Samsung P2370 + HD 6850 display issue

I recently bought a new pc with config - i-5 2400 + Intel H67BL + Sapphire 6850 graphics card + Corsair 450vx and samsung p2370 monitor; Win 7 HP 64bit OS.

After using the machine for a few minutes, the display on the monitor either goes blank or only a white screen appears. Only restart solves the problem.

I have installed the drivers that came with the mobo, graphics card, monitor. No updates are available. I have tried using hdmi cable as well but even that didnt help.

The monitor goes blank any time irrespective of what i am doing - like during software installation, browsing, system rating menu.

Since i use wireless kb, cant check if the system has hung.

So what can be the issue here - monitor / graphics card / mobo?

I've got a feeling that this might be a
graphics card problem. If you can, try
the monitor on another PC, which
should confirm it one way or another.

Also, try reducing refresh rate of monitor.

Bios update may also be required

@thetechfreak

Cant reduce refresh rate of monitor. The system works fine in safe mode.

The problem definitely occurs if I try to play videos. Have tried the monitor on other system and it works fine there.

Akshay said:
I recently bought a new pc with config - i-5 2400 + Intel H67BL + Sapphire 6850 graphics card + Corsair 450vx and samsung p2370 monitor; Win 7 HP 64bit OS.

After using the machine for a few minutes, the display on the monitor either goes blank or only a white screen appears. Only restart solves the problem.

I have installed the drivers that came with the mobo, graphics card, monitor. No updates are available. I have tried using hdmi cable as well but even that didnt help.

The monitor goes blank any time irrespective of what i am doing - like during software installation, browsing, system rating menu.

Since i use wireless kb, cant check if the system has hung.

So what can be the issue here - monitor / graphics card / mobo?

GET THE LATEST GFX CARD DRIVERS FROM HERE -

AMD Graphics Drivers & Software â€“ Download the latest drivers for your graphics products

Jaskanwar Singh said:
GET THE LATEST GFX CARD DRIVERS FROM HERE -

AMD Graphics Drivers & Software â€“ Download the latest drivers for your graphics products

Tried that.. now the system works for a little longer but the problem still persist....

^did you remove the previous drivers completely?
use guru 3d driver sweeper. Guru3D - Driver Sweeper
and then do a fresh clean install of new drivers.

@ Akshay

I think its a gpu vram issue. Some sectors in the vram of your card are corrupt. When the gpu is trying to fetch data from these corrupted sectors, the screen i.e display goes off.

Doing some gpu intensive tasks are leading towards it. Give your gpu for RMA. It will be replaced.

@vicky

Even if I dont do graphics intensive tasks like browsing files on the computer leads to monitor going blank. Have been doing some research on it and getting contradictory views.. some say it may be on account on RAM (I am using GSkill 2X2 GB 1333mhz RAM) while others have similar view like urs.... Some say underclocking of the card may help (which I have no clue about how to do)

totally confused... havent even used the machine properly and I am already facing these issues

Some ppl are making statements about sapphire being the culprit as well....

If I disable the card from device manager, the system runs fine.

@ Akshay

Then i think i have pinpointed the issue correctly. Disabling your gpu means the igp is running fine and so are your system rams. If rams get corrupt then the system will restart instead of just the screen going blank.

You can underclock your gpu by using msi afterburner or evga precision but they won't help at all cause thats not the issue. Get your gpu replaced as its under warranty and your problems will be solved. Simple :smile:

.

About sapphire , its a great board maker and definitely is not the culprit. Things like these happen with almost all board makers including asus, msi ,gigabyte, evga, powercolor, zotac,palit etc. Company offers 3 years warranty and they will replace your faulty card without any fuss. Just take the original bill and go to the dealer from where you purchased or go to sapphire's service centre cum distributor in your city.

Thnx vicky... tried drivesweeper, uninstalling, reinstalling latest drivers... everything failed.. will return the card to primeabgb.. Have come across several people posting similar issues with sapphire 6850 (other brands dont have as many complaints as sapphire)... so will check if I can get other brand

^^ You are most welcome friend. :smile:

btw SMC had recommended MSI instead of Sapphire coz they seem to have received lots of complaints for sapphire.

^they are msi vendors, and surely will promote msi.

Thnx Jaskanwar... wasnt aware of that...

I mite try and ask for card upgrade instead of replacement and was wondering about 560ti or 6950 (whichever is cheaper and silent - below Rs.15k) and will suit my config above without any other upgrade (esp. PSU).. Don't want to start a new thread for that so asking here. Any suggestions?

^^ My suggestion will be to get the Msi gtx 560 Twin frozr II @ 14.5K. You might get it at cheaper prices locally. Its more than enough for full hd gaming.

But if you want to game at higher resolutions especially in multimonitor setups, them gigabyte 6950 2gb @ 16.5k including taxes will be a good deal. It also has a high shader unlocking rate and can be unlocked to a 6970.

If you can't up your budget that much, then stick with the 560-ti.

My suggestion-

vickybat said:
^^ My suggestion will be to get the Msi gtx 560 Twin frozr II @ 14.5K. You might get it at cheaper prices locally.
Its more than enough for full hd
gaming.

Simply because you can oc it to level of more expensive 6950 due to good cooling solution.

^^ Yup i agree to that buddy. 560's response to increased clocks is overwhelming.

Akshay said:
Thnx Jaskanwar... wasnt aware of that...

I mite try and ask for card upgrade instead of replacement and was wondering about 560ti or 6950 (whichever is cheaper and silent - below Rs.15k) and will suit my config above without any other upgrade (esp. PSU).. Don't want to start a new thread for that so asking here. Any suggestions?

sapphire 6950 1gb is there for 14.3k.

otherwise even a sapphire 6950 2gb for 15.8k is more futureproof for its 2gb frame buffer. and you can unlock full 6970 shaders on 2gb 6950. chances are high

thetechfreak said:
My suggestion-
Simply because you can oc it to level of more expensive 6950 due to good cooling solution.

6950 1gb is cheaper!

Finally got Sapphire 6850 Toxic for Rs.800/- difference... They were not ready to budge below 15k for 560ti

^^ Ok thats great friend. Now plug in the card and let us know about your previous issues.

Issue resolved now... even the msi card worked fine. btw how do i find out if the card is toxic and not the normal 6850 (though my bill says toxic just wanted to confirm)

^^ Post the core and memory clocks here. That will tell if its toxic or not.

M

sapphire 6950 2gb has serious issue while unlocking.
U can be sure whether it is toxic or not, by seeing the cooler.

Is sapphire produces low quality chipsets compared to other companies, cuz their products malfunction very quickly.

^^its not like that
sapphire has a good reputation for manufacturing AMD cards
their toxic series is deadly

mohiuddin said:
sapphire 6950 2gb has serious issue while unlocking.
U can be sure whether it is toxic or not, by seeing the cooler.

see this -
AMD Radeon HD 6950 to HD 6970 Mod | techPowerUp

out of 242, 230 sapphires unlock successfully.

M

Jaskanwar Singh said:
see this -
AMD Radeon HD 6950 to HD 6970 Mod | techPowerUp

out of 242, 230 sapphires unlock successfully.

i saw in guru3d '6950unlock' sticky thread under 'amd gfxcard' section, there many sapphire6950 2gb users got physical damage of card in effort to unlock it...they strongly recommanded to avoid unlocking sapphire ones.

^here most get it unlocked successfully -
all Radeon 6950 ONLY flashing/shader unlock/overclocking info - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net

BTW this one -\MSI R 6950 2PM2D2GD5 Graphics Card
also unlocks Newegg.com - MSI R6950-2PM2D2GD5 Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

If 6950 is to be purchased for unlocking purpose, then i recommend gigabyte 6950 2gb. Its the same card our forum member rchi84 purchased @ 16.5k including taxes and has written an indepth post on how to safely unlock it by flashing the bios and without any voltage increments.

The sapphire ones i heard need some vcore increments in order to increase the memory clocks to the 6970 level. On doing so, some cards had gone kaput. Its better to pm rchi84 on this. He might have some info.

not necessarily gigabyte. almost all manufacturers have high unlocking rate. see the TPU link.

moreover people here in TE have unlocked sapphires -
Calling all 6950 2GB owners - unlock details.

^^ yes sapphires can be unlocked but not as safely as gigabyte. Rchi84 will answer your questions better. His unlocked 6950 was unstable in furmark but stable in all other benches.

See when you unlock the shaders without incrementing the clocks, the performance difference is almost negligible. Taking the clocks to 6970 level requires you to increment the vcore and i had heard that doing do, had damaged many cards. Rchi84 was saying so.

^^Calling all 6950 2GB owners - unlock details.

I have unlocked my Sapphire 6950 2 GB with shaders only patch using wizzards script. I urge everyone to use wizzards patch not just use a 6970 bios for the following reasons :-
1. Less risk, the script just modifies the bios to enable the additional shaders leaving everything else untouched. The 6950's memory is rated at 1250 mhz unlike the 6970's which is rated at 1500 mhz. The timings are also tighter for the 6970, so man people believe that this is what is causing permanent damage to a small number of flashed 6950's. So far no one has reported an issue with just unlocking the shaders.
2. You get voltage control using AfterBurner. Afterburner does not support voltage control on 6950 flashed with 6970 bios.
3. Lesser power consumption/noise/temperature. I am running at 850/1400 stock voltages and it runs very stable for hours on furmark and kombuster and the temperature hits 79 max at 45 % fan speed (custom more aggressive fan profile).
The only disadvantage I faced is that I have to run a overclocking software like Afterburner to bump up clocks to 6970 levels.

though its less than 6970's 870 but still not bad.

sapphire again and 2 in crossfire -

the heat and power consumption after unlocking is around the same ball park as a reference HD 6970....but I am having trouble running these two puppies at HD 6970 speeds....so i would say the unlocking of shaders will get u to about 95% of a stock clocked 6970 performance....for example my 6950 unlocked in xfire is roughly equivalent to the 6990 at stock clocks ( 830-C 5Ghz-M) which in turn is around 5-6 % slower than 6970 xfire (880-C 5.5ghz-M)

he has crossfired but not able to run at 6970 speeds.

and BTW see newegg.
msi is also 100% stable after oc.

coming to msi one -

Newegg.com - MSI R6950-2PM2D2GD5 Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

Purchased this card in early April and immediately unlocked the 6970 shaders. Running at stock 6970 speeds (880/1375) with no problems. Performance and value are amazing. I am running Dragon Age 2 at 1920x1200, Direct X 11, Full AA and AF, Ultra High quality and averaging 40 FPS.