[SOLVED] No signal detected, can't get anywhere in boot (unless gpu is unplugged)

[bobal]

While playing a game, my computer randomly crashed and I was unable to reboot and get to windows. On reboot, my pc turns on with fans running properly, but my monitor claims no signal and my hard drive light is active for a split second but then completely stops (normally it will start, stop, and then remain active throughout the booting process). The first time I tried swapping to integrated graphics (booted normally) and back, I was able to boot normally on my gpu after getting past a boot screen about it asking if i wanted to reset my overclock, but after launching the same game I had the same crash and was unable to boot off of my gpu again.

Specs:
Motherboard: z87 gd-65
CPU: i5 4670k (stock clock)
GPU: Sapphire dual-x 280x (overclocked core to 1110 mhz, memory stock clock)
PSU: Corsair HX750
RAM: 4x8gb DDR3 g.skil ripjaws x

Things I've tried (in order)
PSU power cycle, (pc off, psu switch off, unplugged psu, psu switch on, switch off, replugged psu, switch on, pc on) (no effect)

Plugged monitor into motherboard instead of gpu, reboot (no effect)

Unplugged 8pin and 6pin power connectors from gpu (booted normally on integrated graphics)

Completely took out gpu, cleaned it and the pcie socket, plugged it back into same socket (booted, noticed screen that said something about keeping oc or going back to stock, pretty sure I kept my oc and booted into windows successfully, before having the same crash)

Repeated whole process above (no effect)

Did bios reset via taking battery out for 1 minute, then placing back in (no effect)

Tried booting with only 1 8pin cable in card (booted successfully on integrated graphics, no recognition of gpu once in windows)

Plugged in 6pin while in windows (instant shut down and automatic reboot back to no signal and no boot)

Hit clear cmos button on back of motherboard (no effect)

Tried 2nd bios on motherboard (no effect)

Tried gpu from other pc (nvidia 530) in pcie slot 1 (same one) (no effect)

Tried nvidia 530 in pcie slot 2 (successful boot)

Tried amd 280x in pcie slot 2 (no effect)

Cleaned pcie slot 2 and reseated 280x multiple times in it (no effect)

My best guess is that both my 280x and pcie slot 1 are broken, I've noticed while troubleshooting that the lock for the first pcie slot seems looser than the other 2 on my board. It could also have something to do with my oc, but I tested it in furmark and had been running it for a few months with no problems so I'm not sure.

 

[Aeacus]

Like you said, what is toast is your Radeon GPU and most likely 1st PCI-E x16 slot as well (since GT 530 didn't work in there as well).

While at 1st glance only GPU would be replaced, i'd replace MoBo as well.
Mainly because the 1st PCI-E x16 slot uses exclusively PCI-E lanes from CPU. Other PCI-E slots on MoBo are using chipset (MoBo) PCI-E lanes. E.g 2nd PCI-E x16 slot works max on 8x PCI-E lanes while 3rd PCI-E x16 slot works max on 4x PCI-E lanes.

With new MoBo, you'd be looking towards new CPU and RAM as well (unless you buy the old Z87 or Z97 chipset MoBo 2nd hand). Essentially, you're looking towards a new PC.

As far as what went wrong: keep in mind that any OC on GPU or CPU will shorten it's lifespan. The higher the OC - the shorter the lifespan, despite OC being stable.
Since your R9 280X stock base clock is 870 Mhz, OC'ing it to 1110 Mhz has difference of 240 Mhz and that is a very high OC. With that GPU, i wouldn't go past 1050 Mhz on base clock when OC'ing it.
Same is with CPUs. E.g if you'd let i5-9600K to run on it's stock clocks (3.7 Ghz), CPU will last 10, 15 or even 20 years before it dies. OC the CPU to 5.2 Ghz and CPU lasts 2 years, if even that much.

Speaking of OC, i have a question: what did you gain with your GPU OC? (E.g why do it?)

 

[bobal]

Like you said, what is toast is your Radeon GPU and most likely 1st PCI-E x16 slot as well (since GT 530 didn't work in there as well).

While at 1st glance only GPU would be replaced, i'd replace MoBo as well.
Mainly because the 1st PCI-E x16 slot uses exclusively PCI-E lanes from CPU. Other PCI-E slots on MoBo are using chipset (MoBo) PCI-E lanes. E.g 2nd PCI-E x16 slot works max on 8x PCI-E lanes while 3rd PCI-E x16 slot works max on 4x PCI-E lanes.

With new MoBo, you'd be looking towards new CPU and RAM as well (unless you buy the old Z87 or Z97 chipset MoBo 2nd hand). Essentially, you're looking towards a new PC.

As far as what went wrong: keep in mind that any OC on GPU or CPU will shorten it's lifespan. The higher the OC - the shorter the lifespan, despite OC being stable.
Since your R9 280X stock base clock is 870 Mhz, OC'ing it to 1110 Mhz has difference of 240 Mhz and that is a very high OC. With that GPU, i wouldn't go past 1050 Mhz on base clock when OC'ing it.
Same is with CPUs. E.g if you'd let i5-9600K to run on it's stock clocks (3.7 Ghz), CPU will last 10, 15 or even 20 years before it dies. OC the CPU to 5.2 Ghz and CPU lasts 2 years, if even that much.

Speaking of OC, i have a question: what did you gain with your GPU OC? (E.g why do it?)

Are you sure about replacing the mobo? because according to the manual and specs online, the z87-gd65 has 3 pcie 3.0 x16 slots. Even with a pcie 3.0 8x slot, how much would that bottleneck a 1660ti?

my card came with a factory overclock of 1050 mhz, and everywhere i've looked online said the 280x was safe between 1100 and 1200 mhz. I had perfectly fine temperatures, usually slightly above 80c when running, even when benchmarking in furmark. My gpu is about 6 years old now, so I was hoping to get some extra power out of it before I replaced it soon (was planning on getting a 1660ti on this cyber monday)

 

[Aeacus]

According to the MoBo specs:
• 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (support x16, x8/x8, x8/x4/x4 modes)
• 4 x PCIe 2.0 x1 slots
source (click Details): https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/Z87-GD65-GAMING/Specification

Which means that 1st (upper) PCI-E x16 slot will run in x16 mode if two others are empty. Add GPU to 2nd PCI-E x16 slot and max what MoBo can do is give it 8x lanes while the other 8x are reserved to 1st PCI-E x16 slot (which doesn't work anymore). Same with when you add GPU to 3rd (lowest) PCI-E x16 slot. MoBo can only allocate 4x PCI-E lanes to that one.

Running PCi-E 3.0 GPU that uses x16 lanes with only half the lanes (8x) is essentially same as running same GPU in PCI-E 2.0 slot (you'd loose half the bandwidth). As far as how big of an impact it has depends on a game. CPU bound games suffer the least while GPU bound games suffer the most.

Like i said, i would replace MoBo but since it's your PC, it's up to you. Buy a new GPU and look how it performs, if you're not happy, go with new CPU-MoBo-RAM combo. Simple.

As far as GPU factory OC goes, my sources say that none of the 4x Sapphire R9 280X OC version GPUs come with 1050 Mhz on base clock. What they come with are either 870 Mhz (base) / 1020 Mhz (boost) or 900 Mhz (base) / 1050 Mhz (boost) clocks.

Oh, GTX 1660 Ti is best GPU for 1080p gaming and it can do 1440p gaming as well, so, it's a good choice.