PC boots to a black screen after windows logo. Hardware issue?

[dh2311]

I’ll give you a short version because otherwise this would just be a wall of text. Other important information is below.

Specs:

Processor: i7 4790k OC 4.5ghz @1.25v
Ram: 16GB Dominator GT RAM
GPU: Powercooler R9 280x (Cooler upgraded to Arctic Cooling Accelero Extreme IV)
PSU: Be Quiet! Pure Power 650W
HDD: 240GB Sandisk Ultra SSD / 3TB Seagate Barracuda
OS: Windows 8.1 64-bit


Paused a game, left the room for 5 minutes, and came back to a grey and black stripy screen. Rebooted, after the windows logo had appeared. Black screen.
Rebooted a number of times, same error. Booted off the internal graphics, no errors at all. Uninstalled the AMD drivers using Display Driver Uninstaller, all works fine. Reinstalled the AMD drivers, and as it gets to installing the display drivers, the black screen returns.
This seemed a plan driver conflict issue. But after wiping the whole hard drive and starting again, the problem returns.
I am now at a loss, any suggestions as to what is wrong?

Important info

• The powercooler cooler was removed and replaced by the Arctic cooler a few weeks before this error, but had only been running for a few days before the error occurred. However, I stress tested it for hours, and VRAM and core temps never exceeded 60 C

• It was overclocked at the time – Afterburner 1150mhz core 1700mhz memory clock. Again, was stress tested and didn’t exceed 70 C. Power boost of 15%, and overvolted to 1.2v

• The game was fifa 15 – which is hardly pushing the boundaries of the card.

• It is fitted in the 2nd PCI slot because it wont fit in the 1st
• I have another motherboard which I will fit in a few days to see if it’s the PCI slot (really clutching at straws here)

 

[Tolemac]

It may help if we can tell which Mobo you are using

 

[dh2311]

How did I forget that?! Pretty crucial!

Its a GIGABYTE Z97M-D3H

My new one - which I wil try in a few days is an MSI z97 Gaming 3 (but I havent tried the card on this as of yet)

 

[NoobCase]

Have you tried the card in another rig?

 

[AlienALX]

How about trying other outputs on the card?

I've had this issue loads of times with various cards. Turns out that when the driver loads one or more of the outputs are not seen as the primary.

Have you tried seeing if it goes to the IGPU? make sure in bios you set it to boot from the PCIE slot first old chap.

 

[dh2311]

Have you tried the card in another rig?

I dont have another rig for it to be tested in. However I'm swapping out the mobo once my new CPU cooler gets here

Posts merged

How about trying other outputs on the card?

I've had this issue loads of times with various cards. Turns out that when the driver loads one or more of the outputs are not seen as the primary.

Have you tried seeing if it goes to the IGPU? make sure in bios you set it to boot from the PCIE slot first old chap.

I'll give the other outputs idea a go, I'll have to buy some cables for the mini hdmi and display port outputs.

I have tried swapping the cable to the IGPU once it blacks out and it says no signal, so its definitely picking the correct output