Gigabyte R9 290 Hard Freeze

[inaMemo]

So as the title says I've been plagued with intermittent hard freezes since I installed my new card a month ago. Nothing I do seems to help. I've reformatted Windows, installed clean drivers, ran RAM tests, hard drive tests, cpu tests, psu tests, updated the mobo bios, used default settings, used custom settings, used MSI Afterburner to force constant voltage and disable ULPS, used different voltages for gpu and cpu. I tried flashing the GPU bios but Windows wouldn't start after so I went back. Nothing is overheating even though it has the awful references cooler on it. CPU is around 40C load and GPU 60C after I set up a custom fan profile since the default one is so bad. (40% at 95? Really?) I'm not sure where to go from here because I don't want to go back to my 6950 and I don't want to pay more for a card that will perform less like a 770 or a 780. I jumped on the 290 because I got it for a good price and now I know why.

My specs are:
Gigabyte R9 290 GV-R929D5-4GD-B
Phenom II X6 1090T BE
Asus m4a88t-m mobo
corsair xms3 DDR3-1600mhz
Corsair 750tx psu
4 internal and 2 external hard drives and one CD drive.

I've read a lot about the drivers being bad, is there a chance an update will fix this and for now I should weather the storm? I've also read that they may not play nice with PCIe2.0 instead of PCIe3.0 but that doesn't seem right. I've monitored usage and voltage and nothing is abnormal when it freezes and no events in event views other than the computer shut down and was restarted unexpectedly.

UPDATE 9/16: I've put in a request for an RMA from Gigabyte. It seems that you don't in fact need the original receipt, just the serial number. I'll update again once the new card arrives. For now I guess it's back to the trusty old 6950.

 

[suraswami]

Are you overclocking anything? CPU, ram etc?

Can you put back the 6950 to see if the freeze and restart stops? May be the 290 is defective. did you get the card open box?

 

[inaMemo]

Are you overclocking anything? CPU, ram etc?

Can you put back the 6950 to see if the freeze and restart stops? May be the 290 is defective. did you get the card open box?

Nothing is overclocked. I've tried the 6950 and that still works. And yeah I did get the card open box. It was a review card used by a reviewer and they didn't report any problems with it.

My PSU is a little dated, I pulled it out of an old build that had a Q9650 in it when it was still relevant. Maybe the card coupled with all the drives it's powering as well as the CPU with an aftermarket cooler is too much for it. The card ran fine for over a week before I had any issues with it, now it won't go for more than a day.

 

[suraswami]

Nothing is overclocked. I've tried the 6950 and that still works. And yeah I did get the card open box. It was a review card used by a reviewer and they didn't report any problems with it.

My PSU is a little dated, I pulled it out of an old build that had a Q9650 in it when it was still relevant. Maybe the card coupled with all the drives it's powering as well as the CPU with an aftermarket cooler is too much for it. The card ran fine for over a week before I had any issues with it, now it won't go for more than a day.

hmm a reviewer buying a card from store and returning it after reviewing it? Doesn't sound right. Somebody abused that card, return it, unless u got it for half price. In that case call gigabyte and get RMA.

Your PSU should be fine.

 

[inaMemo]

hmm a reviewer buying a card from store and returning it after reviewing it? Doesn't sound right. Somebody abused that card, return it, unless u got it for half price. In that case call gigabyte and get RMA.

Your PSU should be fine.

Can I RMA though, I bought it directly from the reviewer not the store. I feel like I'm stuck with it unless it's a driver problem that will be addressed or I find someone willing to buy a possibly defective card.

 

[Devil-Walker]

all you can do is open a rma ticket and see. you might be in luck.

 

[suraswami]

Can I RMA though, I bought it directly from the reviewer not the store. I feel like I'm stuck with it unless it's a driver problem that will be addressed or I find someone willing to buy a possibly defective card.

talk to the person u bought from, try to get the receipt, u need a receipt to get RMA from gigabyte.

 

[manofthem]

talk to the person u bought from, try to get the receipt, u need a receipt to get RMA from gigabyte.

Are you sure? I've heard many times Gigabyte's warranty is serial based. In that case, he won't need a receipt. (at least that's my understanding in the US)

 

[suraswami]

Are you sure? I've heard many times Gigabyte's warranty is serial based. In that case, he won't need a receipt. (at least that's my understanding in the US)

they ask u send receipt with serial number.

 

[manofthem]

they ask u send receipt with serial number.

Wow, never heard of that before... Kind of defeats the purpose

 

[inaMemo]

I forgot to mention that it only freezes in normal mode with a driver installed. BIOS, safe mode, and normal mode with no driver installed run fine.

 

[OneMoar]

shot in the dark but when you get freezes do you have your browser open ?

 

[inaMemo]

shot in the dark but when you get freezes do you have your browser open ?

Sometimes. I haven't found any particular programs to be always on when it freezes except for Catalyst. I can have many programs open, or be playing a game, or watching a movie on VLC, or streaming youtube, or let it be idle. Sometimes it freezes within 20 minutes of turning the computer on, sometimes it can go for almost 24 hours. It feels like there's a voltage drop somewhere that's causing the system to hang and not recover but hardware monitors aren't showing anything.

 

[eidairaman1]

Related to psu or motherboard

 

[OneMoar]

disable flash hardware acceleration

 

[suraswami]

disable flash hardware acceleration

+1.

Use any other browser other than IE. I had similar issue when using IE, switched to Firefox and problem went away (at least I see it once in a blue moon)

 

[OneMoar]

VLC for whatever reason will also cause a bsod
I use mpc-hc

 

[fullinfusion]

Card IMO is the issue.. I also find the latest adobe flash is a problem at times. And they want a recipt? Shame on them. I just did a RMA on my MSI 290,and didn't need any proof of purchase.. Its all tied into the serial number.

 

[suraswami]

Do you play BF4? If so that is also the culprit. I had issue with BF4 (still have sometimes) when using IE. Every time I play the game, even for hours, exit the game, leave the computer for a while (some times 5 min), come back the PC will not respond, Black Screen, only a hard reset will get me back into windows. I installed Firefox and made my default browser and it seems to have fixed that problem. Though sometimes after the monitor goes to sleep and I shake the mouse to wake up, monitor light comes on but only black screen. This time the keyboard is still responding, so I have to press the sleep button, put the computer to sleep and then wake it up and it works.

I am also guessing that AMD drivers + BF4 updates = user rape!!

But still can't stop playing BF4 lol!!

 

[inaMemo]

Related to psu or motherboard

Maybe, it seems to work fine on integrated and a different GPU. Could be one of them doesn't want to play well with the 290. I've been thinking about upgrading to a new CPU anyways since I don't doubt my current one is bottlenecking the GPU.

disable flash hardware acceleration

I've done that, still froze afterwards.

+1.

Use any other browser other than IE. I had similar issue when using IE, switched to Firefox and problem went away (at least I see it once in a blue moon)

I use Firefox and Chrome when FF is giving me issues. I think the only time I use IE is to download a new browser after a fresh install heh.

VLC for whatever reason will also cause a bsod
I use mpc-hc

VLC does seem to make it freeze every time I try to watch something on it, but so does everything else.

Card IMO is the issue.. I also find the latest adobe flash is a problem at times. And they want a recipt? Shame on them. I just did a RMA on my MSI 290,and didn't need any proof of purchase.. Its all tied into the serial number.

I'm thinking the card too. And for my request they didn't ask for a receipt, just the serial number. Although I haven't heard back from them yet.

Do you play BF4? If so that is also the culprit. I had issue with BF4 (still have sometimes) when using IE. Every time I play the game, even for hours, exit the game, leave the computer for a while (some times 5 min), come back the PC will not respond, Black Screen, only a hard reset will get me back into windows. I installed Firefox and made my default browser and it seems to have fixed that problem. Though sometimes after the monitor goes to sleep and I shake the mouse to wake up, monitor light comes on but only black screen. This time the keyboard is still responding, so I have to press the sleep button, put the computer to sleep and then wake it up and it works.

I am also guessing that AMD drivers + BF4 updates = user rape!!

But still can't stop playing BF4 lol!!

I have launched BF4 a few times but I just installed it recently and it was freezing before then.

 

[fullinfusion]

Just call them and get on there case.. If you have a RMA open already have the number ready and call them. Play dumb and say how long is this going to take and ask if they offer cross shipping... Evga and Asus do I know for a fact but the others I'm not sure. Good luck, in any case the problems you describe is totally a bad card. I'd say a bad memory chip on the GPU itself is the problem.

 

[GhostRyder]

So as the title says I've been plagued with intermittent hard freezes since I installed my new card a month ago. Nothing I do seems to help. I've reformatted Windows, installed clean drivers, ran RAM tests, hard drive tests, cpu tests, psu tests, updated the mobo bios, used default settings, used custom settings, used MSI Afterburner to force constant voltage and disable ULPS, used different voltages for gpu and cpu. I tried flashing the GPU bios but Windows wouldn't start after so I went back. Nothing is overheating even though it has the awful references cooler on it. CPU is around 40C load and GPU 60C after I set up a custom fan profile since the default one is so bad. (40% at 95? Really?) I'm not sure where to go from here because I don't want to go back to my 6950 and I don't want to pay more for a card that will perform less like a 770 or a 780. I jumped on the 290 because I got it for a good price and now I know why.

My specs are:
Gigabyte R9 290 GV-R929D5-4GD-B
Phenom II X6 1090T BE
Asus m4a88t-m mobo
corsair xms3 DDR3-1600mhz
Corsair 750tx psu
4 internal and 2 external hard drives and one CD drive.

I've read a lot about the drivers being bad, is there a chance an update will fix this and for now I should weather the storm? I've also read that they may not play nice with PCIe2.0 instead of PCIe3.0 but that doesn't seem right. I've monitored usage and voltage and nothing is abnormal when it freezes and no events in event views other than the computer shut down and was restarted unexpectedly.

UPDATE 9/16: I've put in a request for an RMA from Gigabyte. It seems that you don't in fact need the original receipt, just the serial number. I'll update again once the new card arrives. For now I guess it's back to the trusty old 6950.

If you are getting a freeze, that to me generally points to a problem with the hardware especially seeing as your HD 6950 works just fine. Generally if its drivers or the aforementioned issue that happened with Chrome it resulted in a Blue Screen (It did even for me).

I would RMA the card, as others stated Gigabyte is pretty nice about RMA's.

 

[newconroer]

Does it use Hynix or Elpida memory? The only thing I can add is that Elpida memory based 290 cards tended to black screen and hard lock more than the Hynix.