Black screen when booting with GPU and GPU drivers installed

[SadisticMajor]

Hey dudes.

Starting last week my PC began having an issue. While playing EFT my screen glitched out with horizontal lines locking the PC up. I proceed to reboot with no issue, though I did not get back on the game. Several hours later, I attempt to get on and my PC black screens.

From this point on, the PC will black screen and lock up after the black "starting windows" page (this is Windows 7 Ultimate).

After many attempts to start it, I launched the computer in Safe Mode with networking, which worked without issue. After failed attempts to reinstall new drivers, I restore my PC with a system image. This did not solve anything either.

When I would re-launch the computer, it would give me a prompt in the boot menu saying windows failed to start, and to either troubleshoot or launch windows normally.

At this point I unplugged the GPU and started using the Intel on-board graphics. This launches fine. I proceed to use DDU to wipe my GPU drivers, reinstall the GPU and relaunch using the GPU without drivers.

The computer launched without issue normally without the GPU drivers installed, and I proceeded to re-install new ones. Upon restart, the screen would go black as before. I tried multiple re-wipes and re-installs of the graphics to no avail. However, the boot menu options changed from windows failing to launch to windows not shutting down correctly.

With the GPU uninstalled, the PC works fine, outside of no GPU function and the in-ability to play games. With the GPU installed, it will run fine without the drivers installed. I've also attempted to launch the computer with on-board graphics while the GPU was installed with up-to-date drivers. The computer loaded once to the blue "Welcome" screen, and froze. The rest of the time it would just lock up.



The specs are:
i5 3340
Gigabyte 85something Micro ATX (don't exactly remember which one it is)
Sapphire R9 290x reference card (while it was working)
8 gigs of samsung DDR3
Rosewill 850 fully modular PSU
Win 7 Ultimate
Samsung SSHD 1TB


At this point I'm convinced it's the GPU having died, giving it was an old mining card, but I'm not 100% sure.

I proceeded to order a new GPU, and it is on the way currently. I'm just curious if anyone can give me any advice to say if it's for sure a GPU issue, or possibly a motherboard or PSU issue. I will be building a new rig soon which will be a drastic upgrade from this one (this one's 5 years oldish), but I'm waiting on a bit more money to come in before I get started, so I'm attempting to limp by on this guy as long as I can before then.



Sorry for the long thread, and thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[panathas]

Your GPU is pretty old and used a lot (mining card). So it's the most likely suspect. However you have to also check the PSU since a bad PSU can also cause these issues.

The black screen or artefacts after the GPU driver has finished loading point to GPU instability which may be caused by a failing GPU chip which may need higher voltage in order to work. Also bad GPU memory or power issues from a bad/failing PSU can also cause those issues . You may be able to increase GPU stability by raising the GPU core voltage a little bit or dropping the GPU frequency. However the GPU driver has to load in order to do it which is the most difficult part. You can also try to tweak VRAM voltage/frequency. As for the PSU, you have to test your system with another spare unit that has enough Wattage output in order to support your system just in case the PSU is failing. Good luck.

 

[SadisticMajor]

The replacement GPU arrived, and it fixed my problem. This tells me it was the old card for sure.

I am still interested in repairing it, however, and think I may still can given I can still access BIOs, and my PC still sees the card.

Would BIOS flashing the card possibly help?

 

[panathas]

The replacement GPU arrived, and it fixed my problem. This tells me it was the old card for sure.

I am still interested in repairing it, however, and think I may still can given I can still access BIOs, and my PC still sees the card.

Would BIOS flashing the card possibly help?

You can't repair it. The fact that when the GPU driver loads, the system crashes, means that your old GPU isn't stable and is unable to operate under default operating conditions (temp, voltage, clocks). It could be anything at this point (bad GPU chip, VRAM, VRM, etc) and it doesn't worth the effort, time and money. Re-flashing the BIOS wouldn't help, since this isn't a BIOS issue. However you may be able to improve the card's stability, by modifying it's BIOS and it's default settings (GPU and VRAM voltage and frequency), and then re-flashing it with the modified BIOS. Decreasing the default clocks and increasing the voltage may help but nothing is guaranteed and it's difficult to modify the BIOS. You need special software and a lot of GPU BIOSes are locked which prevents any meaningful modification. So I thing that it doesn't worth the whole effort.

Having said all that, since you don't have anything to loose (the card is already dead), if you have a lot of free time you may give it a try but don't have high hopes. Just make sure that you do an extensive research online for videos, tutorials and forum posts for your specific GPU. Also try to remove the GPU cooler, clean it, remove all the dust, clean all the old thermal past and re-apply new one on the GPU chip in order to improve it's operating conditions since it may help with your efforts. Good luck.

 

[smorizio]

before you do anything se if there any warrnaty on the gpu. some gpu have lifetime warrantees and soem of the older gpu had 5 years on them. you can also contact the gpu vendor if the card out of warrranty speak to customer relations dept see if they give you a one time rma.

 

[SadisticMajor]

Sadly I do not have the receipt from when I bought the card, and Sapphire won't take RMAs without one according to their site.