HD 6950s cause Blue Screen crash when Crossfire enabled

[kineticdepth]

I have been running HD 6950 cards (Sapphire) for a few months with no issues, but recently (January), the cards would crash and Crossfire would stop working. A single card seems to work fine, but I crash when I try to enable Crossfire.

Intel QuadCore i5 CPU 3.3GHz
ASRock P67 Extreme4 Motherboard
8GB DDR3
1000W ZX Series OCZ PSU

Not overclocked.

Reformatted to start fresh, and still having the same issue. Not too familiar with hardware troubleshooting, so hopefully you guys can help!

 

[HugoStiglitz]

have you tried each card by itself? it could be 1 of the 2 cards having issues.

 

[kineticdepth]

When I disable the Primary Card, the other card appears as enabled in the Device Manager, but it doesnt work. Says its up to date, but on launch I got a warning saying that it wasnt working or not up to date.

Im assuming this means its scraped

 

[bryonhowley]

To be sure I would remove the primary card and move the second card in the primary PCI-E slot and try it instead of just disabling it in device manager.

 

[kineticdepth]

Good call. When I switch them they still work fine. There is a red light on the board of the secondary chip too. Is it possible that my SLI Bridge is causing this issue?

 

[HugoStiglitz]

SLI Bridge? its a Crossfire Bridge cable, not interchangable.

but it could be an issue of a faulty bridge cable, do you have another to try?

 

[kineticdepth]

Sorry. I just call it an SLI bridge, but yes its the Crossfire bridge cable.

Got it working for now.

Solution:
Swap cards in motherboard.
Replace Crossfire bridge

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[kineticdepth]

Turns out I was wrong.

The secondary card (not a specific card), doesnt work even with the new Crossfire Bridge. On the top of the card there is a red light when it doesnt work. I havent been able to find what that light indicates through a user manual or hardware spec.

 

[HugoStiglitz]

do you have 1 or 2 connectors for the bridge cables?

you need 2 cables if u have 2 connectors.

 

[kineticdepth]

I have just the 1 connector on each card.

It almost seems like my board cant handle the weight of the second card. The red light I mentioned turns on when the card is drooping too much and (I think) loses contact with the board slot. When the card sits a bit higher, the light flickers. But when I physically hold it there, it appears to work fine... Might need to pull out the duct tape for this one.

 

[Earnie]

do you have 1 or 2 connectors for the bridge cables?

you need 2 cables if u have 2 connectors.

you only need 1!Unless specifically stated by the manufacturer.The reason there are 2 bridge connectors is for using them in tri and quad fire.