Windows 7 Problem with graphics card on newly built computer

[TheNextSwarm]

Well, I had posted a thread in the installation forum a little while ago where I had trouble installing Windows 7 on a computer I built, and now a few days later while that problem has been solved the rig has been giving me grief in a different way. I've exhausted my own troubleshooting skills so once again I turn to the internet for help.

This is a fresh computer I've recently made myself, and my graphics card is giving me trouble. The computer frequently crashes or resets at seemingly random times (while trying to install basics for a new computer like OpenOffice/Firefox/etc, while on the internet, while looking through all the changes in Windows 7 from XP) although occasionally in a scenario that makes sense like if I'm messing around with the video card settings.

For the drivers I've sorta got two options that I've discovered with neither working well. If I uninstall all of the ATI drivers and everything, go into device manager and uninstall the graphics card, and then let Windows automatically find the device and update it then it seems to work better but is much less stable. Doing this I'll have correct resolutions, it'll correctly recognize what card it is and even what monitor I'm using, and just overall the seem to be working as it should be until it suddenly crashes/resets.

Alternatively I can try using the ATI drivers, either installed from the CD or the most recent Catalyst suite from AMD's website. Doing this I'll get messages that the ATI drivers are not installed or are not working properly, I'll get weird as hell resolution options (no 1920x1080 but instead a ton of bizarre ones I've never seen before), and Windows will say that something is wrong with my graphics card but tell me I'm using the most current drivers if I ask it to automatically update. However it seems to be slightly more stable like this.

Any ideas on what's wrong and how I can solve it? There may be a few things I forgot to mention here that i've already tried, but these are the main two ways to get it 'working.'

 

[TorrentG]

Hi.

All of this should easily be resolved by downloading the correct recommended suite package from the following link. If you have 64 bit Windows, download the 64 bit version. If you have 32 bit Windows, download the 32 bit version.

Once downloaded, double click the file to being the installation process.

That's really all there is to it. If you run into any problems or issues after this, then please tell us of them. We will then take things from there:

Drivers & Support | GAME.AMD.COM

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Do you ever experience the bsod crashes, where the computer makes a blue screen and tells you to restart it?

 

[TheNextSwarm]

Yep, that's part of what I've been trying. The second to last paragraph talks about what happens when I try using those drivers: upon startup I get a message telling me that ATI drivers are not installed or properly functioning, I get weird resolution options, and when I look in device manager there's a yellow triangle with exclamation mark next to the video card.

I can get the computer to go to the BSOD occasionally, normally by trying to install the Catalyst suite (ATI drivers) after doing the first method I described (let Windows find drivers) and not deleting the device first. It's not a normal "restart your computer" BSOD, it's a blue screen that flashes very quickly with lot's of text before the computer automatically restarts. All I can ever make out of the text is something about an error and windows restarting to protect the computer.

 

[TorrentG]

Your problem is very likely that something is wrong with the chipset drivers.

Let me have a look for what's going on there so I sort it with instructions.

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I need you to go to C:\Windows\Minidump

Copy the files in there to any other folder. Then zip the files. Attach the zip to a post using the paperclip above where you type, in advanced mode reply.

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Also, tell me which video card you have, if you know.
Use CPU-Z to see which motherboard you have. Please tell me which this is, too.

 

[TheNextSwarm]

View attachment Files for TorrentG.zip

If you want to know how bad it is, it took me from around 1 minute after your post until now to get these two files off of the computer. I was originally trying to post them from there, but gave up after a few reboots and just loaded them onto a USB drive and went back to my older computer. I did get to see a cool new crash I'd never seen before: the screen went into a multi-colored column stripe pattern.

And yeah, I meant to include my specs in the original post but completely forgot. Pretty stupid for a thread that revolves around hardware troubles. Here they are: MSI P55M-GD41, i5 750 2.66gHz, Powercolor HD5770, OCZ 4GB DDR3, Antec Earthwatts 650w, Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm, LG x16 OEM DVD drive

 

[TorrentG]

Yep, surely when the "correct" video card drivers are applied, your machine is experiencing issues. 0x116 video type, TDR timeout errors to be precise. These are an absolute mess to fix for most people as the cause could literally be dozens of reasons. What it basically means is that something is making your video card not want to work well. Or it could be a bad video card. Sincerely doubt that though.

Alright, let's see what we can do.

1) Update the Realtek HD Audio driver. Follow the on screen instructions precisely, although it isn't difficult. You can use the auto installer for Windows 7:

RTKVHD64 RTKVHD64.sys Tue Oct 06 06:51:17 2009

Realtek

2) Update to the latest Realtek network driver. The one you have is too old:

Rt64win7 Rt64win7.sys Fri May 22 10:52:30 2009

MSI Global ? Computer, Laptop, Notebook, Desktop, Mainboard, Graphics and more

3) Install latest chipset drivers:

http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=driverfile&dno=10024&i=0

4) Reboot. Then download and install the latest video driver Suite package again, for good measure. You want the 64 bit Windows 7 version, of course:

Drivers & Support | GAME.AMD.COM

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Please tell me how this turns out for you and if all is well now. If not, I will surely have more things to do and try. We'll fix this, no sweat.

 

[TheNextSwarm]

Installed all of the above, but when I tried installing the ATI drivers I got the quick BSOD-to-instant-reboot I mentioned before. What else can I try?

 

[TorrentG]

1) Install the latest bios for the motherboard. The Live Update utility found here can do this automatically for you:

MSI Global ? Welcome to the Download Center

2) When you're sure that's complete well and it tells you to reboot, do so, but only shutdown the machine instead so power is off.

3) Physically remove the video card from the machine. Then replace it back in its slot. Give a nice, decent push to make sure it's fully seated correctly and well. Make sure the 6-pin power adapter is attached to the power supply.

4) Reboot to Windows. Install the latest video card driver and see how it goes.

5) If still no good, boot to safe mode. Uninstall Avast! with the tool found here. When done, reboot to normal mode and install MSE as a replacement since that never causes bsod issues.

AV Uninstallers - Windows 7 Forums

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During any of this, if new crash dumps are created, post them.

 

[TheNextSwarm]

I had already updated to the newest BIOS when I was having problems installing Windows. I'll try removing Avast! and checking for more crash dumps later today when I have some more free time. Thanks for your help in all this!

 

[TheNextSwarm]

Alright, just tried uninstalling Avast! in safe mode, restarted into normal Windows, and installed the Catalyst suite. Restarted the computer. Got the same message upon start-up about having no ATI drivers installed or installed drivers not functioning correctly, as well as the weird resolutions and other things described before whenever I try installing the drivers this way.

I also check minidump again, and found one I didn't see before. It's attached here. View attachment 081910-27580-01.dmp

 

[TorrentG]

Alright, keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best of course, but I think this will do the trick.

Boot to safe mode + networking. Download Driver Sweeper from Guru3d.com. Use it to remove all the ATI video drivers/settings/software.

Reboot to normal mode and install the latest Suite package again.

You probably have some conflicting stuff going on with the driver. This will fix it all.

Guru3D - Driver Sweeper

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Looking at the latest crash dump there are still components (or all) of Avast installed. Just though I'd mention that. It's probably from before you removed it though.

 

[TheNextSwarm]

Swept all ATI drivers, rebooted, installed the suite, rebooted, got the same error message/weird resolutions/etc. As a note when I used the Driver Sweeper it came up with some files marked nVidia, the chipset and two others. Could this be the cause of the errors?

The last dump was from before I got rid of Avast, so that's why it's still shown there.

 

[TorrentG]

In the device manager, which exact error code number are you getting?

43? 12?

 

[TheNextSwarm]

Device manager says code 52.

 

[TorrentG]

That code means that the driver's signature is not well.

Code 52: Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device

I would delete C:\ATI folder. Then redownload the 64 bit suite again. Install.

Make sure 64 bit is downloaded and not 32...although 32 would refuse to install anyhow, so that really can't be the issue.

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If that doesn't help, something is corrupted with your Windows install. I'd consider a clean Windows install while formatting.

 

[TorrentG]

Before a clean Windows install, I would follow this exactly to see if it resolves:

ATI Radeon HD 5870 Driver problems - Windows 7 Forums

 

[TheNextSwarm]

Tried deleting the ATI files, re-downloading, and reinstalling. Nothing better.

And the method in the thread you linked is what I'm talking about when I say I'm letting Windows automatically install the drivers for the card. That's when it works the best, has good resolutions, generally seems how it should be except for the fact that crashing becomes it's most beloved pastime.

I'm going to try re-installing windows. Do I just pop the DVD in and go from there, or do I right click on C: and select format drive?

edit: nevermind, found out. Current reinstalling.

 

[TheNextSwarm]

Welp, reinstalled Windows 7. Had one hiccup along the way but that was me being an idiot. Started up Windows, had to restart after some stuff automatically updated, and then was able to install the ATI drivers. It asked me to restart, something it normally didn't do before when I tried installing this way. Did so and was greeted upon the next log in by no error pop-up as I always had before, the correct resolution, basically everything that had normally happened when I asked Windows to auto-install. Basically everything was working great.

Excited I went about installing all of the normal stuff I wanted (I use Ninite Easy PC Setup - Silent Unattended Install Multiple Programs At Once for this), and it made it almost all the way through that installation before it eventually froze while installing Adobe Reader. There's definite improvement, but still a problem. I hadn't re-installed all of the drivers you said needed updating, so I'm going to try doing that and see if that gets rid of the crashes.

 

[TheNextSwarm]

Tried installing all of the other drivers, didn't solve it. Tried re-installing Windows and loading all of the other drivers first and then the ATI ones, still crashed eventually.

 

[TorrentG]

I've seen all types of issues appearing from users of Ninite. Perhaps that is introducing the problem to your system. It would make sense since it's an installer type of app and could be messing with Windows' ability to verify digital signatures.

I'd try again but stay as far away from that software as possible.