Screen black out on 6970m M17x R3 -- Help!

I just recently replaced my 6870m (which was working great, but upgraded for some better speed) -- Cleaned out the drivers and re-installed the stock dell drivers. After about 15-20 minutes of gaming my screen goes completely black but I can see hear audio through the game or application is running. I re-pasted and re-padded the card and the temps seem pretty good. I've run furmark and it gets through it fine -- but anything else seems to be a problem. This is just crazy, I've done some research here on the forums with no solution from anyone -- please help!

I just bought the card from a forum member (Table21)

On Load:
74C

Idle:
54C


BIOS #: 013.010.000.003.038950
DeviceID: 1002-6720
Stock clocked
Thanks guys!

 

that doesn't make sense at all...so you can run furmark fine, but it goes black screen on games?

what happens when you get a black screen? do you have to reboot?

 

Yeah I run furmark -- everything seems to working fine. Then once entering game (and about 15-20 mins into the game) it goes black and I have to do a full hard reboot. I can't get my mind around this. It's happened in Star Trek online and MW3. I'll see if I can replicate it else where.

 

I've had black screen problems myself with the 6970m. But...I've redone driver installation, and rarely run into it now. I have a few ideas, but I need some information from you first.

Have you tried reseating the card?
Which Bios are you using? Official or Unlocked?
When you installed the 6970 did you do a power drain beforehand?
Which 11.x driver are you using at the moment on the 6970m?(sorry, not good w/ the x.xxx.xx.xx.xx numbers yet)

 

I had this issue and it seemed to fix itself. My screen would go black although there was still audio present only during gaming. I would fix it by moving the screen around which brought the picture back. Someone said it was a connection issue but I checked the connections and they were all intact.

 

for whatever reason I will suggest something noobish, reinstall directx maybe? because otherwise running furmark, going black on games doesn't make any sense...

 

I'll try reseating the cart, I'm using an official bios, haven't changed anything. I'm not positive what version, except it's the stock 6970m driver from Dell.

I'm not sure it's anything display related -- i'll try moving it around.

I also just ran 3Dmark06 -- got close to 17,000 -- no issues there.

 

sandman, is your card overclocked?

 

Very good question. I overclock 6970m and play Crysis 2, it'll crash.

 

Stock clocked -- pretty much a fresh install of the card.

 

Try installing this driver and playing it.

http://www2.ati.com/Drivers/mobile/11-9_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_ocl.exe

 

Is it safe to say I should uninstall my current drivers? Or should I just over-write and install these?

Thanks!
Chris

fyi -- -thanks everyone for helping with this.

 

Yeah, just install over the stock drivers.

(on a sidenote)
...oh jeez, another chris.

 

Remember that as a general proposition AMD drivers will not install over newer versions of the same drivers, i.e., 11.9 drivers will not install over 11.11 drivers using Install Manager. You can do it manually, but to use the automated installation routine, you need to uninstall the later drivers, which usually means a clean driver install.

 

I think I'll just uninstall the old ones and install these. Still getting the issue.

ARGH.

 

You shouldn't be having this many problems. I would demand a replacement from Dell. Seriously.
And preferably an upgrade.

 

It's from a forum member (Table21) -- I don't think he'd take it back.

 

I would try asking if he'll take it back and reimburse you. If not, I'll try to think of other methods.

 

Thanks man, I appreciate it. I sent him a PM directing him to this thread. Maybe he'll have a solution as well.