Sapphire TRI-X R9 290 Freeze/Lock Up

[Akriloth]

Hello!

I got a new Sapphire TRI-X R9 290 but so far it is causing problems. Since i installed it, randomly my PC freezes/locks up and if i am playing a video/browsing/gaming and if there is sound buzzing sound comes from speaker for around 4 seconds then goes away. I have to restart after this happen because PC does not respond at all. Some times PC gives "driver stopped working" and freezes mostly happened when i am watching flash videos(youtube/twitch.tv)/surfing. I also have 0 problems on idle.

It gave couple blue screens aswell(after an intense series of "driver stopped working") and it doesn't chrash on demanding games mostly(it only froze on intro of DA:I once and so far only games it froze more than once are LoL and DotA(it once gave driver stopped working error with DotA aswell)).

PC works perfectly fine with onboard GPU and my last GPU was a Sapphire 7970 which died for no reason after 2 years(Took it to shop they said memory died).

So far i tried these:
- Disabling "Enforce Smooth Video Playback" (in CCC>Video>Global Video Quality) it made chrashes less often, PC worked fine after this as far as 2 days(PC worked 8-10 hours each day) without chrash.
- Formatting Windows 7. Same result as disabling "Enforce Smooth Video Playback". PC worked fine after this as far as 2 days(PC worked 8-10 hours each day) without chrash.
-Flashing VBIOS to latest version with the help of Sapphire Support.
-Since my CPU is OCed, lowering it's GHz, PC gave 2 BSODs instead of freeze/lock ups. I got 2 dumps which i can give to you if you want to check them out.

Things to note:
- Here is a video of freeze/chrash; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w8ghIA_rzE
- Drivers are upto date, including BIOS.
- Chrashes started to happen less often after disabling "Enforce Smooth Video Playback".
- Flashing VBIOS did almost nothing, but PC doesn't chrash that often while browsing the web now.
- Airflow is great inside the PC. All of my components idle around 30 degrees and on load CPU around 40-45, GPU around 70.
- My PC specs:
Mobo: GA-890GPA-UD3H Rev 2.0
CPU : Amd Phenom II x4 965 BE (OCed to 3.8 Ghz with Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo)
RAM: 2x 4GB G.Skill (F3-1600C9D-8GAB) and 2x 2GB HyperX (KHX1600C9AD3K2/4G)
PSU: Seasonic X-Series 760w Gold Plus


What do i think:
- I did some search around and saw that R9 290 have compatibility issues with 700/800 chipset motherboards which i have. People say the problem can be fixed by OCing PCI-E clock between 130-150 mhz. This might be one of the reasons.
- My motherboard is old, maybe voltage issues happen since my PCI-E port is 2.0. So playing with voltages maybe can fix it.
- Main problem probably is motherboard, which i can't afford to change now.

I will be really happy if anybody can help me fix and get to bottom of this! I started to have nightmares about every device i touch will start freezing.
If you require screenshots/files i will provide them gladly! (Such as GPU-Z, Heat Monitor(i use HW-Monitor), Dxdiag and such)

 

[renz496]

have you tried AMD Omega drivers? just in case try running memtest86 to test your RAM. if the problem really is coming from mobo you might need to get new one. but PCI-E 2.0 slot should work just fine with PCI-E 3.0 cards.

 

[Akriloth]

have you tried AMD Omega drivers? just in case try running memtest86 to test your RAM. if the problem really is coming from mobo you might need to get new one. but PCI-E 2.0 slot should work just fine with PCI-E 3.0 cards.

Yes i did, same thing still happens. Tried memtest86, everything is fine. I still have no clue what to do other than try and get a new mobo...

 

[just_a_gamer]

Hi Akriloth, and a happy new year

Im not posting an answer to you, but just to let you know that i also have the sapphire R9 290 Tri-x, and i also have major problems with this card!
My build is: (about 4 years old)

MB: Gigabyte ga_p67a-ud3-b3
Cpu: i5 2500k (non oc)
Ram: Kingston 2x4 1333 mhz
Hdd: 1 tb (dont know name)
Psu: Seasonic S12g 750 Watt (80 plus Gold)

But my problem is not as yours.
I have had this card for 3 weeks now and its still not running properly! My old Gpu was a gtx 560.
Btw:My Psu at that time was a cheap Intertech 700 Watt!

Here's my problems in steps:
1. After installing the gpu everything was ok...played for 10 hours+.

2. Next morning, my pc just started booting randomly, fans starting to spin, but after 2-3 sec's it just shuts down again. There is no red line.....the pc can start up after 2 try's or after 30 try's....just random.

3. After 3 weeks, i was almost sure that it was my Psu causing the startup problems, so i bought the Seasonic!

4. So tuesday (this week) i went to the dealer who made my build 4 years ago and they did the installation of both the new Psu and the Gpu. I waited, and after half an hour he said that everything is working fine. I was glad and went home. But im still having the same issues. It still boots up randomly, and one time i noticed that a screen came up, saying that i have a BIOS error and then it started a recovery of the BIOS...but before it finished the recovery it shuts down again. After many other boots it just starts up fine like nothing is wrong? Unstable ass hell!!!

5. Went into BIOS menu and checked Pc health status. And i stumbled over the +12 Volt rail reading only 11.2 and up till 11.5?

So this is where i am at the moment, still not knowing what to do?

cheers!

 

[renz496]

so maybe the card is defective or that particular card might have problem in general. maybe you guys should try to contact sapphire about it. maybe they can provide better BIOS for it.

 

[Akriloth]

Hello, i changed my MOBO with a cheap MSI 970 Gaming(http://us.msi.com/product/mb/970_GAMING.html). That fixed my problem. I did this last saturday and so far no chrashes. For AMD i really think 290s are not compatible with 700/800 chipsets now.

 

[Akriloth]

Hi Akriloth, and a happy new year

Im not posting an answer to you, but just to let you know that i also have the sapphire R9 290 Tri-x, and i also have major problems with this card!
My build is: (about 4 years old)

MB: Gigabyte ga_p67a-ud3-b3
Cpu: i5 2500k (non oc)
Ram: Kingston 2x4 1333 mhz
Hdd: 1 tb (dont know name)
Psu: Seasonic S12g 750 Watt (80 plus Gold)

But my problem is not as yours.
I have had this card for 3 weeks now and its still not running properly! My old Gpu was a gtx 560.
Btw:My Psu at that time was a cheap Intertech 700 Watt!

Here's my problems in steps:
1. After installing the gpu everything was ok...played for 10 hours+.

2. Next morning, my pc just started booting randomly, fans starting to spin, but after 2-3 sec's it just shuts down again. There is no red line.....the pc can start up after 2 try's or after 30 try's....just random.

3. After 3 weeks, i was almost sure that it was my Psu causing the startup problems, so i bought the Seasonic!

4. So tuesday (this week) i went to the dealer who made my build 4 years ago and they did the installation of both the new Psu and the Gpu. I waited, and after half an hour he said that everything is working fine. I was glad and went home. But im still having the same issues. It still boots up randomly, and one time i noticed that a screen came up, saying that i have a BIOS error and then it started a recovery of the BIOS...but before it finished the recovery it shuts down again. After many other boots it just starts up fine like nothing is wrong? Unstable ass hell!!!

5. Went into BIOS menu and checked Pc health status. And i stumbled over the +12 Volt rail reading only 11.2 and up till 11.5?

So this is where i am at the moment, still not knowing what to do?

cheers!

Yours sounds like a defective Memory on GPU or your MOBO just went bad. Similiar things happened with my old 7970 before it died. Do you get artifacting etc. aswell? I suggest you try your parts on a new mobo, if your mobo is 4 years old it might not be compatible with a 290. That is what i saw with mine. Also flashing your bios to a newer version might help. Don't forget to take a backup of your current one for an RMA tho.

Also happy new year to you too

 

[renz496]

Hello, i changed my MOBO with a cheap MSI 970 Gaming(http://us.msi.com/product/mb/970_GAMING.html). That fixed my problem. I did this last saturday and so far no chrashes. For AMD i really think 290s are not compatible with 700/800 chipsets now.

sometimes stuff like this can be fixed with mobo BIOS update. but of course by the time 290s comes out those mobo no longer receive support from manufacturer.

 

[just_a_gamer]

Hi again guys!

Firstly...thanks for the reply's!

Im glad to hear that your's is working now ....

In my case, im pretty sure that it's a competabillity problem with my mobo and Gpu, because i have changed Gpu 5 times in those 3 weeks (with the gtx 560). Every time i change to the gtx 560 i have no boot problems and everything is running perfect!

The weard thing with the Sapphire is that when im lucky enough and get passed the BIOS during startup and it boots to windows, i can play games all day long with no problems at all. And i can watch video's and browse with zero problems. So the card must be running okay right? As far as i can see it is only when its booting i have a problem!

So maybe you're right renz496....at least i hope you are right about updating the BIOS. I have never done that so maybe it will fix my problem!

I got to tell you this guy's...the real funny thing about all this is that i actually wanted a Asus Gtx 970 (500 $), but it was to expensive in my country and i could not raise the money for it at the time. So i went for the Sapphire R9 290 (380 $) instead after reading a good rewiew about the card! So after all this i totally spent around 700 $ and my Pc is still not running okay, ha ha ha! Stupid Stupid Stupid......

 

[Akriloth]

Hi again guys!

Firstly...thanks for the reply's!

Im glad to hear that your's is working now ....

In my case, im pretty sure that it's a competabillity problem with my mobo and Gpu, because i have changed Gpu 5 times in those 3 weeks (with the gtx 560). Every time i change to the gtx 560 i have no boot problems and everything is running perfect!

The weard thing with the Sapphire is that when im lucky enough and get passed the BIOS during startup and it boots to windows, i can play games all day long with no problems at all. And i can watch video's and browse with zero problems. So the card must be running okay right? As far as i can see it is only when its booting i have a problem!

So maybe you're right renz496....at least i hope you are right about updating the BIOS. I have never done that so maybe it will fix my problem!

I got to tell you this guy's...the real funny thing about all this is that i actually wanted a Asus Gtx 970 (500 $), but it was to expensive in my country and i could not raise the money for it at the time. So i went for the Sapphire R9 290 (380 $) instead after reading a good rewiew about the card! So after all this i totally spent around 700 $ and my Pc is still not running okay, ha ha ha! Stupid Stupid Stupid......

Yeah, same here i just wanted to change my dead GPU with a brand new one. On top of that i spent money to get a new MOBO aswell. But it shows you tech changes so fast that old hardware can be no longer compatible with new ones.

I suggest you read some guides on internet about bios flashing. It is really easy if you do it correctly and ends within minutes. Also think about flashing your GPU Bios aswell. Back it up before you do tho.

I hope you diagnosed your problem correctly and fix it really fast. ^^

 

[just_a_gamer]

Hi again guys!

Firstly...thanks for the reply's!

Im glad to hear that your's is working now ....

In my case, im pretty sure that it's a competabillity problem with my mobo and Gpu, because i have changed Gpu 5 times in those 3 weeks (with the gtx 560). Every time i change to the gtx 560 i have no boot problems and everything is running perfect!

The weard thing with the Sapphire is that when im lucky enough and get passed the BIOS during startup and it boots to windows, i can play games all day long with no problems at all. And i can watch video's and browse with zero problems. So the card must be running okay right? As far as i can see it is only when its booting i have a problem!

So maybe you're right renz496....at least i hope you are right about updating the BIOS. I have never done that so maybe it will fix my problem!

I got to tell you this guy's...the real funny thing about all this is that i actually wanted a Asus Gtx 970 (500 $), but it was to expensive in my country and i could not raise the money for it at the time. So i went for the Sapphire R9 290 (380 $) instead after reading a good rewiew about the card! So after all this i totally spent around 700 $ and my Pc is still not running okay, ha ha ha! Stupid Stupid Stupid......

Yeah, same here i just wanted to change my dead GPU with a brand new one. On top of that i spent money to get a new MOBO aswell. But it shows you tech changes so fast that old hardware can be no longer compatible with new ones.

I suggest you read some guides on internet about bios flashing. It is really easy if you do it correctly and ends within minutes. Also think about flashing your GPU Bios aswell. Back it up before you do tho.

I hope you diagnosed your problem correctly and fix it really fast. ^^

Hello

I did the BIOS flash yesterday and also changed the battery on MOBO .....so far i have made around 15 boots and it starts up perfectly!
Thank you so much guys.....i really hope this was it!

But what i dont understand is, that i still have readings of 11.2 - 11.4 Volts on the +12 Volt in BIOS. The other evening it was all the way down to 10.6 Volts?
A bit concerning i think.....unless the readings are not correct!
But i guess i just have to see what happens the next couple day's

Thanks again