Re-installing Windows 7 trying to fix some problems

[Blín D'ñero]

My PC had started behaving erratically sometimes. This installation was 2½ years old. Time for a format/reinstall.

• First thing i skipped this time was: VC++ update 2010 x86 and x64 i had stored on my PC. I could see by the way i stored it that i had it installed previous time. I noticed on the source link it doesn't look as something recommendable to be installed: https://support.microsoft.com/kb/961894. I do not have (didn't ever) that problem.
• The second difference: i never was able to successfully install SP1. But just now i have it installed!

[Blín D'ñero]

Having SP1 installed covers the fix for the DXDiag issue of wrong DDI version info; it is now properly "11".
Updated my sig, i'm really happy i can finally say i'm using Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1.

[Blín D'ñero]

The issue i hoped to solve by format/reinstall was: disabling crossfire results in the desktop zoomed in , so no taskbar, no icons, they get covered by the broad black "passepartout". After a reboot the desktop is normal. A big hassle when i only want to try a game on a single card, so with crossfire (temporarily) disabled.
For a moment it seemed to be a bug in conjunction with my monitor (Dell U2410) settings: if i select "Aspect" instead of 1:1 pixelmapping the problem disappeared.
But that was only for a few moments. I don't know. Seems a driver bug.

UPDATE:
Nope, the issue is not solved. Or rather, is not a biggie. Because the bug is temporary. I can now conclude that if you keep trying after 5 or 6 times the issue is gone.
When it happens and i make a screenshot, the screenshot shows a normal, 100% desktop. So the zooming in happens only on GPU 2. Disabling crossfire, and then re-enabling crossfire again - and this 5 ~ 6 times in a row- then suddenly works as it should.

[Blín D'ñero]

I recently had the 100% fan spinning. No motherboard beeps, let that be clear!
Recently i overclocked the CPU from 3.8 to 4.2. Stresstest stable. So far so good. I wanted to see what difference it makes in a few games. My 2 5870's were also overclocked from the beginning.

So i installed Afterburner which i otherwise never have installed. Just for monitoring fps and cards' behaviour, nothing else.
I ran a game at its max settings, which in this case excellently used both GPU's 95 ~ 98%.

After ½ hour playing, at the moment where an FMV (the intro to a next level) should load, the game crashed. PC auto-rebooted. At windows desktop i saw the message that there had been a BSOD. Oh, i hadn't noticed that, as the auto-reboot had only shown blackness.

Reboot and i continued playing. And ended the playing session normally. Later happened the same, the game would crash at some moment. I had enough of the game anyway.

The next day is when the weirdness began. During Windows loading bar, after the keyboard fully bootup (Num Caps Scroll lights), card 1's fan starts spinning 100%, and the system seems to just halt at that point. Huh?!
Reboot; success. Used the pc normally. Shut down PC.

Later that day, booting up: again stuck with i card 100% fan spinning! Shut down. Took out PSU cable from the backside of PC.

Step 1: opened case, and felt. Radeon 1 was warm! How could that be??? It had been off for a few hours. I took the card out, kept it for for some 15 minutes, till it felt as cold as Radeon 2. Put it back in. Booted up PC.
Still: stuck with fan spinning 100% halfway Windows bootup.

Step 2: i lowered the latest CPU overclock.

Step 3: i undid the latest CPU overclock. Back to what i normally use, 2 years stable.
Still: stuck with fan spinning 100% halfway Windows bootup.
So: CPU overclock has nothing to do with it. And: i had been able to bootup fine once earlier.
I had SP1 installed for the first time, and Catalyst 11.12 WHQL installed when i installed MSI Afterburner v210, solely for monitoring. I never touch any of its options just running the monitoring on the background. I played some games with the monitoing tool on the background.

Then i updated the ATI driver to 12a preview. which is not whql. Maybe this is what screwed Afterburner. If Afterburner alone causes this, then it would be common complaint on the internet, which i didn't find.

Uninstalling Afterburner, and selecting NO to the question " Save afterburner settings?" was the next step to find out what would put a stop to the fanspinning at booting up.

Now, the PC would halt at the Windows loading screen with the 4-colour windows flag. Just halting, as if it is halted by a line in the Registry, only that the value to make the fan spinning 100% is now missing.

Then i did a fomat and reinstall of Windows, the PC and cards were behaving normally again. Until booting up the next day. Again 100% fan spinning on card 1 while halting at Windows flag bootup screen after full load of keyboard.
So it wasn't Afterburner after all.

Open options:
-As result of temporary higher overclock, PSU starting to wear off causing the issue?
-As result of temporary higher overclock, Motherboard internal volts distribution damage causing the issue?
-i actually forgot to set the card's speeds to defaults before i formatted and reinstalled Windows. So that kept the cards still in the state of overdrive? If that is even possible? Overdrive just stops working after a format, no? Overdrive just listens to that XML file in ATI\ACE, nothing else. It does not write in the card's BIOS?
-SP1 causing the issue?
-Maybe for a faultless working Overdrive it is required to hit button to "test custom clocks" settings?
-I have forgotten to install the Dell inf for my monitor?
-A bug in Overdrive since Catalyst 11.12 and 12.1(a) Preview?

[Blín D'ñero]

Today, this morning, it did not happen. Yesterday i had set the card's speed to defaults, Overdrive still ticked on.

A remarkable thing i noticed: in CCC i set the card's speed to defaults and unchecked Overdrive. Then in "Preferences" i clicked Factory Defaults. As a RESULT Overdrive became checked ON again! This is contrary to Factory Default, as with a first install on a fresh Windows AMD Overdrive is NEVER checked ON.

I upped the clockspeeds to what i am used to for the past 2 years: 880/1260. I then hit button to "test custom clocks" settings. Should be OK now, right?

I am very curious if in this state the issue will appear again.

[Blín D'ñero]

And it did. PC had been 3 hours off. I switched it on and yep: 100% fan spinning at Windows logo startup screen.
Second attempt as always success.

I opened CCC. Very odd: right after that, the "CCCSetup Assistant" menu came up. Although that usually only appears the first time new install of Catalyst. But i had already changed settings, used Overdrive, etcetera on this 12.1a Preview installed yesterday.

Next thing i'm trying now:
I installed the Dell inf from the CD, and
In CCC, i returned the 5870's clocks to defaults (yes both cards), and disabled (unchecked) Overdrive. Next time i'll know whether this has helped or not.
I changed CMOS battery for a new one.

[Blín D'ñero]

Nope, those didn't fix it either.

In BIOS, i loaded setup defaults.
That did not fix it either. Stuck at Starting Windows screen, with 100% fan spinning while i type (on another PC of course).

Shut down, took AC power cable off from PSU for 5 mintes.
Bootup success.

Shut down for a few minutes. Booted up in BIOS and re-applied my 2-years stable conservative overclocked setup.
Bootup success.

[Blín D'ñero]

Next day: that did not help. Stuck at Windows startup screen, high fan spinning.

I took off power cord.
Cleared CMOS RAM.
When i booted up in that state, the fan started spinning immediately -of course in BIOS hardware was enabled that shouldn't PCI-E selector was wrong, etcetera- i still let it boot up Windows (which installed all kinds of drivers amongst which raid...) and launched Catalyst and saw that crossfire was not present, the second card did not even exist. Idem dito in Device Manager. This all while still fan was spinning loudly (a big noise with the sidepanel off the PC case). In CCC i enabled manual fan setting, and it turned out that what i was hearing was not 100%, but only 50.
Even though this happened right at POST, and the original problem happens at Windows (in the startup phase), one thing i learned from this is that it proves that the motherboard can cause the fan spinning. So the motherboard interferes with/ overrules the card's bios.

Step 2. Trying to get back to my 2 years stable normal overclock that i want to get identical again without any odd behaviour from the videocard(s).

This time i applied changes. Changes in red

• i put all DRAM values manually instead of the Autos
• CPU Voltage: [1.22500V ] <-- in Windows, measured with cpu-z: 1.200 (maybe because now i have Loadline Calibration disabled.)
• CPU PLL Voltage: [1.88]
• QPI/DRAM Core Voltage: [1.25000]
• IOH Voltage: [1.36] <--- i put [1.32]
• IOH PCIE Voltage: [Auto] <--- i put [1.60]
• ICH Voltage: [Auto] <--- i put [1.20]
• ICH PCIE Voltage: [Auto] <--- i put [1.60]
• DRAM Bus Voltage: [1.64]
  
  ***************************************
• Load-Line Calibration: [Auto] <--- i put [Disabled]
• CPU Configuration
  • CPU Ratio Setting: [21.0]
  • C1E Support: [Disabled]
  • Hardware Prefetcher: [Enabled]
  • Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch: [Enabled]
  • Intel Virtualisation Tech: [Enabled]
  • CPU TM Function: [Disabled]
  • Execute Disable Bit: [Enabled]
  • Intel HT Technology [Enabled]
  • Active Processor Cores: [All]
  • A20M: [Disabled]
  • Intel Speedstep Tech: [Enabled]
  • Intel C-State Tech: [Disabled]

and had a perfect startup.
We'll see the truth after it has been off for a few hours two, three usually...

I played Crysis 2 DX11 Ultra for half an hour. All seems 100% fine.

[Blín D'ñero]

That didn't help either.
Then again: the issue pops up in the Windows startup phase, not during POST.

In BIOS i disabled Intel Speedstep. That is the only connection to Windows because its description says: "CPU speed controlled by OS".
I have disconnected the current, in order to make sure after a short while from now i'll get a cold boot.

[Blín D'ñero]

PC had been off current for more than half an hour.

With Intel Speedstep disabled, Bootup immediate success. Too early to draw conclusions though.