Hello,
Purpose - I wanted to post this experience so that others who may be having a similar issue can easily fix it. (Versus spending many hours trying other approaches like I did.)
Background - My current computer (see specifications below) had a stock ATI 5870 graphics card. I wanted to upgrade my current system to a crossfire arrangement (two 5870 cards in the system) and give my stock ATI 5870 to a friend. (The issue that I'm documenting here has nothing to do with crossfire. However, It is important to understand that I have seen the issue on two separate gigabyte 5870 graphics cards.) My plan was to purchase a gigabyte 5870 and test it in my system by replacing the current stock ATI 5870. (I took out the stock ATI 5870.) Since the first gigabyte 5870 appeared to be working normally, I ordered a second gigabyte 5870 a few days later.
Problem appeared on first card - After about 3 days of use (I leave my computer on), I noticed that the first gigabyte 5870 card started to give black screens during the boot process (POST) PRIOR to loading windows about 40% of the time. I had never seen this issue with the stock ATI 5870 card. I then swapped the stock ATI 5870 graphics card with the gigabyte 5870 card and the issue stopped. I then asked a friend to test the gigabyte 5870 card in his system (see specs below). After a few days, he began to have the same black screen issues during the boot process prior to windows loading. Note that the card is very stable once it reaches windows.
First Actions - I contacted Gigabyte and offered to RMA the card. After 3 weeks, they returned the card stating that they could find nothing wrong with the card. (Actually, there was no information sent with the card. I had to request information from Gigabyte.)
Problem appeared on second card - The second Gigabyte 5870 arrived. I placed it into my system and after about three days of use, started to get black screens on boot up prior to windows loading.
Solution - After trying every change that I could think of (new drivers, different PCI express 2.0 slots, updating mother board bios, etc), I came across two references on the web to black screens during boot up prior to windows loading. (See references below.) In both cases, the black screens started when the video bios F8 was applied. Following this lead, I used the Gigabyte VGA@BIOS tool to replace my F8 bios with the F6 bios. (I could not find the F7 bios on the web.) ONCE THE F6 BIOS WAS FLASHED INTO THE CARD, ALL BLACK SCREENS DURING BOOT STOPPED. I rebooted my system 95 times over 2.5 weeks and did not get any black screens. I then asked my friend to test the Gigabyte card with the F6 bios in his system and he found that all the black screens had stopped. I replaced the bios on the second Gigabyte card and all black screens during boot also stopped with that card.
Conclusion - If you are getting occasional black screens during boot, try rolling back the video bios from F8 to F6.
Sent all information to Gigabyte - The only response I received was that the F8 bios should not be causing this issue.
My system specifications....
a. I7 1366 pins/2.67GHZ/L1=4x32K; L2=4x256k; L3=8meg
b. 6 meg of OCZ memory
c. Gigabyte 5870 with ATIMDAG 7.14.10.017 catalyst 11.3 [Subvendor=Gigabyte (1458)]
d. SATA Intel SATA SSD (SSDSA2M160G2GC)
e. 700 watt Silent Pro M700
f. ASUS and LG DVD-RW
g. Motherboard model ASUS P6T-SE. Bios version=AMER megatrends 0808 (3/8/10)
i. All voltage parameters on the motherboard are set to default.
My friends system specifications - P45 chipset (a gigabyte motherboard EP45-UD3R); Q9400 processor and a SSD. (Different SSD manufacturers/controllers/firmware then is system above.)
Other references on the web - Re: GV-R587UD-1GD BSOD/Overheating ;
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1556657Source of F6 Bios - The F6 bios is not available on the Gigabyte web site. (Only the F8 bios is available.) I got the F6 bios from the TechPowerUP web site. (
http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/75059/Gigabyte.HD5870.1024.100416.html)
