Radeon 290X failing? Should I RMA? Update -- Infinite POST loop now

[Red Hawk]

So yesterday I started having an issue where it seemed like the PC wasn't finishing POSTing, and just stayed on screen that displays before booting into Windows. I could hit F2/F11/DEL to go into BIOS setup and the boot manager, and ESC out of those and then Windows would successfully load. Today I could no longer successfully load Windows -- it would reach the screen that indicates that Windows is loading, but then the monitor appeared to loose the signal from the computer, displaying a "Cable Disconnected" message. After a few reboots with the same thing happening, Windows Advanced Startup triggered, and I was able to boot into Safe Mode.

Safe Mode was able to work fine, I cleaned my graphics card drivers with Wagnard Mobile's Display Driver Uninstaller (I was on the 15.9.1 beta drivers). I rebooted my PC and tried installing the 15.7.1 WHQL driver. Midway through the installation, the monitor did the same thing where it appeared to lose the signal and displayed the "Cable Disconnected" message. I rebooted back into Safe Mode, cleaned out the drivers for the card, and replaced the card with my old Radeon 270X. I installed the 15.7.1 drivers with the 270X, and I've been able to boot into Windows without a hitch.

Is this a sign that the 290X is dying? Should I RMA it?

 

[Silverforce11]

Try it with another cable, as in, DVI/HDMI/DP switch?

Normally a dying GPU would display corrupted pixels, lines, white dots first.

 

[TemjinGold]

Since Safe Mode keeps working fine, it's probably not your GPU.

 

[N2gaming]

I had that happen to me once but it was so intermittent that it was next to impossible to troubleshoot...it possibly could have been your video card not being inserted ALL the way because after I took my card out and re-installed it everything was fine.

Good Luck, James

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Disable Intel drivers in safe mode and reboot with 290x. Issue sorted.

 

[tweakboy]

Yes

 

[dailow]

Try booting into safe mode and disabling Intel HD 3000 Graphics in the device manager.

I had the exact same thing happen and everything has been stable since I disabled my onboard video.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

That's what I just said.

 

[happy medium]

. I rebooted back into Safe Mode, cleaned out the drivers for the card, and replaced the card with my old Radeon 270X. I installed the 15.7.1 drivers with the 270X, and I've been able to boot into Windows without a hitch.

sounds like your card is bad if this is true

 

[Red Hawk]

Disable Intel drivers in safe mode and reboot with 290x. Issue sorted.

Try booting into safe mode and disabling Intel HD 3000 Graphics in the device manager.

I had the exact same thing happen and everything has been stable since I disabled my onboard video.

I have the Intel graphics chip disabled in the BIOS, it doesn't even come up in Device Manager.

 

[Shmee]

Sounds like either a card wearing out or a windows/driver issue. Is there another OS drive or computer you can use to stress test the card in? Also, could try another monitor/cable.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

I have the Intel graphics chip disabled in the BIOS, it doesn't even come up in Device Manager.

Disabling in the bios didn't solve the problem for me. I had the same problem.

 

[happy medium]

Also, could try another monitor/cable.

Why he said his 270x card worked , same drivers, I assume same cable.

I would think it would have to be the card.

 

[Termie]

This is not a card issue. It's a driver issue. The 270X and 290X use separate driver code and interact with the BIOS differently (if the 290X is a UEFI card).

Definitely try the safe mode boot, but also reset your motherboard's BIOS. There are certain settings that are not compatible with newer video cards.

 

[Rvenger]

You must also be using the older bios release prior to the black screen issues. This is the same exact issue that happened to my Powercolor reference r9 290x it ran great then all the sudden it started losing video signal. BIOS update solved the issue.

 

[happy medium]

So yesterday I started having an issue

This is not a card issue. It's a driver issue. The 270X and 290X use separate driver code and interact with the BIOS differently (if the 290X is a UEFI card).

Sounds to me like the 290 was working and "he started having an issue".

At the end he says his 290x is dying, not never worked.

 

[KaRLiToS]

Schmee has nailed it. I would try it in a known working system and make conclusion based on that.

 

[Red Hawk]

Sounds like either a card wearing out or a windows/driver issue. Is there another OS drive or computer you can use to stress test the card in? Also, could try another monitor/cable.

My brother has my old Dell Dimension 9200 I could try it in, but I'll save that as a last resort before RMAing the card.

Disabling in the bios didn't solve the problem for me. I had the same problem.

Alright, I guess I'll try resetting the BIOS and leaving the chip enabled, then disabling it in Device Manager

Why he said his 270x card worked , same drivers, I assume same cable.

I would think it would have to be the card.

Yep, same cable, same monitor. Also I've had the 290X for a couple months without this problem.

This is not a card issue. It's a driver issue. The 270X and 290X use separate driver code and interact with the BIOS differently (if the 290X is a UEFI card).

Definitely try the safe mode boot, but also reset your motherboard's BIOS. There are certain settings that are not compatible with newer video cards.

The BIOS version appears to be the latest available from ASRock. It comes up in CPUID as version P2.90, dated 7/11/2013. ASRock's download page for the mobo has P2.90 as the most recent version, dated 7/23/2013 (and before that is one dated 1/29/2013).

 

[Termie]

I mean clear the BIOS, not update it.

 

[happy medium]

Yep, same cable, same monitor. Also I've had the 290X for a couple months without this problem.

So you have obviously not upgraded your bios in quite a while , used the same drivers , cable and monitor with your 270x and it was fine. ANd the 290x was working fine for months.

Sound s like a card going bad to me...........

 

[Red Hawk]

Well I just done goofed, now.

I uninstalled the AMD drivers, took out the 270X, and put the 290X back in, intending to reset the BIOS as the next step before reinstalling the drivers for the 290X. However, I forgot to plug in the PCI-E power cables into the 290X, prompting the mobo to insistently beep at me in indignation, and I quickly held down the power button to turn it back off. Upon plugging the PCI-E power cables in and starting the PC again...it now won't POST. At all. It flickers on for a couple seconds, before the power seems to cut off, only for it to automatically try starting again a few seconds later, and keeps looping like that, only stopping if I flip the power switch on the PSU. It does the same thing if I try putting in the 270X, infinitely looping and failing to POST or even provide a POST code.

What's wrong now? Is this potentially a power supply issue, or did I somehow brick the mobo? Is there any possible way to fix this...? Would clearing the CMOS with a jumper potentially help?

 

[Kenmitch]

Well I just done goofed, now.

I uninstalled the AMD drivers, took out the 270X, and put the 290X back in, intending to reset the BIOS as the next step before reinstalling the drivers for the 290X. However, I forgot to plug in the PCI-E power cables into the 290X, prompting the mobo to insistently beep at me in indignation, and I quickly held down the power button to turn it back off. Upon plugging the PCI-E power cables in and starting the PC again...it now won't POST. At all. It flickers on for a couple seconds, before the power seems to cut off, only for it to automatically try starting again a few seconds later, and keeps looping like that, only stopping if I flip the power switch on the PSU. It does the same thing if I try putting in the 270X, infinitely looping and failing to POST or even provide a POST code.

What's wrong now? Is this potentially a power supply issue, or did I somehow brick the mobo? Is there any possible way to fix this...? Would clearing the CMOS with a jumper potentially help?

Whenever I've forgotten to hook up the power cables I've been met with the this graphics card requires auxiliary power cables or something to that extent.

You could try resetting the cmos with the jumper and see if it works. Wouldn't hurt to double check other connections that you may have possibly bumped loose.

 

[Red Hawk]

Ahahaha. Ahahahahahaha.

So I reset the CMOS with the jumper, and restarted the computer (I was sure to return the jumper to the normal position before restarting). I was greeted with the same beeps as when I started the PC without the PCI-E cables connected to the GPU, except this time they were connected (I had the 270X in). It did stay on long enough to give me a POST code before settling back into the infinite loop. I checked the POST code, and according to my mobo's manual it meant...memory failure.

Memory failure?!

I had considered a failing graphics card, failing power supply, failing solid state drive, a bricked motherboard, or even a failing CPU as the cause of my troubles. It had never even crossed my mind that the RAM was going bad!

So I took one of my two 4 GB sticks of DDR3 RAM out, reset the CMOS with the jumper again, and presto! The PC POSTed. I put the stick back in the same slot, PC refused to POST. I took the suspect stick back out, switched the working stick into the same slot the suspect stick had been in, and the PC successfully posted. So yeah. I have a stick of bad RAM.

Not sure if it's the source of all my woes, but I at least know now that I need new sticks of RAM. I'm sure not doing any gaming on one 4 GB stick. I'm not going to reinstall my 290X until I get new RAM either, I don't want any wonkiness from my GPU's VRAM being the same as the system RAM.

 

[Red Hawk]

Well I got 16 GB of new RAM and installed it, and reinstalled my 290X, and it seems to be working no problem now. The only difference besides the RAM is that I did a complete driver wipe with the driver remover, and I cleared the CMOS with the jumper (and set the integrated graphics chip back to disabled).

 

[thesmokingman]

Well I got 16 GB of new RAM and installed it, and reinstalled my 290X, and it seems to be working no problem now. The only difference besides the RAM is that I did a complete driver wipe with the driver remover, and I cleared the CMOS with the jumper (and set the integrated graphics chip back to disabled).

Nice work. It's a good thing ya didn't rma your card before finding the culprit!