R9 290 possibly dead

[MrHaamu]

Hey,
I have had a Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X graphics card for around 3 years now and the card used to be really good. One day around 3 months ago I think i ran into a blue screen and after restarting, i only get boot and Windows logo and then just black. When i get drivers for the card and Windows starts using the R9 290 instead of my CPU's graphics, the screen goes black. I have tried so many different things to try and get the GPU to function normally but i cant solve this by myself. I still have hope that my GPU isn't dead, so if you have any suggestions how to get it working i would be very grateful.

 

[jaslion]

Hey,
I have had a Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X graphics card for around 3 years now and the card used to be really good. One day around 3 months ago I think i ran into a blue screen and after restarting, i only get boot and Windows logo and then just black. When i get drivers for the card and Windows starts using the R9 290 instead of my CPU's graphics, the screen goes black. I have tried so many different things to try and get the GPU to function normally but i cant solve this by myself. I still have hope that my GPU isn't dead, so if you have any suggestions how to get it working i would be very grateful.

Full system specs please. Psu in detail.

 

[MrHaamu]

Processor: i5 4670k @4.3GHz, Noctua NH-9B SE2 (now at stock speeds)
GPU: Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X 4gb
RAM: 2x4GB 1600mhz, 2x2GB 1600mhz
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G1 80+ gold
Operating System:Windows 10 64bit
Samsung 840 EVO 120gb (operating system)
Seagate ST1000DM003 1TB HDD (evertything else)

 

[jaslion]

Processor: i5 4670k @4.3GHz, Noctua NH-9B SE2 (now at stock speeds)
GPU: Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X 4gb
RAM: 2x4GB 1600mhz, 2x2GB 1600mhz
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G1 80+ gold
Operating System:Windows 10 64bit
Samsung 840 EVO 120gb (operating system)
Seagate ST1000DM003 1TB HDD (evertything else)

If you can test the 290 in another system with a GOOD psu since the 290 is an extremely powerhungry card. If it works I suspect a psu failiure on your end.

 

[toshibitsu]

Try removing the GPU and use compressed air to clean out the heatsink/fans. With the system powered off and unplugged(power-wise), proceed to clean out the GPU slot w/ a tooth brush and rubbing alcohol 90%. Also try cleaning the contacts on the GPU itself. I doubt it's still under warranty so I'd also recommend replacing the thermal paste on the GPU(arctic silver or grizzly kryonaut would be ideal). Once dry, re-install it and see what happens.

 

[MrHaamu]

If you can test the 290 in another system with a GOOD psu since the 290 is an extremely powerhungry card. If it works I suspect a psu failiure on your end.

Yea, i will have to try and ask a friend if i can test the card on another system. Unfortunately the card is really big so it wont fit in some systems.

 

[MrHaamu]

Try removing the GPU and use compressed air to clean out the heatsink/fans. With the system powered off and unplugged(power-wise), proceed to clean out the GPU slot w/ a tooth brush and rubbing alcohol 90%. Also try cleaning the contacts on the GPU itself. I doubt it's still under warranty so I'd also recommend replacing the thermal paste on the GPU(arctic silver or grizzly kryonaut would be ideal). Once dry, re-install it and see what happens.

I will have to try this some time if everything else fails, since i'll have to buy the thermal paste and rubbing alcohol for it.

 

[MrHaamu]

Ok, a little update. I took the card to a friend of mine to test in his PC, and the problem became quite clear, but the solution is still missing. The PC was able to start just fine and worked perfectly until Windows updated the GPU drivers, and then the screen just went black. Every single AMD driver update i could find and test would do the same. Windows doesn't recognize the card by name and it just says its a Microsoft basic display adapter, but other software like GPU-Z recognize the card as a 28nm hawaii AMD card with 4G of GDDR5 memory and so on. I have used DDU multiple times, turned off fast boot and disabled Windows auto updates, yet it still goes black when i install the drivers. Any suggestions are welcome, as i'm clueless at this point. (and baking the card will be last resort but i'm hoping it wont come down to that)

 

[jaslion]

Ok, a little update. I took the card to a friend of mine to test in his PC, and the problem became quite clear, but the solution is still missing. The PC was able to start just fine and worked perfectly until Windows updated the GPU drivers, and then the screen just went black. Every single AMD driver update i could find and test would do the same. Windows doesn't recognize the card by name and it just says its a Microsoft basic display adapter, but other software like GPU-Z recognize the card as a 28nm hawaii AMD card with 4G of GDDR5 memory and so on. I have used DDU multiple times, turned off fast boot and disabled Windows auto updates, yet it still goes black when i install the drivers. Any suggestions are welcome, as i'm clueless at this point. (and baking the card will be last resort but i'm hoping it wont come down to that)

Can you try the card under windows 7? If the problem still persists I wouldn't be suprised that it's dead.

 

[MrHaamu]

OK good news time. I decided that since i don't have anything else to try, i used a heatgun to reflow the GPU. It actually worked, and now im extremely happy. Ill update once i have used the card for a while.

 

[jaslion]

OK good news time. I decided that since i don't have anything else to try, i used a heatgun to reflow the GPU. It actually worked, and now im extremely happy. Ill update once i have used the card for a while.

Start saving up for a new card. Reflowing is a very temp fix and the card will fail again within the next 6 months usually.