I have a 5970 that is acting up. I've taken it apart and examined it and it looks great. It wasn't damaged or anything like that. It just crashed and now will only work in safe mode. I have other cards running fine in the same rig, but I've tried switching slots, reformatting, trying different drivers and a lot of other suggestions I found on google... Nothing. I don't know too much about troubleshooting cards, and I had a friend take a quick look at it, who suggested changing the clock speeds (the memory was clocked very low and it was undervolted) but I have been unable to do so because I can't seem to do that in safe mode and can't get it to stay booted long enough regularly to make the adjustment.
The card is currently attached to a Danger Den waterblock and I've tried reattaching the stock cooler as well (it never got wet and there are no visible signs of burning). I'm open to suggestions to fix it, recommendations of someone on the forum who might be willing to get it working again, and offers from someone who wants to get a cheap watercooled 5970 that could potentially be fixed with the right knowledge.
Rig is running on windows 7 and has been stable for several months. I've tested using both 32 and 64 bit versions. It has plenty of power.
Thanks for reading.
Most likely one of the GPU cores is dead. It'll boot fine when the system is only using 2D, but the moment it tried to fire up the GPU, it will lock up.