[rshaffer61]

Try just changing it in the bios first.

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Ok, apparantly everything is now FUBAR.
The desktop started flashing in and out of Aero, with all kinds of bugs and artifacts. I decided to try reinstalling the drivers again, but this time, they wouldn't reinstall, i just keep getting this error:

Driver Install: the INF file was not found.

I've tried downlaoding the installer, using the one on the disk that came with the card, I've tried cleaning out all ATI files in safe mode using removal tools, I've tried uninstalling through CCC, I've tried manually deleting the files, nothing works, I always get the same error, and now I can't use the card.
It just shows up as "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter" in the device manager. I've tried everything through the device manager, Uninstalling and reinstalling, updating the software manually, again, nothing works.
I'm locked in a low resolution and I'm having to post from my laptop now.

[averysadman]

Ok, apparantly everything is now FUBAR.
The desktop started flashing in and out of Aero, with all kinds of bugs and artifacts. I decided to try reinstalling the drivers again, but this time, they wouldn't reinstall, i just keep getting this error:

Driver Install: the INF file was not found.

I've tried downlaoding the installer, using the one on the disk that came with the card, I've tried cleaning out all ATI files in safe mode using removal tools, I've tried uninstalling through CCC, I've tried manually deleting the files, nothing works, I always get the same error, and now I can't use the card.
It just shows up as "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter" in the device manager. I've tried everything through the device manager, Uninstalling and reinstalling, updating the software manually, again, nothing works.
I'm locked in a low resolution and I'm having to post from my laptop now.

[rshaffer61]

Did you change the bios to the onboard?

[averysadman]

Did you change the bios to the onboard?

Nope, didn't get a chance to, I was going to do it tonight as I use my computer for work, but this happened first.
Should I try that before trying to reinstall the 5850?

Edit: Manually extracted the required .INF file from the install EXE, and used the Update drivers > Have disk feature in the Device Manager to load it. Now the device manager recognises the card as a 5800 series, but the installer still gives the same error.

Edited by averysadman, 15 October 2011 - 07:01 PM.

[rshaffer61]

Yep lets take the 5850 out of the equation for a bit and see what happens.

[averysadman]

Yep lets take the 5850 out of the equation for a bit and see what happens.

Well, after manually laoding the .inf file and rebooting, the card is now recognised, CCC installed all of the drivers as it's supposed to, and yet it still gave me the .inf error, Aero is back, and even games are working perfectly again! I'm still getting flashes though, and I don't think I could have reinstalled the drivers anymore than I have done, so I think it's safe to rule out the drivers as the cause of the problems.
I have no idea about the .inf error message, but since stuff is working again, I'm just going to ignore it.

I went into the BIOS when I rebooted, but I couldn't find an option to set the onboard as the main. I think I will have to remove the 5850 and boot without it, then the onbaord should be the default.

Edit: I reinstalled CCC with the downloaded installer instead of the disk, no .inf error! As far as I can tell, everything is back to the way it was before the most recent crash.

[rshaffer61]

Still getting flashes even after your edit?

[averysadman]

Still getting flashes even after your edit?

Yep, still getting the same flashes as before, nothing seems to have changed, even after all that.
I'm still having a few driver problems, too. While the card now shows up as a "Radeon HD 5800 series" in all of the relevant programs, CCC doesn't recognise it as such, I have a gimped version of CCC without access to any special options. I'm trying to update the drivers again.

Edit: Everything is now 100% fixed in the driver department, CCC updated, recognised the card, I now have all of the options again, Hydravision, EYEfinity, manual fan control, etc.

Still getting the flashes though, so this basically takes us back to step one, although we can rule out driver problems.

Edited by averysadman, 16 October 2011 - 09:20 AM.

[rshaffer61]

Try this and see if it will help.

Download DriverMax and have it scan your system. It will open their website with all the out of date drivers you can update. With the free version you can update only 2 drivers per day so if you have a lot of them it will take a few days to get everything updated. I have been using it for about 4 months now and like it better then any other utility out there for keeping my drivers up to date.

[averysadman]

Try this and see if it will help.

Download DriverMax and have it scan your system. It will open their website with all the out of date drivers you can update. With the free version you can update only 2 drivers per day so if you have a lot of them it will take a few days to get everything updated. I have been using it for about 4 months now and like it better then any other utility out there for keeping my drivers up to date.

Ok, thanks.

Well, now that the drivers are pretty much out of the way, I've been looking around for more anomalies. The "TMPIN2" value in HWMonitor (Temp3 in Speedfan) is at a constant 90°C, many people seem to have anomalies with that sensor, reading too high, but some people say it's the NorthBridge.
According to both programs, my heats are:

-Temp1(?) 47°C
-Motherboard 51°C
-Temp3(?) 93°C
-HDD 43°C
-Core 59°C
-GPU 59°C

I wish it would just read what the parts are, because I have no idea what half of them are supposed to measure.
Could high heat be causing my problems? I know for a fact that the GPU never heats up, as I constantly monitor it, and manually adjust the fan speed when it's getting a little hot, even in benchmarks it never passes about 70°C, which I'm told is quite cool for a 5850.
I don't know about the rest, though. My case is quite tight, but it feels pretty cool to me, if I turn the PC off and quickly open it up, none of the parts are hot to the touch.

I really don't know what half of these readings are, and if they're reliable.

[rshaffer61]

-Temp1(?) 47°C
-Motherboard 51°C... motherboard onbviously and it looks good
-Temp3(?) 93°C
-HDD 43°C... Hard drive and it is well within acceptable range
-Core 59°C... This is your cpu itself and looks good
-GPU 59°C... Video card and temp is perfect

[averysadman]

-Temp1(?) 47°C
-Motherboard 51°C... motherboard onbviously and it looks good
-Temp3(?) 93°C
-HDD 43°C... Hard drive and it is well within acceptable range
-Core 59°C... This is your cpu itself and looks good
-GPU 59°C... Video card and temp is perfect

Yeah, it was just the ones marked with the (?) that I didn't know. Temp1 and Temp3. Temp3 may be the Northbridge, but I don't know what that is. Is 90°C an acceptable temperature for that?

I'm glad to see the rest is all within acceptable limits. What about the PSU, should that be quite hot? I don't think theres a sensor for that.

[rshaffer61]

What about the PSU, should that be quite hot? I don't think theres a sensor for that.

Though it will run a little warm being HOT is not acceptable and can be a sign of over powering and pending failure.

The onboard chips like the north and south bridges may show higher temps but nothing to worry about as they are constantly being utilized. Now if those temps were to reach higher I would get nervous.
One of those temps may be the inside case temp which I am guessing is temp 1.
Temp 3 may be either north or south bridge chips

[averysadman]

What about the PSU, should that be quite hot? I don't think theres a sensor for that.

Though it will run a little warm being HOT is not acceptable and can be a sign of over powering and pending failure.

The onboard chips like the north and south bridges may show higher temps but nothing to worry about as they are constantly being utilized. Now if those temps were to reach higher I would get nervous.
One of those temps may be the inside case temp which I am guessing is temp 1.
Temp 3 may be either north or south bridge chips

Yeah, PSU is warm to the touch most of the time, but I wouldn't describe it has HOT.
So 90°C is pretty normal for NB/SB then?
Would you say my PC was running at average temperatures altogether then? Can we rule out heat along with drivers as the cause of the problems?

[rshaffer61]

Would you say my PC was running at average temperatures altogether then? Can we rule out heat along with drivers as the cause of the problems?

yes on both questions.
The next step would be to remove the card completely and use the onboard. If no artifacts and flashing occurs then the only logical conclusion is the card itself.
Now there is one other option to try with the card in and that is to install the next older driver instead of the newest one. Sometimes the newest is not really the best driver for your card. We have found that to be the case with a lot of Nvidia based cards and it could be the case with the ATI based cards also.