Sapphire HD 6950 2GB problems

[KLN2002]

Hello,
I am having issues with the HD 6950; I can install the video card into the computer and boot windows up. Having removed all drivers from my previous card, a HD 5770, The HD 6950 will run windows without any graphics drivers installed, but when I install the drivers from the Disk that came with the HD6950 and reset windows, the video card will begin to artifact and eventually crash to Blue Screen of Death within 2 minutes of logging onto windows. I catch only a brief message about video drivers recovered before the PC shuts off.

I've tried other Driver from the AMD website, and still get the same issue. I can re-install my HD 5770 and the computer runs just fine.

I bought the HD 6950 off Amazon.com and returned it for a replacement card, the same issue happens with the new HD 6950 I received.

My system is
.Widows 7 64bit
. Asus M4A79XTD EVO
. AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
. AMD Radeon Sapphire HD 6950 2GB
. G. SKILL Ripjaws 16 GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC312800)
. Samsung F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0 GB/s
. LITE-ON DVD Burner SATA model iHAS124-04
. Antec EarthWatts 650 W

 

[shrek113]

a also face the same problems..they said that they already have the hotfix installer but it still same..i already reformat my pc for a few times, its really sucks..

 

[bystander]

Have you checked to make sure the fan is set to auto and seen what the temps are on it? I've seen CCC stick automatically select manual fan control, and leave it at 30% or what ever it was previously set to. This could result in very high temps under games.

 

[Snorker]

Same exact problem here. Just replaced my old HD 5850 with a Sapphire HD 6950 (also from Amazon). No problems with native Windows 7 64-bit drivers, but as soon as I installed the new Catalyst 11.8 Drivers it causes it to artifact and crash within 1 minute every time.

Interestingly, previous version Catalyst 11.7 drivers work fine; I was running my 5850 with those drivers but removed them for the new card and installed the latest 11.8 drivers, but could not keep it from crashing for more than a minute. You might try doing System Restore to before you installed the 11.8 drivers (or just installing the 11.7 drivers) - that's what I did and am now running on the 11.7 drivers. I'm still not happy, though.

I was worried it might be the card and was contemplating returning it for a replacement, so it is helpful to know that you have already done that and the replacement card does the same thing. I suspect it is some incompatibility between the cards and the new Catalyst drivers. My system has a near-fresh install of Windows so I don't think it is any other software conflict. I guess I'll just live with it - I heard that new Catalyst drivers are being released very soon so will try those and see if the issue is fixed.

 

[johnman025]

Same exact problem here. Just replaced my old HD 5850 with a Sapphire HD 6950 (also from Amazon). No problems with native Windows 7 64-bit drivers, but as soon as I installed the new Catalyst 11.8 Drivers it causes it to artifact and crash within 1 minute every time.

Interestingly, previous version Catalyst 11.7 drivers work fine; I was running my 5850 with those drivers but removed them for the new card and installed the latest 11.8 drivers, but could not keep it from crashing for more than a minute. You might try doing System Restore to before you installed the 11.8 drivers (or just installing the 11.7 drivers) - that's what I did and am now running on the 11.7 drivers. I'm still not happy, though.

I was worried it might be the card and was contemplating returning it for a replacement, so it is helpful to know that you have already done that and the replacement card does the same thing. I suspect it is some incompatibility between the cards and the new Catalyst drivers. My system has a near-fresh install of Windows so I don't think it is any other software conflict. I guess I'll just live with it - I heard that new Catalyst drivers are being released very soon so will try those and see if the issue is fixed.

You are correct about the last part regarding some incompatibility issues with the Catalyst drivers (mainly, the program) with the card. I just installed the card this past weekend and ran into the exact same problems—the fix for me was to simply not start up the AMD Catalyst program upon booting and it works perfectly fine now. This is rather a very disappointing experience from ATI, however, when you finally put the card to work....it works wonders.