PC (desktop) stuck using Intel graphics

[stricken404]

TL;DR: Asus motherboard BIOS set to PCIE priority for video output, and graphics card is properly powered and inserted, however will not give video out, only the HDMI on the motherboard (Intel HD 4600 graphics) will. Please help me fix this.

So to try and condense a fairly long story, I'll put a TL;DR at the top of this. First time poster here, but I've watched LTT for as long as I can remember, and my usual grind over at Tom's Hardware has yielded little to incorrect help. So here I am. 

 

Long story:

Specs: Intel Core i5-4690K, Asus Maximus VII Formula Z97, MSI Radeon R9 290X 4GB Lightning, 16GB Corsair Vengeance Pro, Corsair AX860, Windows 7 Home Premium. 

Over the past couple weeks, my PC (one and a half years old at this point) has been acting funny. It all started in Fallout 4 when all of the sudden, my monitor just said "Monitor going to sleep", yet I could tell that the game was still running as the mute button on my keyboard promptly made audio go away and then come back. An unplugging and replugging of the HDMI cable did not fix this, neither did getting a brand new one out of packaging. The only way I fixed this was a hard shutdown by holding the power button. The display miraculously came back to life upon reboot. 

 

I chalked it up to a driver issue. Updated to Crimson 16.8.1 and then it stayed away. For only a bit though. I was then in the middle of a game of GTA V when it happened again. "Monitor going to sleep". Well crap. I knew what to do. Held the power button down on the chassis, restarted (the rough way). This problem was only occurring in intensive titles like Far Cry 4, GTA V, and Fallout 4. General computing, and running CPU benchmarks like AIDA64 did not cause it. Then eventually, it started happening in non-intensive titles. 30 mins into CS:GO. 50 mins into Mass Effect 2. Took only about 4-5 mins for it to happen in GTA V and Fallout 4 now. 

 

I wanted to make sure beyond any doubt it was my graphics card that was the culprit, and also eliminate the display as the culprit as well. So I plugged my PC into my TV (HDMI), and my brother lent me his Sapphire HD 7950 3GB. I put that in, uninstalled and then reinstalled 16.8.1 and booted up GTA V. Played it for over an hour before being satisfied. Put my card back in, uninstalled and then reinstalled drivers. Within 5 mins of GTA V on the TV, the TV suddenly went black and said "Searching for signal". Now there was only one thing left to test. Is it something happening to the HDMI? or the entire I/O of the graphics card? In the meantime while waiting to make a trip and buy a DVI-D cable, I removed my graphics card to prevent further damage, and opted to just use the HD 4600 graphics from my i5. Did that for about two days. Finally got the DVI cable, and now we've arrived at my current situation. The card has been reinstalled, and it lights up all pretty and is properly powered, but now I can't get ANY video out of it. The computer only wants to use the motherboard HDMI. I tried to force it to use the graphics card in BIOS by setting it from Auto to PCIE in the Advanced Settings for Video Output Priority. Plugging the DVI cable OR HDMI cable into my card yields no picture. I'm sure it's not even trying, because if I move the HDMI from the GPU to the motherboard without rebooting in between, it instantly shows up on the desktop in Windows (as in, it's defaulting to CPU graphics forever now). 

 

So yeah... I'm at a loss. I'm willing to lose the R9 290X Lightning. It's pretty evident something is very wrong with at least the HDMI port on it (I/O chip burned up, w/e) It's served me well for over two years, and though I wasn't ready to upgrade yet, I might as well. I'm just making sure that I'll be able to fix this CPU graphics problem... because I'd hate to get a brand new card, and still be stuck with no picture or something. 

[Skiiwee29]

Well if it worked with an older 7950 card without issue, then you have a dead card. Time to get a new one. 

[daniielrp]

I had a very similar thing with my 970 - would work for a few mins but then monitor going to sleep, no output etc. 

 

Turned out to just be a bad power cable from PSU to gfx card. I did have some fancy braided extenders - tried a few and they all had the same problem. Went back to the original cable that came with the PSU and never had a problem since.

[NLD1st]

Well if the game keeps running the card is not totally dead i think otherwise the game would crash.

Assuming the only thing you changed with the other video card was the card it self. still the same hdmi cable, powerkabel for the GPU, etc. 

I would guess it is the I/O or something of the card. perhaps the card heating up makes something expand a little and disconnect or short circuit.

[stricken404]

Thanks all for the help!

 

Hmmm... I'm just a bit skeptical that it was having these problems when playing games, so I removed it and used Intel HD, and now I put it back in the computer and it doesn't work AT ALL? Just seems weird that it would completely deteriorate all the way in a state of not being used. 

 

Asus Strix GTX 1070 6GB is on the way, though I was very tempted to do dual Asus Strix RX 480 8GBs hahaha.

 

I'm going to try to take the graphics card out and put it back in and see if that works. I'm 99.9% certain it's not the power supply. It's an 80+ Platinum 860 watt unit from the Corsair AX line and it's only a year old. 

 

UPDATE: Okay. Now this is certainly interesting. When I right click the desktop, there is no AMD Catalyst Control Center tab since my last driver uninstall/reinstall. AMD Install Manager is in the list of programs on control panel, but it only is like 40 MB in size. I'm wondering if my graphics card isn't even being DETECTED and so it's not installing all the other components of the driver. Is that a thing?