7900gs display goes blank

[Donk]

Hi

I have an sli set-up with two 7900gs cards. I have this set-up for about 6 months with no problems. A couple of days ago the display went blank. I rebooted the pc and got to the welcome screen when the display again went blank. If I leave the pc off for a while it will boot up and I can log in but after a couple of minutes the same thing happens. I can hear the fan on the graphics card increase in speed just as the display goes blank. I removed the card that the monitor was plugged into, and set-up with just the one card, this has been running fine now for 24hrs. I have a ticket no.112994 with xfx support but am waiting a reply. Any help/advice appriciated.

Thanks

Don

dual core e6600 2.4ghz
asus striker extreme nforce 680i sli
600w xion atx
corsair twin2x 6400 ddr2 (2x1gb)
Windowa XP2 xfx nvidia 7900gs sli enabled

[Donk]

Hi

The second card that I had in my sli set-up is now after failing in the same way as the first:frown:. The first card is with my retailer being tested still. Is this a problem many people have experiance with this card (7900gs display dropping out/going blank when the fan on the card kicks in), just from going through the posts on this forum I can see a few other posts from people who have had similiar problems.:help:

[goldorak]

Hi

I have an sli set-up with two 7900gs cards. I have this set-up for about 6 months with no problems. A couple of days ago the display went blank. I rebooted the pc and got to the welcome screen when the display again went blank. If I leave the pc off for a while it will boot up and I can log in but after a couple of minutes the same thing happens. I can hear the fan on the graphics card increase in speed just as the display goes blank. I removed the card that the monitor was plugged into, and set-up with just the one card, this has been running fine now for 24hrs. I have a ticket no.112994 with xfx support but am waiting a reply. Any help/advice appriciated.

Thanks

Don

dual core e6600 2.4ghz
asus striker extreme nforce 680i sli
600w xion atx
corsair twin2x 6400 ddr2 (2x1gb)
Windowa XP2 xfx nvidia 7900gs sli enabled

Hi,

I have the exact same problems.
I bought the xfx 7900gs xxx in late may-early june 2007 and it was running fine untill last week.
From then on the card loses the dvi/vga signal with the monitor, the monitor obviously goes blank and the fan of the graphics card starts spinning at maximum speed.
The only way to get the pc working again is to do a hardware reset.
This dark screen issue is random, I have it after 5 minutes or even after 12 hours (yeah I,ve tested it having the pc running all night).
Its depressing that a piece of hardware not even 6 months old is already failing. :frown:


The computer is not overlocked in any way, it has always run at stock speed so I really think its the graphics card that is failing.

I have a dual core E6600
Intel Bad Axe 2 motherboard
Corsair Hx 620 W power supply
2 GB ram
xfx 7900gs xxx
Windows xp pro sp2 with the latest updates.

[Miker]

Sounds like a power problem to me. Do you just have one power rail going to each card, no fans plugged in or anything?

[tyle6]

Is this an XXX version? with diff. boot up clocks then core and mem after drivers load?
Drivers do not load untill XP thus, a OCed card with stock "boot up" clocks can work perfectly fine untill the drivers load raising the clocks back to OCed speeds causing card failure.

[xfxsupport]

Is it possible to test these cards in another system? Might not be a video card issue if they both are doing the exact same thing.

[goldorak]

Is it possible to test these cards in another system? Might not be a video card issue if they both are doing the exact same thing.

Hi,
I don't have a second computer in which to test the xfx graphics card but I've bought a low end graphics card (Nvidia) to test my main computer.
It everything works ok and the computer doesn't lose the video signal that will be the proof that the xfx graphics card is failing.
I will report in the following days.

I still don't understand why all of a sudden the xfx card started acting wierd.
The computer has been the same since june, same hardware, same software etc..

The fact that I'm not the only one having this problem points that this model 7900gs is not very reliable. I mean different persons having this same problem (losing dvi/vga signal) have different hardware configurations so it can't be a problem of incompatible hardware and to be honest it wouldn't make any sense since my card worked ok until last sunday.

[Donk]

Hi
I was running the two cards in sli set-up, after the first one failed I used the other on it's own and this worked fine for about 5 weeks and now the second card is acting the same way. I have done no over clocking. I am using a 600w sli ready power supply. I should be hearing back from my retailer today about the testing on the first card and will keep ye updated.

[Miker]

The odd of two of these not to work is like 1/5000. It really sounds like a PSU problem or drivers. (Maybe MoBo BIOS)

[tyle6]

are these cards XXX or extreme versions? could you give a lil more details on the cards themeselves? do both of these cards still work in BIOS? the problem only exists when windows loads?
What motherboard are you running aswell?

[Miker]

are these cards XXX or extreme versions? could you give a lil more details on the cards themeselves? do both of these cards still work in BIOS? the problem only exists when windows loads?
What motherboard are you running aswell?

Read his first post... Answers all of thoses questions.

[goldorak]

The odd of two of these not to work is like 1/5000. It really sounds like a PSU problem or drivers. (Maybe MoBo BIOS)


No and no, its not a psu problem and definitely not a motherboard bios issue.
And here is why : my motherboard has been using the same bios since I bought it in june.
So if it was the bios then how come the graphics cards worked flawlessly for the last 5 months and suddenly last week decided to not work anymore ?
The graphics card shouldn't have been working right since the beginning and this is not the case.
About the psu, please the corsair hx 620 is a top of the line psu it costs 150 € and has rock solid voltages across the board.
We're not talking some cheap chinese 20 € psu here.
Fact is, right now in my computer there is another graphics cards and surprise its working 100% without a problem.
So in my case its definitly the 7900gs xxx that has problems.
And I'm not alone since other people have exactly the same problem with the 7900gs xxx.

[tyle6]

I am really thinking this a problem with boot up clocks vs. XXX clocks. Remove all drivers using drivercleaner pro to test this. if the cards work just fine with no drivers. I am not positive but i do believe the XXX cards use stock boot clocks no? shannon? and miker in his first post he never said what BIOS he was using nor if the card was XXX. thank you.

[goldorak]

I am really thinking this a problem with boot up clocks vs. XXX clocks. Remove all drivers using drivercleaner pro to test this. if the cards work just fine with no drivers. I am not positive but i do believe the XXX cards use stock boot clocks no? shannon? and miker in his first post he never said what BIOS he was using nor if the card was XXX. thank you.

My card is a 7900gs xxx, so its factory overclocked.
I didn't go in any way beyond by overclocking more.

You think that maybe by upgrading my divers, somehow something went wrong and left the graphics card unusable ?
I only changed the 94.71 forceware for the 163.71.

[tyle6]

that very well could have done it.
try using drivercleaner pro to remove all remnants of any Nvidia drivers including WDM drivers. then boot up into safe mode and clean the registry if you can.(not neccesary) CCLEANER works wounders here.
If these cards work fine with no drivers then you know its a driver issue. you can at this point try a clean install of your choice of drivers. last known working or newest WHQL drivers to see if this was all caused by remnants of old drivers.

[Miker]

Lol, sorry... I read that other guys SIG... like the 3rd post.

[goldorak]

that very well could have done it.
try using drivercleaner pro to remove all remnants of any Nvidia drivers including WDM drivers. then boot up into safe mode and clean the registry if you can.(not neccesary) CCLEANER works wounders here.
If these cards work fine with no drivers then you know its a driver issue. you can at this point try a clean install of your choice of drivers. last known working or newest WHQL drivers to see if this was all caused by remnants of old drivers.


Ok thanks for the info. :icon_tiphat:
I think its easier to format and reinstall everything. :help:

[tyle6]

the process i explained is actually very simple
just a matter of a click here and there a couple times.
def. much less time consuming then a full install.

[Donk]

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=325107

If it is a diver or bios prob how does one card work and the identicle card not.
Above is a link to the cards I was using.

Both cards that I was using have very close serial no's so I assume come from the same batch of boards, so I wouldn't find it surprising that if one had a problem that the other wouldn't have the same issue.

[Donk]

Hi
The 1st card has been tested as faulty. They want to replace it with http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=334591
This has more or less the same specs, but costs 120euros I paid 200euros for my original card, my question is, is this the norm, that the card is replaced with a similar spec rather than the same price range.
Thanks
Don

[Miker]

XFX RMA = Same price range.
Store RMA = Same specs.

[goldorak]

the process i explained is actually very simple
just a matter of a click here and there a couple times.
def. much less time consuming then a full install.

Hi,

I followed your advice to use driver cleaner without formatting the pc, and reinstalled the 7900gs xxx with the latest whql drivers.
Up to now all is working ok, no loss of signal but I have to wait at least 48 hours because last time it took a full 32 hours to lose the signal.
I hope that the problem is driver related, so I won't have to rma the card and get a new one which probably will be inferior.

[goldorak]

@tyle6 :

Thanks for the advice about using drivercleaner, it was indeed a problem with the drivers.
Now the card has been working flawlessly for the last 3 days non stop.
I stressed it in every possibile way (except overclocking an already overclocked card :lol:) and no problem.
What shocked me is that a normal uninstall of the old drivers, reboot and reinstall a new driver version could have brough such a havoc to the graphics card.
Its something that in 6 years of possessing ATI cards I've never witnessed.

:icon_tiphat:

[werty316]

It doesn't matter what you originally paid for your video card as older video cards drop in value when newer cards are released.

Generally you'll get a video card of equal or higher performance if you have to RMA a video card through XFX.

[Dan0711US]

Hi Guys,

I experienced the same Problem a couple of hours ago. I got a XFX 7900GS. Bought it a few weeks ago. The PC crashed while playing a game and I had to use the Reset Button to shut it off. After turning it back in I got into the Windows-Booting-Screen and all of the sudden it lost the monitor signal.

I now replaced the 7900 with an old 4200 and it works like be4. So I guess it is the same problem.

PC Setup is as follows:

AMD 64 3500+
2GB Ram
BEQuie 420W

[fejullos]

Hi Guys,

I experienced the same Problem a couple of hours ago. I got a XFX 7900GS. Bought it a few weeks ago. The PC crashed while playing a game and I had to use the Reset Button to shut it off. After turning it back in I got into the Windows-Booting-Screen and all of the sudden it lost the monitor signal.

I now replaced the 7900 with an old 4200 and it works like be4. So I guess it is the same problem.

PC Setup is as follows:

AMD 64 3500+
2GB Ram
BEQuie 420W


I cannot say what a relief it is to find a topic such as this one. I've been searching for 3 days for some remedy of my situation. I too have bought this XFX 7900 GS for my 1.8 Ghz Core 2duo desktop. I haven't tested the driver issue solution, but I can say that my 500 PSU has been sufficient since my purchase Early march for this card. If I rememdy my situation via registry cleaning I will repost of my success. However I must say that I was wondering how XFX could let this obvious problem persist unacknowledged and then I flip my card over for my serial and on the back it reads, "Made in China." Enough said.

Thank you for those that have posted and have helped and good luck for those trying not to lose their 250$ or less investment.

BTW, anyone who purchased this card within 30 days there is a great warranty at xfxforce.com website.