BSOD when installing drivers after flashing RX 470 Strix Gaming

[nu1mlock]

Hello,

I'm having quite some problems getting two Asus RX 470 4GB Strix Gaming to work with modified BIOS. They work just fine (although extremely slow at about 20MH/s ETH) without modded BIOS but I can't get them to work with a modded BIOS at all.

As soon as I install drivers after flashing the cards, I get BSOD at boot. When installing drivers with signature check disabled I get BSOD during driver installation. I've tried three different drivers, including 16.12-something and 17.4.3 with the exact same result.

I've tried Anorak's BIOS' and also modified the original BIOS with changed timings. Same result for both.

I can still flash back to original BIOS just fine.

Thanks!

Edit: Thanks to xxcsu I was able to use the cards without BSOD. I'm still trying to increase the hash rate though, since I'm now only getting 22.7MH/s.
I also thought there was something wrong with everything since Afterburner wouldn't show or let me change temperature, memory and clock speed. Reason for this was because I had the monitor plugged into the integrated GPU (on purpose).

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[xxcsu]

Why are you installing drivers after flashed the cards ?
Are you sure the flashed bios version number is exactly the same what you have on your cards
Same model cards can have a different bioses .

[nu1mlock]

Why are you installing drivers after flashed the cards ?
Are you sure the flashed bios version number is exactly the same what you have on your cards
Same model cards can have a different bioses .

The PC started BSOD after I flashed the cards so I had to remove the drivers with DDU from safe mode. Then the PC worked fine (but without drivers of course). When I then went to install the drivers without signature check, the PC started BSOD again.

I can of course install the drivers as usual with signature check enabled, but then the cards doesn't work.

I am sure that I'm flashing the correct BIOS. I'm just modifying the original BIOS.

[xxcsu]

I've tried Anorak's BIOS' and also modified the original BIOS with changed timings. Same result for both.
I can still flash back to original BIOS just fine.
Thanks!

use DDU , then try older driver without signature check : non-whql-win10-64bit-radeon-software-crimson-16.11.5 or earlier
https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/amd-radeon-software-crimson-16-11-5-driver-download.html

What Windows version are you using ?  7/10 ?  32/64bit ?

You might need a fresh win installation to fix your problem , if the vga bios flash is ok

[nu1mlock]

I tried 16.11.5 that you linked and also 16.7.3 (I think it was) but while they worked and didn't BSOD, they didn't seem to give an increase in hash rate. Same goes for the bios that I modified with the timings. Didn't seem to add anything at all.

I'm totally lost right now.

Also, MSI Afterburner doesn't show temperature or memory or core clock speed. Neither did Sapphire Trixx when I tried that instead. I also can't change anything in MSI Afterburner, even with the original bios.

I'm using Windows 10 64bit. Everything worked just fine when that PC only had a single Sapphire Nitro 470 card but nothing seems to work properly when I exchanged it (RMA) for the two Asus cards. Granted, I can mine with the original bios but they're mining at 20MH/s ETG + 500 DCR.

Perhaps I'm not modifying the bios properly - I haven't overclocked it any, only changed the timings (tried 1500 and 1650 (or whatever it was)) but it all seems very wrong.

[xxcsu]

easy to say , hard to do , but if im You , i would try a fresh win 10 install . just wind 10 , mobo drivers , vga driver without signature check.
Also what windows version are you using ? home ? pro ? enterprise ?
windows is automatically updating the hardware drivers in the background if this function is not disabled
did you set the virtual mem for 16GB or larger ?
those crads dont have dual bios right ?

[nu1mlock]

easy to say , hard to do , but if im You , i would try a fresh win 10 install . just wind 10 , mobo drivers , vga driver without signature check.
Also what windows version are you using ? home ? pro ? enterprise ?
windows is automatically updating the hardware drivers in the background if this function is not disabled
did you set the virtual mem for 16GB or larger ?

I would rather not reinstall Windows unless I really, really have to. It's my daughter's PC and it's mining when she's at her mother.

I'm using Windows Home, drivers are set to not update through DDU but it doesn't seem to work. Either way, Windows isn't currently overwriting the drivers as I have installed the latest since nothing else worked anyway. I have 16.5GB virtual memory.

[xxcsu]

any chance you can try those cards one by one in another PC ?

[nu1mlock]

any chance you can try those cards one by one in another PC ?

Yeah, I can if I have to. I had hoped for a simpler solution though.

[xxcsu]

if the carsd are working fine with another computer , then you know for sure you will need a fresh win 10 install on your current pc
what motherboard are u using ? the pcie  is set for gen1 in the bios ?
just noticed you pc was running fine with one nitro card , but then u replaced 1 nitro to 2 asus and after that you getting problems
"single Sapphire Nitro 470 card but nothing seems to work properly when I exchanged it (RMA) for the two Asus cards"
you probably should check the bios settings , and search for a pcie gen settings option, and choose GEN 1

[nu1mlock]

Okay, I've been playing around a bit more with modding the bios (it's my first time, I only downloaded and flashed a pre-modded bios on my previous Sapphire Nitro) and I've gotten it from 20MH/s ETH + 500MH/s DCR to 22.7MH/s ETH + 500MH/s DCR.

It does seem to work with the 16.11.5 drivers after all. So thank you for that link!

However, I'm not really sure how to properly tune the bios for maximum performance (power is not an issue). I'll be doing some searching but any extra help would be extremely appreciated.

If I can't get these two up to 25MH/s then I think I'm going to have to return them. I've seen posts on the forum claiming 26MH/s but no info on much else.

I had something arount 28.6MH/s ETH + 645MH/s DCR with the single Nitro card, but then again it was a more expensive card and also had 8GB instead of 4GB which these two have. I know it was a "downgrade" but since I got the two cards in exchange for a single Nitro, I thought it would be worth it - at least when people on the forum claim to be able to get 26MH/s with it. After all, 52MH/s is better than 28.6MH/s.

And while 45MH/s is better than 28.6MH/s, I would rather pay an extra €20 to get two other cards instead that might be better. If, again, I can't get them up to 25MH/s each.

Edit: Some numbers. Also, I changed to Gen1 just in case (it was on Auto) but no change in speed at least, though I don't know if it should.

Edit 2: I also found out why Afterburner didn't show temperature or would let me change memory or clock speed. It was because I had the monitor plugged in to the integrated GPU. On purpose, since it's enough for my daughter and the games she play. If I plug the monitor into one of the GPU's then everything will lag since they're mining.

Edit 3: I've gotten one of the cards to 24.8MH/s ETH while also mining DCR at 790MH/s. So that's a big improvement from previously. However, only one of the cards gets that speed. The second card (which is a lot hotter because it's the top card) can't seem to go above 23.4MH/s ETH + 750MH/s DCR. They are both using the same BIOS and settings but that card seems to also use less power for some reason. It's not being throttled by temperature (at least not yet).