SCREEN FLICKERING/FLASHING on R9 390

[zarn90]

since more than a week I have been facing screen flickering issue on my Sapphire r9 390 which is accompanied by device attachment/detachment sound. This flickering even persists when i remove all of my usb devices(keyboard, mouse) and I have tried changing my VGA cable along with hdmi to VGA converter.

I have tried upgrading my software to the latest driver available and tried few old versions of the drivers. At that time I had Windows 10 Pro as my operating system. I reinstalled Windows 10 and upgraded it to the latest version in an attempt to solve this issue. The only step that seems to solve this issue is disabling the AMD Radeon R9 390 Series display adapter from device manager.

I thought this could be a Windows 10 problem and on 10th june I reverted back to Windows 7 Professional, however I am facing the same issue. Even In Windows 7 the problem would only be resolved when i disable the AMD display adapter from device manager.
(Disabling Intel HD Graphics 4600 only doesn't solve this issue).

The screen flickering is not continuous, It is random, usually starts within 30 minutes of bootup. As it starts occurring, I disable AMD adapter for few minutes and re enable it. This usually resolves the problem until sometime. The possibility of bad HDMI Output of my gpu is also ruled out as screen flickering occurred even when I connected my LCD to motherboards VGA output(while my gpu adapter was enabled). Also I do not overclock any of my system's components.

System Configuration:
Motherboard: GA-H97 HD3
CPU: Intel i7 4790
Memory: Kingston 8GB DDR3
GPU: Sapphire R9 390
VBIOS: 113-2E3240U-X4A
Driver: Crimson 17.6.1
OS: Windows 7 Professional (version 6.1 build 7601 SP1)
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 943SNX Plus

One important thing, while I was on Windows 10 and i used to disable AMD graphic adapter from device manager, somehow graphic card would still provide display but screen flickering would stop. This is confusing as I have tried different operating systems and different version of graphic drivers so it doesn't look like software issue. But if it is hardware issue, shouldn't there be screen flickering even after disabling the graphic adapter from device manager?

 

[hang-the-9]

First get rid of all the variables, test the monitor on another system, test another monitor on yours, test different connections on the video card without any adapters. Check for a newer BIOS for the motherboard. Is anything overclocked?

 

[zarn90]

First get rid of all the variables, test the monitor on another system, test another monitor on yours, test different connections on the video card without any adapters. Check for a newer BIOS for the motherboard. Is anything overclocked?

Tried changing my monitor, vga cable, hdmi to vga connector, currently on the latest non beta version of bios, nothing is overclocked.

I have come to a realization that screen flickering is more frequent and quick when GPU intensive work is going on. I have tried GPU stress testing several times through FurMark, every time(except once) testing was affected due to screen flickering, though the testing continued after screen flickering stopped as FurMark did not crash(there was downward spike in gpu temperature graph due to screen flickering). Only Once I had been able to carry out stress testing for 30 minutes without any screen flickering through FurMark followed by 3D Mark 11(basic edition). I have started feeling this is a graphic card problem, my GPU is probably dying...

 

[hang-the-9]

First get rid of all the variables, test the monitor on another system, test another monitor on yours, test different connections on the video card without any adapters. Check for a newer BIOS for the motherboard. Is anything overclocked?

Tried changing my monitor, vga cable, hdmi to vga connector, currently on the latest non beta version of bios, nothing is overclocked.

I have come to a realization that screen flickering is more frequent and quick when GPU intensive work is going on. I have tried GPU stress testing several times through FurMark, every time(except once) testing was affected due to screen flickering, though the testing continued after screen flickering stopped as FurMark did not crash(there was downward spike in gpu temperature graph due to screen flickering). Only Once I had been able to carry out stress testing for 30 minutes without any screen flickering through FurMark followed by 3D Mark 11(basic edition). I have started feeling this is a graphic card problem, my GPU is probably dying...

On that second monitor, did you still use the adapter? While it may be the card, if you are using some sort of converter, especially HDMI to VGA that needs an active converter, you still have an extra variable in the testing.

 

[zarn90]

On that second monitor, did you still use the adapter? While it may be the card, if you are using some sort of converter, especially HDMI to VGA that needs an active converter, you still have an extra variable in the testing.

I bought another converter to check whether the screen flickering stops, but it did not.
One more thing, screen flickering would also occur even when I connect my monitor to motherboard's VGA port(while keeping AMD display adapter enabled from device manager)

 

[Neur0nauT]

What wattage is your PSU? I know that 390's draw up to 300w on load. So its advised to run it on a minimum 600w PSU. The Amperage on your existing PSU's 12v rail could be too low for the card to draw. It would need at least 42 amps. Your PSU manufacturers website will tell you what this is.

Try removing any overclock's if you have them.

Be prepared to consider RMAing your GPU....don't let this continue until it is out of warranty. If it is already out of warranty...be prepared that your GPU could also possibly be dying.

 

[zarn90]

What wattage is your PSU? I know that 390's draw up to 300w on load. So its advised to run it on a minimum 600w PSU. The Amperage on your existing PSU's 12v rail could be too low for the card to draw. It would need at least 42 amps. Your PSU manufacturers website will tell you what this is.

Try removing any overclock's if you have them.

Be prepared to consider RMAing your GPU....don't let this continue until it is out of warranty. If it is already out of warranty...be prepared that your GPU could also possibly be dying.

I have Corsair CS750M - 750 Watt PSU, I don't overclock any of my system's components.

I'll probably RMA soon but this may also be difficult as flickering is random..

 

[Neur0nauT]

I'll probably RMA soon but this may also be difficult as flickering is random..

I would not worry about that. The product is appearing to be defective, and the warranty will stand.

Just mention that it starts to flicker after you've been using it on load for a time, as this would indicate heat/power issues. VRMs might be overheating on it. These are not as easy to spot as overheating GPU core or VRAM clocks.

Best to RMA it to be sure. I've made the mistake in the past of not RMAing a card that was getting random artefacts, and I just let it slide. The card ended up dying about 2 months out of warranty.

Use the warranty....that's what its for after all.

 

[zarn90]

I've had my GPU installed in a completely different system and It's still causing flickering issues. It is definitely a hardware issue so I am going to RMA it soon.
Thank you for your help.