[GPU] No Visual Display - Advice necessary

Forest_IV · July 13, 2021

MoBo: MSI 970 Gaming

CPU: AMD FX-8350 @ 4Ghz

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 412S

GPU: MSI R9 380 4Gb

RAM: HyperX 2x8Gb @1866Mhz

PSU: Cooler Master MasterWatt Lite 230V 600W

1. Before the event

I was running the GPU mostly fine (Got it from a friend and was using it for about a week). Games would run okay, with certain ones pushing the GPU temperatures up to 80C. From time to time (a few days before the event), visual display would stop and then restart. AMD Radeon Software would prompt that there was a driver failure and that it reset the settings back to default (Which they were already). It wouldn't cause huge problems and I could continue doing whatever I was engaged in.

2. The event

Two days ago, I was installing Fallout 4. I was monitoring temperatures at the same time simply out of curiosity and they indicated more or less 40C across various sensors on the motherboard. Suddenly the visual display stopped, but I thought it would be the same as before, however, this time the display did not come back on. After this, I cannot get any visual display from this specific GPU.*

3. Tested hypotheses:

Bios Reset - No display
Bios Flash via USB - No display
CMOS Reset - No display.
Cooling Paste change on the R9 GPU - No display.
Different monitor - No display.
HDMI vs. DVI-D / DVI-I - No display.
RAM Switch from 1&3 to 2&4 - No display.
XFX R7 260X 2Gb GPU - Working display, even as I'm writing this
Tested both 6-Pin connectors for the GPU to check for a faulty one - Both work on the R7 GPU.
Older drivers downloaded for R9 via R7 - No display.**

* The MSI R9 380 4Gb - when connected to the motherboard, the LED lights are working and the fans are spinning without a delay. It's as if it still boots, but I cannot see anything.

** When messing with the drivers, I would always uninstall them via DDU.