I have been experiencing this Black Screen w/ Buzzing Noise and Black Screen w/o Buzzing Noise with my 7870.

my Specs: all parts are brand new

VGA: Sapphire 7870 (Non-OC ed)

PROC: Intel i5-2400 (stock fans/not overclocked)

MB: ASUS H61 M LE USB3 (BIOS is updated ASUS BIOS 4203)

PSU: FSP AURUM 600W 80+ GOLD

RAM: Corsair Vengeance LP 2 X 4GB (8GB)

HDD: WD 500GB BLUE

OS: Win 7 Home Premium FPP (ORIGINAL)

DVD: Samsung 22X

Monitor: HP X2301 Sword

Case: NZXT Vulcan

Details:

Crashes on Battlefield 3 Multiplayer (Multiplayer only)

tried 12.3 to 12.7 Beta Drivers and the Crash still occur.

BIOS is already updated to ASUS BIOS 4203 (latest)

BF3 Drivers are updated

AMD Drivers are updated (currently on 12.7 Beta)

also Updated Windows Update (ALL of IT)

all drivers are from their respective OFFICIAL SITES.

I have contacted AMD Support and they told me to return the card to the shop where I bought it to have it checked.

I have already returned my 7870 to the shop I bought it and it was TESTED by the distributor.

Passed PRIME95, Passed Furmark, Passed Memtest, Passed Heaven DX11, Passed 3DMark06, Passed FFXIV Benchmark.

they told me that they cannot find anything wrong and was just returned to me w/o a fix.

 

the Black Screen occurs randomly...I can play for weeks w/o it showing up and sometimes it occurs day after another. It occurs with a Buzzing Sound and w/o a Buzzing Sound.

Sound is coming from the Audio Speaker and not from the FANS.

the Monitor will then SLEEP when it occurs (BSOD) and the only way to return to Normal is to Hard reset the Computer.

the black screen doesn't occur when I'm using IGP of my mobo. so the problem is the 7870.

There are so many 7870 users with this problem.

just search 7870 BLACK SCREEN and it would show up.

I can LINK you to other people who I've talked with in other forums that are having the same problem.

This Black Screen occurs with Battlefield 3 Multiplayer, World of Warcraft, SKYRIM, League of Legends.

Browsing are fine, other games are FINE too.

ALL TEMPS are Fine too. it's not Overheating in any way.

PLS. HELP.

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update 09-18-2012

Known Suggested Fixes that Failed. (collected from other users)

-using other cables (HDMI/DVI)

-using a single monitor or multiple monitor.

-using a dedicated Sound Card (I've talked to people using a dedicated soundcard that is still having issues)

-using a usb headset w/ it's own soundcard driver (fails as well)

-Undervolting/Overvolting

-OC

-upgrading mobo/proc to Ivy Bridge/Z77 (as we can see...there are users that is having the problem to even with this build)

-changing to another brand of 7870 (ASUS, MSI, XFX, Sapphire, Gigabyte, Powercolor are the ones that have been reported to have the issues...not sure if other brands have it or not)

-----------------------------------

Thanks for sharing your experience with your 7870.

this problem just occured.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikXwVKvgSBQ 

I'm not sure if this replaced the black screen problem found on the 7870 (search 7870 black screen on Google)

share your updated experiences regarding the 7870 and BF3 errors.
(I'd update this in case the Black Screen issue shows up on me again...or if something happens)

please include other details of what you have tried so far, so we can see any options we might missed. Maybe there's something similar in our builds that are causing the issue.

1) what are your specs?

i5-2400
ASUS H61 M LE USB3
FSP AURUM 600W 80+ Gold
Sapphire 7870 non-OC ed
Corsair Vengeance LP 2X4GB (8GB)
WD BLUE 500GB

Windows 7 Home Premium FPP 64bit
NZXT Vulcan

2) did you OC anything?

NO

(if you did...) does it also appear on stock clocks? 

not OC'ed. yes I'm on stock settings.

3) what 7870 drivers are you using?

-I'm using 12.7 Beta (downloaded from Sapphire, I downloaded from AMD before)

 

How did you install all the AMD Catalyst...did you install all of them or only the drivers?

 

-I installed all except the Accelerated Video Transcoding
(I noticed that the 12.7 beta had the option for it not to be installed while 12.8 does not have that option)

-from which site did you download the Drivers? (I want to see if drivers from the brand would have an effect)

-I downloaded my driver from AMD site.

-I'm now trying 12.7 Beta from Sapphire site.

and what 7870 drivers have you tried?

-12.3 to 12.8

-I haven't tried unofficial drivers and wouldn't...

4) have you updated the drivers?

-yes

BIOS version?

-I updated my mobo BIOS to ASUS 4204 (was 4203 before)

Chipset driver?

-I updated my Chipset driver (downloaded from ASUS this is my chipset driver Intel_Chipset_V9301019_XPVistaWin7)

Soundcard driver?

-I updated my realtek Driver (driver version 6.0.1.6526)

Game driver? (what games do you experience this issue?)

-all are up to date. BF3 (in Multiplayer only)

any other drivers you've updated? (pls. indicate)

-all from Windows Update (except the optional updates)

5) how did you connect your 7870? Dual 6pin from a single atx cable or a separated 6pin atx cable?

-I'm now using a separated 6pin atx cable, I was using Dual 6pin from a single atx cable before.

6) what is your AVG and MAX VRM TEMP? 

-I've seen my VRM Temp 60C in AVG and it goes 225C MAX (GPUZ detects that it's spiking...not sure if that's normal) 

 

 

---------------TEMPLATE---------------

common questions:

1) what are your specs?

2) did you OC anything?

   (if you did...) does it also appear on stock clocks? 

3) what 7870 drivers are you using?

    How did you install all the AMD Catalyst...did you install all of them or only the drivers?

    From which site did you download the Drivers? (I want to see if drivers from the brand would have an effect)

    and what 7870 drivers have you tried?

4) have you updated the drivers? (pls indicate version if possible)

    BIOS version?

    Chipset driver?

    soundcard driver?

    game driver?

    any other drivers you've updated? (pls. indicate)

(because those aren't updated automatically by windows update)

5) how did you connect your 7870? Dual 6pin from a single atx cable or a separated 6pin atx cable?

6) what is your AVG and MAX VRM TEMP?

---------------------------------------

Edited: 09/18/2012 at 08:09 AM by rievhardt

I'm curious as to which psu they used to test it. Do you know?

-------------------------
MSI 970A-G46/Athlon 260@3.5ghz/2x4870/TX750M/4gigDDR3

it was Tested on My RIG for 3 DAYS (left my comp at the Shop) then my 7870 was delivered to the Distributor and was tested for another 7 days...

only Benchmarks TEST/ Stress Test are Made (since they won't be able to dedicate their time at work just to test my 7870 on BF3 multiplayer where the Black Screen issue occurs)

Really?

-------------------------
Crosshair IV Formula, Phenom II x4 965 w/ Corsair H60, 8 GiB OCZ Platinum DDR3 1600, XFX HD 7970 Ghz, 512GB Vertex 4, 256GB Vector, 240GB Agility 3, Creative X-Fi Titanium w/ Creative Gigaworks S750, SeaSonic X750, HP ZR2440w, Win 7 Ultimate x64

 

nothing wrong with it,has good reviews from what i just checked,Infact,my 1st high end psu was a FSP(everest 1000W),never had any issues.With that being said,anything being electronic can still cause an issue,new or not.

-------------------------

AMD Phenom II 1100t @4.0Ghz /Asus sabertooth 990fx/2-sapphire 2G 6950 dirt 3 edition cards(shaders unlocked,880/1375)/160G intel ssd/16G G-Skill Ripjaw 1600/2-samsung 24" monitors 1920X1200/Corsair AX1200W psu/W7 pro 64,G19/G7 keyboard&mouse,Cooler master HAF932,corsair H100 water cooler,Zalman ram cooler.Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series,Logitech Z5500 speakers,Roccat Kave 5.1 headset.

@black_zion

Yes Really, you can check for it's reviews online.

@Earnhardt

It's impossible that all of which are experiencing the black screen issue are PSU related. Because it only occurs in BF3 Multiplayer, SKYRIM, World of Warcraft, League of Legends.

Not on other games like Alan Wake & Dragon Nest. If it was with the PSU, it should have triggered while doing the Benchmark Stress Test.

the Black Screen issue doesn't occur w/ other games & while browsing...

Hi,

 

I'm experiencing the same problem with Gigabyte HD 7850 OC. I'd like to share my experiences.

I've tested my card on 3 games: BF3, Mafia 2, Metro 2033. The issue occurs only in BF3 and Mafia 2. For BF3 it takes about 10-15 minutes (either singleplayer or multiplayer) before it crashes. For Mafia 2 it is usually 3-5 rounds of built-in benchmark. Metro 2033 ran for about 40 minutes without any problems.

I also tried benchmarking with 3DMark11 and Furmark - both ran for about an 1h with no issues at all.

I tried different drivers (12.3, 12.4, 12.6, 12.7b and even unofficial ATI drivers from guru3d forum). For those last ones crashing occured a bit later than for official ones. Also the crash was a bit different (music and sounds were still playing but keyboard and mouse weren't working).

Next thing I tried was downclocking gpu to 870MHz (original card clock is 970). Mafia 2 then worked for about 10-15 rounds of benchmark without issues. Then I OC'ed card to 1000MHz and Mafia crashed after 2 rounds of benchmark.

Next I started 3DMark (with gpu clock 1000MHz) and it crashed also.

I think I will return my card to retailer 'cause I don't have any more ideas how to fix this issue (I doesn't make sense to buy an OC'ed card to downclock it so it can be stable).

Hello,

i'm having the same problem, too. First of all i have to say that we have four computers with the same setting (see below). So far i got a black screen (+100% fan) while playing WoW (Cata and MoP Beta), Darksiders and Diablo3. The other 3 got black screens in different games (GTA4 for example) as well. Sound is running fine while this crash. I'll have to reboot with a reset/power off. With my old Sapphire 6850 i have no issues (currently working in one of the 4 systems for a few weeks).

System:

CPU: Intel i7 3770k running @ 3500 GHz (not overclocked, no "Turbo Mode" activated)

GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 OC 2GB @ Catalyst 12.7 beta (tried different versions, too)

MB: Asus p8z77-v @ Bios 1406 (latest)

Ram: 2x 4GB Corsair Vengeance LP Black DDR3-1600 DIMM CL7 Single (ramtest passed)

HDD: 128GB OCZ Vertex 4 2.5" (6.4cm) SATA 6Gb/s MLC synchron @ Firmware 1.5 (latest), currently no additional drives because of testing

Display: Samsung SyncMaster 2343BW

PSU: 580W be quiet! Straight Power CM E9 80+ Gold Modular

OS: Windows 7 Professional 64 bit SP1 and all available Updates

I'm trying to trouble shoot this problem since 2 month now. I'll tested all available drivers (GPU, Chipset), updated the mb bios several times and tested the system a few times for 12+ hours via stresstest (all components and not just the GPU!). All four do have black screens over and over again.

I have contacted the AMD Support (currently the ticket is escalated to the 2nd-level, hadn't heard from them for a week now) and Sapphire Support (ask me to do a clean install again on thursday).

I had done a clean install yesterday as requested. I've only installed  necessary software (Chipset inc. Rapid Storage Driver, GPU and Sound) to run the computer. After i've updated the system i had installed the WoW Mist of Pandaria Beta Client to test if it still occurs.

The first few hours nothing happend. After a break it took 1 Minute for the black screen. In the system log theres just the Kernel-Power (ID41) Event. No driver crashes before. No other software ran in background!

I'm not sure what to do. I'm testing this issue for 2 month now without a solution (hoped for a solution via bios updates / drivers). I had rma'ed the VGA if it hadn't occured on all four systems. It's running fine on every stresstest i've made. So i guess the hardware is okay. I'm afraid that it won't help to sent it back (they won't exchange 4 cards after waiting and using it for 1,5 - 2 month i guess).

I could return it for 3 times due to german rights, sure, but i hope theres an easier solution as waiting 4+ month for getting my money back to buy a different VGA Card. (as done by many people before). I hope you can help to fix the problem.

Thanks and best regards

Edited: 08/04/2012 at 05:19 PM by seph2k

 

 

 

I have a similar problem with my sapphire HD7970, i play games for 4-7 hours no problem, as soon as i stop playing back at desktop 1-2 min, bam!! funky Screen + looping sound, hard-reset needed to fix.

I know its not overheating and I am running at default settings, all I can think is it's a problem with drivers not properly adjusting the power setting to idle on the card, or sapphire is the problem and a bios update may be needed to fix.

Thinking,

Can you seph2k, Run GPU-z with logging so we can cross reference any abnormal power/core and memory clocks?

Also do you know what Bus Interface speed is the card setting at on idle? My card sits at x16 1.1, and under load x16 2.0.

 

Try this beta driver:

http://www.mediafire.com/?1i1dja7mez7xb3a

 

Originally posted here:

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=366295

 

Several people reported in my main forum that it got better with that one.

 

Good luck

SG

@Spriggan43: don't get me wrong.. i only get a crash when i'm playing games. I already had monitored it via GPZ-Z: in some games the card is downclocking to 300/150mhz while running. This seems to be in games only, if i'm doing a stresstest its constant @ 1050/1250mhz. The interface is setting the card to x16 1.1 at idle and x16 3.0 at load as it supposed to do. But i'm not sure how it's while a crash

@sir_gauss: yeah, mhm, these are the drivers i've tried yesterday and were i got the black screen. I've recognized that i'm having massive performance problems using this driver, too. As i said: i did a clean install. I will try the latest "official" 12.7 beta driver again (and install windows again, yes, i'm not just uninstalling it ).

 

Greetings,

seph

wonder y there are ppl who reported that there is no problem with the card...while many others complain bout it... INCLUDING ME!!!

I have exactly the same problem...most claim that it is a driver problem~~

but now i was wondering if it is hardware problem~~

there has been many ppl posted upon youtube of forums like Guru3D~~

AMD did not give an official statement on this~~

I am getting the exact same problems here, i definitely think its a driver issue.. no games for me untill this gets sorted out *cries*

I am have the same issue with WoW, neither Blizzard or AMD seem to want to do anything about this. Time to switch to nVidia?

Me too. same problem with Diablo 3, WoW and Skyrim. Black screen with sound loop.

AMD plz fix it, 2 months with a useless graphic card.

AMD mention they are "well aware" of this issue...but never promise a viable fix~~and never give an official statement acknowledging the problem~~Worry that it will hurt their sales? Thinking to protect reputation?? now that is stupid~~

Come on AMD...at least open an option for us to exchange or upgrade the defective/faulty product~~

I had the same Problem with my 4870x2 and BFBC2 once. The solution was to disable Intel Speedstep and Turbo, and set the CPU clock multiplier to manual(so you get the standard clock).

Edited: 08/21/2012 at 02:58 AM by Budwyzer

Unfortunately, I did all of this tonight and updated my drivers to the official 12.8 catalyst release. I then started up a game of Diablo 3 and lasted a whole 30 minutes before a back screen occurred. Going back to Asder's July 19 release so that I can go black to playing with crappy performance.

One last thing that comes to my mind is to disable AMD Optimized Tesselation and this surface format optimization  in CCC 3D game settings. That caused a few hickups and fps stuttering while zooming in BF3 for me.
This tends to occure mostly on mainboards with onboard realtek soundchips.
Update your realtek drivers to the latest provided by Asus, not the realtek generic ones and set your sound output format to the lowest setting (16 bit 44khz). If that doesn't help you could try disabling your soundcard in bios and see if you crash, if not you know you need a new soundcard -.-

Edit: Before disabling it also helps to uninstall all Realtek Drivers  (even Ethernet LAN) and use Windows 7 assigned drivers instead.

Edited: 08/22/2012 at 06:09 AM by Budwyzer

For those who are getting this freezing problem, can you tell me if you are running dual monitors?

If so try running one via VGA or display port, and the other off DVI. I seem to be having the same issue and it appears that doing this fixed it.