Vertical Lines on my Sapphire HD7770 OC

[apik012]

Can you guys help me out?

so heres my problem. as the titles says, im having blank screen with vertical lines while playing games or watching videos. its color depends on the color of the scene before it crash. i happens randomly. then i need to restart my computer to be able to use it again.
it used to happen before, what i did is that i returned my whole system unit to the shop where i bought it. the first thing they did was that they replaced my motherboard with my new one and told me to try it out weather the problem would still occur or not. but that does not solved the problem , so i retured my system to the shop again. this time, they replaced my hard disk with a new one, and that solved the problem

after a month, here it is again. same old problem. the only difference is that now it happens more frequently. but it is really a pain in the arse

here are the things that I have done:
1. checked my GPU temp.(between 32-50deg celcius (i think thats fine. i guess?))
2. cleaned my GPU (the hardware itself)
3. uninstalled and reinstall my video driver (used driver sweeper)

but it still happens

here are my specs:
CPU: intel i3-2120 2cores, 4threads, 3.2ghz
RAM: GSkill Ripjaws 4GB (4x1)
MoBo: Gigabyte b75m-d3v
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500gb
GPU: Sapphire HD7770 ghz ED OC
PSU: Aerocool Strike-X 500w Bronze
Cooling: DeepCool 120mm fan with Red Led (5x)

I have included my fan(and its quantity) because some says that it might be because of my PSU (power shortage).
one more thing, my amd catalyst version is 13.1

what should i do to be able to fix this? please help?
any replies would be much appreciated
thanks!

 

[RandomTox]

Hi,

You need to test some computer parts 1st.

Try to test your video card, it could be artifacts. Even if it is running at good temperatures.
If so, your card is dying and soon will be completely dead.
Here you can find some test tools....

http://unigine.com/products/heaven/
http://www.evga.com/ocscanner/
http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

If it isn't your GPU, test your memory with Memtest86.

http://www.memtest86.com/download.html

Burn it to CD and boot your PC from that CD.
Run Memtest86 for a whole night. 1 or 2 hours is never enough.
Red lines from left to right will appear if an error is found. Watch at witch MB the error is found.
1 to 1024 is your 1st stick, 1025 to 2048 your 2nd stick, etc.

You could test your Hard Disk with CheckDisk. E.G. :

Click on start. Type in the search box CMD. At the top you will notice a black icon will appear with behind it cmd.exe.
Right click on cmd.exe and then click "run as administrator"
That opens a black screen, and type in there chkdsk C: /r/f
Then hit Enter. You probably will get a message that the drive is locked and your computer can check the
drive at startup. Confirm all with Y (yes) and Enter.
(the C: stands for the C partition on which Windows usually is installed. If you have more drives, do
the same but replace the C for D, E, etc.).

How to find the results of chkdsk from your C: partition, go see this web page.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/96938-check-disk-chkdsk-read-event-viewer-log.html

If it shows anything else then 0KB in damaged blocks/sectors, your Hard Disk is dying.

Good luck.

 

[apik012]

^thank you so much sir.
but according to my specs, do you think it can also be a PSU problem?
can my PSU still accomodate my whole system? thank you again sir.

 

[RandomTox]

Hi,

Doubt it will be your PSU. I have a Sapphire 7870 OC card witch uses 175 Watts max on a 550 Watt PSU.
Your GPU uses 80 Watt max (see link below). AMD advices a 450 Watt minimal PSU. You are safe there.

http://www.game-debate.com/hardware/index.php?gid=1028&graphics=Radeon%20HD%207770%20Sapphire%20GHz%20OC%20Edition#performance2value

I also have a CPU that uses 30 Watts more then yours, have 5 internal Hard Disks, 5 LED fans, 2 DVD players, 16GB of
memory. Also, Fan's use very little power, even if they have LED's
Think my system easily uses 150 Watts more then yours and my PSU is 50 only Watts more.
I'd advice you to test your system 1st. If there is something wrong, it probably will show up at one of the tests.
My first guess is that your GPU is giving artifacts because problems seem to start when your system is using heavier graphics.
Did you ever overclock your card?
In addition to the earlier post you also could stress test your CPU with something like prime95.

http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/default.php

There is a 32 and 64 bit version. Download the file, unzip it and run the program. You don't need to install it.
Let that run for a whole night too.

Because your system crashes all the time, you really need to find the part that is acting up. If it is your GPU, CPU or memory,
the internal damage will be worse every crash. If it is your Hard Disk, it will be damaged also, with the risk of loosing all your data.

Hope you find the problem soon,
Good luck

 

[apik012]

sir, I have tried testing my card using the app from unigine and my HDD using chkdsk. and I found no problems. I will do those other tests and I will inform you for what will happen.
about your question, no sir, I haven't overclocked my card.(I don't even know how to )


I sound really stupid asking this question but what do you mean about "your GPU is giving artifacts" sir?
I'm sorry but I can be considered as a noob in these fields.

BTW, here is what the screen looks like when it crashes.
http://tinypic.com/r/2hqs0ub/6

Thank you so much for your help sir.

 

[apik012]

^Update: I have run the FurMark application sir, and did the burn-in test. When it reaches 66degrees celsius, the screen crashes again. After I restart my PC, I ran the test again, this time it crashes 1sec after I start the test, not to mention that it crashes earlier this evening(GMT +8) while I was playing an online game.

What does this mean sir? Does this mean that my GPU is the cause of the problem?

Thank you.

 

[apik012]

ANOTHER UPDATE: I ran the Heaven benchmark test again and now it also crashes my screen (Earlier this morning, I ran that test but my screen did not crash).

I think I'm going to run both tests tomorrow morning.

BTW, I had this GPU last September 2012, is it possible that it is already dying? I mean, I have been using it for just 4months.

Thank you.

 

[RandomTox]

Hi,

Good that your HDD seems to be fine. Still, every crash could mean loss of data.
Artifacts of a GPU come in may ways. Some in lines flashing over the screen or blocks of different shapes or colors etc.
They normally only happen when your GPU is defective. I know some people that had artifacts with their GPU right out of
the box. Myself had one card acting up after 2 months.
Difficult to say from the picture if it is an artifact of your GPU, because they come in many ways.
I'd start to run memtest86 to narrow the search. If it passes that you don't need to focus on that anymore. After that try prime95. That should only test your CPU.
You know somebody close that has a PC with a 7000 series AMD card in it? If so, maybe you can try your card in that PC and
test it with the test tool that makes your PC act up the quickest. With any luck you don't need to re-install the driver.
If the problem moves with the card to the other PC, you know what's the problem.
Sorry that it takes a lot to figure out whats wrong with your PC. But that is just the way it is sometimes

 

[apik012]

Okay sir, good thing I found my good old cd-rw. :lol:

About someone who has a PC with a 7000 series AMD card, too bad for me don't know anybody who has one. But I know someone who has a PC and is only using his mainboard graphics for his display output. I think I'll contact him as soon as I finish my tests with memtest86 and prime95. (memtest tests my RAM right?) The only problem is that he is only using a generic 600watts PSU, which I think is not recommended for my video card. I guess?

So I think I have no other option than to also bring my PSU with me.

Its okay sir, and I really thank you for helping me solve my problem regarding my PC. I'll keep you updated for the results of my tests.

 

[apik012]

Just an additional question sir, if I use prime95, wouldn't it damage my cpu itself? Even if I'm just using it's generic heatsink fan?(the one that came with the processor itself)

I got to ask because I really got nervous when I stress-test my GPU and it reaches 66deg celcius. I mean, thats ok right?

 

[RandomTox]

Running the program is not really going to damage your CPU itself, unless one of the cores is damaged already and will reboot your PC again under the stress test. 66C is not critical. Just try to keep it under 70 as is 69.1 is advised as max. So far, you are still safe
Seen articles with your CPU that went to 80C or more. Not that I'd advise you to go that far.
No problem that you ask, better safe then sorry.

 

[apik012]

I ran the memtest last night sir,
here are the results:
Time: 8:32:08
Iterations:240
Adrsmode: 64bit
pass: 14
arrors: 0

Thats good right? I guess?

I'm going to run prime95 to test my cpu tonight, and going to post updates tomorrow.

Thank you

 

[RandomTox]

Hi,

Yes, that is a good test result . 8 hours of testing with 0 errors should be sufficient.
So far, HDD and memory seem to be good. To be honest, it is what I expected.
Seems your PC seems to act up whenever you are using your GPU above average.
Lets wait on the Prime95 test. If that goes without errors, do some GPU testing.
If your PC acts up again you could try 1 more thing. Try it out in another PC and see if that other PC has the same problems.
If you can't, go back to the shop and told them that you tested all parts and that your GPU seems to be defect.

 

[apik012]

Sir, I ran the prime95 test last last night and found no errors. Then yesterday, I ran those 3 GPU tests each for three hours and surprisingly, this time, my display did not crash.

Another thing sir, I google searched my problem and I found this thread about a person who has the same problem as mine. The only difference is that his display crashes only when he is streaming videos on the internet.(Stupid of me to start a thread without google searching my problem first).

So here's what the other guys from that forum replied, they told him to disable the hardware acceleration mode of his flash player 'cos some Radeon cards doesn't seem to be compatible with that function(or something that goes like that). So, I also tried doing it hoping it would also solve my problem. Not to mention that he marked that thread "solved".
As of now, I'm not having any crashes for two days and I'm hoping that my system will continue to work properly.

Anyway sir, I would like to thank you for all your help regarding this issue of mine. Now, I know how to test parts of my computer(I wasn't even familiar with those applications before).
I will post again here if my system starts to malfunction again.

A big salute to you sir! Thank you!

 

[apik012]

Best answer selected by apik012.