AMD Black Screen of Doom

[Grimes]

So my R9 270x drivers crashed tonight. On reboot the screen simply goes black after the initial windows startup logo. Boots into safe mode no problem, but changing drivers never seems to work. I've tried a few different drivers even reverting back to some older ones. Every driver I try has the same result. I've found some threads online of many other people experiencing this problem, with no real solutions in sight. I've already reinstalled windows to no avail. I've also switched PCI-E slots the video card is in. I am about to revert back to my old 5770 in hopes to have a usable PC.

 

Win 7 64bit, i7 920, 6gb ram. Everything ran fine until tonight. Anyone else encounter this?

[sniperwolfpk5]

This issue is with windows 10. Re-installing windows should fix this issue. I faced this issue multiple times. When I encounter this issue first time. I tried tons of different drivers almost 8 to 9 different driver version but no avail, my issue was fixed only when I re-install win 10. The 2nd time I got this issue with latest windows 10 update. I un-installed drivers from safe mode using DDU and install latest driver sucessfully worked for me. I faced this issue with nvidia card (660 Gt with win 10). If you are using win 10 then turn off automatic drivers updates.

[sniperwolfpk5]

Check if your motherboard has latest BIOS update. I don't think Bios will matter, but it may fix your issue.

[Vincent90]

Already tried if installing Windows 7 or 8 solves the problem?

[Grimes]

I am using windows 7 and a reinstall of it didn't help. I doubt there is a bios update since most of the PC is over 7 years old now. I'll check, but again I doubt there will be since I last updated it a while back. It simply doesn't make a whole lot of sense for the card to work without issue for several months after the last driver update only to crap out randomly. Even for windows updates I hadn't installed any for the last week or so.

[sniperwolfpk5]

I for one sure that the issue is not with the video card. The issue is either the windows or the drivers. If you have another PC check your card if it is working properly. As I tested my card on another PC, it was wroking fine. The issue is very frustrating and there is not much on internet. I don't know if drivers or windows update can change some thing in BIOS.

[sniperwolfpk5]

One more thing that is poping in my mind is before installing new windows try to format your hard drive or just delete that drive (c drive) and re-create it with format.

[Fri13]

This is reason why i hate activation in DCS.... You can't do refresh or reinstall as pleased.

[Grimes]

There is a big thread on the AMD support site for it: https://community.amd.com/message/2743721 Apparently people have literally baked their cards in ovens to fix it, at least temporarily.

 

I did reformat before reinstalling the OS, I always do that. I don't have another PC that I can use to test the GPU. I've got my old 5770 working and drivers installed no problem. I'll probably give my 270x another try tomorrow and this time install the drivers from the disk that came with it. Short of that I'm not really sure what else to test out.

 

And I forgot to deactivate all my DCS keys. Oh well.

[sniperwolfpk5]

The blackout issue is not just with AMD, Nvidia has same issue. The problem is that there is no solution, just random tid-bits. This is a serious issue that not just a single person facing, a lot of people have this problem.

[BitMaster]

Can you boot from an USB stick with Linux ?

 

Doing that would help to find out if it is a HW or SW problem without blanking one of your usual OS disk(s).

 

 

I once chipped a super-tiny part off an AMD card while handling and the card still worked...in 2D.

As soon as you tried any 3D app the card/win crashed.

 

As win10 is 3D right from the desktop on, it may be that your card is actually broken, HW wise, and just still working enough to boot the 2D part of win10. When the Desktop loads and 3D kicks in it crashes....could be a valid explanation..one of many I must admit.

 

 

Try to get a hold of a bootable USB stick with Ubuntu. Boot it, check if you can do standard desktop stuff. If you have some space on a disk, install Ubuntu and try some included 3d games if they work. May install steam and see what they got for testing, you may have some games that run cross-OS, Wargames is one of them, it runs on all OS's.

 

If you have the same symptoms in Linux your card is very likely done. If baking helps...you can try !

 

Take that card if possible and go to freinds place and have him test it in his PC ( maybe boot a Ubuntu to not kill your OS and licenses due to HW change ).

 

Win10 and SF sux when you have to troubleshoot. Licences are a catchback in such a scenario and again the paying party is the bleeding party.

Edited March 24, 2017 by BitMaster

[Grimes]

Thanks for the Linux suggestion. It took a little while to figure out how to get it working, but I eventually got Ubuntu and steam running along with Portal 1 for testing purposes. Got everything working with my old 5770 GPU. I then swapped it out for the R9 270x and ubuntu wouldn't even load. Tried booting from the disk with the same result. Looking like the card is toast :/ I wouldn't know what to do with baking it so I'm not going to consider that option.

[sniperwolfpk5]

Don,t need to bake. If you have heat gun just use that

[BitMaster]

I may have a solution for you as I'm testing 380x/480x and drivers.

 

The problem is with Windows 10 latest updates and AMD Crimson Drivers 16.x-17.3.3 and Wattman.

 

This was my findings for more stable performance and fixed many issues with AMD graphics.

Also solved DCS frequent crashes. (no more crashing):)

 

I assume your 270x is already OC from factory like 380x versions and 480x.

 

I'm currently using 16.12.2 drivers, but I don't think this matters as I had similar result with 17.3.1-.3

 

Open the AMD Radeon Settings program and go to Gaming/Global settings. Then open and agree to Wattman.

 

Make sure all fans are set to Dynamic and Power Limit (%) -20. The Power limit will help stablize the AMD graphics card constant flux in power.

 

Note if you OC your card beyond factory limits then Power Limit (%) may change.

 

It all comes down to Driver timing and error hanlding. Which currently sucks for AMD right now.

 

I hope this help correct your graphic issues.

 

 

Grims is using Win7, he does not run 10.

 

It was nice if you were right but also booting Linux he had no luck.

 

Still, trying that card in another PC might clear the last doubt.

That's what I would do if possible.