Day 1 Fault on Vortex IV, ssd, and 8975m advice required

[Thorthor]

Hi all, this a copy of my mail to PCS this morning. If anyone on the forums can help it would be hugely appreciated! Using windows 8.1 by the way.

"Dear PC Specialist
Hi, after 15 minutes of using my new laptop yesterday, I got BSOD with the error message "DPC WATCHDOG VIOLATION".

On reboot, the screen was black. I could see the backlight was on and could still turn the display off and brightness up and down etc...

I was unable to restart without removing the battery. After restart: black screen again. Nothing else would happen, so booted the windows disc. I reset windows and the laptop restarted but I had lost all the installed drivers.

I reinstalled the "install" drivers from the drivers disc, in order with all restarts performed as stated in the instructions.

During installation of theses drivers the "AMD catalyst has stopped working" error message would pop up randomly.

After another reboot, black screen again.

I've reinstalled windows and the drivers 3 times now with the same result each time.

Please advise ASAP, I'm absolutely gutted..."

Any help appreciated, I'm stuck at work till 4 so will try any/ all suggestions when I get in. Thanks in advance!

 

[SmokeDarKnight]

I would say its is the AMD Drivers, if it works up to that point i would use older ones, i've been having problems with the current ones also and have reverted back the the last one.

Also don't use beta drivers, there is an option at the bottom of the page for precious drivers. http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/previous?os=Windows 7 - 64

If that still doesn't work then i would call PCS, called them this morning and they were a great help.

I hope this helps you come to a solution. Keep us posted

 

[ubuysa]

Sorry to hear about you problems, I know how gutted you must be after the long wait.

I would suggest you phone PCS. If you feel able it might be worth opening the case up and checking that nothing has become unseated (especially the RAM cards). It's not unheard of for things to move in transit.

While you wait it's worth testing your RAM, that's often a cause of problems and it's easy to test. Download Memtest, extract the ISO file from the archive, burn the ISO to a CD and boot the CD, Memtest will start running immediately. You need as many cycles of the test runs as possible so you should leave it running at least overnight. Leaving it over the entire weekend would be better. If you get any errors at all reported rerun Memtest with just one RAM card installed and repeat it with one card at a time to locate the flaky one.

Zero errors does not confirm that your RAM is good but it makes it much less likely that it's the problem.

I'm sorry I can't be of more help.

Edit: Follow SmokeDarkKnight's advice first. I don't have any experience with AMD chips and he does.

 

[Thorthor]

Thanks for the advice, I'll give smokes advice a try first when I get in.

Can I reinstall the drivers from the PCS disc and omit the AMD one? I'm thinking I should be able to run fine with the built in Intel graphics if the AMD driver is at fault?

Also, what is the exact method for formatting the SSD and reinstalling Windows 8.1? I want to make sure I haven't made an error there as well. Sorry if thus us a daft question but I'm no expert!

Lastly, what time does PCS support close? I won't be in till after 4 today.

Thanks in advance.

 

[SmokeDarKnight]

I think if you dont use the PCS disc for the GPU then Windows will automatically select the best driver for the job. If it works fine with that then take baby steps forward, install one driver at a time and trouble shoot what is causing you problems, one you get her running fine with all the drivers you can try the GPU. That way you will know for certain where the problem lies.

I find window great for getting the computer up and running on its own terms then work from there. At least if windows can get it running you know that its a driver problem.

Windows should select an AMD driver too but i think Catalyst Control Centre may have to be installed to properly optimist the GPU otherwise i think your laptop will try to run games on the Intel which will be grim.

As for SSD support im sorry but i have to bow out there as im just an HDD user.

PCS support is Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm (Saturdays 9am - 1pm) so you can get them staurday morning 0844 499 4000

 

[Thorthor]

Update:

Well, it's sorted. It was indeed the AMD driver causing my black screen. However, like I said, I'm no expert...

The main cause of my heartache was that as I was installing drivers manually after the Windows reinstall, Windows update was happily running in the background downloading and installing what it thought was the correct AMD driver for my system!

When you install Windows 8.1 the 1st option is to use default or custom Windows 8 settings. I was lazily choosing "default" which enabled automatic update.

I eventually realised and, after another Windows reinstall, I chose "custom" and disabled the automatic update which allowed me to install all the drivers I needed in my own time. I was creating a restore point after every successful driver install just in case!

I still had to try several AMD drivers but eventually found Catalyst version 13.11 worked a charm. Everything is now installed and running lovely! The Vortex is unbelievably fast, even my 3DMark scores made me smile!!

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1262196

:yes: :rockon:

Thanks again to SmokeDarknight and ubuysa for your help and advice. +rep!

 

[ubuysa]

Update:

Well, it's sorted. It was indeed the AMD driver causing my black screen. However, like I said, I'm no expert...

The main cause of my heartache was that as I was installing drivers manually after the Windows reinstall, Windows update was happily running in the background downloading and installing what it thought was the correct AMD driver for my system!

When you install Windows 8.1 the 1st option is to use default or custom Windows 8 settings. I was lazily choosing "default" which enabled automatic update.

I eventually realised and, after another Windows reinstall, I chose "custom" and disabled the automatic update which allowed me to install all the drivers I needed in my own time. I was creating a restore point after every successful driver install just in case!

I still had to try several AMD drivers but eventually found Catalyst version 13.11 worked a charm. Everything is now installed and running lovely! The Vortex is unbelievably fast, even my 3DMark scores made me smile!!

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1262196

:yes: :rockon:

Thanks again to SmokeDarknight and ubuysa for your help and advice. +rep!

Many thanks for coming back with the solution, I often learn new stuff this way. Thank you!

 

[SmokeDarKnight]

Update:

Well, it's sorted. It was indeed the AMD driver causing my black screen. However, like I said, I'm no expert...

The main cause of my heartache was that as I was installing drivers manually after the Windows reinstall, Windows update was happily running in the background downloading and installing what it thought was the correct AMD driver for my system!

When you install Windows 8.1 the 1st option is to use default or custom Windows 8 settings. I was lazily choosing "default" which enabled automatic update.

I eventually realised and, after another Windows reinstall, I chose "custom" and disabled the automatic update which allowed me to install all the drivers I needed in my own time. I was creating a restore point after every successful driver install just in case!

I still had to try several AMD drivers but eventually found Catalyst version 13.11 worked a charm. Everything is now installed and running lovely! The Vortex is unbelievably fast, even my 3DMark scores made me smile!!

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1262196

:yes: :rockon:

Thanks again to SmokeDarknight and ubuysa for your help and advice. +rep!

No problems, glad we could help you out.