Sapphire Vapor-X R9 270X doesn't boot to Windows

[sebasura]

Hi, I purchased a very very cheap R9 270X to see if its problem had a software solution. The seller told me this:
When I was playing Dota 2, the game crashed and the screen went black. I restarted my PC and it wouldn't go past the Windows logo. After the Windows logo, the screen was black. I tried reinstalling drivers and formatting but nothing worked. (I don't remember the version of Windows he was using, it was probably 8.1 or 10).
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So I checked the fans and they are working, but I had the same issue. First, I installed the card and my PC (Windows 7) booted normally, but the resolution was low because of the lack of drivers (I did have my HD 7770 drivers installed though). I installed the drivers of the R9 270X from the CD and rebooted. The screen was black after the Windows logo. I tried Ubuntu, and the screen was full of yellow "pixels", like a grid.
After that, I reinstalled my HD 7770 and everything booted normally. I used the AMD clean removal tool to uninstall every AMD driver, downloaded the latest drivers for the R9 270X, and I turned off the PC. I installed the R9 270X again and installed the drivers after a normal boot, and the same happened. But this time before I installed the drivers, I let Windows recognize the card as generic and used CPU-Z to see its state and it showed this: https://image.prntscr.com/image/My407VKPRLiAvjl7MhZPbw.png
I resigned and reinstalled my HD 7770 with its drivers. I don't think there's a software solution to this problem, but I've read many people have had issues with this card... I wonder if I can do something about this.

TL;DR: I have an R9 270X that won't boot past the Windows logo on Windows 7, even with a fresh and clean installation of drivers. Is there some sort of trick to make it work or is it just phisycally dead? The fans work and it sounds like it's doing stuff.

 

[Barty1884]

It doesn't sound like a software issue. It sounds like a failing card.... While everything is fairly minimal on the card (basic display adapter) it's mostly 'ok'. As soon as it's asked to do more (ie drivers installed, higher resolution etc), then it's not.

The artifacting in Ubuntu would give an indication the VRAM is the issue specifically..... but that's not definitive.

You could look to flash the vBIOS - ultimately, you've nothing to lose.
It might work, if the vBIOS has become corrupt..... BUT, if it's failing hardware, there's nothing you can do..... at least, nothing that's economically viable.

 

[sebasura]

It doesn't sound like a software issue. It sounds like a failing card.... While everything is fairly minimal on the card (basic display adapter) it's mostly 'ok'. As soon as it's asked to do more (ie drivers installed, higher resolution etc), then it's not.

The artifacting in Ubuntu would give an indication the VRAM is the issue specifically..... but that's not definitive.

You could look to flash the vBIOS - ultimately, you've nothing to lose.
It might work, if the vBIOS has become corrupt..... BUT, if it's failing hardware, there's nothing you can do..... at least, nothing that's economically viable.

Aaah, I see, I might try that. Any tips or specific guide on how to do it? (I'll google it, but I may pick an unreliable tutorial or something). Thanks.

 

[Barty1884]

I believe this is the most up to date guide.
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/amd-ati-flashing-guide.212849/

First off, try to verify the actual BIOS revision on your card (using GPU-Z ideally).

Otherwise, you may end up choosing the wrong BIOS, which can brick the card (can sometimes be recovered, but MUCH easier to do it right the first time than it is to 'fix').
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/

 

[krecha64]

Got the exact same situation. Bought the 270x dual fan dirt cheap with the same issue, but i actually managed to install the drivers once. Ran CSGO with around 300 fps, League Of Legends with around 130, and Heaven benchmark with over 900 score i believe on extreme. Then i ran Witcher 3. After clicking new game with lowering down the settings beforehand, an artifact appeared on my screen and the computer froze. Upon rebooting it would blackscreen after Windows logo if not ran in safe mode. I updated both my gpu and mobo bios, but with no success. Still looking for a solution.