New R9 390 No Screen

[Dwilton]

A while back I had a HD7950 fail. When it failed I tested in another motherboard with another power supply. Additionally my old 4870 worked fine in my motherboard so I safely thought it was the card.

I just received a new R9 390 in the mail today and it is exhibiting the exact same symptoms as the 7950.

My Motherboard is Gigabyte X79-UD5 with an i7 3820. When the issue began with the HD7950 i updated to the latest non-beta bios.

• With all PCIe Power connected (6pin & 8pin), the computer powers on and stalls. It can be powered off with a tap of the switch. Does not seem like a traditional POST failure.

• With Optional PCIe power removed from the card (6pin & 6pin) OR no PCIe power the computer powers on and stops, but cannot be powered off with a tap, the switch has to be held. This seems to me how I would expect a POST failure.

• To be safe i once again tested with the 4870 PCIe (6pin & 6pin). Works like a charm.

I was confident that the HD7950 had failed and tested in different configurations. I have not had the same opportunity with this 390. I am beginning to wonder if the issues are PSU related, but it works great with the HD4870. Additionally I took a multi-meter to the PCIe power pins and they are stable at 12v. I don't have a PSU load tester so I am unable to test that.

I am at a complete loss. I am considering sending the card back to have it replaced but am torn given the similarities between the 2 problems.

One additional note, I read somewhere that someone with a similar issue tweaked secure boot settings in the BIOS, but none can be found in my motherboards bios.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[Ebo]

First of all, please fill in your system specs under your name, that makes it a lot easier for people to help you with your problem.

My first thourght is that your PSU isent quite good enough and cant deliver stabile power under pressure, but that comes down to which brand and big it is and the parts its made of.

 

[Dwilton]

First of all, please fill in your system specs under your name, that makes it a lot easier for people to help you with your problem.

Thanks for the advice. I filled them in!

My first thourght is that your PSU isent quite good enough and cant deliver stabile power under pressure, but that comes down to which brand and big it is and the parts its made of.

The power supply is an OCZ700SXS 700 watt power supply. This PSU supplied the HD7950 without hitch for a good few years. Also when the HD7950 failed I did test it with another power supply before calling it dead. Could the PSU degrade to a point that it would not post these two cards, but would the hd4870?

I am very leery to call it DOA when the card it is replacing exhibits the exact same symptoms.

 

[Kanan]

Which R9 390 exactly do you have? Some R9 390 make problems (Gigabyte for example). But could very well be the PSU too.

 

[Dwilton]

Which R9 390 exactly do you have? Some R9 390 make problems (Gigabyte for example). But could very well be the PSU too.

This card is an XFX R9-390P-85.

I have been testing and noticed another peculiar symptom. With my 7950 in slot 2 and a low power card in slot 1 the motherboard will post to an old nVidia card. With the R9-390 in slot 2 it will not post to the nVidia card. I have tried BOTH BIOS on the card as well.

 

[DarthBaggins]

Maybe a bad PCI lane?

 

[Dwilton]

Maybe a bad PCI lane?

Do you think it would still work with the 4870?

 

[Kanan]

This card is an XFX R9-390P-85.

I have been testing and noticed another peculiar symptom. With my 7950 in slot 2 and a low power card in slot 1 the motherboard will post to an old nVidia card. With the R9-390 in slot 2 it will not post to the nVidia card. I have tried BOTH BIOS on the card as well.

I would say, try another PSU and mainboard, find out whats bad, replace it.

 

[Dwilton]

I was able to test the R9 390 in another motherboard with this PSU and low and behold the card completed POST and entered BIOS. That being said, the Power Supply and the R9 390 work together. This leaves me with more questions.

1. Why would my current motherboard not complete POST with the card when it is working fine with 2 other cards (HD4750, gt7300)? Additionally it worked fine with an HD7950 until it failed.
   
2. Are there any quirks with BIOS compatibility that could be causing this?
   
3. I am on the latest non beta BIOS should I update again, even to current BIOS rev?

To be safe I tested my HD7950 on the other motherboard and it still failed.

 

[Kanan]

Yes, try to set the bios mode to non-UEFI, or to UEFI, depending whats set up atm. I don't think bios is the problem, but UEFI/Non-UEFI could be.

 

[Ebo]

Ive heard others having similar problems with R9 390 and the solution is to update bios to the latest, then my friends comp worked without any foults.

 

[Flow]

This card is an XFX R9-390P-85.

I have been testing and noticed another peculiar symptom. With my 7950 in slot 2 and a low power card in slot 1 the motherboard will post to an old nVidia card. With the R9-390 in slot 2 it will not post to the nVidia card. I have tried BOTH BIOS on the card as well.

The 390 will draw much more power than the 7950 at boot so that would explain the difference between the 2 setups.
The other system you tested your psu and 390 with, are you sure that system draws the same power? Could be the psu is at its end and can't produce the same power as before.
As for motherboard bios, that's a tricky one. I have my 390 running on a p8z68 with original bios. After a bad flash with the previous p8p67 I don't want to break a working system.
Also my psu is 700w and 4 years old, and the recommended wattage for 390 is 750w.

Anyway, since you stated that it happened first with the 7950, it could be either the psu or the motherboard.
The low profile cards just don't draw that much power.
Also check your bios settings, usually after a bios flash they are set at default, which isn't always the best.

ps. I owned the 4890 and it required a 450w psu. Now it ran on lower psu's at the time, but that was the factory recommendation. I read that some users are running the 390 at 650w but anything lower is really cutting it very close.