Radeon R9 390 installation - losing picture and bad pool header error

Hello, all :)

I just purchased an MSI Radeon R9 390 8GB to replace my 270x, but I'm having trouble with installation. That is, I've put it in the PCIE x16 slot and connected the power cables from my power supply, but it takes an inordinate time to boot and then I lose picture after a few minutes. With the first few boots, I was able to get to the desktop, but now I lose picture at the Windows 10 loading screen. There are artifacts, random colors, and other distortions present beforehand.

In one instance I encountered an error that said "bad_pool_header."

I checked the HDMI cable to make sure it was plugged in correctly. I also tried reseating the card a few times. It does boot, and the fans start (this card's fans do stop spinning under low load), so I know it's getting power. What could be going wrong?

Any help would be deeply appreciated.

Did you uninstall the video driver before removing the old graphics card? If not, this may be what is causing the problem.

Boot into safe mode and uninstall the graphics drivers then try again with a normal boot and Windows10 will probably install a driver automatically for your new graphics card.

philc43 said:

Did you uninstall the video driver before removing the old graphics card? If not, this may be what is causing the problem.

Boot into safe mode and uninstall the graphics drivers then try again with a normal boot and Windows10 will probably install a driver automatically for your new graphics card.

I installed the card thinking I could remove the 270x drivers and then install the 390 drivers. So I tried what you said and uninstalled the 270x driver from DM. I also uninstalled the 390 driver from DM. I restarted and ran into the same problem again. Before it goes black I'm seeing pink, green and white fuzzy stripes across the Windows 10 boot screen.

The fact that the card powers on and I can boot into safe mode with no problems suggests this is not a hardware problem, correct?

AstralFrost said:

I installed the card thinking I could remove the 270x drivers and then install the 390 drivers. So I tried what you said and uninstalled the 270x driver from DM. I also uninstalled the 390 driver from DM. I restarted and ran into the same problem again. Before it goes black I'm seeing pink, green and white fuzzy stripes across the Windows 10 boot screen.

The fact that the card powers on and I can boot into safe mode with no problems suggests this is not a hardware problem, correct?

Pink, green and white fuzzy stripes indicates that the card is already defected. Ask the store/seller to exchange for a newer one or contact MSI if the seller refuse to let you exchange. Also, one question, what is your power supply wattage?

SexyColdNoodle said:

Pink, green and white fuzzy stripes indicates that the card is already defected. Ask the store/seller to exchange for a newer one or contact MSI if the seller refuse to let you exchange. Also, one question, what is your power supply wattage?

Aha! Interesting.

I bought it from a company that sells through Amazon Canada. They refer to Amazon's return policy, so hopefully, they can exchange it with no issues.

Right now I am just using the Microsoft Basic Display Adapter. The 390 is in, which is fine so long as I don't try to install the drivers. As soon as I install 390 drivers, it goes back to the same behavior with the colors and black screen. That's one reason I didn't consider a possible power supply issue.

The power supply is a 600w Thermaltake. The card says it requires 750w, but I found out from multiple sources (including a Newegg video on installing GPUs) that these numbers are generally inflated and it would work fine with a 600w. Tell me what ya think. I have this power supply: Thermaltake TR2 TR-600 600W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Supply - Newegg.ca

In case a PSU replacement is in order, could you recommend some to me from Amazon Canada?

I appreciate your help, folks.

AstralFrost said:

Aha! Interesting.

I bought it from a company that sells through Amazon Canada. They refer to Amazon's return policy, so hopefully, they can exchange it with no issues.

Right now I am just using the Microsoft Basic Display Adapter. The 390 is in, which is fine so long as I don't try to install the drivers. As soon as I install 390 drivers, it goes back to the same behavior with the colors and black screen. That's one reason I didn't consider a possible power supply issue.

The power supply is a 600w Thermaltake. The card says it requires 750w, but I found out from multiple sources (including a Newegg video on installing GPUs) that these numbers are generally inflated and it would work fine with a 600w. Tell me what ya think. I have this power supply: Thermaltake TR2 TR-600 600W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Supply - Newegg.ca

In case a PSU replacement is in order, could you recommend some to me from Amazon Canada?

I appreciate your help, folks.

Here's the list of good power supply.

Johnny Lucky Power Supply Recommendation

I recommend EVGA G2 750W power supply because EVGA partnership with Seasonic to produce this power supply, and Seasonic, SuperFlower, and Antect are well known to produces good power supply. You can't go wrong with this power supply, unless you receive a defective unit. As for Amazon return policy, if you owned it within 30 days they will allow exchange or full refund.

As for safety precaution, always test the power supply before putting it in.

SexyColdNoodle said:

Here's the list of good power supply.

Johnny Lucky Power Supply Recommendation

I recommend EVGA G2 750W power supply because EVGA partnership with Seasonic to produce this power supply, and Seasonic, SuperFlower, and Antect are well known to produces good power supply. You can't go wrong with this power supply, unless you receive a defective unit. As for Amazon return policy, if you owned it within 30 days they will allow exchange or full refund.

As for safety precaution, always test the power supply before putting it in.

Hey SexyColdNoodle,

Thank you for this recommendation! This is the one I will purchase, if I'm needing a new PSU. So these problems I'm having are likely down to the PSU being insufficient, then? Even the pink/green/white fuzz? I am wanting to sort out whether I should order the PSU and try it with this card, order the PSU and exchange the card, or just exchange the card.

AstralFrost said:

Hey SexyColdNoodle,

Thank you for this recommendation! This is the one I will purchase, if I'm needing a new PSU. So these problems I'm having are likely down to the PSU being insufficient, then? Even the pink/green/white fuzz? I am wanting to sort out whether I should order the PSU and try it with this card, order the PSU and exchange the card, or just exchange the card.

600W PSU is sufficient for R9 390. Some people able to run R9 390 on 550W power supply, and the reason why you see 750W recommendation because they know that you're going to overclock and therefore bigger power supply like 750W should handle it no problem, and give you more headroom for future as well, but if you're going to CrossFire R9 390 that will be another story. AMD R9 series seems to be power hungry for some reason, and I believe due to new architecture or something. As long you don't do any intense overclock you should be fine with 600W.

Okay. Much appreciated. Then I guess all there is to do is exchange the card? No software solutions seem to be working.

AstralFrost said:

Okay. Much appreciated. Then I guess all there is to do is exchange the card? No software solutions seem to be working.

Yeah pretty much that's all you can do or refund it.