[HELP] Urgent Help Needed - Radeon HD 6950 Issue

[Reconciliasion]

Hello Forum

my radeon hd 6950 arrived a few days ago and it arrived flashed to a 6970 BIOS, as by previous owner.

i checked in GPU-z and it does have the same number of shaders as a stock 6970 card.

problem is when i am on dektop or scrolling fast through documents the card flickers or displays odd white lines accross the desktop wallpaper or purple/white lines accross the explorer window. The lines arent fully accross the screen. please watch this video below and give feedback

any feedback/help is appreciated

PS: comment on this forum, not the video please!!

THANKYOU

H E R E

I S

T H E

L I N K

http://youtu.be/5K3RVQrBvqk1

[LTC]

The Youtube link is private :(

However if it's a reference card, you might be lucky that it has the BIOS switch on the top of the card. Try to locate that and switch it over to the other side (PC TURNED OFF FIRST!) And boot again, see if it has the shaders of the 6950 now...

[LTC]

By reference I mean this kind of cooler: http://www.pcper.com/images/reviews/1067/6950-1.jpg

Companies like Inno3d, ASUS and such buy those, and put their own sticker on it, so hardware wise it is the same card.

[Reconciliasion]

okay, os if i switch back to 6950 mode, is there a chance it will stop the white lines?

will i be able to flash abck to 6970??

also the video has now been unblock :-) I tried to make it private for just the forum but that didnt work - thanks LTC!

[TechFan@ic]

Ok here is the problem , 6950s are basically 6970s but with a couple hundred cores disabled or so, AMD disables those cores during the binning process because they show signs of being defective.

Flashing the 6950 to a 6970 will turn those disabled "defective" cores back on, in some cases the disabled cores aren't as bad as AMD had previously thought when they binned them and thus will accept the 6970 flash gracefully, but more often than not, the disabled cores are actually defective.

So what does this mean for you ?

Well you have 2 things you can do.

#1 leave the 6970 flash on and underclock the card, this will definitely improve stability and reduce issues , but underclocking alone might not fix all of the issues.

In case underclocking the card doesn't fix the issue #2 Flash the card with a 6950 BIOS, this should eliminate the problem completely.

I hope this helps.

[Reconciliasion]

Ok here is the problem , 6950s are basically 6970s but with a couple hundred cores disabled or so, AMD disables those cores during the binning process because they show signs of being defective.

Flashing the 6950 to a 6970 will turn those disabled "defective" cores back on, in some cases the disabled cores aren't as bad as AMD had previously thought when they binned them and thus will accept the 6970 flash gracefully, but more often than not, the disabled cores are actually defective.

So what does this mean for you ?

Well you have 2 things you can do.

#1 leave the 6970 flash on and underclock the card, this will definitely improve stability and reduce issues , but underclocking alone might not fix all of the issues.

In case underclocking the card doesn't fix the issue #2 Flash the card with a 6950 BIOS, this should eliminate the problem completely.

I hope this helps.

the card worked fine in my friends system as a 6970 though?

the card works effortlessly in games such as Bf3 it kicks out 40 fps constanlty

but on windows desktop i get the lines

please watch the video when its fully uploaded - it has me filming the screen at 60fps to capture the actual problem - thanks TechFanatic - your help means alot :D

[TechFan@ic]

Ok here is the problem , 6950s are basically 6970s but with a couple hundred cores disabled or so, AMD disables those cores during the binning process because they show signs of being defective.

Flashing the 6950 to a 6970 will turn those disabled "defective" cores back on, in some cases the disabled cores aren't as bad as AMD had previously thought when they binned them and thus will accept the 6970 flash gracefully, but more often than not, the disabled cores are actually defective.

So what does this mean for you ?

Well you have 2 things you can do.

#1 leave the 6970 flash on and underclock the card, this will definitely improve stability and reduce issues , but underclocking alone might not fix all of the issues.

In case underclocking the card doesn't fix the issue #2 Flash the card with a 6950 BIOS, this should eliminate the problem completely.

I hope this helps.

The video is still private.

As a test do the following:

Underclock the card substantially (as much as you can), if you notice no improvement to the issue at hand, then it probably has nothing to do with the card itself.

It could be a number of different things, it could possibly be your screen (this is easy to diagnose, remove the GPU and try the monitor), it could be the DVI cable (try a different DVI cable) it could be driver related (ask your friend what drivers he was running and try them), it could be the BIOS itself (try different 6970 BIOSs)

I just have a gut feeling that it's those sub-standard cores enabled by the bios flash.

[Fordox]

I believe that those card have bios switches. you can just flick the switch and it will be a 6950 again (yes this will improve stability). and if you flick it the other way, its a 6970 (whhhoaaaa)

or you can decrease your clock speeds in MSI afterburner which will affect the stability.

[Reconciliasion]

i tried underclocking

no avail

ive swicthed the switch back

no avail =(

[TechFan@ic]

i tried underclocking

no avail

ive swicthed the switch back

no avail =(

Well you do risk facing a lot of problems with 6950s flashed with 6970 BIOSs, that's why AMD made sure that the ones which came after did not work with a 6970 BIOS, to avoid these kinds of issues.

If the warranty of the card is still in effect, flash it with the official 6950 BIOS from the manufacturer's website and try to get it fixed.

[TechFan@ic]

Before I get into too many details, when you under-clocked did you make sure to lower the core clock, the voltage and the memory clock ?

If not, then try it, the issue could be due to problems with the card's memory.

If this doesn't work continue reading.

I've watched the video, you said something about how removing the Nvidia drivers actually made it worse, well that sounds odd.

Try this:

http://www.guru3d.com/content-page/g...r-sweeper.html

Completely remove all Nvidia and AMD drivers,shut down your system, remove the graphics card then turn your system back on.

Let it boot into windows,look for the white lines (they should disappear), restart your system, open the BIOS , set the bios to default "factory settings", save and exit.

Boot into windows again, then shut down. (white lines should still be gone)

Install your graphics card back in the system.(with the proper 6950 BIOS)

Start your system and boot into windows, the issue should disappear, if the white lines are back, then it is in all probability a defective hardware component and has nothing to do with drivers.

[Reconciliasion]

Before I get into too many details, when you under-clocked did you make sure to lower the core clock, the voltage and the memory clock ?

If not, then try it, the issue could be due to problems with the card's memory.

If this doesn't work continue reading.

I've watched the video, you said something about how removing the Nvidia drivers actually made it worse, well that sounds odd.

Try this:

http://www.guru3d.com/content-page/g...r-sweeper.html

Completely remove all Nvidia and AMD drivers,shut down your system, remove the graphics card then turn your system back on.

Let it boot into windows,look for the white lines (they should disappear), restart your system, open the BIOS , set the bios to default "factory settings", save and exit.

Boot into windows again, then shut down. (white lines should still be gone)

Install your graphics card back in the system.(with the proper 6950 BIOS)

Start your system and boot into windows, the issue should disappear, if the white lines are back, then it is in all probability a defective hardware component and has nothing to do with drivers.

i used driver sweeper from guru3d, i mean i have an nVidia ethernet controller, so I temporarily lost my internet connection when I rebooted.

I re-installed the drivers and no avail =(

[TechFan@ic]

I've googled your issue a lot, and no body else seems to be having this weird issue.

I think i've ran out of things to say to help you out.

[killerx525]

Have you tried just setting to the stock Windows 7 wallpaper?

[Reconciliasion]

Have you tried just setting to the stock Windows 7 wallpaper?

yes - ive tried all the windows themes...

[Reconciliasion]

I've googled your issue a lot, and no body else seems to be having this weird issue.

I think i've ran out of things to say to help you out.

as always your help is appreciated.

[adamkalnoki]

what motherboard you have got

[27-bit]

Maybe the problem is with your windows since as you say it only happens on the wallpaper..

Try the card on a different system or IF YOU CAN reinstall Win7 and see if it helps..

[Reconciliasion]

Motherboard is an Asrock N68C-GS FX