, so hopefully you will have your answer or at least an update.

 

[Guest]

I have the HIS 5870 graphics card running on Win 7 64 bit version, an d I have exactly the same problem - the screen goes brown or grey and my system just freezes - I can't even CTRL-ALT-DEL most of the time. It seems to be quite random as well. I installed the 9.12 driver but that didn't solve the problem.

 

[Raakande]

I have also similar problem. My computer freezes randomly. Sometimes right after logging into windows or after couple of days. Little help I noticed for me is to keep the computer stressed and set the idle fan speed to > 60%. I think there is some kind of stupid safety overheat protection in the graphics card that it shuts itself down or something.
Specs:
asus P6T6 WS revolution
intel i7 920
ati radeon 5870
win xp superior 64bit
6gigs memory triple channel

 

[pheesh]

Is that a 64bit only problem?

 

[Dylvh]

The 10.4 driver is available although, I've been experiencing trouble with the 10.4 driver. With the 10.4 driver everything except the mouse, would suddenly freeze and I'll be able to move the mouse around for about 10 to 20 seconds, and then the mouse also freezes. I'm not able to click on anything. Ctrl + Alt + Del doesn't work at all.

I have removed the 10.4 driver and reinstalled the 10.3 driver. I would still like to be able to stay up to date with the drivers.

 

[soulflyfan]

Some people (myself included) have had real issues getting this card to work in 3d games. Mine would crash to a grey screen with lines down it.

After researching the problem I changed the memory clock from 1200 to 1150, and bam! no more problems since then. not an ideal solution, but it worked for me and several others

 

[Dylvh]

The 10.4 driver is available although, I've been experiencing trouble with the 10.4 driver. With the 10.4 driver everything except the mouse, would suddenly freeze and I'll be able to move the mouse around for about 10 to 20 seconds, and then the mouse also freezes. I'm not able to click on anything. Ctrl + Alt + Del doesn't work at all.

I have removed the 10.4 driver and reinstalled the 10.3 driver. I would still like to be able to stay up to date with the drivers.

My apologies as I was mistaken. It's not the 10.4 drivers that's giving me trouble, it is in fact my 5870. The reason why I thought it was the 10.4, is because the card only started giving me trouble after 3 months and, the 10.4 drivers were the last thing I installed. So I think I'm to have to return the card.

 

[Dylvh]

I just found out that my 5870 is not the hardware item causing me problems. I've been running another graphics card and my system froze once again. I'm actually glad it's not my 5870. So this will be last post here.