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R9 290 black screen issues, need help please

Tags:
  • Windows
  • Graphics
  • Radeon
  • ATI
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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August 5, 2014 11:11:11 PM

I've looked around and this is something that is mentioned a lot without any clear solutions. Additionally, I always read that this occurs during gaming, which is the exact opposite of my issue.

Windows 7 64
4790k, stock speeds and cooled with an H100. ~40c idle, ~55 load
Saphire Vapor-x R9 290
Asrock Z97X, latest 1.50 bios
OCZ ZX 850W
8gb Gskill Ripjaws X 1600 - 8 passes of memtest86+ showed no errors.
SP, windows updates and all that jazz are installed.

Symptom: Screen goes black. System becomes unresponsive. Numlock/capslock etc cannot be toggled. Audio stops. Hard reset necessary. No relevant logs in eventviewer, no mini dumps. Not sure if related or not, but if the system is put to sleep, when it wakes and you attempt to log in, it black screens.

Occurrence: When browsing windows explorer or web browsing. Playing games or watching video prevents this issue from occurring. In the three weeks I've had this system, I have never blackscreened during a game or video. Only windows/web browsing. In fact, after blackscreening some ~6 times today, I came to this realization and had the thought of loading a video in the background. Ever since, I have not had a blackscreen.

This was an issue immediately. It took several attemps to install windows as it would lock up during installation. Each time it did, I formatted the drive and started over.

I would again like to emphasize that this does NOT occur while actually doing anything. 8 hour gaming sessions without issue. Movies, TV shows, anime...no issue. In the past two weeks, I've logged 147 hours of gaming, according to steam. Probably about some 30 hours of video in that timeframe as well. All without any problem at all.

Does anyone have any ideas? I sure don't. Heck, it may not even be GPU related? In any case, thanks in advance for any help and feel free to ask for any additional information.

Thanks again!

More about : 290 black screen issues

August 5, 2014 11:22:04 PM

I feel it has something to do with powertune, try googling for a way to bypass it.

What I think is while you run no intense tasks at all, like pure 2d and no real GPU usage, powertune reduces GPU clock and voltage a lot, probably the card you have is having an issue with downclocking that it does not receive enough power to run in 2d/light mode.

I suggest you to RMA that card. In my opinion when a product does not perform as specified it should be replaced by vendor anyway. Yours must be having an issue with properly running in power saving mode.
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August 5, 2014 11:24:39 PM

I can only think it`s driver related to the card.
Maybe you should look into a different version of ATI CCC video drivers.
Have a look that your not using a Beta driver by chance.
Or the driver you have is old, maybe a different CCC driver version will resolve the problem.

Other than that check there is no problem with the existing Bios firmware revision for the R9 card you have.
I know some boards required a bios firmware update to stabilize the board when an R9 was used in the setup.
So have a check.

Also have a look at your windows power scheme for the system.
Maybe changing the setting to High might resolve the problem.

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August 5, 2014 11:35:40 PM

@ Powertune I will look into that. As for RMAing the card I don't really feel like it's defective. I think there's just something silly going on. If this occurred during gaming and such, yes absolutely I would RMA it. But for now, that'll be a last resort.

@ power scheme it's already set to high performance with all that 'turn x off after...' disabled.

Currently using CCC 14.4. The 14.7 beta drivers don't have any mention of anything related to this, just Windows 8 stuff. I've had bad experienced with ATI betas in the past, so I avoid them.
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Best solution

August 5, 2014 11:40:02 PM

Install beta drivers, they are okay, I run them with my 290x just fine.

Also I suggest completely knocking out your current AMD drivers with Guru3Ds Driver cleaner, before you update.
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August 6, 2014 2:41:27 PM

I have installed the 14.7 beta drivers and am awaiting it to blackscreen. Will update with any information.

Update: Been several days and no issues. The beta drivers appear to have fixed this. Still happens after waking from sleep, but that's another issue entirely.

Thanks.
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August 28, 2014 1:26:47 PM

Is your card still working fine? I have been having the exact same issue as you with my Sapphire R9 290 (black screens soon after startup while doing normal tasks; totally fine if I start gaming right away). I have been using the 14.4 driver. Sapphire support has already stated I probably have a hardware issue after they sent me a new bios to flash to without that solving the problem. Before RMAing, I tried to install the 14.7 and I have not been able to reproduce the black screens. Hopefully, this means it isn't a hardware issue and I don't need to send the card in?
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August 28, 2014 3:26:28 PM

Knuxson said:
Is your card still working fine? I have been having the exact same issue as you with my Sapphire R9 290 (black screens soon after startup while doing normal tasks; totally fine if I start gaming right away). I have been using the 14.4 driver. Sapphire support has already stated I probably have a hardware issue after they sent me a new bios to flash to without that solving the problem. Before RMAing, I tried to install the 14.7 and I have not been able to reproduce the black screens. Hopefully, this means it isn't a hardware issue and I don't need to send the card in?


The beta drivers did the trick for me. Been a few weeks without any issues. Hopefully it's the same for you.

Whether it was a driver problem to begin with, or it is a hardware problem that just somehow does not occur on the beta drivers is unknown. Here's to hoping the next driver update doesn't break it again.
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August 28, 2014 4:32:29 PM

Thanks for the response. I was consistently able to make it black screen if I started surfing the web for a few minutes after booting. With the 14.7 drivers, I cannot get it to do it again. Hopefully it is just a driver issue, and subsequent drivers will not break it again. I believe the warranty from Sapphire is good for 2 years, so I guess we will just have to see how it goes with future driver updates. Thanks again.
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September 28, 2014 6:44:52 AM

Damn, the exact opposite is in my case: 14.4 rock solid, 14.7 immediate black screen, while in 2d mode. While gaming, or boosting voltage, it's fine,14.7 simply require a greater voltage (+25) in my case, while 14.4 can run with no issues at all, at 0 voltage modifier. Sapphire Tri-X 290 OC edition... It must be somehow related to 1300 MHz clock of DRAM, but again, how it works just fine with 14.4 and 1300 MHz ? What the hell happened in 14.7 ?
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October 8, 2014 8:53:43 PM

I'm having a very similar issue with my R9 290... black screen when in 2D stuff. I've tried some different drivers.. may try the beta drivers. I may also try a new PSU... not sure if my PSU is up to feeding in enough power with the 6 pin / 6+2 connector. (Antec Trio 650)
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