MSI R9 290x crashes whenever a third monitor is connected

[MoobyTheGoldenCalf]

I've had my card for about 6 months now and never had an issue. All of the sudden yesterday, whenever there are 3 monitors attached to it, the screen gets corrupted and then my PC will eventually reboot. It doesn't matter which 3 inputs are used. If I have 2 monitors plugged in, everything works perfectly. The second I plug my 3rd in, it goes bonkers. Tried different cables, different monitors. Everything works fine separately, it's just flips out when I plug that 3rd screen in. Tried uninstall/reinstall of drivers as well, no change.

If I boot into safe mode with all 3 attached, only 2 screens get a display. If I reboot normally with all 3 attached, the PC will boot fine, but all screens are blank and none get a display. The second I unplug any of them, the other 2 come on and work normally.

Anybody heard of this before? Or do I just pack it in and RMA this thing?

 

[destrekor]

I've had my card for about 6 months now and never had an issue. All of the sudden yesterday, whenever there are 3 monitors attached to it, the screen gets corrupted and then my PC will eventually reboot. It doesn't matter which 3 inputs are used. If I have 2 monitors plugged in, everything works perfectly. The second I plug my 3rd in, it goes bonkers. Tried different cables, different monitors. Everything works fine separately, it's just flips out when I plug that 3rd screen in. Tried uninstall/reinstall of drivers as well, no change.

If I boot into safe mode with all 3 attached, only 2 screens get a display. If I reboot normally with all 3 attached, the PC will boot fine, but all screens are blank and none get a display. The second I unplug any of them, the other 2 come on and work normally.

Anybody heard of this before? Or do I just pack it in and RMA this thing?

You might want to speak to MSI about that. I've got a 290x Lightning with 3 monitors connected (two DVI, one DP) and I run Eyefinity for gaming or 3 distinct monitors for normal use. Never had a single problem.

 

[n0x1ous]

assume you have done a clean install of latest Catalyst WHQL?

 

[MoobyTheGoldenCalf]

assume you have done a clean install of latest Catalyst WHQL?

Yep, that didn't change anything.

 

[destrekor]

assume you have done a clean install of latest Catalyst WHQL?

I just re-read the OP, and I agree, a proper clean install should be the first step.

Safe mode displaying two is normal: my three monitors that work fine under Windows, only get two displays when there are no drivers present, which is true when in BIOS, when in Safe Mode, and when you are driver-free in the normal Windows environment.


For a proper clean install, do the following:
1. Install Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU), available here
2. Uninstall all AMD drivers (save for chipset if you have an AMD CPU)
3. Reboot into Safe Mode w/networking
4. Run DDU, select AMD, and run the utility
note: DDU disables the automatic driver install that Windows performs for new hardware (you can re-enable it again with DDU)
5. With all three monitors connected, install the latest driver once again. Reboot when requested, and see how your displays operate from there.

 

[KingFatty]

Maybe the card has physically wiggled/shifted just enough to cause issues? Try removing the card from the computer, and re-seat it. Or, if you have an extra slot, try re-seating the card in another slot.

Also don't rule out the video cables. One of your cables could be bad and affect everything somehow.