AMD Radeon 6950 no DVI output

[Calica]

I just built a computer using all new parts. My Radeon HD 6950 does not output video on either DVI port. The HDMI port works. The strange thing is that when I booted the computer to test it halfway through the build (motherboard, CPU, RAM, and graphics card installed), the DVI ports worked fine with the same cable and monitor I'm using now. I have Catalyst installed. (To clarify: the DVI ports were not working before installing Catalyst, and they're not working now.)

Also, it's crashed twice: I had the HDMI output on the card plugged into one monitor and the DVI output on the motherboard plugged into a second monitor (I don't know, it seemed like a good idea at the time). I was browsing with Firefox, so nothing too graphics-intensive. The screen on the HDMI monitor froze, while the DVI monitor screen became covered in static. There was also audio static from the HDMI monitor. After a minute or so of this, the computer restarted. I turned up the speed on both case fans, and so far so good; but I have less than two weeks to return the card, so I'm wondering how I can tell whether it's defective or just wasn't getting enough air.

I ran 3DMark and got a score of 23852, which apparently is low, but what do I know? Am I right in thinking that if 3DMark ran all the way through, I don't have an overheating problem?

The computer crashed again about half a minute into PCMark, with the static and everything as described above.

Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3
Graphics: AMD Radeon 6950 1 GB
Hard drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 500 GB
Memory: 2x GSkill 4GB Sniper Low Voltage Series
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 500W
Processor: Intel Core i5 2500K, not overclocked

Thanks and pardon my noobly ramblings. If I've left out anything important, please let me know.

 

[cyborg28]

Can you take the build in to the shop where you got the parts?
Do you have another video card you can test with?
Does not look like you made any major mistakes.

 

[Calica]

I bought the parts on Newegg. I don't have a spare video card.

It seems to crash randomly. Sometimes it fails to boot, triggering startup repair. Sometimes startup repair says bad driver; other times it says no root cause. All hardware tests run by startup repair come up clean. All I've done with the computer so far is install Windows 7, the drivers on the motherboard CD, Firefox, Catalyst, 3DMark, PCMark, and CoreTemp. The first crash happened before any of the drivers were installed. I've stopped playing with it for fear of damaging it further before I have a better idea of what might be wrong.

...all of which may or may not be related to the DVI outputs not working. I've never tried to troubleshoot hardware before.

Edit: Earlier I said that it first crashed while I was using Firefox. In retrospect, it crashed on boot even before that, but I didn't realize it at the time.

 

[Calica]

Fixed it, I think. I disabled onboard graphics in the motherboard setup utility (Advanced --> North Bridge Configuration --> IGD Multi-Monitor = Disabled, to maybe save someone else some time). I still had no DVI output until I set the DVI monitor as my main display. With that done, everything seems to be working fine. Go figure.

*fingers crossed*

Edit: ...or not. Crash/static on system shutdown. Argh.

 

[cyborg28]

First build? Check your motherboard standoffs. Ie the spacers between the case and mobo.

You could have a short.

Google motherboard standoff if you don't know what I mean.

 

[maxinexus]

you can still test your system with onchip intel grafics. At least you will see how intel sucks in that department

 

[cyborg28]

you can still test your system with onchip intel grafics. At least you will see how intel sucks in that department

Great idea. I have a p67 and would never have thought of that.

 

[Calica]

I'll try that, thanks! I'm pretty sure I don't have extra standoffs installed because I counted them when I put the motherboard in (to make sure they all matched up with actual screws, I mean).

 

[cyborg28]

you can still test your system with onchip intel grafics. At least you will see how intel sucks in that department

Take out your gfx card and test your stability on integrated graphics.

 

[Calica]

Will do.

 

[Calica]

(deleted - sorry!)