Windows 7 Ultimate 64 + ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 + Radeon 6770 = Crashing

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I built this system a few weeks ago: Corsair 650D, Seasonic X-760, ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3, Intel i7-2600, Corsair 4x4GB Vengeance, Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SSD, W-D Caviar Green 2TB HDD.

The first POST was good, and I ran Memtest86+ overnight with no errors detected. I installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit (OEM) and updated the drivers from the MB and then from the ASUS website.

There was a BSOD (code 19) associated with installing the audio drivers, and the audio did not work, indicating an issue in Device Manager. I uninstalled the driver and ran detect hardware changes, it installed the Microsoft driver and audio is working fine.

For the first couple of weeks it ran on internal graphics connected to an 18" LCD monitor via VGA while I ran updates, loaded software (Office 2010 Professional, Lightroom 3.5, Photoshop CS5, etc.) and copied files. Many updates but no stability issues.

Recently I repositioned it and installed a Sapphire Radeon 6770 card and connected it to my Dell U2771 monitor with the DVI cable from the monitor. It initially came up in XGA mode indicating a generic monitor, after I downloaded the current Catalyst software from the AMD website it detected the U2771 and operated in 2560x1440. WEI went from 5.9 to 7.4.

This ran fine for several hours of light to moderate use, then starting crashing with BSODs (1A, 4E, A). I changed the BIOS to disable IGP render, this didn't really help but now the crashes were almost like power dropping – a quick flash of scrambled pixels on the screen and a reboot, sometimes in rapid succession i.e. shortly after logging on following one crash it would crash again.

After several days of this I removed the 6770 and connected the DVI cable to the MB connector. After several hours of light use so far so good but the maximum resolution available is 1680x1050 which looks goofy on the U2771.

It is using the stock cooler, no overclocking, idle temp according to CoreTemp 0.99.7 is around 38°C with ambient around 21°C. Airflow is good front, back, top and bottom.

The same 6770 was working fine with the U2771 for a couple of months in a Dell 8400 running XP Pro. I can't seen any indication of damage to or issues with the card but I haven't put it back in the Dell to try it; the Dell is on the 18" VGA and doesn't need the 6770.

The event log shows critical errors indicating event ID 41:

The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

I am thinking the crashes are from some sort of driver and perhaps BIOS issue with the 6770 and/or the MB, but the power indications have me puzzled and I am not sure how to proceed.

Any and all suggestions gratefully received.

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[denis280]

for the bsod.go to computer/properties/advance system setting/startup and recovery.Uncheck automatically restart.then the bsod will stay on screen.then tell us about the error code.

 

[Snapshot1]

for the bsod.go to computer/properties/advance system setting/startup and recovery.Uncheck automatically restart.then the bsod will stay on screen.then tell us about the error code.

Thanks, done. So far so good but without the 6770 installed, I'll leave the auto restart turned off if and when I put it back.

I wonder about re-installing the 6770 but leaving the monitor connected to the MB graphics?

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[denis280]

No BSOD without the 6770. then you got you aswer. drivers or the card

 

[Snapshot1]

No BSOD without the 6770. then you got you aswer. drivers or the card

Yes. Except the card and drivers worked fine in another system, so it would have to be something that was OK with a P4 / XP SP3 / 32 bit but not with an i7 / Win 7 / 64 bit. This is certainly possible although I wouldn't expect to see a hard crash like these under light to moderate use.

Since I posted an updated version of the Catalyst drivers has been issued; although the release notes don't suggest anything pertaining to this issue I suppose the next step is to re-install with the new drivers.

I am still a bit puzzled at the nature of the crashes, very similar to a power loss, but the entire system is powered through a UPS, and the other system connected to the same UPS didn't have any issues.

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[sm625]

Try several insertion cycles on the video card. The pciE x16 connector is not a very high quality or high reliability design. It is better than AGP but it can still suffer from mechanical issues.

 

[THRiLL KiLL]

Try several insertion cycles on the video card. The pciE x16 connector is not a very high quality or high reliability design. It is better than AGP but it can still suffer from mechanical issues.

i second this 🙂

 

[Snapshot1]

Thanks for the suggestions, sorry for the long absence.

To update this situation: This system ran fine using the IGP video for several months. I was running the stock CPU cooler and finally got around to installing an Enermax ETD-T60-TB, and shortly after that I installed a Sapphire Radeon 6870 1GB.

I noticed the power cord was taut, making it difficult to move the case to do the work. When I went to re-string the power cord the plug just about fell out of the receptacle in the power bar.

The power bar is plugged into a UPS so I was discounting power issues when the crashes were happening. But the UPS doesn't help if the plug / receptacle contact in the power bar is loose or intermittent.

I installed the cooler and 6870 and plugged the power cord directly into the UPS. I did check the video card seating / connectors, they seem to be good but I agree it is a weak mechanical design, especially for a moderately large video card.

The original 6770 is now in use elsewhere but it worked fine before and after so I believe it is not part of the problem.

It has been several days of light to moderate usage with no issues, so hopefully the loose plug was the culprit. I am thinking that with the 6770 the system was drawing just a bit more power than with the IGP, and with a poor connection it was experiencing intermittent power drops from minor vibrations or perhaps thermal expansion.

The moral of this story is don't take anything for granted, even something as simple as a power bar can cause issues.

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