Another AMD "Driver has stopped responding and has recovered" Thread

[SchmiesS]

Hello,

First time asking for assistance here; hoping to get some troubleshooting advice from the pros. This was my first computer build. I put it together a few weeks ago--costed me a little less than $700. I'm very worried I'm not going to get this computer back up and running... and I'm not sure where to go from here.

SPECS:

i3-2120
Asrock H61M/U3S3
PNY RAM 2x4GB 1333
Sapphire HD 7770 GHz Edition
Seagate 1TB
ASUS DVD burner
XFX 450W
Antec One Case

ISSUE:

Since the beginning, the occasional error message, [AMD] "Driver has stopped responding and has recovered" would pop up. Typically, it popped up after I would wake the computer from its sleep state. It was a fairly rare occurrence, so I ignored it.

Now, it has gotten to the point where if I open any graphically intensive program (i.e. video games) OR open up the Catalyst Control Center, the program(s) will crash and the error message will pop up. Generally I have to completely restart the computer as it becomes completely nonfunctional.

Several days ago, I was fiddling with Catalyst and tried to overclock the GPU ever so slightly, maybe 10% increase on both bars. From what I recall, WoW crashed, I restored the GPU settings to default, and started the program again without problems. Did I damage hardware somewhere? Like I said, I have been receiving the error since the beginning. Only more recently has it caused a serious issue.

Related?:

Im using my old monitor- an hp f1905e. Problem is that when I allow the pc to go to sleep automatically... The monitor freezes up and doesn't turn back on when I wake the system up. It completely freezes up and I can't even power it down using any of the buttons. I literally have to unplug the stupid thing and plug the power back in; which fixes the problem temporarily and it starts displaying Windows once again. Every time I recover it this way, I notice that same AMD driver error.

Attempts to Fix:
-I have tried updating to the newest catalyst driver
-Completely reinstalled windows, updated to newest catalyst driver

I'm still having the same problem, which leads me to believe hardware is failing me somewhere...


If anyone has advice on this issue, I would be incredibly grateful. Thank you in advance.

-Brad

 

[vrumor]

Id try your RAM one sitck at a time with memtest and if that passes id try another PSU. XFX makes good PSUs however it could just be failing, it happens.

 

[circumventor]

Happens to me when I overclock my card. Is yours overclocked?

 

[SchmiesS]

No. It's back to default settings.

 

[SchmiesS]

Id try your RAM one sitck at a time with memtest and if that passes id try another PSU. XFX makes good PSUs however it could just be failing, it happens.

Thanks for the reply. I just booted memtest from a CD without removing any RAM. It got to test #6 after running for 7 minutes or so. Passed=0 Error=0. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be looking for.

 

[SchmiesS]

go into advanced power management you can get there from control panel in windows.
disable 'hybrid sleep' and also set your HDD to NEVER turn off.
^
that will solve your sleep problem.

as for the AMD stop responding error.
1.) clean sweep all HD Radeon drivers and perform a clean/fresh install of the latest drivers.
2.) switch out cards and try a different one for testing to see if it's a defective card or if it is indeed driver corruption.

I think I already did number 1. I did a reinstall of windows and the latest catalyst driver.

Can I just plug my card into my buddys computer and boot it up to see if the card works. He should have the latest version of catalyst. Will I need a card specific driver or will it be basically plug and play considering he already has catalyst.

 

[ram1009]

My advice is to cut your losses and get an Nvidia GPU. AMD/ATI drivers have always been buggy and still are as you've found out.

 

[SchmiesS]

Thanks man. He paid me to build that pc for him so I don't want to do anything that has the potential to mess anything up.

 

[SchmiesS]

Will the nvidia cards have any compatibility problems with my other hardware? I bought thwarting card on June 5. I wonder if I can exchange it with newegg. Ill go check their policy.

Excuse my ignorance.

 

[SchmiesS]

For clarification. My computer is having the problem. I also have my friends pc here. I was thinking of trying my card in HIS pc. He's running a sapphire hd 7850

 

[SchmiesS]

Ill do it first thing when I get home. Thanks again.

 

[vrumor]

Again, drivers. If you want to be totally honest, the nvidia drivers have been poo since 296 or so. This isnt 2001 when AMD did in fact have driver issues all the time. Have a friend with the exact same system as me and he has a 570 and is getting pounded by driver has stopped responding errors. Must be AMDs fault there too *rolls eyes*

 

[bryonhowley]

My advice is to cut your losses and get an Nvidia GPU. AMD/ATI drivers have always been buggy and still are as you've found out.

Maybe I have just been lucky but I have had AMD/ATI video cards since the Sapphire HD 3850(AGP) and have yet to have even one problem with the drivers or hardware. I do however have a intel/Nvidia rig that the video drivers will stop and restart just sitting at the desktop doing nothing. There was a time when I would have never touched any ATI video card but there drivers have come a long way since then on the other had as far as I can tell Nvidia has gone down. A friend and I have built the same systems except for the Video card he went with a Nvidia 560 ti and I went for the Sapphire HD 6950's and he is getting the same driver crashes that I am on my intel/Nvidia rig.

 

[SchmiesS]

UPDATE:

Thank you guys so much for the help thus far.

I ran the memtest overnight from a CD and received 10 pass and 0 errors. So that's good.

This morning I switched the card out to my friend's computer and encountered the same problem--computer freezing up and the display driver error message. It sounds like the GPU alone is the culprit, right?

Would you guys recommend getting this card again? From what I've read, other people have encountered very similar issues.

Do you think I could have caused the problem by OCing it for a few seconds? Like I said, I barely moved the bars on Overdrive and I was getting the error message since the very beginning. If I was possibly at fault, I wouldn't be so upset.

Thanks again,
-Brad

 

[SchmiesS]

Best answer selected by SchmiesS.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey