Hey all,
Maybe this is a stupid question, but if a video card *only* works in safe mode, is that more indicative of a software problem? Or a hardware problem? Or could it be both?
I have two ATI 6970s that I just got. One of them works fine, but the other one won't work at all. Let's call them Card A (works) and card B (doesn't work).
I've tried the following configurations:
Card A by itself: Boots into windows fine, works
Card B by itself: Doesn't display any video beyond the "loading" screen in windows
Card A in slot 1, Card B in slot 2: BSOD the second that the computer tries to boot into windows
Card B in slot 1, Card A in slot 2: (same as Card B by itself), doesn't display any video beyond the "loading" screen in windows.
However, I can boot into safe mode with card B with no problems?
The fact that I can boot into windows in safe mode for Card B leaves me very puzzled. Ordinarily, I would think this was purely a software issue, but that doesn't explain why Card A works while Card B doesn't with the same drivers. They're literally the exact same card (HIS ATI 6970).
Is it possible for a it to be a hardware problem? Or is this indicative of purely a software problem and I should reinstall windows?
I'm on Catalyst 11.8 (latest), but just in case it was the drivers, I switched to 11.7 and 11.5, but to no avail.
P.S. Additional (might be relevant information). I have a card C (another ATI 6970) that I was testing configurations with, and I have card C along with card A in my computer at the moment. When I first put them both in, for a long time, Windows wouldn't recognize the 2nd GPU. It's as if I didn't plug anything into the 2nd PCIe x16 slot at all. This happened even when I switched the slots of card A and card B.
After awhile, this problem kind of "fixed itself", and the computer suddenly recognized both GPUs, but I thought this was weird, and thought that maybe it was relevant.
Maybe this is a stupid question, but if a video card *only* works in safe mode, is that more indicative of a software problem? Or a hardware problem? Or could it be both?
I have two ATI 6970s that I just got. One of them works fine, but the other one won't work at all. Let's call them Card A (works) and card B (doesn't work).
I've tried the following configurations:
Card A by itself: Boots into windows fine, works
Card B by itself: Doesn't display any video beyond the "loading" screen in windows
Card A in slot 1, Card B in slot 2: BSOD the second that the computer tries to boot into windows
Card B in slot 1, Card A in slot 2: (same as Card B by itself), doesn't display any video beyond the "loading" screen in windows.
However, I can boot into safe mode with card B with no problems?
The fact that I can boot into windows in safe mode for Card B leaves me very puzzled. Ordinarily, I would think this was purely a software issue, but that doesn't explain why Card A works while Card B doesn't with the same drivers. They're literally the exact same card (HIS ATI 6970).
Is it possible for a it to be a hardware problem? Or is this indicative of purely a software problem and I should reinstall windows?
I'm on Catalyst 11.8 (latest), but just in case it was the drivers, I switched to 11.7 and 11.5, but to no avail.
P.S. Additional (might be relevant information). I have a card C (another ATI 6970) that I was testing configurations with, and I have card C along with card A in my computer at the moment. When I first put them both in, for a long time, Windows wouldn't recognize the 2nd GPU. It's as if I didn't plug anything into the 2nd PCIe x16 slot at all. This happened even when I switched the slots of card A and card B.
After awhile, this problem kind of "fixed itself", and the computer suddenly recognized both GPUs, but I thought this was weird, and thought that maybe it was relevant.
Last edited:
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