device manager error code 10, 5870 cannot start, ATI 11.11 vs Dell stock drivers

Hi everyone,
I've read all the threads I can find on the problems with getting the 11.11 drivers installed on 5870xfire setups, but I haven't been able to diagnose the issue I am having. I went to install the new drivers, got into the endless BSOD cycle, and ended up re-installing windows (and retrying and failing and reinstalling windows again and again).

I eventually decided to go back to 11.10 (I had been on 11.9), and I had the same issue.

Then I tried going back to 11.9, and was no more successful there.

At this point i noticed after a clean install of windows and an attempted install of 11.9, device manager showed that one of the 5870s had an error (code 10) and 'cannot start' - I took a deep breath, opened up the machine, and checked all the connections, and everything seemed ok.

Just for the hell of it I decided to see what would happen if I went all the way back to the Dell drivers on their support section posted in 2010. These worked...the devices look ok in device manager, and if I look at things through GPUZ it seems both cards are recognized and alive.

Does anyone have any theories or thoughts as to why 11.9 and above fail to get anywhere (which is weird because I had 11.9 working before any of this), but the old stock Dell drivers seem to be ok? Is there a surefire way to determine if both cards are actually as ok as device manager seems to think they are?

Many thanks!

 

11.10 works for me GREAT on my system and I'm using the latest CAP I think.

 

Hey Loki~
Yeah, until I tried the stock Dell drivers I assumed my woes stemmed from a dead card - it wasn't until the stock drivers worked and showed both cards as OK that I started scratching my head (I thought maybe there was some windows update dependency for the 11.10+ drivers that I was missing or something like that)

 

I had to play around with my system alot and even check all of my thermal cooling conditions and re-apply a new coat of Diamond on my GPU's and lower my settings as I tone them down a bit but everything is performing alot better now since the change.

 

yup 11.10 is the best for xfire setup!

 

i second that notion, 11.10's are great on the 6990M on the M17Xr3 setup as well...however you may want to install AMD_BLACKCOMBXT_A00_R291070 drivers, cuz with these and the 11.10 i have had zero issues with the AW OSD, brightness/ switcheroo tech.

 

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the notes - did some more investigating this weekend, and still unable to install 11.10...I would think that if one of the cards were truly dead, then the Dell stock drivers would show the same results, but as both cards look fine with those, I guess I will have to live with it for now~

On a side note, I did call Dell support and ask about replacement options - they were very helpful and offered a 6000 series (assuming I took the risk of installing it in an r2) - would have done it were it not so expensive (+650 USD)