Windows 7 AMD Drivers have stopped working but have recovered

[Amanda Gravelyn]

We keep getting "AMD Drivers have stopped working but, have recovered" error message every time we play the MMO perfect world. What happens is he takes a few steps with his character and it goes to a (insert lined color screen). This has happened a couple of times well the computer was idle also. 3/10x it will give us the BSOD immediately after the lined screen. Mind you a dinosaur could just about run this game on medium settings. (System Req: http://pwi.perfectworld.com/download)

We are running:
OS:Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
MB: Asus m5897
Cpu: AMD FX 4170 Quad core 4.2ghz
RAM: Gskills Ares http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231545 (16gb)
Video Card: Diamond Radeon 6670 2gb
PSU: Apevia 680w

Everything was brand new out of the box. We just built this thing from the ground up. We have updated BIOS, Drivers, Windows... etc.. etc... (lots of updating). Cable management is pretty decent. The thing feels like an air conditioner on the inside and out (3 case fans video card, psu, and obviously cpu have there own fans attached).

We have searched the internet for every possible solution we could and the only thing we found that might mean something (computer noob) is the gpu stress test says the cpu is rapidly over heating (in 5 seconds of the test) all though it still feels cold. We have ordered new thermal compound and plan too put it on tomorrow (right now it is using the compound that came on it). Are we heading down the right path? Do you have other suggestions or see something... please help. Thank you.

 

[Highwayman]

Firstly your CPU would not directly cause the AMD graphics driver to crash, that is linked to the GPU driver failing and restarting. This could be IRQ conflict with other hardware, it could be a bad corrupt install of the driver or its support files such as DirectX etc. However it could also be the game that caused crash due to bad coding.

As for colour lines, that smacks of GPU overheat or power problems, although I find it hard to think a 6670 draws enough power or produces much heat so i would rule that out, so I'm thinking points mostly at IRQ sharing issue which you can check through the "Device manager" flipping to the View menu and swap to "View by resources" and have a look at whats on the same IRQ as the GPU, sometime main devices like audio cards or controllers can cock things up if they are on the same IRQ, although this problem is far less of an issue on Windows 7 than all previous MS OS's, it can still happen on a fresh install.