Question RX 580 black screen when games launch

[Jaded Progress]

I've just bought a used 580 8gb to replace my old GTX680 hoping I could get back to some gaming while in lockdown (not played anything in years really), however any time I start a game the screen goes black. System specs are as follows:

Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H

i5 3570k oc to 4.2ghz

16gb RAM (8 Corsair Vengeance Pro, 8 Patriot G2, running at 1333 as 1600 wouldn't work)

Corsair 600w PSU (not sure of the exact model just now)

I couldn't even get the system to boot at first but fixed that with a BIOS update. Now when I try to play CoD Warzone the initial menu comes up ok, and I can go into the options screens to change settings, but when I click onto Warzone the screen goes black. Tried running The Talos Principle through Steam and it's a similar thing, the initial loading screens show up but when the main menu appears the picture disappears. The game is still running as I can hear the music and the noise from tabbing between the different options, I just can't see anything. Also tried Unigine Superposition, which gets the full way through and produces results, there's just no picture while it's running.

I've tried 20.4.1, 20.2.2 and 19.10.2 (recommended for MW) drivers, but have the same issue with all of them. All Nvidia drivers were removed with DDU in safe mode.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can fix this? Everything was working fine with the 680 so I'm really hoping I haven't just bought a duff card...

 

[Guru]

did you properly uninstall the nvidia drivers before slotting your 580 and installing amd's drivers? Seems like a driver issue, the display driver isn't being applied when you enter into 3d game.

sometimes win10 can mess you up, and install drivers automatically. I suggest you uninstall all graphic drivers fully once again and check if it works.

 

[Jaded Progress]

did you properly uninstall the nvidia drivers before slotting your 580 and installing amd's drivers? Seems like a driver issue, the display driver isn't being applied when you enter into 3d game.

sometimes win10 can mess you up, and install drivers automatically. I suggest you uninstall all graphic drivers fully once again and check if it works.

Yes, I ran Display Driver Uninstaller in safe mode while disconnected from the internet and installed from the disc once the system rebooted.

Tried switching to the second BIOS (the card has a physical switch to change it) and things are a little better, although the screen still flickers and cuts out every 10 seconds or so. That BIOS has the core downclocked to I think 1150mhz from 1366, and the memory increased by 100 to 2100.

I've been offered a replacement so I think I may just go that route. Thanks for the reply!

 

[Guru]

Yes, I ran Display Driver Uninstaller in safe mode while disconnected from the internet and installed from the disc once the system rebooted.

Tried switching to the second BIOS (the card has a physical switch to change it) and things are a little better, although the screen still flickers and cuts out every 10 seconds or so. That BIOS has the core downclocked to I think 1150mhz from 1366, and the memory increased by 100 to 2100.

I've been offered a replacement so I think I may just go that route. Thanks for the reply!

Before you take a replacement, check the PSU as well, you wouldn't want to take the replacement and have the same issue or potentially your PSU killing your GPU's. The only way to check a PSU is to borrow another one from a friend or colleague and see if your GPU works on that one. There are obviously other ways to check the PSU, but they require electrical hardware readers and a test bed, something unfortunately is hard and expensive to get and requires electrical engineering knowledge.

So yeah, just check with another PSU, because if its not driver issues and software issues, it's most likely either the PSU or GPU that is bad.

Older PSU's even if they are high quality ones lose their capacity over time, and even capacitors and vrm's have timed lives, after a certain timeframe(long one though) they lose efficacy and can go bad!

 

[Jaded Progress]

Before you take a replacement, check the PSU as well, you wouldn't want to take the replacement and have the same issue or potentially your PSU killing your GPU's. The only way to check a PSU is to borrow another one from a friend or colleague and see if your GPU works on that one. There are obviously other ways to check the PSU, but they require electrical hardware readers and a test bed, something unfortunately is hard and expensive to get and requires electrical engineering knowledge.

So yeah, just check with another PSU, because if its not driver issues and software issues, it's most likely either the PSU or GPU that is bad.

Older PSU's even if they are high quality ones lose their capacity over time, and even capacitors and vrm's have timed lives, after a certain timeframe(long one though) they lose efficacy and can go bad!

I did have a quick look at testing the PSU but don't have any way of doing what you've suggested and trying another unfortunately.

I just checked the requirements for the 680 though, and it's listed as needing 550w compared to the 500 for the RX 580, so may not be a PSU issue?

 

[Guru]

I did have a quick look at testing the PSU but don't have any way of doing what you've suggested and trying another unfortunately.

I just checked the requirements for the 680 though, and it's listed as needing 550w compared to the 500 for the RX 580, so may not be a PSU issue?

How old is it, and can you open the case and read what model the PSU is? If its around 3 years old and a good model, then it should not be the issue, but again the only certain way to know for sure is to test out another PSU. Otherwise you need an electronics measurement tools to measure the amperes and voltages that psu is operating at, its not realistic to test unless you are an electrical engineer or a very knowledgeable electronics person.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Which display output port / type are you using? Try switching to another port on the card, or another type (if you are using DP, switch to using HDMI), assuming that your monitor accepts that port type.

Also, if you are switching cards, perhaps the game's internal video mode setting is set somehow, differently than the new card and your monitor accept? I mean, that's kind of a long shot, and may be no issue, but it's possible in some extreme cases. Does it do it with newly-installed games too?

 

[Jaded Progress]

How old is it, and can you open the case and read what model the PSU is? If its around 3 years old and a good model, then it should not be the issue, but again the only certain way to know for sure is to test out another PSU. Otherwise you need an electronics measurement tools to measure the amperes and voltages that psu is operating at, its not realistic to test unless you are an electrical engineer or a very knowledgeable electronics person.

Yeah by quick look I mean I quickly realised testing it was beyond me!

It's a Corsair CX600. Probably is around 3 years old but hasn't been used all that much in that time.

 

[Jaded Progress]

Which display output port / type are you using? Try switching to another port on the card, or another type (if you are using DP, switch to using HDMI), assuming that your monitor accepts that port type.

Also, if you are switching cards, perhaps the game's internal video mode setting is set somehow, differently than the new card and your monitor accept? I mean, that's kind of a long shot, and may be no issue, but it's possible in some extreme cases. Does it do it with newly-installed games too?

I'm using hdmi. The card only has one hdmi and my monitor doesn't have a DP input.

I haven't tried a newly installed game, no. Might give that a shot tomorrow.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Hmm. I'm leaning towards a bad card, which could be tested, by swapping in a known-good 600W (maybe 550W) Bronze/Gold PSU, and seeing if the card works then, and also pulling the card (with power off and unplugged), and putting it into another PC, with a sufficient PSU, and seeing if it works there.

A Corsair CX600 that's 3 years old, in theory, shouldn't be failing. Should be enough. But sometimes PSU failures or "walking wounded" can happen. (This is one reason why you want to put your PC on a UPS, to catch power glitches / anomalies, so they don't have to be absorbed by the PSU.)

Edit: Did the seller say, was this card a mining card? It could be, well, "worn out", to put it nicely.

 

[Guru]

Its an older PSU, but it's a fairly good model and if it's not been used that much shouldn't be the problem. There is a new version of that one, called V2, but again it shouldn't in theory be the issue.

I'm going to say it's most likely the GPU, and again unless you can acquire another PSU to test it out, your best bet is to request a replacement if you can.

 

[Jaded Progress]

Hmm. I'm leaning towards a bad card, which could be tested, by swapping in a known-good 600W (maybe 550W) Bronze/Gold PSU, and seeing if the card works then, and also pulling the card (with power off and unplugged), and putting it into another PC, with a sufficient PSU, and seeing if it works there.

A Corsair CX600 that's 3 years old, in theory, shouldn't be failing. Should be enough. But sometimes PSU failures or "walking wounded" can happen. (This is one reason why you want to put your PC on a UPS, to catch power glitches / anomalies, so they don't have to be absorbed by the PSU.)

Edit: Did the seller say, was this card a mining card? It could be, well, "worn out", to put it nicely.

I actually contacted the seller to ask that, they said it hadn't been used for mining and was fine when they tested it.

I don't have access to another PC or PSU just now unfortunately. Given everything is fine with the 680 I think I'm going to take the seller's offer of a replacement. Thanks for the help!

 

[Jaded Progress]

Its an older PSU, but it's a fairly good model and if it's not been used that much shouldn't be the problem. There is a new version of that one, called V2, but again it shouldn't in theory be the issue.

I'm going to say it's most likely the GPU, and again unless you can acquire another PSU to test it out, your best bet is to request a replacement if you can.

Yeah I'm going to go with the replacement. Don't have another PSU and I'm reluctant to buy a new one given things run perfectly with the 680. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[OnePingOnly]

I had the same issue with a used XFX 580 8GB I purchased off of eBay back in February. The screen would go blank in games and randomly when not in games. I kept doing fresh DDU reinstalls of the Catalyst drivers and it didn't make a difference. I returned it. I feel like the issue is driver related and I'm currently hunting for a cheap equivalent EVGA card.

 

[Stuka87]

I had the same issue with a used XFX 580 8GB I purchased off of eBay back in February. The screen would go blank in games and randomly when not in games. I kept doing fresh DDU reinstalls of the Catalyst drivers and it didn't make a difference. I returned it. I feel like the issue is driver related and I'm currently hunting for a cheap equivalent EVGA card.

If you were using HDMI, it sounds like a faulty HDMI cable. If there is any interference, it will cause the card and monitor to de-sync, which results in the screen going black for a moment.

 

[OnePingOnly]

If you were using HDMI, it sounds like a faulty HDMI cable. If there is any interference, it will cause the card and monitor to de-sync, which results in the screen going black for a moment.

I was using DVI-D. I tested it with HDMI and it still had the same issue. The system would also lock up (music would freeze).

 

[Jaded Progress]

I had the same issue with a used XFX 580 8GB I purchased off of eBay back in February. The screen would go blank in games and randomly when not in games. I kept doing fresh DDU reinstalls of the Catalyst drivers and it didn't make a difference. I returned it. I feel like the issue is driver related and I'm currently hunting for a cheap equivalent EVGA card.

Different drivers did seem to make a small difference for me, but only when the card was using the second BIOS with different clocks, which makes it seem more like a card issue for me. Guess I'll find out in a few days when the replacement arrives.

 

[nakedfrog]

I had the same issue with a used XFX 580 8GB I purchased off of eBay back in February. The screen would go blank in games and randomly when not in games. I kept doing fresh DDU reinstalls of the Catalyst drivers and it didn't make a difference. I returned it. I feel like the issue is driver related and I'm currently hunting for a cheap equivalent EVGA card.

I have an XFX 580 8GB that does the same thing, I've also done the driver dance, and replaced cables, played with clock speeds, etc. It's about 98% fully functional now, so I'm just living with it and not buying another XFX (I know someone who got an XFX 460 that they had to RMA twice within a year to get a good one).

 

[Stuka87]

I was using DVI-D. I tested it with HDMI and it still had the same issue. The system would also lock up (music would freeze).

Ahh, ok. From the other posts the XFX Polaris cards sound like they may have a higher share of issues that other brands. Lockups really sound like a hardware issue. In the three years that I had my Sapphire RX 480 in my old system, it never once locked up or had random black screens.

At least you were able to return it. eBay cards always have me wondering how hard they were pushed by a miner.

 

[xkhoax]

Try changing the ram bus to a multiple of 100 Hz.

 

[Stuka87]

Try changing the ram bus to a multiple of 100 Hz.

Why bring a thread that died a year ago back to life?

 

[Mopetar]

Have you seen what GPUs cost these days? Being able to resurrect a card is like having a rich uncle die and leave you everything in his will.

 

[Leeea]

Who would have ever thought the rx 500 series would remain relevant for so long?

I actually contacted the seller to ask that, they said it hadn't been used for mining and was fine when they tested it.

I don't have access to another PC or PSU just now unfortunately. Given everything is fine with the 680 I think I'm going to take the seller's offer of a replacement. Thanks for the help!

Your seller is not trustworthy.

Specifically, your seller indicated they are not the first owner of the card (they tested it rather then used it).

How would they know what the first owner used it for? ... the seller just told you what they needed to in order to make the sale.


The rx580 and rx480 are extremely popular mining cards. The odds of one not having a mining history are next to nil. Mining is typically the least harmful history for a card though. Miners typically under volt, underclock, and flash the BIOS for max efficiency. Sometimes problematic rx580/480's have a mining BIOS installed, and flashing them back to the normal BIOS can fix the issues.

Many gamers will try to get more performance out of their rx500 series, which means it will get overvolted, power put to MAX, overclocked, overheated, and generally abused. They are robust cards, so abuse like this is not a problem for most of them. However, if any of the vrm's or other components have a weakness, this will do it in.

In short, your card was most likely used for mining, and that is a good thing.


ps:
The 8GB rx580 / rx480 are still fantastic mining cards to this day, making about $2.70 per day. People tend to only get rid of them when they start to fail...

The 4GB rx580/480 are no longer useful for mining, resulting in large numbers of good condition cards being sold on the used market. Sadly, many of these have a mining BIOS that needs to be flashed back to stock before using them for gaming.

 

[VirtualLarry]

and installed from the disc once the system rebooted.

"Installed from the DISC"? Did anyone catch that?

You should always download the newest drivers for your GPU from www.amd.com !