Windows 10 fails to boot after R9 290 overclock, yet Safe Mode functions properly.
Windows 10 fails to boot after R9 290 overclock, yet Safe Mode functions properly.
Hey guys, here's the story:
My computer was running with a stable overclock on the CPU (4.7GHz @ 2.85V) and memory (1600MHz @ 1.515V), and I decided to try to overclock my GPU, an XFX DD R9 290 (ASIC: 78.9%). I used Heaven 4.0 running with MSI Afterburner to overclock, first starting with the VRAM then the core clock. During overclocking and stress testing, the GPU core temp never exceeded 83 Celsius, and the core voltage and power were never increased. Without GPU overclock, the computer draws input 400W peak (measured using Kill A Watt meter).
At a VRAM overclock of 1575MHz at 1.215V, the system black screened, so I nudged back to 1550 and got stable results.
Core clock displayed serious artifacting at 1120MHz at 1.215V, so I dropped back to 1100 at stock memory clock.
With the core clock at 1100MHz, I started working the VRAM back up. I got to 1541 at 1.215V before the system black screened, but when I reset my computer, I had issues.
On the log-in screen, there were
several flashes of horizontal pink lines across the screen
. My first thought was that MSI Afterburner had messed up my driver settings causing VRAM instability, so when the desktop loaded, I tried to load up the application, but the screen immediately went black, just like when the Heaven 4.0 test failed.
Now, every time I boot, before the lock screen for Windows 10 loads, the
screen turns black
and the
fans on my GPU turn on maximum
. It does this every time, but if I mess with BIOS settings then exit without saving, I get the "Recovery: It looks like Windows didn't load correctly" screen. From there, I can boot into Safe Mode, and my computer displays neither of the previous symptoms.
My best guess as to the cause of the problem is the AMD drivers somehow saving my overclock settings, but I have no idea how to go about fixing this. I've already tried uninstalling and reinstalling MSI Afterburner while in Safe Mode, and I attempted but failed to uninstall the AMD graphics drivers (it seems like the drivers have to be running to be able to uninstall them through the AMD Install Manager). I also reset BIOS to default settings to rule out possible issues due to the CPU or RAM overclock. And the problem persists.
PCPartPicker part list:
http://pcpartpicker.com/list/fyJ6sJ
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 240M 86.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Team Elite 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory
Memory: Team Elite 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory
Storage: Corsair Force LS 60GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card
Case: Thermaltake Commander G41 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi Adapter
Case Fan: Cooler Master R4-S2S-124K-GP 44.7 CFM 120mm Fans
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro