R9 290x 8GB Bios change - black screen

Discussion in 'Videocards - AMD Radeon' started by brunko22, Feb 5, 2020.

  1. brunko22

    brunko22 Guest

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    Hi everyone, i have this problem: my Sapphire r9 290x 8GB (8,not 4) gives me a black screen while i'm playing or using the browser or doing nothing. I'm sure that's a problem of GPU because i make a lot of tests on different machine.
    I found on this forum the comment in the screenshot so i want to change the bios but, as you can see in the second picture, that's only one version for my gpu (mine is the trix OC, not the vaporx), so what do you suggest?

    [​IMG]
    https://imgur.com/Fnp08mT

    https://imgur.com/0YsqfgX
    [​IMG]
     
  2. JonasBeckman

    JonasBeckman Ancient Guru

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    Hardware acceleration in the browser to off and test how that works, it's kinda hit & miss since the newer drivers if that's what you are using so disable it in software that utilizes GPU hardware acceleration such as web browsers, media players and general applications (IE Chromium Engine Framework like Steam or Discord.) or go back to possibly 19.12.1 and see if that works until AMD can resolve it. :)

    There are intermittent black screen problems for the Polaris and Vega GPU models as well in the newer drivers for what is possibly a variety of issues introduced in Adrenaline 2020 but I have heard little on the 290 and later 390 models for that particular problem though it is something to consider if the HW acceleration doesn't fix it.

    And yeah it really should be fixed and it kinda has been hit and miss for a while but at least it can be worked around.
     
  3. Undying

    Undying Ancient Guru

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  4. JonasBeckman

    JonasBeckman Ancient Guru

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    Still thinking it's the newer drivers but yeah Ati Flash (NOT Ati WinFlash.) could do it assuming the GPU has a bios switch to ensure nothing can go wrong though backing up the existing GPU bios via GPU-Z or similar as a precaution doesn't hurt either or comparing against and using the database above. :)

    The original 290 / 290X black screen (Elpida memory?) issue should have been fixed in software since years ago by now, interesting to hear that it might have been power related though if that's how it was resolved.
    (If that's all dialing in similar settings via Wattman might also work without bios involvement at all if possible.)


    EDIT: As to the multiple listed bios files often for dual bios GPU models there's the default and then either a turbo or a silent version one would be clocked a bit higher and one might have a more conservative fan ramp up and possibly somewhat less aggressive clock speeds. :)
    (Would have to open both in separate tabs and compare the listed values, targets for fan RPM and clock speeds most often but there's also temperature and watt and ampere sometimes that might differ.)
     

  5. brunko22

    brunko22 Guest

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    I use Adrenalin 2020 Edition 20.2.1 an the problem persits using different monit and different machines using HDMI.

    Can you link me ATI Flash? i can't find it. I'll try to use that driver's version, then in the problem persists i'll change the bios but whats bios should i use?
    My gpu has a button "S", it's for bios switch? Do i need to make a backup?
     
  6. JonasBeckman

    JonasBeckman Ancient Guru

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    https://www.techpowerup.com/download/ati-atiflash/
    Works from Windows too via command line arguments. :)

    What I would do is to back the bios up via GPU-Z saving it to a file and then press the bios button and back up the second bios too so you now have both, after that only flash one of the bioses on the GPU and leave the other alone so if anything happens you have a working one always available which can be switched to and after a reboot you can use the bios switch again and flash the working backed up bios over the attempted flashed one thus restoring it. :)

    https://www.techpowerup.com/download/gpu-z/

    Just don't overwrite both bios files always keep one as a backup option and for convenience I would recommend storing both bios files so they're available and you know you have the default ones for the card safely stored.
    The bios might not apply fully until the system is rebooted but switching it works for getting both files backed up and for flashing from the working secondary bios back to the primary if something happens and it doesn't work as it should. :)


    EDIT: Although I would still remove the drivers first and test a non-Adrenaline 2020 which hopefully works and confirms it as a software/driver issue only but as long as you have a secondary bios on the GPU the risk is minimal but never flash both bios slots. :)

    https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-rad-win-19-12-1

    (I'd avoid flashing a single slot bios GPU entirely if at all possible short of having a secondary GPU so you can access the faulty flashed one and possibly restore it this way.)
     
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  7. Passus

    Passus Ancient Guru

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  8. JonasBeckman

    JonasBeckman Ancient Guru

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    They do also have Ati Win Flash but the reason to not use that is that it's not updated and might be incompatible much like the early motherboard software bios update utilities could corrupt the hardware due to a bad flash though it differs a bit depending on the hardware and how well the dump worked though Techpowerup having a list of verified bios files should mean these are alright whereas improper dumps could also risk causing issues. :)

    Ati Flash usually works well enough though even from Windows and command line compared to a boot loader environment altohugh if a non-compatible 290 or 290X bios flash is attempted it would prompt for a mismatch error, forcing it can be done but I would be careful with that since it's unsupported. (Mismatch of device identification for example and the hardware ID for the GPU.)

    EDIT: That's more for what people do with the non-X to X models like the 5700's to 5700 XT's accepting that the card might not be fully stable with the higher settings and other changes as a risk.

    Just to mention it, in this case though it's more like a 1.0 to 1.1 update and fixing some default settings trying to work around a early problem on some 290 GPU's with the black screen crash.

    Circumventing the issue by adding more voltage and possibly lowering clock speeds slightly from my understanding though AMD should have since resolved it in later drivers unless that too somehow broke or got undone or something.
     
  9. brunko22

    brunko22 Guest

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    Thank you for the answers, i've done a backup of both bios:

    Bios 1:
    https://imgur.com/TUBuWUC
    https://imgur.com/wf5rT4k

    Bios 2:
    https://imgur.com/nVJet4k
    https://imgur.com/A51uasG

    So the version is similar to this: https://imgur.com/0YsqfgX
    Can i do something?Is somewhere an other compatible bios? However i've formatted windows 7 and installed the drivers you suggested me and the problem is less frequent, but still present :(

    EDIT:
    i noticed the black screen happens often at the end of a installation or when i quit a game.


    UP
     
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2020
  10. brunko22

    brunko22 Guest

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  11. The_Amazing_X

    The_Amazing_X Master Guru

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    Hello, did you try this steps

    1 - having another gpu
    2 - put the gpu you want to flash on the next pci slot so the card that the pc will boot will be closest to the cpu, monitor connected to the gpu that is on the 1 slot
    3 - having atiflash
    -run cmd in admin
    - command will be something like
    cd\atii atiflash -f -p 1 ( 0 is for the 1 slot) R9etc.rom

    R9s take ages to flash so you have to wait to finish.

    Hope this helps
     
  12. nevernamed

    nevernamed Master Guru

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    Dude I'm having the exact same issues. Sometimes it is so bad, my computer freezes within seconds of logging into windows. This problem for me, started in august/september.. I have no idea how to fix it.. I know that sometimes it goes away for days/weeks, then there are days like yesterday, where my computer was literally unusable. I'd uninstall driver, log in, download new drivers, do scans, this that.. finally install the new drivers, the moment they'd kick in, artifacts and a crash.. a few reboots later (and no real changes), computer isn't crashing anymore.......... a total mystery. i'm at the point, where I just might buy an nvidia and move on..
     
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  13. brunko22

    brunko22 Guest

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    what gpu do you have? This is an old model's problem, the black screen in 5600 and 5600xt was for drivers
     
  14. nevernamed

    nevernamed Master Guru

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    Was running a 290x vapor-x 8gb . I ran into blackscreen issues back in 2016 with this card.they resolved themselves, but i remember it had something to do with it locking in the overclocked memory setting and using it upon boot without applying voltage (since it was happening before login).. but since august. i've had problems. sometimes every day , sometimes weeks go by with nothing.. i bought a new power supply, i cleaned, everything, took the card apart and cleaned it, i've tried not using the radeon drivers software, I tried no afterburner, no OSD's. no performacne monitoring, no VSR, no custom res, no enhanced sync.. there was no rhyme or reason for the randomness.. it was playing fine all year, then this weekend, i literally could not use my computer.. hit windows start, monitor would artifact up and crash.. uninstall, reboot, it would crash as soon as the drivers installed.. uninstall, redo it again, its fine for 30 mins, then problems.. after dicking around with this for 6 months, and seeing how inept AMD is with dealing with their problems, I finally have said F it... I found myself a 1080 TI that was gently used and a reasonable price.. upgraded.. amd can go screw.
     

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