Solved MSI Radeon 7850 won't boot past Windows Logo screen

[Zealots]

Hello,

My first time ever posting in a forum regarding help with a PC. I apologize if I ramble off too much.

My Specs:
Moba: ASrock Z77 Extreme 4
CPU:Interl i5-2500k @3.30
PSU: ZT 650W
GPU: Radeon 7850

Here is the story.

About three weeks ago I was playing GW2, out of no where my screen glitches and gives me the blue screen of death. I boot it up and I kept getting that screen. I send MSI my card for an RMA. They send me back another one.

I plugged it in and everything works fine. I play for about 5-7 hours(had a day off to catch up)
Everything works great, I wake up the next day, start looking things on Reddit and I noticed this digitized screen and BAM! I get the blue screen of death. I freak out. OMG!OMG!

Every time I would boot up my PC through the GPU, the monitor would not turn on for about 2 minutes and then it would turn on but with a blank black screen. No errors on the mother board debugger by the way. I can however boot up through my MOBA internal graphics. I delete all of my drivers for the AMD and did CMOS reset. Nothing worked. I tried both of the PCI slots as well.

I waited for my neighbor to get home to see if it's the GPU. I put it in his PC and it boots up just fine. So I take it back home and think it's my MOBA. So I say "Let me try this again." I plug it in and BAM! It works again. So I play for a few hours and left the computer on over night. I woke up before work and turned off my PC. I come back home and it doesn't work again. This time it's different.

The GPU boots up my PC all the way to the Windows Logo and then goes into a blank black screen, only through the DVI port. The HDMI ports doesn't even turn on the monitor. I've tried booting it up into safe mode and it freezes. I have to check at which part.(I forgot to write it down before I typed this.)

I am not sure of what to do anymore. Please help.

 

[MrNeeds]

On this latest black boot up, can you boot normally with the onboard GPU? If so, I have a feeling that the PCI express port may be at fault, do you have another PCI express card you can try as a process of elimination?

MrNeeds

 

[computergeekguy]

Im thinking this may be hardware related.

based on the specs he gave me he has 2 pci-e slots. Go ahead and try the other pci-e slot as was instructed previously. Also im wondering if your card is getting enough power. Say your card needs 2 6 pin connectors,(im not saying yours does just an example) 1 pin works the other pin from power supply for some reason isn't giving you the voltage you need, than your card proboly wouldn't work. How is your card hocked to you psu? How many power slots does your card have and what kind. (1, 8 pin) (2, 6 pin) or are converting 2 ld4 conectors to a 6 pin. etc. At this point i would whip out my handy dandy voltage tester and start checking connections.

Edit: I looked at your model of card and it seems it should only need 1 6 pin connector. The core model that has 2 fans however has 2 6 pin connectors just for the fans i guess.

 

[Zealots]

On this latest black boot up, can you boot normally with the onboard GPU? If so, I have a feeling that the PCI express port may be at fault, do you have another PCI express card you can try as a process of elimination?

MrNeeds

I did some testing last night and I am almost 100% sure its the GPU. I've had the first GPU for about two years now and it always worked fine until it died. Which I then had to use RMA to get this current one.

Here is what I did: I wiped my hdd clean and fresh install of Windows 7. Also a CMOS reset again. When I booted up the PC through the GPU it worked until I updated my drivers and restarted it. Same problem, hang up after the Windows Logo. I took my friends three year old GPU and installed it. It was NVIDIA. Works perfect with no issue. I think there is some kind of issue with the AMD updated drivers and this particular GPU. I send it back for RMA today.

MSI was actually very responsive. I mentioned it to their tech support and they send me a pre-paid UPS 3 days select. They responded literally with in minutes.

Booting it up through my on-board GPU always worked.

 

[Layback Bear]

The odds of that many video cards being bad is slim. I'm thinking power supply.

 

[Zealots]

The odds of that many video cards being bad is slim. I'm thinking power supply.

From MSI's website they say that GPUs that are send back from RMA are all refurbished. Wouldn't I have had issues for the last two years if my power supply was the problem? Also why would the GPU load up fine before installing the AMD drivers and not working after?

 

[Arclite]

Does it boot up in safe mode?
Did you run memtest?
What about an overheating issue, how clean is the inside of the case? Can you dust it out with compressed air?
What's the proc temp?
Do you have an extra GPU you can throw in there and test with to be sure it's the GPU?

 

[Zealots]

Does it boot up in safe mode?
Did you run memtest?
What about an overheating issue, how clean is the inside of the case? Can you dust it out with compressed air?
What's the proc temp?
Do you have an extra GPU you can throw in there and test with to be sure it's the GPU?

I couldn't access the safe mode through the GPU. It would freeze up once the drivers started loading in. I put my friends GPU in(NVIDIA), it was a much older card but it loaded up fine and was good when I downloaded the drivers.

The case is pretty clean. I've never had any overheating problems in the past three years before. When this GPU was working for the night my MSI Afterburner showed that the temp didn't get over 60, which is pretty low for when I played GW2 before.

 

[Layback Bear]

Your video cards work sometimes on your computer and your video cards works on your friends computer. That is try to tell you something.
The only major difference is your power supply and your friends power supply.
Power supplies can work for years and then go erratic. Their is really no good way for the average computer user to test a power supply under load except to try another one.
Yes a driver can cause problems. We don't know what drivers you and your friend are using with which card.
Let us know what you try next. It's your computer so it's your call.

Please also keep in mind their might be more than one problem.

 

[Zealots]

Your video cards work sometimes on your computer and your video cards works on your friends computer. That is try to tell you something.
The only major difference is your power supply and your friends power supply.
Power supplies can work for years and then go erratic. Their is really no good way for the average computer user to test a power supply under load except to try another one.
Yes a driver can cause problems. We don't know what drivers you and your friend are using with which card.
Let us know what you try next. It's your computer so it's your call.

Please also keep in mind their might be more than one problem.

My friend had a Geforce drivers on his computer. We never tried installing the AMD drivers on his pc, however I did plug in another GPU and it works flawlessly. I sent the card back to RMA so if the problem persists then I know I have other issues.

Edit: The GPU worked both on mine and his when there were no drivers installed.

 

[Arclite]

I agree with Layback that the PS is a good next step. But I'm also wondering if it's a card compatibility issue between your card and your mboard. Your card worked in someone else's machine, and their card worked in yours. That suggests that there's nothing wrong with the hardware per se, but perhaps that the two things don't work together. Check the BIOS version and update it if out of date and try again.

 

[Zealots]

So last night my friend who works at a local TV station is an engineer there. He brought me over a NVDIA Quadro 4000 to try out. I installed it and everything works perfect. I do not think it was my PSU and I think it's the GPU.

 

[Layback Bear]

Just for information.

Q4000 card requires a min. of 450W power supply with no extra 6 pin power connections.

A 7850 card requires a min. of 550W power supply with (2) extra 6 pin power connections.

 

[Zealots]

Just for information.

Q4000 card requires a min. of 450W power supply with no extra 6 pin power connections.

A 7850 card requires a min. of 550W power supply with (2) extra 6 pin power connections.

I will update this once the RMA comes in and I can test it out to see. Also the 7850 only had a slot for one 6 pin connector.

 

[Layback Bear]

I have found them with one connectors and some with two connectors. Those power connectors are there to supply more power on demand.
All I'm trying to say is a card that has more power connection will put a heavier load on a power supply than one that needs no extra connection from the power supply. A power supply might be able to handle a card with no extra power connection and not be able the handle a card with extra power connections.
You will find out when you try your 4th card.

AMD Radeon HD 7850 and 7870 review - Product Showcase

 

[Zealots]

I have found them with one connectors and some with two connectors. Those power connectors are there to supply more power on demand.
All I'm trying to say is a card that has more power connection will put a heavier load on a power supply than one that needs no extra connection from the power supply. A power supply might be able to handle a card with no extra power connection and not be able the handle a card with extra power connections.
You will find out when you try your 4th card.

AMD Radeon HD 7850 and 7870 review - Product Showcase

This is my card

I looked up to see some one installing the card to make sure it's just one connector. Here is some guy installing it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHGpa1fotJw

I do understand what you are trying to say and I appreciate your input. When it comes back in I'll be able to test your theory and I will let you know.

 

[Indianatone]

IMHO they have just sent you a card they at the time they tested it could find no problem with. I have had it happen to me. Yes you may have a PSU problem which you'll find out but in your case I think you have received a dud refurbished card that past testing as it is intermittent.

 

[computergeekguy]

If you wanted to tell us the model and wattage of your psu we would be happy to look it up and all details on it. It would give us something to do while we wait for your new card. We are not trying to be pushy or anything it is just our job and it would give us some peace of mind. For all we know you could be correct and it is the card that is bad but we want to cover all the bases.

P.S. When your card runs on NO drivers it is actually running on a windows default driver designed to be compatable with everything. So if the card CAN display something it will in other words. If your card cant run on default drivers than it truly is toast lol. The only way to really test if it is your card would have been to fully install the driver that goes with that card on a different comp. But since your RMA'd it we will see soon enough what is up.

Hope to hear from you soon

 

[Arclite]

The thing is that the GPU is drawing relatively little power on power up. It only draws a full load once you start running a heavy game like Crysis. If it was a bad power supply rail, 1. you wouldn't expect it to fail on power up (which it is, can't even get into safe mode), and 2. you wouldn't expect another GPU to work on the same rail. And since the card was RMA'd once, you'd think that getting two bad GPUs in a row would be extremely unlikely. This is why I'm thinking it's some kind of incompatibility with the motherboard. Zealot, you never did mention whether the BIOS was up to date. Can you straight up return the AMD card and get an Nvidia?

 

[computergeekguy]

Can you straight up return the AMD card and get an Nvidia?

Usually not. I wish i was able to as my card needed rma and after some research i found that my card wasn't the most reliable. Wish i knew that before i bought it.