Not sure if my GPU has died but then I install the correct drivers it goes into a black screen

[Buddy12323]

I just got a used pc and all the other drivers are fine such as chipset and bios but whenever I try to install my Radeon Gpu drivers the computer will go to a black screen and the only way I can get it to boot windows again is by going into safe mode and uninstalling the AMD driver manually. So how am I meant to install my gpu drivers? The bios doesn't seem to detect the gpu but the fans are spinning. I've tried taking it out and making sure all the power cables were connected properly, the psu is well above the recommended wattage for the gpu and I've tried a different slot but still no luck, the bios version is pretty old and there is an updated version but when I tried to install it, it said because it wasn't a uefi bios it couldn't install it, even though its current bios is uefi. So I'm thinking it could be the gpu that's just failed which I really don't want to be the case and I unfortunately haven't got another system to test it on right now, my computer also tries to autoinstall drivers for it but the screen just randomly backstreets cause the drivers aren't actually working for the card so I have to go into safe mode and uninstall them. I managed to fix the random blackscreen issues by just not making windows automatically install drivers but it's still running in awful resolution because of Microsoft basic display adapter and any drivers I try and install just put it into a black screen. The only other thing I could think of is that the bios is outdated but the pc worked just fine with the current bios version so I can't really see that being an issue. What I don't get is that upon a new windows install on a new hard drive it tries to install the exact drivers automatically so I'm thinking the pc actually does pick it up, the problem is that whenever it does autoinstall these drivers the pc just goes into a black screen and im back to square one.
[21:16]
If any of you know any troubleshooting techniques to see if my gpu is dead then I'd love to hear them, also any question you have just ask and I should probably point out the r9 200 series drivers are being installed instead of the HD 7900 series but apparently they're the exact same thing so I'm not sure about that situation, on the list of available drivers that comes up on the device manager menu when you try to update them BOTH the r9 200 series AND the HD 7900 series graphics drivers come up so it seems like it's installing the r9 200 series instead of the HD 7900 series, if they aren't the same thing that is, so I'm not sure why it isn't being picked up anywhere or why the drivers are just plunging it into a black screen but after 4 days of non stop googling I'm getting really tired of this so any insight would be brilliant, thanks everyone. Specs: I5 3470 AMD HD 7950 P8Z77-V LX2 (motherboard) Corsair CX600M

 

[Orcvader]

Large block of text...

Just to make it easier for the others:

• i5 3470
• P8Z77-V LX2
• HD 7950
• Corsair CX600M

TL;DR version, installing GPU drivers = black screen, R9 200 series drivers for some reason being installed instead.

Just to check, is this a fresh install of Windows? Is it Windows 10? Is the monitor hooked up to the GPU and not the motherboard, and is it via Displayport, HDMI, VGA, etc? Are the power connectors on the GPU itself properly connected to the PSU?

Are you using the drivers from here?: https://www.amd.com/en/support/graphics/amd-radeon-hd/amd-radeon-hd-7000-series/amd-radeon-hd-7950

Having a quick look both the HD 7000 series and Rx 200 series are in legacy status, so both drivers will be bundled together in Adrenalin 21.5.2.

 

[Tetras]

If you just got the PC and it is a used one, why aren't you going back to the seller? Do you know if it ever worked? It might have had the video BIOS flashed for mining, or flashed incorrectly.

There are some rebrands of 7000 series in the 200 series, so it doesn't mean that the driver installation is wrong about your card.

What resolution and refresh rate are your monitor?

 

[Buddy12323]

Tetras: i know the person who sold it and i know it used to work but also that he hasn't used it in many years, for example the aio was completely out of liquid and there was loads of dust. the native resolution and refresh rates are 1080p at 60Hz and because it's using microsoft basic display adapter it's running at a much lower resolution (around 720p 60 hz) when i google the latest drivers and install them it says both the 200 series AND the 7900 drivers are included and ive heard they use the same drivers but whenever they install it just goes to a black screena nd i have to uninstall them again, i cant check if the gpu is being detected because in CPUz and even built in windows stuff it still just comes up with "microsoft basic display adapter" my hdmi cable is showing video through the graphics card so surely if the card was dead it wouldnt show any video right?


Capodecina: yeah thanks for the TL;DR i just wanted to go into as much detail as possible but i realise that was... a lot.yes it is a completely fresh install of windows on a formatted hard drive and it's windows 10 pro x64, my cable is definetely connected to the card but like i stated in the earlier response if the card was dead wouldnt there not be ANY video output if i pluged it into the card, when it tries to autoinstall the drivers upon a new installation of windows (ive had to reinstall it a couple of time now) then once it autoinstalls them the screen just goes black. pretty sure both the power cable are seated correctly and it's plugged in via HDMI, yeah i download the x64 version from that exact page alolng with the software and it detects the drivers it needs to install but in the middle of installing them the screen goes black and i have to boot into safe mode to delete the newly installed drivers

 

[Orcvader]

Capodecina is the rank, not name .

Completely forgot about that, the R9 280 is basically a rebranded 7950.

Can you try something else apart from HDMI?

Are you updating the BIOS via the motherboard's inbuilt flasher or via the Window software?

Is CSM enabled or disabled in the BIOS?

 

[Buddy12323]

oh right sorry im new to these forums so i didnt realise haha, i tried updating it through the motherboards inbuilt flasher which is called "EZflash 2" or something like that, i cant actually see if it's enabled right now as i've just dropped the computer off at a friends house to test the gpu to see if it's the card thats dead or the drivers that arent working, once i get it back later today/ tomorrow i'll check to see if its enabled and with a quick google search ive just realised the hd 7950 isnt uefi compatiable so thats a definite thing i need to check i didnt even realise that was an option so thanks, if csm is disabled that could be the very solution to my problem but i cant check for the next couple hours but thank you for that, that could be a gamechanger and thank you for the help so far

 

[Buddy12323]

ok so update apparently the gpu is just dead, im fine with this outcome but what doesnt make sense is that when i plug the hdmi cable into it i get a video output. when i go into the bios and set the video output to just pcie instead of auto then the screen goes black indicating no video is coming from the card but the cable is literally plugged into the card so if it was getting the video from the onboard graphics then wouldnt the cable have to go into the motherboard i/o instead of the gpu? if the card is dead then how is the video from the onboard graphics being outputted from the card, is this just a feature i didnt know existed? i just assumed if the card was dead then no video would come out of it but it seems video is coming out of it just not very good video due to the wrong drivers but this brings me back to my issue of a black screen when installing drivers. dunno what to think and cant find any answers online so oh well, thanks for all the help anyway.

 

[Tetras]

When the graphics drivers are installed it enables more features in the graphics card and may also change the clocks it operates at, so it's not super uncommon for a faulty graphics card to crap out when installing the drivers, though I've seen it more often with a bad flash (VBIOS) or if it doesn't like the resolution/refresh rate of the monitor.