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Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 running at 1x 2.0

daiv

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Hi,

I have an issue with my Gibabyte AMD Radeon R9 290 graphic card
- Model: GV-R9290OC-4GD Rev 1.0
- Serial Number: SN135201055714
- Driver version: 22.19.162.4
- BIOS Ver: F3 (015.042.000.003.000000)

My other PC parts are:
- ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 (BIOS 2901)
- AMD CPU FX-8350
- EVGA SuperNOVA 850 B2 (850W)
- G.SKILL Sniper Series (2x8GB) 240-Pin SDRAM DDR3 1866
- Window 10 Pro 64bit (version 1703)

Last year my friend gave my this graphic card but I only started gaming recently. I noticed the card was not performing as I expected. So, I performed a GPU performance test using PassMark software and I got really bad results.

Then, I downloaded TechPowerUp GPU-Z 2.5.0 to check if the card was working properly. GPU-Z showed the card's bus interface was only running at 1x 2.0 under load (instead of 16x 2.0) I assumed this is why the card had poor performance and realized it was inserted in a 4x 2.0 PCI-E slot, so I switched it to one of the 16x 2.0 slot but the card was not recognized and the motherboard POST failed.

I realized I always used the R9 290 card with the 4x 2.0 PCI-E slot so I never realized the card was not recognized with the 16x 2.0 slot. I also never realized the card's bus interface was only running at 1x 2.0 the whole time. I would really like to make this card work at his full potential because it's very bad for gaming right now.


Here's what I tried so far:

- I tried the R9 290 in 3 different PCI-E slots I have, in both 16x 2.0 slots the card was not recognized and the motherboard POST failed. I the 4x 2.0 slot the R9 290 was recognized, POST passed but like I said GPU-Z reported a bus interface running at only 1x 2.0 under load.

- I know the problem is not my motherboard because I tried my old Radeon HD 7700 in the 16x 2.0 PCI-E slot and GPU-Z reported a bus interface running at 16x 2.0 (as expected). Also my motherboard BIOS is already updated to latest version (2901)

- I tried switching the 2 VGA power cord on the R9 290 and I tried a different VGA power lane. My Power Supply is not even 1 year old and working fine. Power didn't seem to be the problem since all 3 fans on the R9 290 are running normally.

- I didn't flash the VBIOS on the R9 290 and Gigabyte Easy Boost software shows VBIOS version is F3 and model is GV-R9290OC-4GD_A


Questions:
1) Why my Radeon R9 290 is not recognized in the 16x 2.0 slot and why it is only running at 1x 2.0 under load while in the 4x 2.0 slot?

2) What can I do to make my Radeon R9 290 works properly?

3) Should I update the VBIOS? If yes, which version of VBIOS I must use?


Please help me, I'm out of solution.
Thank you!
 
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I'd suggest you do a full driver cleanup with shutdown using DDU, restart to BIOS and restore failsafe defaults, then put the 290 into topmost (PCIEX16_1) slot and see if it boots.

This should confirm if the issue is not related to some BIOS setting or driver conflict.
 

daiv

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Good idea! I will try this tonight and come back with result.
Thank you for quick reply.
 

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I'd suggest you do a full driver cleanup with shutdown using DDU, restart to BIOS and restore failsafe defaults, then put the 290 into topmost (PCIEX16_1) slot and see if it boots.

This should confirm if the issue is not related to some BIOS setting or driver conflict.
I second this, because the only thing I didn't see you say was a clean driver install.

I also, on certain AMD drivers, have found my 480 not behaving, and it will run a game at like 5 fps, until I roll driver back.
 
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Check if the base clock is at default values. When the bclock is increased it can fall back to lower PCIe speeds.
 
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check SMD components near PCI-E on your card (both sides), maybe you have damaged or lost some of them
 

eidairaman1

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Make sure you do not have MSI afterburner installed, certain settings in that program can prevent the card and pci e slot from clocking up to correct speed.

Make sure the motherboard chipset drivers are installed. Make sure you use 2 separate pcie power cords going to the card, if no dice it is possible the cards bus mastering signal pins are screwed up.

Read your motherboard manual for correct slots configuration, it is also possible if you have a non gpu pcie card in the other pcie 16x slot (full speed) it can cause the card to not operate at correct speed too. I normally ensure all above are done and also remove all other pcie cards. If no change, try the card in another machine, no change the card is bad, if changes the slot could be not making correct contact with card pins.

I'd use a eraser on the pins of the 290 too.

Sometimes breadboarding can help diagnose incorrect seating of cards...
 

daiv

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I'd suggest you do a full driver cleanup with shutdown using DDU, restart to BIOS and restore failsafe defaults, then put the 290 into topmost (PCIEX16_1) slot and see if it boots.

This should confirm if the issue is not related to some BIOS setting or driver conflict.

So, I did the full driver cleanup with shutdown, restarted to BIOS, set back default parameters, shutdown and then removed all PCI-E card and put R9 290 card into topmost slot (PCIEX16_1)... the card was still not recognized and POST failed with VGA led ON

Now the card does not output signal for my monitor anymore but it is still available in GPU-Z. Also, the type of memory changed from "Elpida" to "Micron"???


Check if the base clock is at default values. When the bclock is increased it can fall back to lower PCIe speeds.

GPU clock was 1040 MHz and Memory at 1250 MHz with the latest driver which I believe is default values. Now with basic Windows 10 64bit driver the value are just garbage (see attached screen shot)
GPUZ-R9-290.PNG
GPUZ_R9_290_win10driver.PNG
GPUZ_Radeon_HD_7700.png
 
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daiv

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check SMD components near PCI-E on your card (both sides), maybe you have damaged or lost some of them

I checked it, everything looked fine to me. I attached pictures of my card maybe you will spot something I missed

r9_290_card.PNG
r9_290_card_2.PNG
r9_290_card_3.PNG
 

eidairaman1

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your contact pins look dirty, clean them if possible
 
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daiv

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Make sure you do not have MSI afterburner installed, certain settings in that program can prevent the card and pci e slot from clocking up to correct speed.

Make sure the motherboard chipset drivers are installed. Make sure you use 2 separate pcie power cords going to the card, if no dice it is possible the cards bus mastering signal pins are screwed up.

Read your motherboard manual for correct slots configuration, it is also possible if you have a non gpu pcie card in the other pcie 16x slot (full speed) it can cause the card to not operate at correct speed too. I normally ensure all above are done and also remove all other pcie cards. If no change, try the card in another machine, no change the card is bad, if changes the slot could be not making correct contact with card pins.

I'd use a eraser on the pins of the 290 too.

Sometimes breadboarding can help diagnose incorrect seating of cards...

MSI afterburner is not installed.

I tried what "ikeke" suggested with 2 separate PCI_E power cords and no other PCI_E card connected as you suggested. Card still not recognized and POST failed with VGA led ON.

Also, I'm pretty confident in my slots configuration, I read the MB manual at least 3 times.

I will test the card in another machine but this could take time since I do not have another one at home.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Make sure the motherboard chipset drivers are installed."
 

eidairaman1

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MSI afterburner is not installed.

I tried what "ikeke" suggested with 2 separate PCI_E power cords and no other PCI_E card connected as you suggested. Card still not recognized and POST failed with VGA led ON.

Also, I'm pretty confident in my slots configuration, I read the MB manual at least 3 times.

I will test the card in another machine but this could take time since I do not have another one at home.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Make sure the motherboard chipset drivers are installed."

you are running a Sabertooth R2.0, there are drivers from AMD for the 990FX chipset.

Download them and Install them
http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/chipset?os=Windows 10 - 64

breadboarding the system means taking the motherboard out of the case and setting it so a videocard can be inserted fully and correctly on a surface that wont zap the components
 

daiv

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your contact pins look dirty on 1 side, clean them if possible

I cleaned them with Rubbing Alcohol the first time, they are probably dirty because I handled the card to get clear picture


you are running a Sabertooth R2.0, there are drivers from AMD for the 990FX chipset.

Download them and Install them
http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/chipset?os=Windows 10 - 64

breadboarding the system means taking the motherboard out of the case and setting it so a videocard can be inserted fully and correctly on a surface that wont zap the components

I installed the chipset drivers, card still running at 1x 2.0 into 4x slot

I will try breadboarding this weekend.

Also, since I uninstalled the card's driver, the card does not output signal for my monitor anymore but it is still available in GPU-Z. I think I will update the driver to latest again
 
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Was the card used previously for mining? If it was used in a system with multiple high-powered GPUs and no powered risers were used then it could be damaged due to that.

The memory issue is just cosmetic due to driver versions, nothing to worry. If you install up to date drivers they'll be identified correctly again.
 
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daiv

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Was the card used previously for mining? If it was used in a system with multiple high-powered GPUs and no powered risers were used then it could be damaged due to that.

The memory issue is just cosmetic due to driver versions, nothing to worry. If you install up to date drivers they'll be identified correctly again.

Yes, the card was into a mining rig along with 4 or 6 other Radeon R9 290 cards for about a year I think.
How can I tell if the card was damaged? I guess I will have to try the card into another machine
 
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Easiest yes, would be to test it in another motherboard. But since you've already verified the PCIe slots to be functional with another card i doubt its the board (never know, though, BIOS/hw compatibility issues are a pain to debug by hand).

I'd check C127-C160 on the backside/pcie connector more carefully, since it's working at PCIe x1 speed then any of those would be the first i'd check. Compare them to C125 and C126, since these are fully functional (otherwise the card would not show up at all, as these are electrically on PCIe x1 data lines). Also any damage on connector after line 18 could be causing this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#Pinout

 
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Easiest yes, would be to test it in another motherboard. But since you've already verified the PCIe slots to be functional with another card i doubt its the board (never know, though, BIOS/hw compatibility issues are a pain to debug by hand).

I'd check C127-C160 on the backside/pcie connector more carefully, since it's working at PCIe x1 speed then any of those would be the first i'd check. Compare them to C125 and C126, since these are fully functional (otherwise the card would not show up at all, as these are electrically on PCIe x1 data lines). Also any damage after line 18 could be causing this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#Pinout


Being a mining card, it's shot if you ask me
 
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Also a slight chance that it's been flashed with modified bios, miners tend to do that - which you could eliminate as possible variable by putting the card on secondary BIOS.



But yes, it being a miner the odds are against you, unfortunately.
 
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