Question GPU might be broken? (R9 270X)

[Robert van der Leeuw]

I got an old 9 270X from a friend that he thought broke due to liquid damage, but he didn't try to power it afterwards anymore. I cleaned it with some 96% alcohol, applied new thermal paste and tried it in my PC a few months ago, and it worked fine for a few minutes, but whilst installing the drivers i got a black screen, after which i couldn't get it to boot anymore. Then a friend tried it for me, and he said that it powered just fine for him (but I assume that he didn't try to download the driver or use for a long time).

Now, months later, I tried to put it in a different PC and it didn't boot with it. After this I booted into Windows with the GPU installed but using the MoBo video connector. Doing this, I saw in the device manager that the "basic adapter" (one of the 2, presumably the 270X one) had an issue with the drivers. I tried to reinstall the driver multiple times now (with and without safe mode) and the PC kept on freezing the PC or rebooting during the install, losing the entirety of the installation progress. Now when I try to boot the PC using the 270X as primary video controller I get to the BIOS splash screen (for a shorter amount of time than normal) after which I get a no signal black screen. I've tried to boot to the BIOS and to windows, but I get the same effect that I just said.

After all of this I tried to boot the PC using an R9 280 instead, with it working perfectly, even with the same R9 200 series drivers.

The fact that it boots to the splash screen and has worked multiple times with different PCs (without anything major happening to it in between the time that I tried it) makes me assume that it still works.

Can anyone give me some advice or final verdicts? Any help is appreciated.

TL/DR: GPU worked fine in PC until installing drivers, after which no signal and unable to boot. Tried in another PC and worked fine (without driver install though). Put it in new PC after a while and used MoBo video out, device manager showed a driver issue. When installing drivers auto reboot and losing driver install progress. Different GPU, same series works fine, with the same drivers("broken" R9 270X to normal R9 280). Original GPU now boots to BIOS splash screen, then no signal and unable to boot to BIOS or windows.

 

[Deleted member 2731765]

After this I booted into Windows with the GPU installed but using the MoBo video connector. Doing this, I saw in the device manager that the "basic adapter" (one of the 2, presumably the 270X one) had an issue with the drivers

Just to clear up some confusion. Are you using the MOBO's onboard graphics to boot your PC, with the GPU still installed on the PCI-e slot, or just the integrated graphics ? Unless you plug the Monitor cable to the GPU, the system won't recognize the card, and you won't be able to install drivers. It will show as "Microsoft basic Adapter', if the drivers have NOT been installed.

Anyways, I could be wrong though, but what are your FULL PC specs ? Which PSU are you having ? Do you have the latest BIOS installed for your mobo ? Also, try clearing/resetting the CMOS settings, if need be. It might be possible that your GPU is also faulty.

 

[Robert van der Leeuw]

Just to clear up some confusion. Are you using the MOBO's onboard graphics to boot your PC, with the GPU still installed on the PCI-e slot, or just the integrated graphics ? Unless you plug the Monitor cable to the GPU, the system won't recognize the card, and you won't be able to install drivers. It will show as "Microsoft basic Adapter', if the drivers have NOT been installed.

Anyways, I could be wrong though, but what are your FULL PC specs ? Which PSU are you having ? Do you have the latest BIOS installed for your mobo ? Also, try clearing/resetting the CMOS settings, if need be.

In the BIOS i have the priority set to use the internal graphics. This is with the GPU installed fully, but having the VGA cable to the monitor into the MoBo connector, not the GPU. You could be right about the recognizing thing, but IIRC I saw it being recognized as something like "Radeon R9 200 Series" some of the times as well.

I've also already flashed the BIOS to the latest version and resetted the CMOS.

Specs:
AMD Athlon II X4 635
Asus M4A78L-M Le
2 * DDR2 4GB 800mHz
AMD Radeon R9 270X Twin Frozr 2G
Cooler Master G650M (650W, Semi-Mod)

 

[Deleted member 2731765]

IIRC I saw it being recognized as something like "Radeon R9 200 Series" some of the times as well.

Are you talking about the DEVICE MANAGER's "Display Adapters" entry, or some other ?

EDIT: Oops, did you just DELETE your post ? Never mind, it's showing up again.....weird

 

[Robert van der Leeuw]

Are you talking about the DEVICE MANAGER's "Display Adapters" entry, or some other ?

EDIT: Oops, did you just DELETE your post ?

I'm talking about the Microsoft basic Adapter in the device manager. Also, just editing the post a lot due to being a perfectionist haha.

 

[Robert van der Leeuw]

I'm talking about the Microsoft basic Adapter in the device manager. Also, just editing the post a lot due to being a perfectionist haha.

Booted the PC into safe mode, still using the MoBo video. Now the 270X gets seen as "AMD Radeon R9 200 Series" and what I assume to be the MoBo video gets seen as "ATI Radeon 3000 Graphics".