Radeon 6950 Unlock Black Screen Problem

[sdm5]

Hi, i recently unlocked my Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 to 1536 shaders and everytime i play games the screen turns black, but the audio is still playing for 30 seconds, then the audio gets all messed up. I'm just wondering if i need to give my card a 20% power boost in AMD Overdrive if i unlocked the shaders, but no overclock. I ran my video card in furmark for 15 minutes and everything was fine. My max temp in furmark was 79c so i know it's not overheating. The time the screen turns black varies because when i'm playing Crysis 2 it's around 10 minutes,but for NBA 2k11 it ranges around 30 - an hour. After the screen turns black i have to manually restart my computer. I'm sure it's not my tv failing. Also i don't know why but in CCC it won't let me change the power control setting or anything in the amd overdrive tab

Specs:
PSU: Corsair AX750w(i think this is enough for just one card)
CPU: i5 2500k
MB: Asrock P67 Extreme4

 

[bystander]

When you say you unlocked the shaders, did you flash the 6970 bios on it, or alter the original bios and using 6950 stock clocks?

 

[sdm5]

I altered my 6950 bios with the stock clocks and stock voltage. I hear you get a better performance with the 6970 bios but it may damage your card in the long run.

 

[bystander]

Did you use the card before you altered the bios to unlock the shaders? If not, I'd suggest restoring the bios and see if it has issues.

 

[sdm5]

Yea i'm going to test my card with the original bios by turning the switch on my card to option 1, but i never heard anyone with my problem after modding the bios for more shaders. I searched for the black screen problem and most of the time it was driver not being updated on many different video cards, but my drivers are updated and i tried reinstalling the drivers.

 

[bystander]

If this is a result of some of the shaders being bad, it's not common. Of the original people who did this, only 3% ran into problems after unlocking the shaders.

 

[sdm5]

Is there some way to test my shaders or you just know because you experience problems. I may be wrong but i think it has to do with a software related issue because when i run furmark, it's perfectly fine and i hear furmark is a really strong gpu stress test compared to games.

 

[bystander]

I don't know of any way to know other than using the card. Furmark stresses the card, but it may not utilize all the shaders. The only way to know for sure is to test as far as I'm aware of. Try the card with it's stock bios and see if it has the same issue. If it doesn't, you can try it with the bios switched back to the unlocked shader version and see if it crashes again, just to be certain.

 

[sdm5]

I've tested my card with the original bios and everything was fine, but i did some researching on another forum that solved my problem. The person reflashed the modded bios, uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled the drivers. I did that and everything works now and i have 1536 shaders. Thank you bystander for all your help.

Link: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=342181

 

[sdm5]

Nevermind, i've just tested my card some more and the problem still occured. I have used my card with the original bios and the modded bios and both have the problem. I think my my card is broken.

 

[bystander]

Unless something else is wrong with your system.

 

[sdm5]

I've tried a lot of solutions for other people with the same problem. Do you know how to test or check if it's some other component of my computer?

 

[bystander]

That's a tough one. I'm not up on all the tests people use. One obvious test is to try another graphics card if you have a spare somewhere, or in another computer.

 

[wolfram23]

If you return the card to 100% stock settings, and reinstall the drivers, and it still black screens it's more than likely a bad card and needs to be RMA'd.

 

[sdm5]

I'm really sure it's the card because i've tried everything and it still has the black screen problem and it's my first build so i don't have any spare cards because my old computer has integrated graphics. I'm really close to RMA'ing it but i have a reference card so more than likely Sapphire will give me a non-reference card and i hear Sapphire RMA takes around 4 weeks to you get a replacement. If Sapphire doesn't have any more reference cards can i get a refund or i have to go to my retailer?

 

[sdm5]

Sorry guys for wasting your time, because a made a rookie mistake. Turns out the card was overheating. The fan speed was set on auto and for some reason during gaming the fan speed doesn't increase and stays at 24%(no wonder it was so quiet). So now every time i play games i set my fan speed to 65% and no more black screen, but it is pretty loud. Thanks again everyone.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey