R9 290 Crashing when watching video ONLY

[ssolarr]

Hi all,

I am having a very annoying issue with my new Gigabyte R9 290 graphics card.
Whenever I watch some kind of video, the display will crash to a blank screen after a random period of time. At this point, the audio will continue for 30s or so then stop. I am unable to do anything with the PC when the screen goes out.

This happens in Chrome (Youtube, Twitch etc.), iE, desktop videos (MPC/VLC), even Win8 metro apps such as 'adult swim', which I downloaded to test out the issue.

I am familiar with the R9 290 black screen issues while gaming, but haven't been able to find any information on an issue similar to mine. I can run The Witcher 2 on max settings for hours without any issues, and can run other games without a problem. I have checked my vRAM with the tool and it appears that it is the Elpida variant, which is known for black screen issues.

I have tried the AMD 13.12 drivers, the 14.4 beta drivers, and the WHQL 14.4 drivers which were released today/yesterday. All have the same issue.

The card was installed on a fresh install of Windows 8 (onto a new SSD).
I could replicate the problem without any additional software installed (only Win8 and CCC+drivers).

I have tried using MSi Afterburner to force constant voltage and disable ULPS, but the issue remains.

PC Info:
CPU - Intel i5 2400
RAM - 8GB Gskill
Motherboard - Z68 AsRock Extreme3 Gen3
PSU - Antec Truepower 650w (constant, 80+ Bronze certification)
GPU - Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 Windforce
Case - Fractal Design Define R4

Main theories are;

1. PSU is not up to scratch (although I have read that 650w should be adequate)
2. Drivers are bugged for me
3. Card is defective

Any input would be great!
Cheers

 

[John Valentim]

Hi all,

I am having a very annoying issue with my new Gigabyte R9 290 graphics card.
Whenever I watch some kind of video, the display will crash to a blank screen after a random period of time. At this point, the audio will continue for 30s or so then stop. I am unable to do anything with the PC when the screen goes out.

This happens in Chrome (Youtube, Twitch etc.), iE, desktop videos (MPC/VLC), even Win8 metro apps such as 'adult swim', which I downloaded to test out the issue.

I am familiar with the R9 290 black screen issues while gaming, but haven't been able to find any information on an issue similar to mine. I can run The Witcher 2 on max settings for hours without any issues, and can run other games without a problem. I have checked my vRAM with the tool and it appears that it is the Elpida variant, which is known for black screen issues.

I have tried the AMD 13.12 drivers, the 14.4 beta drivers, and the WHQL 14.4 drivers which were released today/yesterday. All have the same issue.

The card was installed on a fresh install of Windows 8 (onto a new SSD).
I could replicate the problem without any additional software installed (only Win8 and CCC+drivers).

I have tried using MSi Afterburner to force constant voltage and disable ULPS, but the issue remains.

PC Info:
CPU - Intel i5 2400
RAM - 8GB Gskill
Motherboard - Z68 AsRock Extreme3 Gen3
PSU - Antec Truepower 650w (constant, 80+ Bronze certification)
GPU - Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 Windforce
Case - Fractal Design Define R4

Main theories are;

1. PSU is not up to scratch (although I have read that 650w should be adequate)
2. Drivers are bugged for me
3. Card is defective

Any input would be great!
Cheers

GPU R9 290 XFX Black Edition OC.
PSU Silencer MK III 600W
MB Asus M5A88V-EVO
RAM Kingston (4GB) 4x2GB 1333MHz
CASE Cougar Evolution Galaxy
SSD 60GB OCZ Vertex III
CPU FX-8350

I'm having the same problem friend!
EXACTLY THE SAME!

Did a help too!

 

[CGurrell]

According to http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2013/11/05/amd-radeon-r9-290-review/9 your 290 will use around 420W under full load. Check that your PSU has that power along the 12v rail.

It is strange that it's video only though, no idea what would cause that

 

[John Valentim]

According to http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2013/11/05/amd-radeon-r9-290-review/9 your 290 will use around 420W under full load. Check that your PSU has that power along the 12v rail.

It is strange that it's video only though, no idea what would cause that

At full load is normal. Game CS: GO, BF4 and 3 normally. Just hangs when I'm watching video on YouTube, checked voltage, temperature, used Afterburner, changed drivers.
Failure to test a different MB and a different system. I am currently using Windows 8.
I have it since February, and this problem occurs.

He gives ramdomicamente not have an accurate count can be 30 sec, as for 1hr. If I am going straight to see a video, usually no delay. If I play before, then I see, it takes a little longer.

It is strange!

Sorry for my Bad English, I speak only is PT-BR! Very little English!

 

[John Valentim]

Correction: "Failure to test a different MB and a different system"
I'll test on a Motherboard and Processor these days to see if this may be the problem!

 

[johnmuller]

My motherboard has two PCI-E entries. How to retreat when I realized that the plate and put it back in the top slot, usually give freezy more frequently, so I decided to switch to the lower slot! It really seems to have stopped giving freezys. This observation in yet, but I stopped once! If you return back the freeze warning!

Sorry for my bad english. I write only pt-br!

 

[johnmuller]

Really my top slot was working well my old-gtx550ti .. I switched to the R9 290, i was playing well, but watching videos crashed the pc. Moved to the bottom pci-e and fix the problem. I recommend everyone try if you have another pci-e slot and have the same problem I had them.

 

[ssolarr]

Seems that the motherboard being outdated can definitely cause some issues. I fixed my problem by ubderclocking the memory in MSI afterburner to 1000hz from 1250hz. I also increased power allowance in the same program.

Edit - using the WHQL 14.4 AMD drivers. Updating to the new drivers causes the crash to return even with the under clock applied.