What did i do to my cards?

[Remember remember the 5th of November]

This is the problem i have.

I have a 5850 and a 5870. The 5870 is like 3-3.5 months old.

The problem is that sometimes, randomly either card blacks out. What does that mean? My monitor goes in standby, and the GPU fan speeds up to 100%.

Here's how it all happened. Before i bought the 5870 i had just the 5850 and was mining with it. I back then overclocked my 5850 to 950mhz core and 475 mem. It ran for about 2 weeks before displaying this problem. The max i bumped the voltage on the 5850 was 1.2mV and then i reverted to stock clocks when the problem even appeared as i just rebooted. Nevertheless the card continued to work. I bought a 5870 and mined with it for...2.5-3 months again overclocked to 950 mhz and 300 mem when it ALSO started having the exact same problem. But on the 5870 i did not increase the voltage as much as the 5850.

The 5850 is fine, it hasnt "crashed" in a long long time, but the 5870 on the other hand does. Last time it crashed i thought it was dead, as i removed it from my motherboard and replugged it again, the fan was still in its speedup phase...i removed the card thinking it was dead. But after an hour of cooling off it suddently worked again.

Here are links to people with similar problems, some even with the same as mine

http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=260&threadid=135188
http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=260&threadid=101656
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=31718.msg400581#msg400581

ATM my 5870 and 5850 are not overclocked.

Tbh, is it possible i went and screwed two cards? Or could it be my PSU? My psu is a Chieftec 600w, outputs 576w on the 12v+ rails(i have 4). And just so you know, while two cards and a phenom do cut it close with this PSU, the problem occured on my 5850 when i didn't have a 5870. So it could be the PSU, or i've destroyed two cards.

P.S
When this blackout occurs, rebooting doesnt help. I have to actually shutdown the computer and then start it again so that the card can work again.

[1714181727]

1714181727

[PatrickHarnett]

Are you monitoring temps?  Say with Afterburner or similar?

[Remember remember the 5th of November]

Constantly actually. Since day one of bitcoin mining, afterburner is open... Actually i also tried to think out of the box and thought it could be afterburner polling too often or something, but its not like Afterburner was open the times when the problem occured when i was idling with both cards...or the time when my 5870 didnt start for a whole hour.

[RyNinDaCleM]

The problem is that sometimes, randomly either card blacks out. What does that mean? My monitor goes in standby, and the GPU fan speeds up to 100%.


P.S
When this blackout occurs, rebooting doesnt help. I have to actually shutdown the computer and then start it again so that the card can work again.

The first part sounds like too high OC, and just hard locking the PC. The post script however, that sounds like PSU to me!

My psu is a Chieftec 600w, outputs 576w on the 12v+ rails(i have 4).

And, this PSU sounds suspect at very least!
I'd recommend testing the 12v rails of the PSU. It is likely struggling to put out the required amperage per +12v PCIe. 
Test at full load for voltage spikes or drops. You may also want to use a junk card (like nVidia or some other garbage, Lol) to test so you don't kill a good card with potentially dirty power.

[Remember remember the 5th of November]

This problem has never occured when i am gaming. A few days ago i launched minecraft, but paused it via Escape key and even alt-tabbed from the game to my browser.
After that i used the vacuum cleaner and kinda hit the case a bit a few times while cleaning around the PC...next thing i notice the problem had occurred. Makes me wonder if it's shorting somewhere.

[jjiimm_64]

1.  spend 150 bucks and get a decent psu.
2.  dont push the cards...900/300 will get you just as many shares as 940/300. and definitely don't overvolt. 

" if you buy and car and floor it, how long do you think it will last.  put the car on cruise control."

[Remember remember the 5th of November]

Tbh i am indeed starting to think it may be the PSU.

I was mining with my 5850, and saw that the fan did not speed up even after i had set it to 68 percent..the GPU was 90C. I stopped mining immediately and plugged in my extra fan, when the blackout occured for the first time in a long time on the 5850.
I shutdown pc, started it again, then it was the 5870(on which i gamed some CS 1.6;two times it blacked out). This was very very weird, which led me to believe it is the PSU.

[m3sSh3aD]

1.  spend 150 bucks and get a decent psu.
2.  dont push the cards...900/300 will get you just as many shares as 940/300. and definitely don't overvolt.  

" if you buy and car and floor it, how long do you think it will last.  put the car on cruise control."

Don't over-volt, Your one crazy man not getting the most out of your hardware, theres at LEAST a 15% overhead on EVERY ELECTRONIC GOODS SOLD. i run 5850's at 965/300 @1.193V (they do 1000/300) and they come 725/1000  @ 1.088V stock. multiply that by 8 as i have 8 of them and its like having 11 cards, not 8. Up to you but as long as GPU is below 85, 90 max, VRM's below 110 you wont have an issue. At least for 3 years which if your still using them then you'll be wasteing alot of power per m/hash you'll be getting. Then again, new architechre of AMD will ruin it for miners so its looking like FPGA is the way to go.

Back on note, Just take the system apart and back together again, Just incase its a silly loose connection. Sounds stupid but this as helped me no end in the past. Never actually finding the cause of the problem though. Your OC's might be high, If the cards were new and you pushed them without 'wearing them in' they may not be able hold at what they first did. Try a slight lower clock.

Is it warmer where you are? Extra heat means extra stress. Why i put mine to 965 and not 1000 @1.2V, just allows for fluctuations in ambient temperture more.

Failing that, ballache but try running each card individually. Check the fans are ok on them, i had 2 XFX's sease up on me. Cheap parts. So many things its just a matter of fiddling and narrowing down the search I'd pin it on your PSU though, so try the 5870 alone and see how it goes. THat will be a good indicator of PSU problem. Corair AX series i cant reccomend enough, Pricey yes, but you know its not your PSU then. there 1200W can do 1550 on 12V single rail with little fluctuation

[Remember remember the 5th of November]

I think i finally after months found my problem and if i am correct(or coincidence) my cards may NOT be broken at all.

Basically, as i said before i was using the vacuum cleaner friday when i hit the case a bit and the problem occurred. I 30 minutes ago hit the case a bit on purpose and successfully reproduced the said problem 100% of all the 3-4 times i did it.


The problem was that the graphics card was slightly(micro-vibrations in previous cases) or severely tilted(my experiment) causing the card to..i don't know..disconnected from the slot. After adding more screws and tightening up the screws a bit more, i think i may have permanently solved my problem. Though only for the 5870 as i don't have that much screws left for the other card.

But like I said, if this was the problem, then the cards were NEVER broken. If it was just a coincidence then fu*k me.

[m3sSh3aD]

I think i finally after months found my problem and if i am correct(or coincidence) my cards may NOT be broken at all.

Basically, as i said before i was using the vacuum cleaner friday when i hit the case a bit and the problem occurred. I 30 minutes ago hit the case a bit on purpose and successfully reproduced the said problem 100% of all the 3-4 times i did it.


The problem was that the graphics card was slightly(micro-vibrations in previous cases) or severely tilted(my experiment) causing the card to..i don't know..disconnected from the slot. After adding more screws and tightening up the screws a bit more, i think i may have permanently solved my problem. Though only for the 5870 as i don't have that much screws left for the other card.

But like I said, if this was the problem, then the cards were NEVER broken. If it was just a coincidence then fu*k me.

 this is why i said take the rig apart and back together again. It usually fixes issues such as this. I hope you have found the problem anyways mate

[Remember remember the 5th of November]

Ok so it might not be the slot. I have made assumptions about the extra power connectors that are plugged in most cards.

But this raises the question why i got these problems before i bought the 5870 as i was using the original for my 5850 which are pretty solid. So, after jerking the power connectors a bit, the card did the said problem, the power connectors for the 5870 are a bit...hand-made and are pretty loose when i was jerking them.

So in the end, it could be(or again a coincidence) the power connectors, but as i said, before the 5870 i had only a 5850 and the original power connectors which are pretty hard to get out actually yet i still got that problem multiple times(20 before the 5870).