Windows 7 Need help: BSOD caused by AMD Radeon R9 290 series

[Askin]

My specs:

• CPU: QuardCore AMD Phenom II X4 Black Edition 965, 3415 MHz
• Mainboard: M5A78LLE ASUS
• RAM: 8 GB RAM
• GPU: Sapphire Tri-X R9 290
• Power adapter: SF-550P14HE 550W 230V only
• System: Windows 7 Professional

So, whenever I use my Sapphire Tri-X R9 290 my computer crashes absolutly randomly (playing games, using windows, whatever, even if I do nothing):
Link Removed

So, here are the important parts:
I previously had the exact same error with a Powercolor R9 290, what I tried:
- removing all drivers that could cause the problem
- updating my mainboard BIOS
- trying multiple drivers and AMD catalysts
- testing my RAM and CPU
- Windows reinstallation
- many other things I don't remember anymore

This problem does not occur with my Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 and the weird thing is, I can play games on ultra (with the new Sapphire Tri-X R290) and it doesn't crash. Then, I go do something in Windows and it crashes, it is absolutly random... sometimes it crashes 1 minutes after boot, and the next time it may crash 20 minutes after boot.
When I sent my Powercolor R9 290 back, they told me that the GPU was absolutly fine and worked 100% when they tested it.

I really don't know what the hell is going on... I tried to find a solution in the internet, I tried everything. The next thing I'll do is replacing everything (Mainboard, CPU etc.). But it will take some time until I can do that, so fixing the problem now would be really good.

 

[Askin]

Can I do the memtest in safemode? Otherwhise it'll crash while doing so.

I attached a logging file while doing nothing. Now I'll try the stress test.

 

[Askin]

I did a CPU stress test, crashed after 15 mins (was random I guess), here are the log files, it's all the same stress test, always around one minutes, so I don't lose the files in case of crash:

And not sure if worth mentioning, I got 2 RAMs a 4GB... should I try to remove one and run the system? I'll do the memtes t soon.

 

[kemical]

Can I do the memtest in safemode? Otherwhise it'll crash while doing so.

And not sure if worth mentioning, I got 2 RAMs a 4GB... should I try to remove one and run the system? I'll do the memtes t soon.

If you follow the instructions found in the guide I posted above (post #18) that will be great. You'll see that to run Memtest86 you'll need to burn the app to disk or usb then boot from it. The RAM is tested outside of the windows environment so cannot be affected by bsod.

What did you use to test the CPU?

 

[Askin]

For the CPU I used prime95 and memt est runs for 13,5 hours now, no errors, 7 passes. Should I stop the memt est? The computer crashes normally within 10 minutes after the start, I think the error would've shown up by now if it was the RAM.

Stopped the memtest...

 

[Askin]

Something very weird happend right now, I'll try to explain.
eg
So, my screen froze again, 1 second freeze then black screen, I unplugged my android, it worked again, frooze, I open task manager, works again. Now I'm here, it didn't crash, while I was writing this Google Chrome froze, I could use my mouse, 3 seconds after that, black screen "AMD Driver stopped to work" and now I'm here again. No crash.... weird.

Maybe that helps to categorize the problem. It's the AMD Driver that stops to work... and my PC just crashed while writing this, it saved the message though, so I am able to write it on my phone.

 

[kemical]

It sounds like the RAM is ok so yes stop testing.
Do you have all the power cables plugged into the motherboard? There's two a 24pin and a 4pin. Just make sure that nothing is down inside the the connectors and that the connectors are snapping together nicely.
What else do you have connected to the pc via USB?

 

[Askin]

Connected to the pc are: A mouse, a keyboard, a graphictablet (turned off though) and when I'm recharging my phone its connected too. Just tested something, when I start the pc and stay in the windows login screen (when you have to write your password and choose the user) the pc does not crash at all. One hour, no crash. Gonna look if the motherboard is connected properly, I think it is though...

 

[Askin]

So, I logged in into WIndows and did nothing (not even moving the mouse). No crash, I left it 40 minutes (which is weird, because the last card did crash right after windows start sometimes). I'm gonna check the motherboard now, after that, I will run the PC like I did before for 3 hours (because I'm going out) and see if it crashed.

 

[Askin]

Right after I wrote that the pc crashed. (using only google chrome)

 

[Askin]

Checked the motherboard everything looked fine. Logged into windows, going to report in 4 hours if the pc crashed or not.

 

[kemical]

When you re-installed windows was either the graphic tablet or your phone plugged in at the time? Also have you tried booting into safe mode and see if it crashes? To get into safe mode keep pressing F8 when booting up and you'll get to the advanced boot option menu.

 

[Askin]

No, safemode never crashes, I guess because the graphics driver is disabled. And yes, the graphic tablet was plugged in but turned off when I reinstalled windows. I think it has to do something with the voltage... maybe the gpu is eating or reserving to much and causes some issues with the drivers, which cause problems with the hardware, which cause the hardware crash... I don't know. What should I do next?

 

[Askin]

Something causes the AMD driver to crash and this causes the PC to crash. I had again "AMD driver stopped working" after a few seconds freeze and then it crashed. It is linked with my graphics card somehow...

 

[Askin]

Is there something like Memtest for the GPU and CPU? Testing them without windows?

Nvm. stupid idea. The GPU is perfectly fine. But I am not so sure about the CPU. No idea how to test that though.

 

[Askin]

I think I fixed it... what I did:
I wanted to take some pictures of the motherboard etc. so I opened the pc. I saw that the connectors of the graphics card were not plugged in right. I corrected it and saw that the cable probably moved when I closed the pc. So I figured, why not start the pc without it. And here I am, played skyrim for 30 minutes, running everything perfectly. So, there are two possibilities I can think of:
1. It was the cable that moved out of position everytime I closed the pc
2. It's somehow a heat problem

 

[kemical]

It could well be that the connectors not being together properly were the cause. I thought it was odd when the situation didn't change when applying the PSU as all the clues pointed in that direction.. See how you go and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you..

Oh and regarding the graphics tablet or anything for that matter USB wise. When you install Windows these must be unplugged as it can cause issues. So at some point in the future when you decide to reformat make sure you re-install without anything plugged in apart from keyboard and mouse (they are known as whats called 'plug and play' devices and use a particular set of drivers which don't cause the same issues)

 

[Askin]

Hm, it started crashing again when I started the pc today. Yesterday after I open the case it worked for 7hours without a crash. Now it's crashing every 5mins again. I closed the case when I went to bed, maybe that's why. But the connecter look plugged in, I'll try to fix it somehow.

Ok, I think I fixed it again, it has to stay in a very certain position, otherwhise it crashes. I don't think I can close the case, one little touch and the connectors move out of position. I wonder who designed that...

 

[kemical]

These are the connectors into the GPU yes? If so they should really close with a definite 'snap' or 'click'. Is it possible for you to take a photo of the connectors or the actual connection itself with the the lead connected?

 

[Askin]

The crashing started again today. But this time I left the PC open... weird. I'm still trying to fix it.

Here is a photo, I hope that's what you meant.

Link Removed

 

[kemical]

Well they look like they are in ok, thanks for posting the photo.
Reading through the thread again remember how you tested the CPU with Prime95 and it eventually crashed. Let's try an experiment, put your old card back in and run prime95 again. I just want to ascertain whether it's the GPU thats effecting the CPU or it's the CPU regardless of what GPU is in the system.
Please monitor temps again.
Also just so we can rule it out please run a chkdsk. HDD faults can sometimes manifest the symptoms you describe (as can bad RAM but we've been there, done that) See post #18 on how to run a chkdsk.