ATI Radeon HD cards
[b]WARNING: Only attempt for Experienced PC users![/b]
[b]Please note this only affects some ATI Radeon HD cards, not all. (IE: Any ATI Radeon HD 5770)[/b]
These precautions have been tested already w/ the card that I currently have:
Tested on Vista and XP and another Windows 7 64bit.
Completely dust free desktop using Endust for Electronics and Duster product.
Updated Drivers
If any of you own an *insert title name here*, then some of you (not all) have had the ridiculous "Driver stopped responding and restarted" issue. (Under load or not)
I know, I'm one of those people who wanted to use an amazing card but can't because of the issues it has to *insert profanity word* give us.
Well, I stumbled upon a fix that may fix your card and wished to share with some of you.
Only attempt this method if you have already updated all your drivers for (Monitor, GPU, OS)
Open CCC and switch to ATI Overdrive
Unlock and enable Overdrive
Go to Options/Profiles/Profile Manager and create a new profile called, let's say, STABLE.
Save the new profile. But DO NOT ACTIVATE the profile.
Now go to C:Users{YourUserName}AppDataLocalATIACEProfiles folder ( I assume C: is your system drive )
Note: You should have " show hidden files " turned on to see the folder. *Important*
Open the .xml file named STABLE with notepad.
Change the values of the idle Core clock and Memory clock speeds below
Feature name="CoreClockTarget_0"
Property name="Want_0" value="40000" note: previous value should be "15700"
Feature name="MemoryClockTarget_0"
Property name="Want_0" value="90000" note: previous value should be "30000"
Save the file and close it.
Go back to CCC and activate the profile. This will make the card idle at 400 MHz core clock and 900 MHz memory clock.
[b]*Note* You are able to change it to a lower idle time such as 200/400 or 300/500. It all depends which makes it stable for you.[/b]
To show hidden files on Win7, go to Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Under the Files tab, Click show hidden files. Another menu will pop up and just click the empty section where it says "show hidden files" to enable it and click ok/apply.
ATI cards have an issue with stability when idling at 157mhz GPU clock and 300mhz Memory Clock speeds. Doing this will (as said before) make it idle at 400mhz and 900mhz. Also, this will make your GPU temp rise to a max of 2-7 celsius higher than before.
I have personally tested this method (with a few different tweaks) and am happily using my ATI Radeon HD card.
Other Tweaks: (Using M.I.T *within BIOS*) ![b]Only Do this step if you have sufficient Cooling system AND PSU[/b] !
Changing voltage from 1.00V to 1.1V. Proved to be much more stabler because of the power consumption the 5770 needs/uses.
(Able to raise it to 1.2-1.5V if necessary) but go in small jumps... not 1.00V to 1.5V !
Build:
Windows 7 64bit Home Edition
i3-550 3.2Ghz
G.Skill Ripjaws Series 1600 8GB
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5
-etc-
If any questions feel free to ask. I'm happy to help.
18 Comments • Newest first
^ As she said, this is for more experienced PC users (as stated in the [b]BOLD[/b] warning in the TS). For me, however, raising speeds has created stable operations for my video card. It may not work for everyone.
[quote=BlizzardyX]Hmm, this seems to be useful. I've been struggling with "display driver has stopped responding" for a month now with my ATI Radeon HD 6950.
A few questions though, my profile appears like this, what do I change it to?:
Also, how do I activate the profile, and do I have to activate it every computer restart?
Lastly, how can I change the voltage? Thanks.[/quote]
If you don't know what this is, then it may not fix your problem - these procedures might actually make it much worse. This is video card overclocking/underclocking and it really is something only advanced PC users should do because you do run the risk of literally destroying the component. As someone else has pointed out, the OP is copypasta http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=260&threadid=120896&STARTPAGE=5&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear
Raising speeds usually does not allow for more stable operations of a video card. Instead, cleaning out dust or updating the driver is more likely to solve the most common problems.
Good mine is 5870
Profile Activating is enabled when you unlock/activate ATI Overdrive and then create a Profile under Options>Profiles>Profile Manger. (I'm not sure if the latest drivers -11.0-11.5) have this option. (I'm currently using 10.4 drivers)
Voltage can be changed through BIOS (I use M.I.T.) or through other programs found through google. (I'm not sure w/ exact names)
[quote=pikachuxbboy][/quote]
Hmm, this seems to be useful. I've been struggling with "display driver has stopped responding" for a month now with my ATI Radeon HD 6950.
A few questions though, my profile appears like this, what do I change it to?:
[quote=blizzardyx]
<Feature name="CoreClockTarget_0">
<Property name="Want_0" value="25000" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="50000" />
<Property name="Want_2" value="80000" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="PowerControl_0">
<Property name="Want" value="0" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="MemoryClockTarget_0">
<Property name="Want_0" value="15000" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="125000" />
<Property name="Want_2" value="125000" />
</Feature>
[/quote]
Also, how do I activate the profile, and do I have to activate it every computer restart?
Lastly, how can I change the voltage? Thanks.
@kevinccf - Yeah, I'm planning to build a new computer for myself (again) w/ a 6870 crossfirex if its within my new budget. Then ill give this demon to my brother lol.
@ForeverLunar - Yeah. A good amount of ATI Cards before the 5700 series are working fine. This issue started coming up from the 5700 series and up. (May have been some b4 but I don't recall any)
@KevinCCF - Nvidia has been good with keeping their GPU cards stable so thats a safe route to go down. ATI Radeon HD cards are up and down. I'm more of an ATI fan than Nvidia. Intel has nothing to do with anything really lol.
Yeah, what's weird is that I cleaned every dust particle I could think get out of it w/ my "Endust" computer duster. Tested the card on Windows XP 64 bit and Vista 64 bit and both gave the same issue. I don't recommend doing this method if you don't have a strong enough PSU or cooling system.
But I do recommend it if you do and you don't want wasted money to go to waste. It's 100% safe. I've tested this for 2 days straight (haven't turned pc off yet). There hasn't been any crashes/bsod/fried hardware.
I'm running it at 300mhz and 600mhz idle times. I had it at 200/400 and it gave me a freeze/crash screen (during games) and also "Driver drop.. etc"
Also, the voltage i set it at is at 1.150V as of right now. (instead of 1.00V) I'm using a Corsair 630W PSU. More than enough to run a 5770 if not CrossfireX.
I tried updating them to Catalyst Control Center Bundle 64 bit 11.5 drivers, no luck w/ stability and issue resolve.
And yea, I do agree forcing your idle times isn't always good. But it won't have any effect on a pc that is well kept cooled. (My "Idle" temp is at 29 Celsius atm)
Playing COD:MW2 (maxed gpu) it goes up to 40-45 Celsius.
I'd like to note this only affects some of the ATI Radeon HD cards, not all. I've only heard of ATI being the only ones w/ this issue.
[quote=HokKan]What? I always thought you could only Crossfire cards within the same series, and even then there are limitations. 5770 can only be with 5770 and 5750 according to ATI. http://sites.amd.com/PublishingImages/Public/Graphic_Illustrations/WebBannerJPEG/AMD_CrossfireX_Chart_1618W.jpg[/quote]
You are 100% correct. Lol.
@pikachuxbboy: Nope Maplestory isn't a heavy game so it shouldn't cause this problem. I do have experience with this issue on a ATI 1900XT, but that was clearly to blame on it's age and high operating temperatures over time. I cleaned my PC and installed a program to kick up the fan speed and it wouldn't crash anymore. Eventually the operating noise and bad performance made me upgrade.
Have you overclocked your card before? Especially the over-voltages are a good way to kill a card.
Although this fix may be of help, I wouldn't recommend it as it does not seem to be addressing the cause. It will increase energy consumption and may prevent a future driver update to fix it. Try looking for other incompatibility's. Install it in another computer to see if it's hardware related, reinstall the OS (or install a second OS as dual boot) to see if it was software/driver related.
[quote=thomas1985]I have a Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 Vapor-X and never had any issues. As far as I know it's a protection system kicking in (VPU recover), to help recover graphics after a failure on the card. This usually happens during a heavy load (playing tough games like Crysis on high settings) and high temperatures. My steps to fix the issue would be:
1. Update drivers.
2. Check system temperatures.
3. Dust out your computer when necessary.
4. Check for broken/missing case fan. Placing an extra one doesn't hurt.
5. Clock it down or replace card altogether.[/quote]
i have a 4870x2 and im fine, well it was 64c while under no load but i blew all the dust out and now its 38 with no load.
Dust can be pretty dramatic with computer temps
@thomas1985 - I figured it was the VPU recover at first but to no avail that it wasn't. I loaded MS *empty ch* and it gave me this issue *MS isn't a very heavy load game anyways* I haven't even attempted to OC my 5770 yet. It's all stock clock speeds and it gave me that issue lol. I will be attempting to OC it to 900/1600.. or relatively close.
So this is a reason why I wrote this thread to help others.
@KrisHoe - Not all ATI Radeon HD cards are having this issue. It's mostly the 5770's and some other ones that I can't recall.
I have a Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 Vapor-X and never had any issues. As far as I know it's a protection system kicking in (VPU recover), to help recover graphics after a failure on the card. This usually happens during a heavy load (playing tough games like Crysis on high settings) and high temperatures. My steps to fix the issue would be:
1. Update drivers.
2. Check system temperatures.
3. Dust out your computer when necessary.
4. Check for broken/missing case fan. Placing an extra one doesn't hurt.
5. Clock it down or replace card altogether.
Yeah, this really shouldn't be attempted by some "kids" who don't know their way around their PC's hardware (and BIOS). Glad to hear some of you guy's ATI cards are fine. I just wanted to post this up to those who have had the issue rise and want to pull their heads off. (Like myself for a time period)
And yes, you can CrossfireX different cards as long as you have enough power (watts)
Nvidia was my next buy if my 5770 wasn't going to cooperate. However, I got it to work so my Nvidia GTX 590 will have to wait
*Edited in* Yeah the 5670 hasn't given me an issues either. I have that laying around in my room and it kinda depressed me how I had to use that instead of my 5770.. until now
You really should preface this fix with a warning for the inept computer users. The fix is complicated enough that they probably won't attempt it, but I really wouldn't recommend it in a general thread over the internet. I can just see some little kid frying the card on their card on their parents computer...
Otherwise, nice find. I use NVIDIA religiously though XP
I used to have that problem but it stopped itself after a while. o-o
[quote=SnowBlade]i have no problems with my AMD radeon HD 6990 crossfired with my 5770. great graphics and fast rendering times in photoshop and after effects <3. Imagine have 4 ATI 6990 crossfired lmao xD[/quote]
You can crossfire with different cards? I didn't know what. All I have are two stupid GTX 260's on SLI.
What's the point of this thread? Too lazy to read. o.o