Display driver AMD has stopped working and has recovered

[dmo90]

I built my first computer yesterday and everything was running fine for about 5 or 6 hours then I started getting the error above. Since then it occurs more and more often to the point now where if I open any program my computer freezes and I get the error. Basically what happens is I will start getting little blue or green pixels everywhere then my computer will freeze for a few seconds and go black. After that it'll work for a few seconds then repeat itself.

It's at the point now where I can't use my new computer at all what so ever and is extremely frustrating. I've been reading countless forums about this and there seems to be a lot of different issues causing it and ways to fix it but so far I haven't been able to.

All I've done is install windows 7 64-bit ultimate and the drivers from the disks for my motherboard and gpu. I've tried a few troubleshooting things so far including reinstalling the drivers, updating the drivers online, I did a clean install of windows ect ect. I just don't know what the problem is.

My computer:
CPU -Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K

Motherboard - ASUS P8H77-V LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

GPU - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity (100315L )

Hard drive - Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

memory - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL

Power Supply - RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-630SS 630W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Power Supply, New Version with Build-in LED Fan On/Off Switch

 

[suat]

I also have MSI R6850 Cyclone and I have a similar problem. I had about the same problem wih my previous card Sapphire Radeon HD5770.

My only solution is to increase idle-state core and memory clocks by about 30 to 40 %. After that all my problems go away.

By the way, my R6850 has default idle-state core clock = 100 MHz and memory clock = 150 MHz. At these clocks, I have problems. When I increase these clocks to core = 140 MHz and memory = 200 MHz, the problems stop happening.

If your idle-state clocks are the same, you may try these clocks. If they are not good enough for your particular system, you may try core = 180 MHz and memory = 300 MHz.

Hope this helps.

 

[dmo90]

I also have MSI R6850 Cyclone and I have a similar problem. I had about the same problem wih my previous card Sapphire Radeon HD5770.

My only solution is to increase idle-state core and memory clocks by about 30 to 40 %. After that all my problems go away.

By the way, my R6850 has default idle-state core clock = 100 MHz and memory clock = 150 MHz. At these clocks, I have problems. When I increase these clocks to core = 140 MHz and memory = 200 MHz, the problems stop happening.

If your idle-state clocks are the same, you may try these clocks. If they are not good enough for your particular system, you may try core = 180 MHz and memory = 300 MHz.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for replying.

I've heard of that fix in a few forums but I was wondering if you could tell me how to change the idle clock speeds or what programs I would need?

 

[suat]

O.K. Here is the procedure to increase idle-state clocks:

How to increase idle-state core and memory clock speeds for Radeon HD 5xxx, 6xxx, and 7xxx series cards:

Open Catalyst Control Center (new version since October 2011).

Make sure Enable Graphics Overdrive is unchecked in Overdrive section.

Click Presets.

Click Add preset.

Give a name to the preset (such as Boost) and save.

Now go to %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ATI\ACE\Profiles\ (AppData folder is hidden. Make it visible.).

In Profiles folder, you will see a file called Boost.xml.

Open Boost.xml with notepad.

In this file there is a line

name="CoreClockTarget....."
<Property name="Want_0" value="xxx00" /> (xxx00 is your idle-state core clock (R6850). Make it 18000)

and another line

name="MemoryClockTarget....."
<Property name="Want_0" value="yyy00" /> (yyy00 is your idle-state memory clock (R6850). Make it 25000)

Change only the Want_0 values. These are the idle-state clocks.

Save the file with the changes you have made.

Now go back to Catalyst Control Center.

Select the Preset called Boost and then put a checkmark in the box next to Enable Graphics OverDrive.

Click Apply at the bottom of the Catalyst Control Center window.

Now you can see the new idle-state core/memory clock speeds.

 

[jsrudd]

I used to have this problem with my 6870. The way I fixed it was to completely uninstall Catalyst and the drivers, run drive sweeper with the computer booted into safe mode to remove the rest of the AMD drivers. Then I re installed catalyst (I used version 12.7) and the problem went away.

 

[ram1009]

I keep telling people that AMD/ATI drivers are buggy bit few (if any) believe me.

 

[dmo90]

O.K. Here is the procedure to increase idle-state clocks:

How to increase idle-state core and memory clock speeds for Radeon HD 5xxx, 6xxx, and 7xxx series cards:

Open Catalyst Control Center (new version since October 2011).

Make sure Enable Graphics Overdrive is unchecked in Overdrive section.

Click Presets.

Click Add preset.

Give a name to the preset (such as Boost) and save.

Now go to %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ATI\ACE\Profiles\ (AppData folder is hidden. Make it visible.).

In Profiles folder, you will see a file called Boost.xml.

Open Boost.xml with notepad.

In this file there is a line

name="CoreClockTarget....."
<Property name="Want_0" value="xxx00" /> (xxx00 is your idle-state core clock (R6850). Make it 18000)

and another line

name="MemoryClockTarget....."
<Property name="Want_0" value="yyy00" /> (yyy00 is your idle-state memory clock (R6850). Make it 25000)

Change only the Want_0 values. These are the idle-state clocks.

Save the file with the changes you have made.

Now go back to Catalyst Control Center.

Select the Preset called Boost and then put a checkmark in the box next to Enable Graphics OverDrive.

Click Apply at the bottom of the Catalyst Control Center window.

Now you can see the new idle-state core/memory clock speeds.

I followed these steps correctly and I'm still getting that same error and freezes every 2-5 seconds. This is the most frustrating thing ever
UPDATE: Actually it's happening less often now since I restarted my computer. If I try and watch a youtube video or something it flares up again and won't play it. I read somewhere about turning off your hardware accelerator so applications like firefox and youtube use that when your gpu is in idle mode and it can't handle it. Does that sound right? Thanks for helping again

 

[dmo90]

I used to have this problem with my 6870. The way I fixed it was to completely uninstall Catalyst and the drivers, run drive sweeper with the computer booted into safe mode to remove the rest of the AMD drivers. Then I re installed catalyst (I used version 12.7) and the problem went away.

Thanks for the advice. I did everything you said and I'm still getting the error after wiping the old drivers completely hidden files and all, then running driver sweeper in safe mode, and reinstalling.

 

[dmo90]

Well I increased my clock speeds even more and it works even better now. I can watch videos and stuff but after about 5-10 minutes my entire screen will go blank and freeze.

 

[dmo90]

And now I'm getting the colored pixels everywhere when I boot up my computer even in the bios screen before windows loads. I can't even load windows anymore

 

[dmo90]

Took out the graphics card and booted up and the pixels went away so maybe I got a faulty graphics card? I just built this computer two days ago with all bran new parts except for the monitor which was a bit older(dvi one from like 2005)

 

[wandonet]

i underclocked my card from 820 to 800 MHz and it solved my problem. the card was factory OC so iguess they did a crappy job. the card is A GYGABITE hd6850 oc 1GB RAM.
its important to mention that i tried all drivers, bios drivers, the TEMPs are between 45-70c, no CPU OC or any other tweaks.
hope it helps

 

[dmo90]

Thanks for replying. It got much much was and some tech guys said the memory in my graphics card was bad so I sent it in to be replaced. Ill update this thread once I get my replacent. Hopefully I was just unlucky

 

[wandonet]

the first card(one month ago) was defected. the guys in the pc shop replaced it, and then all crashes began.
the defected card was the same( gygabit HD6850 OC).

 

[wandonet]

sorry, i ment defective, english is not my native laguage

 

[dmo90]

Hmmm ill take a look at it when my new gets in. The first one worked fine for about six hours straight when I first built my computer. Did yours start messing up right away?

 

[dmo90]

See I'm pretty sure the motherboard I have doesn't allow for overclocking so if mine came in factory overclocked I could see how there would be a problem. . Making wish I had checked for that before I sent mine in I don't know too much about ocing so I'll do some research on that before my new card comes in so I can check and see if that was the problem and put it back down to what it should be. I'm still pretty convinced something was wrong with either my card or my power supply. I was getting artifacts in the bios screen and stuff as well so I don't think it was just the drivers, the driver just made it worse I guess.

 

[wandonet]

the artifacts are caused by a faulty card probably.
about the oc, i dont know much about it, i just had an idea and tried it, and it worked. but then again, some ppl just uninstall and reinstall the drivers and it worked for them. by what ur saying its probably a bad card. its not surprising, a lot of cards come out of the manufacturer without a good QA.

 

[dmo90]

Yeah I must have installed about 5 different display drivers. Completely uninstalling them too and did three clean installs of windows. I'm thinking it has to be the card hopefully all will be well when I get my replacement

 

[dmo90]

Finally got my replacement in today. Gonna install it now fingers crossed. How did you underclock yours btw? I might want to take a look at that to be safe

 

[wandonet]

hi,

good luck with the new card man!!

i used the MSI afterburner to change the GPU clock.

heres a link:
http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm

 

[dmo90]

. Cant believe i was so unluWell all is well so far! Still worries me tho cause my old card worked for a bit too. Thanks for the link. I will definitely check it out if I have any problems