Sapphire Nitro+ RX 570 4GB driver problems

[Ottis]

Hey guys,

so I just bought an RX 570 4GB that I wanted to clean up and give it to my father as an upgrade for his PC. However, when I was testing out the graphics card, I was unable to install the GPU drivers. I tried both manually selecting it on the AMD website as well as the one with automatic detection. The manual one would not even install. The automatic one does but I get an error msg. The error msg points me to an AMD FAQ that lets me download an "amdsoftwarecompatibilitytool" which tells me that everything is as it should be.

I noticed it has a BIOS switch on the PCB which I tried out but got the same result. The only difference was lower GPU clock and higher frequency.

I also tried using the Display Driver Uninstaller but that did not fix my problems.

When I talked to the guy that sold me the GPU, he told me that he has no idea whats going on and that he is using another GPU just like this one in his personal PC. He had 4 and all were used for mining prior to that.

What am I missing here? What could be wrong with the GPU and how could it be fixed?

Thank you.

 

[VuurVOS]

When I talked to the guy that sold me the GPU, he told me that he has no idea whats going on and that he is using another GPU just like this one in his personal PC. He had 4 and all were used for mining prior to that.

Did he restore the orginal bios since I have my doubts about it.

Can you share more information about the graphics card? Which brand, part number and memory part number. Can you also make a photo of the PCB?

 

[Ottis]

Did he restore the orginal bios since I have my doubts about it.

Can you share more information about the graphics card? Which brand, part number and memory part number. Can you also make a photo of the PCB?

The GPU is: Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 570 4GB GDDR5; PN 299-2E366-101SA; SKU 11266-14 (from the stickers on it)

In regards to the mining he did not share any information and obviously he is now dodging my questions. Only thing he said is that he had those cards ordered new from the USA about 6 months ago. And that he mined on Linux.

I want to take it apart tomorrow and give it a clean and a fresh paste. I will take pictures of the PCB then. I did notice the warranty stickers were damaged so someone was already "inside". The card was full of dust, could see one rusty screw under one of the coolers. I do think that the seller is not telling the whole truth or he is just absolutely clueless.

 

[VuurVOS]

The GPU is: Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 570 4GB GDDR5; PN 299-2E366-101SA; SKU 11266-14 (from the stickers on it)

In regards to the mining he did not share any information and obviously he is now dodging my questions. Only thing he said is that he had those cards ordered new from the USA about 6 months ago. And that he mined on Linux.

I want to take it apart tomorrow and give it a clean and a fresh paste. I will take pictures of the PCB then. I did notice the warranty stickers were damaged so someone was already "inside". The card was full of dust, could see one rusty screw under one of the coolers. I do think that the seller is not telling the whole truth or he is just absolutely clueless.

Can you confirm there is a E366 sticker on the PCB. See screenshot below

If the board has the sticker E366, you can try to flash the following bioses:

Performance:

Sapphire RX 570 VBIOS

4 GB GDDR5, 1340 MHz GPU, 1750 MHz Memory

www.techpowerup.com

Silent:

Sapphire RX 570 VBIOS

4 GB GDDR5, 1244 MHz GPU, 1750 MHz Memory

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Ottis]

Can you confirm there is a E366 sticker on the PCB. See screenshot below

If the board has the sticker E366, you can try to flash the following bioses:

Performance:

Sapphire RX 570 VBIOS

4 GB GDDR5, 1340 MHz GPU, 1750 MHz Memory

www.techpowerup.com

Silent:

Sapphire RX 570 VBIOS

4 GB GDDR5, 1244 MHz GPU, 1750 MHz Memory

www.techpowerup.com

Yes, it does. I will try to look up some tutorials about flashing BIOS on a GPU. Thank you for the tip. Do you reckon that the messed up BIOS is "the" issue I am having here?

 

[VuurVOS]

Yes, it does. I will try to look up some tutorials about flashing BIOS on a GPU. Thank you for the tip. Do you reckon that the messed up BIOS is "the" issue I am having here?

Can also be vaulty hardware If it doesn't work after the flash, you need to remove the cooler so we can confirm the memory.
It is wise to make a backup of the current bios.

 

[Ottis]

Can also be vaulty hardware If it doesn't work after the flash, you need to remove the cooler so we can confirm the memory.
It is wise to make a backup of the current bios.

Now I am really confused.

The GPU started to just work. Yesterday I left the drivers for RX 570 installed on my PC, then I swapped in my RX 6700XT and played a few games even with the wrong drivers, no issues so I did not bother reinstalling them. Today I swapped back in the RX 570 and it loaded with proper 1440p resolution and no errors. The drivers work as well, GPU-Z now recognizes the card and lists all of the information correctly as well as measures temps etc. I ran games, Unigine benchmark as well as 30 minutes of Furmark. All good.

Then I tried restarting PC 3 times, took out the GPU and put it back and it did not reproduce any errors that I listed in the OP. It is now magically fixed without me doing anything (no new BIOS). I think I will just keep it as it is, clean it as intended and then see if it works in my father's PC when I get a chance to put it in next week.

Thank you VuurVOS for your guidence and input.

@VuurVOS For some very odd reason (yet another one), after I did the clean up and put the card back together, it now loads into Windows with memory clock of 1250 MHz instead of 1750 MHz. When I tune it in the AMD Adrenaline Software to 1750 MHz and restart the PC, it defaults back to 1250 MHz. Therefore giving lower performance than it should. In benchmarks it was also only hitting 1100 MHz instead of 1244 MHz on the core clock. The temps are still only hitting lower 60s so it is cooled properly and should not be thermal throttling. Also tried to putting up the memory to 1800 MHz but the card didnt like that and I got some artefacts on the screen.

Attaching the PCB photos as well.

 

[VuurVOS]

@VuurVOS For some very odd reason (yet another one), after I did the clean up and put the card back together, it now loads into Windows with memory clock of 1250 MHz instead of 1750 MHz. When I tune it in the AMD Adrenaline Software to 1750 MHz and restart the PC, it defaults back to 1250 MHz. Therefore giving lower performance than it should. In benchmarks it was also only hitting 1100 MHz instead of 1244 MHz on the core clock. The temps are still only hitting lower 60s so it is cooled properly and should not be thermal throttling. Also tried to putting up the memory to 1800 MHz but the card didnt like that and I got some artefacts on the screen.

Attaching the PCB photos as well.

I do see some paste on the gold fingers of the PCI-e interface.

Are you sure both bioses are stock? Maybe it is wise to reflash the bios with the ones I've provided after you have confirmed the memory has H5GC4H24AJR on the chips.

 

[Ottis]

I do see some paste on the gold fingers of the PCI-e interface.

Are you sure both bioses are stock? Maybe it is wise to reflash the bios with the ones I've provided after you have confirmed the memory has H5GC4H24AJR on the chips.

Yes, the paste was an old dried up bit and was removed right after taking the picture. Sloppy me.

I confirm that the memory has H5GC4H24AJR on the chips. I flashed it with BIOS provided above but it is still the same.

 

[VuurVOS]

Yes, the paste was an old dried up bit and was removed right after taking the picture. Sloppy me.

I confirm that the memory has H5GC4H24AJR on the chips. I flashed it with BIOS provided above but it is still the same.

Strange. Try to run DDU and reinstall the latest drivers.

 

[Ottis]

Strange. Try to run DDU and reinstall the latest drivers.

That was easier than I thought it would. I was actually afraid to touch the drivers because I feared that it would bring me back the headaches I had in my first post with the drivers not recognizing the GPU!

However, dDU and fresh install of drivers brought it back to normal. Tried taking out the GPU, restarting the PC few times and it always booted to the "good" default. Furmark good, benchmarks good. All good. Thank you!