Lets Solve the unreliable 7970 issues.... (share your observations/input)

[blewerwes1]

ok so i have the same problem. I have the msi ref oc model as shown here...... http://us.msi.com/product/vga/R7970-2PMD3GD5-OC.html. Mining Litecoins and i struggle with the 500 range. Highest I have hit is 560 khs. I have tried every config. New drivers, new cgminer etc. I even went as far as to try and flash the card... Key words try to flash the card. IN my experience flashing has been easy. Usb stick formatted, throw your bios on there w boot files, and atiflash, reboot flash and your golden. This msi card is running me up the road. When starting the flash atiflash.exe -i 0 I get adapter not found, that problem occurs with any pcie slot number i put in. I have the big bang marshall so I have 8 pcie slots. If I just force flash using atiflash.exe -f -p 0 GIG.rom I get the adapter not found error 0fl01... which usually refers to a bricked card.. My delimna, this card has never been flashed, nor has the bios been edited. SO why am I getting this message.?

  Being stubborn and not ready to accept failure I decide lets flash this bitch in windows using atiwinflash. LOl FAIL... not even atiwinflash will work. So I decided maybe I can use the msi live update from their site, and auto install new bios...... I download the update install it, andf it says my bios are up to date.
   What is confusing me is the settings that Im changing should give me more than just a 5-10 kh/s bump.
  Before we start hashing out the easy noobie answers remember or keep in mind Ive been piddling w bat files, and cgminer configs for a week now. And, have tried just about every setting out there. My sweet spot is 1070/1500 which produces 560 kh/s.
  The flashing is also confusing me, like I said Ive flashed several cards.. 5850s, 6950s,6970s,and 2 other 7970s, never seen this error.
Here is my config file incase I have just over looked something

,
"intensity" : "13",
"vectors" : "1",
"worksize" : "256",
"kernel" : "scrypt",
"lookup-gap" : "2",
"thread-concurrency" : "8192",
"shaders" : "2048",
"gpu-engine" : "0-1045",
"gpu-fan" : "0-85",
"gpu-memclock" : "1500",
"gpu-memdiff" : "0",
"gpu-powertune" : "20",
"gpu-vddc" : "0.000",
"temp-cutoff" : "95",
"temp-overheat" : "85",
"temp-target" : "75",
"api-mcast-port" : "4028",
"api-port" : "4028",
"expiry" : "120",
"failover-only" : true,
"gpu-dyninterval" : "7",
"gpu-platform" : "0",
"gpu-threads" : "1",
"hotplug" : "5",
"log" : "5",
"no-pool-disable" : true,
"queue" : "1",
"scan-time" : "60",
"scrypt" : true,
"temp-hysteresis" : "3",
"shares" : "0",
"load-balance" : true,
"kernel-path" : "/usr/local/bin"
}


Please help, I know alot of people will throw suggestions, and possible fixes, but one ltc goes to the man or woman who posts the lucky fix for me. Ive already thrown away a few ltc's today trying to get this fixed.

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[Publius]

Here is the solution for the 7970 Ghz card. Mine is a Sapphire 7970 Vapor.

Flash with this bios  http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/127156/GigabyteHD7970.3072.120905.html
635 kh/s @ 900/1580 -I 13 -w 256 -g 2 TC 11200
Thanks to asmzx for this fix.

Flashing 7970 is a breeze, I'll tell you the steps I took to get it working.

Flash Sapphire 7970 Vapor:

Download Rufus http://rufus.akeo.ie/  or create a bootable USB drive

Get ATIFlash http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2230/ATIFlash_4.07.html

Copy ATIFlash and the bios to the USB drive

To boot from your USB, just press F8 after you power on your computer and it should bring up the boot menu, if not keep resetting until you get it.
Select your USB from there and it should boot you to DOS/ATIFlash.

Code:

atiflash.exe -i

Gets the device ID of the card

Code:

atiflash.exe -f -p 0 new.bin

Use the number you got from the first step instead of 0 if it is different. Also change the name to whatever you named your BIOS.
For me, I named my BIOS "new.bin". Wait until it is successful and then reboot.

That's it, enjoy 630+ speeds without melting your card!

LTC  Ld19ZpNDcnTKQr1b8K1dWSwRXPd6zSxPkN

Hello! I precisely followed this above quoted post and am still stuck at low hashing with my 2 7970's. In fact I only flashed one 7970 and left the other one OEM to have a live comparison. They are still hash identical after the flash. Here's my setup:
SMOS/BAMT/cgminer 3.2.1
Gigabyte A970+D3P mobo
AMD Sempron 2.8Ghz proc
4GB Corsair memory
2x XFX 7970 DD (box says 79-2797TDJV1-00-D).

I'm running GPU 0 on OEM BIOS, GPU 1 on the flash from the quoted one above. Both hash at 345kH/s which of course is a huge problem. I once got GPU 1 near 480kH/s but instantly got the "nonce" errors before it hard crashed and went "sick" on me. If intensity is set above 13 it freaks out right away.

Both GPUs are currently stable and running like this:
Engine: 1125
Memory: 1575
Intensity: 13
Powertune: 20
Voltage: both appear locked but OEM is 1.175V and flashed is at 1.170V
Fans: 90%
Concurrency: 8192 all the way up to 40960, never seems to make any difference how I set it.

When I plug the system into a Kill-A-Watt and take turns disabling GPUs, they are both only pulling 160-175 Watts apiece so obviously besides hash rate the GPUs are using WAY less electricity than they should at full hashing. I get different setting ranges now between the 2 GPUs due to the different BIOS but they are only stable at 1125/1575 or below it would seem. If I can just get it stable at intensity 20 maybe that would get me up to the high 600's or even break into the 700's.

I'm definitely down to tip if someone gets this resolved with me as I'm wasting time and watching difficulty rise. If it matters, I think the box says 925mhz/1375mhz core/mem speeds. I can verify later if it needed.

[dwma]

I bought a visiontek 7970 and have never been able to get over 419ish.  So I thought this bios flashing would be an instant fix but was hesistant to pull the trigger.  It took me a bit, but i located the dipswitch for dual bios.  (It is tiny, on the top by the crossfire connects)

So I tried the standard tahiti bios everyone recommends to make it into a ghz addition.  Xwindows will not load with it.  I was able to boot into Windows once before the new drivers were loaded.  After that I got blue-screened.  http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/index.php?page=1&architecture=ATI&manufacturer=ATI&model=HD+7970&interface=&memSize=3072 is where I found the bios.  It is the latest from ATI.  It works as well as http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/116807/visiontek-hd7970-3072-111207.html which is the one visiontek bios on techpowerup.  I don't see any other alternatives.  I am about ready to put the old bios back and use the card for awhile and return it.  I would have never bought these things but the 7900 family was not really available when I sold my BTC as the peak.

Vision Tek 7970 HD - Do not buy this card.  Warning. 

Are there any other bios's ?   I've searched all over the web and there aren't that many mentions of this brand of card.  Supposedly lifetime warranty if you register within 30 days.  I am going to opt to return because I see no solution besides a very hot card running barely in excess of 400 khash.  Visiontek or vision tek 7970 HD should never be purchased for scrypt mining unless someone has some other solution and yes I've done my share of tweaking to cgminer and NEVER did I hit 420.

I also bought a broken 7970 sapphire dualx.  The 2nd fan doesnt work and possibly the gpu temperatue.  I am going to return it since I can't service it not being the original owner, but I suspect I'd have better luck with and replacing the cooler than these visiontek cards.

[Publius]

Can anyone help me out? Besides my 2 half speed 7970 XFX DD cards I also now have added 2x Sapphire Vapor-X r9 280x cards to a different system and it too will not hash above 347kh/s. So apparently it's a cgminer setting? I need help asap and will tip whoever gets me going in whichever coin they prefer. If I need to ask this in a different topic please tell me where.

Here's my cgminer.conf:

Code:

{
"pools" : [
{
"url" : "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
"user" : "xxxxxxxxxxxxx",
"pass" : "xxxx"
}
],
"intensity" : "13",
"worksize" : "128",
"kernel" : "scrypt",
"lookup-gap" : "0",
"sharethreads" : "48",
"shaders" : "2048",
"thread-concurrency" : "8192",
"api-port" : "4028",
"expiry" : "120",
"gpu-dyninterval" : "7",
"gpu-powertune" : "20",
"gpu-fan" : "95",
"gpu-engine" : "1125",
"gpu-memclock" : "1575",
"gpu-platform" : "0",
"gpu-threads" : "2",
"hotplug" : "5",
"log" : "5",
"no-pool-disable" : true,
"queue" : "1",
"scan-time" : "60",
"scrypt" : true
}

Here is the solution for the 7970 Ghz card. Mine is a Sapphire 7970 Vapor.

Flash with this bios  http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/127156/GigabyteHD7970.3072.120905.html
635 kh/s @ 900/1580 -I 13 -w 256 -g 2 TC 11200
Thanks to asmzx for this fix.

Flashing 7970 is a breeze, I'll tell you the steps I took to get it working.

Flash Sapphire 7970 Vapor:

Download Rufus http://rufus.akeo.ie/  or create a bootable USB drive

Get ATIFlash http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2230/ATIFlash_4.07.html

Copy ATIFlash and the bios to the USB drive

To boot from your USB, just press F8 after you power on your computer and it should bring up the boot menu, if not keep resetting until you get it.
Select your USB from there and it should boot you to DOS/ATIFlash.

Code:

atiflash.exe -i

Gets the device ID of the card

Code:

atiflash.exe -f -p 0 new.bin

Use the number you got from the first step instead of 0 if it is different. Also change the name to whatever you named your BIOS.
For me, I named my BIOS "new.bin". Wait until it is successful and then reboot.

That's it, enjoy 630+ speeds without melting your card!

LTC  Ld19ZpNDcnTKQr1b8K1dWSwRXPd6zSxPkN

Hello! I precisely followed this above quoted post and am still stuck at low hashing with my 2 7970's. In fact I only flashed one 7970 and left the other one OEM to have a live comparison. They are still hash identical after the flash. Here's my setup:
SMOS/BAMT/cgminer 3.2.1
Gigabyte A970+D3P mobo
AMD Sempron 2.8Ghz proc
4GB Corsair memory
2x XFX 7970 DD (box says 79-2797TDJV1-00-D).

I'm running GPU 0 on OEM BIOS, GPU 1 on the flash from the quoted one above. Both hash at 345kH/s which of course is a huge problem. I once got GPU 1 near 480kH/s but instantly got the "nonce" errors before it hard crashed and went "sick" on me. If intensity is set above 13 it freaks out right away.

Both GPUs are currently stable and running like this:
Engine: 1125
Memory: 1575
Intensity: 13
Powertune: 20
Voltage: both appear locked but OEM is 1.175V and flashed is at 1.170V
Fans: 90%
Concurrency: 8192 all the way up to 40960, never seems to make any difference how I set it.

When I plug the system into a Kill-A-Watt and take turns disabling GPUs, they are both only pulling 160-175 Watts apiece so obviously besides hash rate the GPUs are using WAY less electricity than they should at full hashing. I get different setting ranges now between the 2 GPUs due to the different BIOS but they are only stable at 1125/1575 or below it would seem. If I can just get it stable at intensity 20 maybe that would get me up to the high 600's or even break into the 700's.

I'm definitely down to tip if someone gets this resolved with me as I'm wasting time and watching difficulty rise. If it matters, I think the box says 925mhz/1375mhz core/mem speeds. I can verify later if it needed.

[groovadelickun]

ok so i have the same problem. I have the msi ref oc model as shown here...... http://us.msi.com/product/vga/R7970-2PMD3GD5-OC.html. Mining Litecoins and i struggle with the 500 range. Highest I have hit is 560 khs. I have tried every config. New drivers, new cgminer etc. I even went as far as to try and flash the card... Key words try to flash the card. IN my experience flashing has been easy. Usb stick formatted, throw your bios on there w boot files, and atiflash, reboot flash and your golden. This msi card is running me up the road. When starting the flash atiflash.exe -i 0 I get adapter not found, that problem occurs with any pcie slot number i put in. I have the big bang marshall so I have 8 pcie slots. If I just force flash using atiflash.exe -f -p 0 GIG.rom I get the adapter not found error 0fl01... which usually refers to a bricked card.. My delimna, this card has never been flashed, nor has the bios been edited. SO why am I getting this message.?

  Being stubborn and not ready to accept failure I decide lets flash this bitch in windows using atiwinflash. LOl FAIL... not even atiwinflash will work. So I decided maybe I can use the msi live update from their site, and auto install new bios...... I download the update install it, andf it says my bios are up to date.
   What is confusing me is the settings that Im changing should give me more than just a 5-10 kh/s bump.
  Before we start hashing out the easy noobie answers remember or keep in mind Ive been piddling w bat files, and cgminer configs for a week now. And, have tried just about every setting out there. My sweet spot is 1070/1500 which produces 560 kh/s.
  The flashing is also confusing me, like I said Ive flashed several cards.. 5850s, 6950s,6970s,and 2 other 7970s, never seen this error.
Here is my config file incase I have just over looked something

,
"intensity" : "13",
"vectors" : "1",
"worksize" : "256",
"kernel" : "scrypt",
"lookup-gap" : "2",
"thread-concurrency" : "8192",
"shaders" : "2048",
"gpu-engine" : "0-1045",
"gpu-fan" : "0-85",
"gpu-memclock" : "1500",
"gpu-memdiff" : "0",
"gpu-powertune" : "20",
"gpu-vddc" : "0.000",
"temp-cutoff" : "95",
"temp-overheat" : "85",
"temp-target" : "75",
"api-mcast-port" : "4028",
"api-port" : "4028",
"expiry" : "120",
"failover-only" : true,
"gpu-dyninterval" : "7",
"gpu-platform" : "0",
"gpu-threads" : "1",
"hotplug" : "5",
"log" : "5",
"no-pool-disable" : true,
"queue" : "1",
"scan-time" : "60",
"scrypt" : true,
"temp-hysteresis" : "3",
"shares" : "0",
"load-balance" : true,
"kernel-path" : "/usr/local/bin"
}


Please help, I know alot of people will throw suggestions, and possible fixes, but one ltc goes to the man or woman who posts the lucky fix for me. Ive already thrown away a few ltc's today trying to get this fixed.

Did you ever have any success?  I have the same card and same problem.  I've tried the MSI BIOS's listed on Techpowerup without much success.   
I also posted my problem in a separate thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=200777.msg4567267#msg4567267

I've been on a Googling marathon to find a solution, but I've yet to find one. 

[pyromaniac]

Please, help me with my PowerColor 7990 card. It has a very low hashrate, about 1090 k/hash per 2 GPU cores. Settings from litecoin mining wiki did not work for me. I think all the problems due to the BIOS and high latencies.

[FiatKiller]

Please, help me with my PowerColor 7990 card. It has a very low hashrate, about 1090 k/hash per 2 GPU cores. Settings from litecoin mining wiki did not work for me. I think all the problems due to the BIOS and high latencies.

We are 7970 experts. Maybe start a new thread? I would sell and buy a script ASIC though... my days of hassling with those is over.
lol

[pyromaniac]

Please, help me with my PowerColor 7990 card. It has a very low hashrate, about 1090 k/hash per 2 GPU cores. Settings from litecoin mining wiki did not work for me. I think all the problems due to the BIOS and high latencies.

We are 7970 experts. Maybe start a new thread? I would sell and buy a script ASIC though... my days of hassling with those is over.
lol

Yea, you're right about a new thread. But I don't think days of GPU mining are numbered. Vertcoin is a new alternative crypto currency, which takes place of Litecoin.