7870 Crossfire

[montagical]

I recently bought a new Alienware Desktop and it had been running fine for about 2 weeks. Yesterday, I went into Catalyst control center, and disabled Crossfire for a game, that did not support CF. As soon as I did, screen went black, and computer restarted. It continually froze anytime I would try to open a game. If I went back into Catalyst control center and attempted to turn CF off, it would restart with CF on, and freeze when I tried to open D3/any other game. So, I called Tech Support, they had me reinstall Windows 7 from the Alienware disc. I finished the installation, installed drivers, and same problem. I called Tech Support back, and they used a remote viewing program to help me, and done a couple tests and eventually said it was my harddrive. They are now sending me a new one. After I got off the phone with them, I downloaded the program they tested the computer's hard drive with and my other computers say the hard driver's health level is "Warning".

I believe it may be a problem with my video cards, because if I try to: 1) Open a game 2) Run dxdiag 3) Run Windows Experience Index, my PC freezes.

System Specs:
Intel Core i7-3820 @ 3.60GHz
8GB Memory
2x 7870 Radeon HD
1 TB Hard drive

 

[xtreme5]

reinstall the driver..

 

[montagical]

I have multiple times, as well as tech support did, we even used Driver Sweeper.

 

[xtreme5]

remove one card and test your system with single card.

 

[spentshells]

call alienware is what you should do.
Do not take parts out of your warrantied machine or you will lose the warranty....

 

[montagical]

call alienware is what you should do.
Do not take parts out of your warrantied machine or you will lose the warranty....

As I stated in my post, I have called them twice, they believe it is a hard drive issue. I just think that's highly unlikely.

 

[xtreme5]

i'm telling you check your pc with single card. nothing will be happen to lose your warranty

 

[spentshells]

As I stated in my post, I have called them twice, they believe it is a hard drive issue. I just think that's highly unlikely.

if you open the case your warranty is gone. it is anew machine having issues clearly a month/week after your puchase you could be looking at more problems and if you open the case they can literaly wipe thier hands of it and its all your fault and problem, That is how it works bro no lie.

 

[spentshells]

i'm telling you check your pc with single card. nothing will be happen to lose your warranty

there are seals on the case and when they are broken you lose your warranty


edit - or at least it was that way at 3 different places I built machines for.

 

[montagical]

there are seals on the case and when they are broken you lose your warranty


edit - or at least it was that way at 3 different places I built machines for.

Well I don't think that is the way Alienware's warranty is setup, because at the moment they're sending me a new hard drive to install myself.

My concern with taking one card out, is that I will have to buy another crossfire bridge, because from what I was told once it's removed, you can't reuse it. Is that the case?

 

[xtreme5]

when the HDD arrive even when it is still doesn't solve the issue, then i'm pretty sure the problem is with GPU's.

 

[montagical]

when the HDD arrive even when it is still doesn't solve the issue, then i'm pretty sure the problem is with GPU's.

That's what I am thinking as well, I just don't see how the HDD could be causing the problems I am having. It ONLY locks up when it is doing something that would use the video cards. Although I can watch youtube videos/browse/etc. fine.

 

[xtreme5]

That's what I am thinking as well, I just don't see how the HDD could be causing the problems I am having. It ONLY locks up when it is doing something that would use the video cards. Although I can watch youtube videos/browse/etc. fine.

same mind...

 

[lenlawler]

As an Alienware owner I can only speak of my personal experience with a similar issue. For me, it was an engineering flaw in the cable management of the system.

The cables will sometimes stop the fan in the Radeon cards when in CF. The airflow vent is the same hole the card cables run out of. By spreading them out, I was able to prevent the cables from touching the fan and thus prevent it from stopping.

If not that, definitely have Dell send you a new system.

 

[montagical]

As an Alienware owner I can only speak of my personal experience with a similar issue. For me, it was an engineering flaw in the cable management of the system.

The cables will sometimes stop the fan in the Radeon cards when in CF. The airflow vent is the same hole the card cables run out of. By spreading them out, I was able to prevent the cables from touching the fan and thus prevent it from stopping.

If not that, definitely have Dell send you a new system.

Any tips on how to go about doing this? I'm not for sure I completely understand what you mean. Also opening Furmark instantly freezes my PC. No errors, just everything freezes, mouse doesn't move, nothing.

 

[lenlawler]

Any tips on how to go about doing this? I'm not for sure I completely understand what you mean. Also opening Furmark instantly freezes my PC. No errors, just everything freezes, mouse doesn't move, nothing.

Remove the bottom card (really easy and it won't void anything). Once the card is out (don't unplug it because you're putting it right back in) spread the cables running from the air vent to the card out. It's a very tight fit when the Aurora is running dual Radeons. The cables almost always make contact with the fans in the Radeons. This caused (for me) random shut downs and freezes. As obtuse as it sounds, *mash* them down.

I thought it was odd too but, the Dell Alienware forums have MANY reports and resolutions using this method. Seriously, it works.

After 3 hours on the phone with tech support, the fix was actually VERY easy...and common.

 

[montagical]

Remove the bottom card (really easy and it won't void anything). Once the card is out (don't unplug it because you're putting it right back in) spread the cables running from the air vent to the card out. It's a very tight fit when the Aurora is running dual Radeons. The cables almost always make contact with the fans in the Radeons. This caused (for me) random shut downs and freezes. As obtuse as it sounds, *mash* them down.

I thought it was odd too but, the Dell Alienware forums have MANY reports and resolutions using this method. Seriously, it works.

After 3 hours on the phone with tech support, the fix was actually VERY easy...and common.

Do I need to leave the bridge attached? Also, do I simply just pull the card out? Any latches/etc.?

 

[lenlawler]

You'll have to remove the bridge. Once that's done, from what I recall (not currently at my Aurora), you simply pull it out.

 

[montagical]

You'll have to remove the bridge. Once that's done, from what I recall (not currently at my Aurora), you simply pull it out.

Will I have to buy a replacement bridge? I was informed(may have been misinformed) that once a crossfire bridge was removed, it wouldn't work anymore.

 

[dish_moose]

Crossfire bridge is a cable and 2 connectors - connectors do have a finite plug/unplug life cycle - usually way more than one.
-Bruce

 

[montagical]

So I should be okay with removing it once?

Also, should my monitor work on either video card? It only seems to give me a display when I plug it into the bottom one.

 

[lenlawler]

So I should be okay with removing it once?

Also, should my monitor work on either video card? It only seems to give me a display when I plug it into the bottom one.

Removing it once won't harm it. When tech support made a follow-up call, I told them about the problem and the fix. They said they were aware of it (though they never told me to fix it via this method-I suspect because they don't want to tell people they have to *mash* cables after buying a system from them).

Yes, getting video from only one card is common depending on your setup.

 

[lenlawler]

So I should be okay with removing it once?

Also, should my monitor work on either video card? It only seems to give me a display when I plug it into the bottom one.

Btw, here's a thread on the issue from the dell forums. Though it's from the previous Aurora, the setup still applies.

http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/p/19367858/19837192.aspx#19837192

http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/p/19374525/19858935.aspx#19858935

 

[montagical]

I've got the bridge off, screws off, but I am pulling pretty hard on the card and it won't come out. I can only really reach one side as there is no room on the other side though. Any tips/advice?

 

[lenlawler]

Try pulling on one side to see if it even comes loose. If it does, slowly loosen it by pulling on both ends. If this doesn't work, contact tech support to walk you through it. Tell them what you're trying to do (adjust cables in front of fan on gpu).

They should be willing and able to talk you through it better than I can (not in front of PC).

If you don't have to call tech support, I would definitely read the post about your issue from the Dell forums. I don't believe re-running the cable is necessary; just adjusting it should do.