HD 4870x2 Driver issues

[soulfire6]

Hi, I think i may have posted this in the wrong forum initially so here is the text:

Hi, My problem is an interesting one. The main issue seems to be a software one. I recently rebuilt my system with the following parts:

Intel Core 2 quad 6600
4gb Dominator DDR 2 ram
Asus PQ5 Delux Mobo
ATI HD 4870X2 2gb
500gb Western Digital HD
1000w NortonQ PSU

(Just for a little more info The cooling is not an issue, the case is a Cooler master Haf 932 my CPU cooler is A titan Fenir and my case is in no way cluttered or messy. I have run multiple tests and the GFX card barely exceeds 70C even under load. My CPU is at 24C-30C under load and the Northbridge is a similar temp as the CPU.)

Anyway Onto the Problem.

The system boots fine and i proceeded to install windows Vista 64 and relevant drivers for my hardware. I then installed the drivers for the 4870x2 and the computer ran great (excellent performance from the card).

After a restart however i attempted to run a game and was promptly dumped to blue screen within 10 seconds of getting to the menu screen. This proceeded to happen with any graphically intensive application (such as 3Dmark or other games) on the Computer even after multiple restarts. The error given was "GFX drivers have failed". The card appears to be stuck in an infinite loop that causes a mem dump in the blue screen because the drivers cannot recover.

the Version of the drivers i was using was the 9.5 Vista 64 and Windows 7 Release Client version. (This was not the only version of the drivers I tried, I used multiple different versions from the AMD website however for the sake of this explanation i use 9.5 as the drivers I will be using)

Wondering if it was a problem with Vista i installed the windows 7 RC and proceeded to have the exact same issue, Fine after the first install of the drivers then nothing after a restart/shutdown.

The only solution i have found is to reinstall the drivers over the top after the computer has reached the desk top (without deleting the drivers before hand). I also seem to be the only person who has this issue despite multiple attempts to find a similar issue online.

By reinstalling the drivers the card will work perfectly, With insane performance as i would expect and will continue to do so until i shut down or restart the machine at which point the drivers will no longer function.

Is there anyone who might know the cause of this problem because it has me stumped and i love this card (except for the obvious driver issue)?


Mainly its an annoyance but not a critical error as i have a work around however any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[JordanWillis]

Yeah, so we gathered its a driver issue. How are you installing your new drivers? to uninstall go into the the control panal and uninstall from there. restart the PC, boot into safe mode, run driver sweeper (can be found very easily using google) then just wipe all your display drivers. Because when you uninstall from the CP some parts of the drivers are left behind. So you wanna wipe them in safe mode. Boot back into windows normally, install the current drivers. then reboot again. this should sort the issue out. I had a very similar issue. if this does not work then check out your overclocks as when you change gfx cards, your system will react differently to overclocks as did mine when i went from 8800GS to GTX260 SLI

[soulfire6]

I have used the Driver sweeper after uninstaling from the control panel/hardware manager and useing the ATI uninstaler that comes with the driver pack and still no joy problem seems to persist after a reinstall

[Bugbait]

Are you using Vista 64 SP1 or SP2? If so, was it installed via executable or Live Update? Yes, this can matter when it comes to this GFX card and drivers.

[shaithis]

Out of interest, does the same happen if you install the AMD drivers via windows update in Windows 7 RC?

[soulfire6]

Yer the same thing happens using the win updater, It works from the time of install but then after a restart it just dies. (This is in win 7RC)

oh and installed from the ISO disc i created for 7 RC, I reformatted the drives that i was using during the install so it was basically a fresh system.

im thinking it could be related to the Motherboard drivers/Bios version but im not an expert in that field so not sure if it actually would cause problems.