Troubleshooting Sapphire R9 290 problems

[BoomLiam]

Trying to sort out an issue for a friend, he's running an AMD FX-8350 and a Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X edition on Windows 8.1 (Corsair 600w PSU, SSD, Asus m5a78l-m and generic 1333Mhz RAM from old PC) After sorting out a seating issue with the CPU causing the computer to not display anything, we have now come across a problem where the computer will restart randomly. After running memtest, monitoring CPU temperatures, re-installing windows multiple times, running check disks and a plethora of other tests, it appears the cause is related to a GPU issue. When the latest AMD drivers are not installed, the computer appears stable, running for an hour without a restart (most restarts occur within 10 minutes of boot) However, once AMD drivers are installed, the computer will restart. (Also tried latest beta driers from AMD)

 

There have been a few blue screens, all seem to be related to "ntoskrnl.exe" (Crash list created by BlueScreenView are linked HERE and HERE)

 

Wondering if anyone has any ideas? Is the issue clearly a GPU issue and needs to be RMA'd? Is the issue related to Windows 8.1 compatibility issues? Or is it something less obvious (PSU, motherboard, CPU?)

 

Would love some help on this, we've been trying to troubleshoot this for a good 24 hours

[EcoBoost]

AMD FX-8350

 

Asus m5a78l-m 

Those two should not go together. Ever.

[BoomLiam]

Those two should not go together. Ever.

Any reason? The CPU is officially supported on Asus' website? o_O

[Aniallation]

Hmm... that exe seems to be related to Windows kernel, have you tried reinstalling Windows?

[Laputacake]

Any reason? The CPU is officially supported on Asus' website? o_O

Yes but it can't handle the 8320+

[BoomLiam]

Hmm... that exe seems to be related to Windows kernel, have you tried reinstalling Windows?

Yep, about 4/5 times

[Aniallation]

Those two should not go together. Ever.

Any reason? The CPU is officially supported on Asus' website? o_O

 

Although it may not be the cause of the problem, she makes a very good point.

 

It's "supported" but for reliability and stability reasons 8-core FX should never be used on mATX AM3+ boards because of their lack of proper VRMs to power these 125W chips.

[SuperPug]

Any reason? The CPU is officially supported on Asus' website? o_O

Bit of a fire hazard Kidding... BUT the FX needs a beefy power delivery system which this board doesn't really have

[BoomLiam]

Yes but it can't handle the 8320+

Really? Well I'll keep that in mind! It seemed odd that the system performed fine without the GPU though... very odd...

[EcoBoost]

Really? Well I'll keep that in mind! It seemed odd that the system performed fine without the GPU though... very odd...

Do you have another GPU you can try? Try bringing your GPU over and see if the issue still occurs

[xAcid9]

Yup, the board VRMs is not adequate 125w chips. http://www.overclock.net/t/946407/amd-motherboards-vrm-info-database

 

Do you have any other GPU to test or test it on another system?

[BoomLiam]

Do you have another GPU you can try? Try bringing your GPU over and see if the issue still occurs

 

 

Yup, the board VRMs is not adequate 125w chips. http://www.overclock.net/t/946407/amd-motherboards-vrm-info-database

 

Do you have any other GPU to test or test it on another system?

I'll get him to try out his old GPU, I have also found a BIOS update which I'll get him to try too (dunno how much it'll help... but hey-ho!) Thanks for the help so far!