Question Vega 64 Crashes when installing drivers (EBAY GAMBLING THREAD)

[sqwad]

Hi, thanks for stopping to read. I am asking for any direction as I have no clue where to continue prodding at this problem.

I recently took a bet bid on a questionable Vega 64 from eBay and am at an impasse for diagnosing its problem.

Upon receiving the card I inserted it into my main system and it refused to post. On my test bench the system posted and booted to the OS, but whenever drivers began to install Windows would freeze. The freeze would still allow use of my mouse meaning windows explorer crashes every time I install drivers and subsequently booting back up with the driver installed leads to a freeze on boot. I would have to remove the card and DDU the drivers. Without drivers the card appears in device manager but has a code 31.

Specific Card:
- Sapphire Nirto+ (2x8pin cut down version)

What I have tried:

• letting windows install drivers
• installing latest ardenaline drivers
• installing 2018 build of adrenaline drivers
• installing the professional graphics drivers
• Using two separate 8pin connectors rather than daisy chain (Main system runs EVGA SuperNOVA 850GM and test bench a rosewill 80+ gold 850W, POWER NOT ISSUE)
• Flashing different bios builds (kept backup of original bios)

I'm at a loss here so whatever you got give it. Thanks in advance for any insight and thanks for reading this far.

 

[rolli59]

Apparently there is a problem with the card. If I understand your post right the problem is when you install the drivers it stops working which means it only works in 2d not 3d.

 

[DSzymborski]

You've done most of the things that are practical to do. Next would be to dissect the card and see if there's an obviously burned component that you could possibly replace with a new component and some soldering. Failing that, it's likely e-waste.

Hopefully, you got this for a very low price. Given the price of GPUs, people will almost always check the easily fixable stuff before dumping it on eBay. Unless you're very experienced or just want parts to learn with and tinker on, anything more than 10% of a new replacement card is a poor bet; to keep the gambling analogy going, hitting on 19 would be a better bet (about a 15% chance of not busting).

 

[sqwad]

You've done most of the things that are practical to do. Next would be to dissect the card and see if there's an obviously burned component that you could possibly replace with a new component and some soldering. Failing that, it's likely e-waste.

Hopefully, you got this for a very low price. Given the price of GPUs, people will almost always check the easily fixable stuff before dumping it on eBay. Unless you're very experienced or just want parts to learn with and tinker on, anything more than 10% of a new replacement card is a poor bet; to keep the gambling analogy going, hitting on 19 would be a better bet (about a 15% chance of not busting).

Apologies I forgot to mention I did do a few teardowns. Nothing blatantly exploded nor shorted. No burny smells anywhere. Capacitors look in normal, none bloated. Also the fans run at a normal speed and the chip does heat up when idling meaning the die gets power. I got this card for $175 (with tax and shipping) so I'm not going to cry myself to sleep over this. If I got an upgrade for my Bulldozer/Tahiti space heater so be it, but I'm not gonna waste time over spilled milk. I'm just unbelievably perplexed on what the issue could be.

I mainly would like to know if these Vega chips tend to burn out more easily than other cards or if the HMB memory has a shorter lifespan than standard GDDR memory. I've heard rumors these chips tend to fail but I would like to fish for some confirmation.

I'm still planning to bake the card and prod w/ a multimeter.

Last summer I rescued some sub $100 rx 470s and gtx 1060s "for parts not working" from the mines with great success so I figured I would try something a little more powerful. Guess my luck caught up with me lol.

I'm gonna still hang around for a bit to see if anyone has some esoteric knowledge of these Vega cards. At the very least this e-waste will make a cool piece of exploded wall art with some 3d printed brackets.

Edit: Spelling mistakes

 

[DSzymborski]

$175 was kinda pricey. Given that a new RX 6600 can be gotten for $400 and is slightly more powerful, you probably needed to have about a 70-80% chance of fixing this to have made it a good idea.

If you've already gone through the card and not seen any obvious culprits, I would be extremely bearish about your chances now, given the other normal things you did. Your best bet now would be to resell it and see if someone else wants to take a possibly futile crack at it.

I haven't seen any long-term data on Vega 64's reliability, but i wouldn't be surprised if it had a high failure rate; it was a really high power card.

 

[sqwad]

$175 was kinda pricey. Given that a new RX 6600 can be gotten for $400 and is slightly more powerful, you probably needed to have about a 70-80% chance of fixing this to have made it a good idea.

If you've already gone through the card and not seen any obvious culprits, I would be extremely bearish about your chances now, given the other normal things you did. Your best bet now would be to resell it and see if someone else wants to take a possibly futile crack at it.

I haven't seen any long-term data on Vega 64's reliability, but i wouldn't be surprised if it had a high failure rate; it was a really high power card.

I bought this as a project and miracle upgrade now I have the former. My R9 380x is still kicking strong and I really don't need an upgrade. I always wanted one of these Vega gpus but I'm not shilling out msrp for a 5 year old questionably used piece of equipment. Just because the obvious is ruled out doesn't mean there isn't an answer. There's something stupid afoot here and I'm sticking with it a little while longer to find a solution