Hi guys,

First time builder here, I got my PC up and running last week, everything was going fine. Up until last night, I was playing Metro 2033 when all of a sudden some weird artifacting started to happen and my PC crashed, and the only way to get it run again was to restore my system to a previous point in time.

I decided to just completely format everything and install Windows 7 with a clean slate, as to avoid any future problems. Everything is fine up until I install the drivers for my HD Radeon 7950. When the system reboots after installing the drivers, all I get is the Windows start up screen, and after that, nothing. Black screen. Sometimes I get to see little parts of the blue user-profile screen, sometimes I get to see nothing at all and just get crazy stripes all over my TV.

I'll post my specs below, is there any solution to this?

Graphics Card

MSI Twin Frozr II HD Radeon 7950 3GB DDR5

No overclocking.

Operating System

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, Service Pack unknown to me at the time.

Issue Details

Black screen after installing drivers for a HD Radeon 7950. Worked fine for a week, playing several high-end games, flawlessly.

Motherboard or System Make & Model

ASRock Z77 Pro4-M Motherboard

Power Supply

OZC ModXStream Pro 500W

Display Device(s) and Connection(s) Used

A Philips HDTV from around 2007, which has worked without problems with multiple devices.

HDMI to DVI cable, I also have a DVI-female to HDMI-male plug, which hasn't shown any problems with other devices.

Application and Games

Not really relevant, I guess.

CPU Details

Intel Core i5-3570k 3.4 GHz

Also no overclocking.

Motherboard BIOS Version

Unknown. Changed nothing in the BIOS settings, though.

System Memory Type & Amount

RAM: 2x4 GB Corsair Vengeance Low Profile

HDD: 2.5'' Seagate 250GB SATA

Additional Hardware

My case is a Zalman Z11 Plus, which comes with 5 case-fans, 1 in the front, 1 on every side, and 2 in the upper back of the case. Temperature readings so far seem great. My optical drive is a Lite-On IHOS4 Blu-Ray reader.

Additional Details

My system has been installed with a clean version of Windows 7 Ultimate, all the drivers for the motherboard install without problems. But as soon as I install the drivers for the GPU, the only way I can actually do something with my PC, is to either turn to the onboard Intel HD4000, restore my system to a previous point in time or go into Safe Mode.

I've also tried using older driver versions, going into 640x480 mode (same problem with the black screen) and going into Safe Mode, uninstalling the drivers and installing them again. All to no avail.

I wouldn't expect heat to be a problem in a new machine with 5 fans in it... but it can't hurt to check.  I'm not sure if GPU-Z would work without drivers.  If it does, use that to check the temperatures on your GPU.  If it doesn't, just put your finger on the back of the card, where the GPU is.  Warm to the touch, but not super-hot is ok.  If you quickly experience pain... not ok.... so I guess it could hurt to check, just not for very long. 

Using some kind of driver cleaner seems necessary with the more recent drivers... A lot of people have run into trouble without it.  What other older drivers have you tried?  Unless you need some specific bug-fix(ha!) or feature... anything that supports the 7950 should do the trick.

Do not meddle in the affairs of archers, for they are subtle and quick to anger.
Post Count: +8510
Troll Hunter

The opinions expressed above do not represent those of Advanced Micro Devices or any of their affiliates.

The other driver I tried was Catalyst 12.4, IIRC.

Any solutions to this? This is really driving me mad.

Really? No one has a solution?

Cut a ticket with MSI, I think you have an RMA in your future.

W7 Ultimate x64: Corsair 800D, AX1200
Asus P8Z77 WS
i7 3770K @ 4.8Ghz
32GB RipJaws @ 1600
3x XFX BE 7970 CFX 1200/1600
OCZ V3 120GB, WD 2TB Black
Creative X-Fi Titanium
Dell U3011 + WFP2407 
Koolance 370 & EK GPU Water Blocks

I fixed the problem by plugging the GPU into a different PCI slot. What does this mean, and what repercussion might this have for the future?

Edit: Never mind, same problem occured as soon as I installed the drivers.

I know this may not be the prob, but he is using kinda like the bare minimum power supply for the card.

You may wanna check the power connecters to the card make sure it's hoooked up proper and the wires are cleaned up and not hangin around messing with your cards fan.

As for checkign the temp, If you open up your catalyst program and navigate to the "overdrive"   option you should see the gpu temp there.

if all else fails then I guess RMA