Monitors losing signal from 5850

Status
Not open for further replies.

firebird

Distinguished
Nov 13, 2004
516
0
18,990
I'm having a problem with my system and my Asus EAH5850 Direct CU.

A few weeks ago my system started to freeze during games and benchmarks. I was playing Fallout3 GOTY, Metro 2033, and running Vantage every now and then. It seemed that randomly during 3D use the system would freeze.

Symptoms:

Both monitors lose signal and go in to power save
keyboard lights stay on but is non responsive
hdd light indicates activity
power button has no affect
all fans spin normally

I'd end up holding the power button down or using the reset button, and Windows would always report "the last shutdown was unexpected" but never have any other info or errors in the logs.

I swapped the card with a Visiontek 3870 OC I had left over from the last GPU setup and I used the system for 2 weeks or so while I had the 5850 sent in for repair and I never had an issue.
I got the card back on Monday and yesterday the issue happened again 3 times, with the last time the system actually shut down softly when I pressed the power button. This time the issue happened when I was working in Windows, either just watching a movie or copying files. I successfully played Dragon Age Origins for an hour or so without issue.

Troubleshooting I've tried:

Uninstalled drivers using driver sweeper in safe mode and re-installing both the Asus and AMD drivers several times before RMA.
reverted back to stock clocks on system and GPU
Uninstalled all other hardware
Uninstalled all "non critical" software

I was thinking it may be a power supply issue, but I haven't found a spare power supply with the necessary connections for the system.

Note: I had a power surge that fried a lot of equipment in my house around the time this all started, including all network equipment on every PC in the house. My mobo has 2 NICS, the connected one at the time was fried. I switched to the other NIC and all is fine without the 5850. I'm connected to a 600 watt UPS.
 

firebird

Distinguished
Nov 13, 2004
516
0
18,990
Here is the output from the bug check. I have not found any pertinent info about "WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR (124)".


*******************************************************************************
* *
* Bugcheck Analysis *
* *
*******************************************************************************

WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR (124)
A fatal hardware error has occurred. Parameter 1 identifies the type of error
source that reported the error. Parameter 2 holds the address of the
WHEA_ERROR_RECORD structure that describes the error conditon.
Arguments:
Arg1: 00000000, Machine Check Exception
Arg2: 874db4bc, Address of the WHEA_ERROR_RECORD structure.
Arg3: 00000000, High order 32-bits of the MCi_STATUS value.
Arg4: 00000000, Low order 32-bits of the MCi_STATUS value.

Debugging Details:
------------------


BUGCHECK_STR: 0x124_GenuineIntel

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT: 1

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT

PROCESS_NAME: System

CURRENT_IRQL: 0

STACK_TEXT:
8e392cc4 83105fc5 874db4a0 8319ec28 8319ec20 nt!WheapCreateTriageDumpFromPreviousSession+0x32
8e392ce4 83106def 8319ec20 874db4a0 8319ec50 nt!WheapProcessWorkQueueItem+0x56
8e392d00 830a4f3b 8319ec20 00000000 85bb4d48 nt!WheapWorkQueueWorkerRoutine+0x1f
8e392d50 832456d3 00000001 b8cf1ee3 00000000 nt!ExpWorkerThread+0x10d
8e392d90 830f70f9 830a4e2e 00000001 00000000 nt!PspSystemThreadStartup+0x9e
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 nt!KiThreadStartup+0x19


STACK_COMMAND: kb

FOLLOWUP_NAME: MachineOwner

MODULE_NAME: hardware

IMAGE_NAME: hardware

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP: 0

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: 0x124_GenuineIntel_PROCESSOR_BUS_PRV

BUCKET_ID: 0x124_GenuineIntel_PROCESSOR_BUS_PRV

Followup: MachineOwner
 

firebird

Distinguished
Nov 13, 2004
516
0
18,990
Sweet, only talking to myself here...

Anyway, i'm still trying to solve this issue. As I write this I've got the 5850 in my WinXP PC with a P4 D 960 running FurMark. It's running fine after 7 min @84 FPS and 70 degrees C.

The system has a 500 watt Cooler Master power supply, and it seems it's running just fine if Fur Mark doesn't kill it.

I guess the next step is to do a fresh install of Windows 7 on my main PC and put the card back in.

After that the only thing(s) left that would seem to make sense is the power supply.
 

Extole

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
32
0
18,530



Hi Firebird,
I've been experiencing the exact same issue with my computer. Random loss of video signal to monitor. I've switched out my PSU and the problem persists.. I'm currently in the process of RMA'in my card but from what I'm reading here is it didn't solve the issue for you. Can you let me know your computer specs so we can compare what we have in similar and such

mobo- p6x58d premium
cpu- i7 920
gpu- ati 5970
ram- 6gig redline mushkin
psu- 850 hx corsair
 

skolpo

Distinguished
Sep 20, 2009
695
0
19,060
Try testing your RAM with memtest. If necessary, underclock your CPU or use higher voltages. If the HD 5850 runs fine on another system, then clearly something is wrong with the hardware in the other (unless you're really unlucky with installing drivers). Since the system was able to run a card that takes lesser power, then maybe you have a faulty PSU. Have you tried running the card in the other PCIe slot?
 

firebird

Distinguished
Nov 13, 2004
516
0
18,990


I have tried several variations of voltage and clock speed on my mem and CPU/chipset with no change.
I have ran memtest over night with no issues.

Last night I successfully ran the 5850 in my P4 machine for an hour of Fur Mark. It kept the CPU usage high, and the GPU pegged and there were no issues.
I re installed Windows 7 with the 3870 in it (prolly not the best idea, should have used the 5850) and when I get home tonight I'll swap in the 5850 and see what happens.
I did not install any video drivers yet, so I'm not anticipating the CCC drivers to cause the issue.

I thought about the power problem, but I don't have another high-end PSU to test with, and I've got my cables ran really nice in the gaming machine. Would make me :( to have to undo it all to swap in the 500 watt.

@Extole

What brand is your 5970?
Have you been upgrading drivers in Windows and from AMD regularly? Just looking for any similarities between our situations.
 

Extole

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
32
0
18,530
The brand is Diamond. I have tried nearly every driver since 10.4 and till recent 10.9. I ran driver sweeper every time in safe mode etc. I to have ran memtest and all passed. What really gets me about this issue is that i can't repeat the problem on demand.. It is so random. It can happen when I'm doing something simple like browsing the internet or typing up my research paper for 2 hours *face palm*. Then it would run fine for a few days to a week then start up again. I do a lot of gaming also and sometimes able to go on for hours without a hitch. There is nothing in event viewer log that indicates a problem either except for when i do the hard shut downs. I've switched out my PSU 3 times and that didn't resolve the issue. I did have one weird experience once when the monitor lost signal. The video card fan jumped up to 100 percent fan speed which i thought was really unusual. Has that ever happen to you? (i don't believe its an over heating issue either cause ccc and gpuz is telling me the temps are idling at 50c when this occurs)


also, when this issue occurs do you still hear music or your video playing in the back? I was even watching a live stream and heard the guy talking for quite a while after i lost the signal so it doesn't appear my whole system is locking up right away or if at all.
 

firebird

Distinguished
Nov 13, 2004
516
0
18,990
Well, now our issues are sounding very similar....

I did the same driver rollbacks and updates that you did....
The issue happens while working on the desktop, gaming, watching movies, or just sitting idle...
When it happens I will hear the sound continue for 15 seconds or so
A few times the fan on the GPU has kicked on high when the monitors lose signal and the system locks...
Once I was able to press the power button and I heard the Windows logoff sound and it shut down softly but there was no display...

Not sure if I mentioned, but Asus has auto emails for your card at every status change during the RMA process. My card was in and out in the same day which leads me to believe that "repairing" phase resulted in NPF. I wish they would have indicated if there was a repair done or not.
 

firebird

Distinguished
Nov 13, 2004
516
0
18,990
If I have the same issues again tonight I'll contact Asus again and work on getting another card as an exchange instead of repair.

Makes me wonder if I should have stuck with the good 'ol Sapphire cards or Visiontek. I never had an issue since my 8500 when sticking to those vendors.
 

Extole

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
32
0
18,530
well, I'm going to rma my card in tomorrow. Not sure how long Diamond's turn around time is but as soon as i get it back i'll report back here to let you know if it did the trick or not. Can you let me know if you find any resolution in the meantime as I too want to get this dreaded issue resolved
 

firebird

Distinguished
Nov 13, 2004
516
0
18,990


I should know tonight if the re-install fixed anything. If it doesn't I might have the energy to swap in the 500 watt power supply, but I think it's going to struggle with my gaming system. According to my UPS I can pull upwards of 500 watts at times with the 5850 in.
 

Extole

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
32
0
18,530



Cool let me know how it goes, cause then maybe it could be something else? like maybe motherboard issue?
 

firebird

Distinguished
Nov 13, 2004
516
0
18,990
After I ran Fur Mark I re-installed a few apps and tested again....

3D Mark Vantage caused the issue after it's 2nd or 3rd loop.

I had just installed Vantage and the latetest version of PhysX (513) when the issue happened. I un-installed that version of PhysX and installed the version that comes with Metro 2033, but that caused the issue as well. So, I un-installed that version of PhysX and then re-installed Dragon Age and let it install PhysX. My thinking there was that my issues started around the time I installed Metro 2033 and a began experimenting with hybrid PhysX by running an 8800 GTS with my 5850 ( I abandoned it after I started getting the crashing. That was the first time I installed the newer versions of PhysX right from Nvidia's site.)

So this morning and last night I played some Dragon Age and didn't have an issue, but I didn't play long enough to know for sure. I have yet to have a problem under normal desktop use, but I don't have all my apps installed yet and haven't done any of my usual day-to-day stuff.

<sigh> Looks like I won't know for another day or so.
 

Extole

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
32
0
18,530



Hmm i think ill play around with the Physx drivers to then.. I did however do a couple things last night and didn't run into that issue after the changes.. not sure if its fully fixed yet or not cause i only had a day of testing it but here is what i did...

- ( i really hope this wasn't the problem) but my atx 24 pin connector to the mother board is connected to an atx extension cable.. I bypassed that and connected it directly to the mother board and made sure it was secured in the slot.. took a little bit of force to have it click in than i thought it would.

- I also went into my power saving options in the control panel and set everything to full power and made sure that stuff like "turning off hard drive after 20 min" was set to like 500 min or as high as it would go. Also disabled all hibernation settings too.

Again I'm not sure if these changes fixed the issue just yet but ill keep you updated for the next couple of weeks. In the meantime firebird I suggest you double check your atx cable to your mother board and make sure its fully plugged in or bypass the extension if you do have one just as an extra saftey measure. I know it sounds stupid but i read a few threads out there where people were having similar problems as ours and it was due to not plugging the cable in all the way. I'm hoping i just had a bad atx extension *crosses finger*
 

firebird

Distinguished
Nov 13, 2004
516
0
18,990
I did see that in a post as well, that the ATX extension cable was the culprit. I don't believe mine has an extension, but I'll mess with that and the power settings as well if I have the issues tonight.

Seems strange that Fur Mark doesn't cause the issue but Vantage does. Maybe it's OpenGL or the fact that only 1 core gets stressed with Fur Mark....
 

Extole

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
32
0
18,530
Oh and firebird, when this issue happens to you did you ever see any red led's light up on the card? I've seen it once a long time ago light up but never saw it again. From what i've read is that it could that the graphics card is not getting enough power or faulty card. I will try furmarks tonight and see if i can replicate the problem.
 

firebird

Distinguished
Nov 13, 2004
516
0
18,990
I checked my ATC power connector and it's not using an adapter and is connected securely.
I changed my power settings to "high performance" and set everything to never shut off.

I had been using the PC for a few hours without issue.

About 1/2 hour into DAO monitors went black and PC froze. Since I've had the new install I'm getting different Windows errors, stating I have a "blue screen" error with the same IDs as before.

<sigh>

I might try putting the SupremeFX soundcard that came with the mobo back in and see if that helps.

I'm wondering if something got fried when I had a power surge that took out a lot of electronics in my house and I'm just having a hard time finding which component....
 

firebird

Distinguished
Nov 13, 2004
516
0
18,990
So I decided to let my local PC shop have at it and see if they could figure out what was wrong. They called me back after a few hours and said that there were able to get the PC stable through multiple Vantage runs (which wasn't possible before) by lowering the core to 699 MHZ and droping the vcore to .98 V.

I told them they could play with it all weekend as I'll be out of town, but it really seems like the card is bad and Asus didn't fix anything. Unless they call me back with different news, I will be demanding a NEW card.
 

Extole

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2010
32
0
18,530
Heya Firebirdm
I Just wanted to conclude that i think my issue was dude to that atx cable connecting to the mobo being defective.. I haven't ran into the issue again after replacing that cable. I was wondering how your progress is going so far and if it indeed was the video card for sure?
 

firebird

Distinguished
Nov 13, 2004
516
0
18,990
I have an RMA # again from Asus, but they told me: 1) we will not give you a new card 2) the last repair was "No Problem Found" and 3) I might be able to contact them while the card is in for repair to request additional testing.

Because that sounds so crappy I'm going to do some power supply testing when I get home tonight. I noticed my 12v was down to 11.5v at idle with the 3870 attached. I'm going to measure it with a voltmeter and keep an eye on it when it's loaded to see if it drops. I would rather have a new P.S. overnighted to me versus waiting on Asus to not do anything again for a week and have to spend more money on shipping.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.