New 290 Random crashes with AMD Drivers

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Dmac122383

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 15, 2011
Messages
437
Just got a new xfx 290 and having issues with it. I just did a fresh install of windows on a brand new samsung evo ssd and the pc is fine until I install a Catalyst driver pack. I've tried Omega, 14.11 beta, 14.9, 14.4 and as soon as I install a driver pack and reset within 1 or 2 mins the pc will just hard lock and freeze.

I thought maybe it would freeze as soon as 3d clocks would load but that is not the case because a few times I was able to load up Furmark while checking clocks on afterburner.

With the default windows driver installed it will not freeze at all. Would this be a driver issue or a problem with the card itself? I would install the 290 in my other pc to test but that only has a 550w power supply and dont think that would be enough.
My power supply is a corsair 750w HX. So I'm pretty sure that is enough power but maybe could a bad power supply be giving me issues? This corsair power supply is about 4 yrs old.

Any tips?
 
My 290 likes to crash while watching video. Rock solid in games. I try and watch espn though and a bsod is possible at any time. Annoying.
 
Piotrsama said:
Temps are ok?
Maybe a bad contact? Try unplugging it completely (power cables and all) and reconnect.

Otherwise, try uninstalling the drivers with DDU.
Download and read instructions here:
http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

And then install the latest ones.
Click to expand...

I've ran DDU and changed drivers about 5 times for each driver pack. Getting a new case tomorrow so I will transplant all the hardware to the new case and test my luck and see what happens. Then either buy a new power supply or send the card back for an exchange. Never really had a problem like this. Also the temps on the video card never broke 55 degrees C.
 
It's not the driver.. it's XFX. I just got my XFX290 before Christmas and it also was crashing regularly in two different machines with 14.9 and 14.12 Omega drivers. My previous card, Sapphire 7970 ran without issue.

The temps looked ok to me (~53C in desktop, ~90C during gaming). I had to RMA it.
 
SpecTP said:
It's not the driver.. it's XFX. I just got my XFX290 before Christmas and it also was crashing regularly in two different machines with 14.9 and 14.12 Omega drivers. My previous card, Sapphire 7970 ran without issue.

The temps looked ok to me (~53C in desktop, ~90C during gaming). I had to RMA it.
Click to expand...

In game or desktop? Mine never crashes in game.
 
I had a fresh install of windows and was still having it lock up and freeze at the desktop and also games/benchmarks. Interesting how one version of a program can cause an issue like that.

I started an RMA thru NewEgg to exchange this card. For a defective product like I have do they just send me out another one when they receive the defective card? Or do they have to test it out and check to see if the card is actually defective.
 
You might have a a card with a bad voltage controller (i have two) what happens is the dynamic clock/voltage on the card kicks in and the card lowers clocks and voltages in 3d mode as it feels that it does not need to run full bore, then it clocks up when needed. The issue is sometimes the memory clocks back up before the voltage can be raised and bam crash. Best way to test this is to download Radeon Pro app, set a profile for your game to run at full clock speed the entire time when that game is on and see if it happens again.
Took me a while to figure out this was the issue, because it would only happen in certain games (ones that did not run in crossfire) then i realized that in crossfire mode cards always run @ full clock.
 
Updated my OS to 8.1 64 bit from 7 64 bit. Seems to have fixed the issue. Must have been corruption somewhere.
 
Well I Just got my new XFX 290 from Newegg.com and having pretty much the same issue. But this time right after I install AMD Drivers and restart, I get into windows for about 10 secs then get a black screen and have to power off/on to reboot. Pretty much same problem as before.

Previously I have tried a fresh install of Win7 and Win8/8.1. Tried a different PCI-E slot. Tried 4 Different AMD Driver packs. I have had 4 other cards working in this PC without any issue; 7870, 270x, 770, and a friends 760.

I did read that another post that someone else was having problems with a 290 and older chipsets but most people saids that shouldnt be an issue and should run fine.

My complete specs: BIOS is at default settings except for ACHI for the SSDs
AMD PII x6 1090T - default right now
MOBO - ASUS M4A88TD-V evo/usb3
G.Skill Ripjaw ddr3 1600mhz - 2x4GB sticks
Samsung evo 840 256gb
Crucial C300 128gb
************Corsair HX750 power supply CMPSU-750TX ----> Is my power supply ok for a 290?**********

Any tips or recommendations would be great. I'm really stumped
I'm going to see if XFX and posasible NewEgg could help me also.

Little bit of a change - After I install an AMD Driver pack if I dont restart right away, I am am to run Furmark and do that benchmark. I maxed out the settings to try to really put a load on the videocard and check temps, clocks, and voltages.
Using HWMonitor while the benchmark is running my main 12V min 12.210v and max is 12.261v
Using GPU-Z all my gpu clocks are ramping upto 947 and 1250 mhz gpu 12v is only showing 11.66v (Is this normal?) The VDDC is 1.125-1.141volts
Not sure what else to look at.

Another Update: I've installed drivers then restarted the PC, everything seems to be ok, I've ran Furmark a few times, but then I've tried to play a few games and while in game the screen will flicker, go to desktop back into the game for 2-3 secs then freeze. Or I'll get into a game and then the game will go to desktop and say that the drivers have failed. Or when I'm in a game it will just freeze and then I need to hard reboot.

After reading the reviews on this card, I think I have another defective card. Here is the link to the card XFX 290 Double Dissapation
If I have to return this card I am going to be pissed that I am going to have to spend another $20 dollars on shipping. At this rate and an additional $40 for paying for shipping I could have just purchased a 970.
 
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I bought my girlfriend an XFX 290 and it has worked without issue since we got it. I would guess it's something peculiar with your system, possibly a PSU issue, but could be software related. What do you have set to start up with your PC when windows boots? I was having an issue where my PC would freeze 1/2 the time when I first booted up and it was due to RealTemp loading in the background. Realtemp has a conflict with Windows 8.

Do you see any errors in your event logs for the times the system hard locks?

Do you have another power supply you could borrow and plug the video card into to see if that helps?
 
I am going to try to put this card in my work pc and also bring it to a friends house, just cant do it today. My original defective card I did put into 2 other computers and thatcard did the same thing in those systems.

I disabled all my start up programs. I'm about to do another fresh install of windows. The original defective 290 I installed windows twice.

I did read reviews on Newegg that people had pretty much the same issue that I'm having and 2 other people got RMA/replacement cards and those cards did the same thing. I kinda find it hard to believe that I would have 2 defective cards in a row like this, but you never know.
 
I would message XFXSupport. They post on HardForum. I'll see if I can direct them here for you.
 
My XFX 290x cards do this from time to time too. It’s worse the last few driver versions. Seems like there are a lot of folks out there with 290 cards that get random black screens. I only get them in games and it seems like only once a day or session. They don’t seem to like X79 motherboards. Have you tried the 13.12 mine worked and were stable on them. I could not use 14.1 at all. Every game (I was playing) crashed within 5 minutes.
 
Hello,

Yeah it sounds like a PSU issue. Not that it cant be GPU realted, but 2 back to back cards with the same issue? thats really tough.

Did you try a 2nd PSU yet?

I'm happy to RMA it for you and test it here, however i don't think that would be in your best interest until another PSU is tested. Please PM me for future contact or create a ticket at xfxsupport.com. Thanks
 
Your PSU maybe fine. I actually used a volt meter to test the 12V rail in mine and the sensors on the XFX don't seem incredibly accurate, mine showed 11.8V and volt meter read 12.15V just Like HWiNFO shows.

ALSO WARNING, while using HWiNFO the sensors for the VRM temps and voltages caused issues with the card. GPU-Z does NOT seem to cause the same issues. Not sure if Hwmonitor does the same.
 
I'm going to test this card out at a friend's house tomorrow in his 2 computers and see what happens. Stupid question, but can the hdmi or dvi cable be bad that would cause issues like this? It is honestly the only thing I havent tried.
 
HDMI cables can go bad. I had one die and my screen would go black periodically. But it would come back on and work intermittently, it wouldn't cause a hard lock.
 
I think I am gonna start looking for a power supply. My power supply is about 6 years old and probally on its last leg, wether or not its causing my issues I'd like a new one. I think all I need is a 850 watts. These are 3 that I'm thinking about, let me know what you guys think.

EVGA 850W
Seasonic 850W
NZXT Hale 850W

From what I've read the NZXT is actually a Seasonic unit and that is a plus. I'd pretty much just be picking the NZXT name and the white color if I went with the NZXT. My power supply is hidden in my NZXT S340 case so I guess it really dont matter, so I'm leaning towards the Seasonic M12II.
 
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Seasonic generally makes very good power supplies. EVGA has been hit or miss. The NZXT, if it's a relabeled Seasonic, is fine, depending on the underlying configuration.

My personal recommendation - go to HardOCP's PSU review forums, look at units that fit the wattage you need, and buy one rated Gold :) I bought an XFX Black Edition 1250W PSU based on the [H] recommendation and it has been excellent. Going strong for a couple of years now under plenty of high-load dual GPU configurations.
 
I installed my new 850 watt power supply today to see if it would fix my issues. I installed 14.9 drivers everything was running fine, then I did a Furmark burn in test for 4 hours and the pc ran fine, no black screens or lock ups, I exit Furmark and moving the mouse around and boom - locked up.

I'm gonna bring this 290 (the second one, just got it two days ago) to a friends house and test it out in his 2 computers and see what happens.

Any thing I'm missing or overlooking on my pc with this issue? We will see tomorrow if I get the same problem in my friend's pc.
 
Well I put this 290 into my extra pc, installed Omega drivers and everything seems to be working fine. I've ran a few benchmarks, no lock ups or any other issues. So I'm guessing that I either had an issue with my motherboard or something or that this 290 just didnt like the 880 amd chipset. Someone else was having an issue with their AMD 760G chipset and their 290.

I'm ordering a Z97 MSI Krait motherboard and an i5 devil's canyon cpu. This small PC refresh that started out just a new case, SSD, and videocard turned into getting a new power supply, MB, and CPU, so basically an all new PC except for RAM.
 
Try the 13.12 if you have the time. I think they may work or I'd like to know if they work. :)
 
Tanquen said:
Try the 13.12 if you have the time. I think they may work or I'd like to know if they work. :)
Click to expand...

I figured out that the 290 didnt like my old 880G chipset with any driver packs I had installed. I currently have the 290 in my work PC - Z77 & i5 2500K.

I ordered a new MB and CPU to go into my main rig with this 290.
 
Dmac122383 said:
I figured out that the 290 didnt like my old 880G chipset with any driver packs I had installed. I currently have the 290 in my work PC - Z77 & i5 2500K.

I ordered a new MB and CPU to go into my main rig with this 290.
Click to expand...

Yea, they had big issues with the X79 chipset.
 
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