...have AMD stepped up and resolved their issue and is it safe to buy a r9 290?
To be honest, since Nvidia are often at launch of titles having driver problems that AMD are not, they really should lower some of their prices, esp since they give you less VRAM.
Even Crossfire is not a problem like it used to be, and the average single GPU performance driver wise is plenty good.
I was set on an Nvidia GPU and got the fairly popular MSI 660 Ti OC. It had issues detecting my TV as HDCP compliant, and gave me black screen when switching from PC to TV input. I sent it back to Newegg and got a refund. My prior GTS 250 had no such problem, nor does my current 7970, which I got for only $330 with Sleeping Dogs, Far Cry 3, and Hitman Absolution nearly 2 years ago.
These days you just look at price to performance ratio and features and any games thrown in, then click to cart. There's still some die hard Nvidia fanatics whom swear AMD are dead and a risk to support, but that is all meaningless hype that will only cloud your thinking.