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Black screen of death

Tags:
  • Overheat
  • system-failure
  • Blue Screen
  • black-screen
  • Systems
  • overheating
  • crashing
Last response: in Systems
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June 20, 2013 10:12:50 PM

Alright guys, I built my friend's system for him about 2 years ago, and the specs are as follows:
CPU: AMD 1100T
Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair Formula IV
RAM: 8GB of Corsair Dominator GT (4x2)
PSU: Rosewill 1000w
GPU: ATI Radeon 6970

When playing certain games his system will black screen, mainly when playing Guild Wars 2 and DayZ. I don't think it has occured on Battlefield 3 yet.

The system runs cool, so I know it isn't a heat problem. We have ran a few stress tests, including a 100% GPU stress, some aiada64 tests, and a prime95 heat test.
On all these tests, the CPU never went above 51C, and the GPU maxed out at 60C.
The processor is clearly in a safe temperature range, and the GPU isn't an issue because my 460 GTX gets about to that temperature at times.

We tested his Power supply and it is giving off the right voltages.
We haven't ran memtest yet, or any sort of vram test. My guess is it probably ISN'T the processor since it only happens on certain games, and not the motherboard because the computer actually runs..

I think that the card is experience heavy load and the PSU isnt able to deliver the right amps/watts, hence the complete black screen possibly..

I would appreciate it if any of you guys can point us to some software to test the rest of the components/find out what the problem is, or if any of you have had a similar problem before and immediately know the issue.

While I was typing this, we were on skype and he blue screened twice. One being 0x07E and the other being 0x019.

If any additional details are needed, please ask.
Thanks!

More about : black screen death

June 20, 2013 10:17:00 PM

1000w is stupid overkill for this build so even though it isn't the best quality PSU I would bet that isn't the issue. It would be good to try another PSU. 600w from a REPUTABLE manufacturer will be plenty.

Run memtest for sure also.
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June 20, 2013 10:17:24 PM

For a black screen, it could be a monitor issue like backlight is dead, I have a monitor once that is a back-lit LCD, and it have the same problem. Try connecting it to another monitor/TV and see how it goes.
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June 20, 2013 10:20:24 PM

vinhn said:
For a black screen, it could be a monitor issue like backlight is dead, I have a monitor once that is a back-lit LCD, and it have the same problem. Try connecting it to another monitor/TV and see how it goes.


I highly doubt this is the issue because the computer also BLUE SCREENS and it only black screens during certain games.
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June 20, 2013 10:20:39 PM

tiny voices said:
1000w is stupid overkill for this build so even though it isn't the best quality PSU I would bet that isn't the issue. It would be good to try another PSU. 600w from a REPUTABLE manufacturer will be plenty.

Run memtest for sure also.


Yea.. He wanted a 1000w though lol, but if it were to still do it on a new PSU, would it likely be the GPU? Also I have heard that memtest86 and memtest86+ show different results. Which one is better essentially?

vinhn said:
For a black screen, it could be a monitor issue like backlight is dead, I have a monitor once that is a back-lit LCD, and it have the same problem. Try connecting it to another monitor/TV and see how it goes.


This only happens on certain games, he could leave it on for a week and the screens would be displaying info
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June 20, 2013 10:29:00 PM

Try a different PSU. Something from a reputable manufacturer and preferably not one more than 700w or so. PSUs are most efficient between 35%-75%. Being at the low end of that for a long time can actually be bad for a PSU. Your system here likely pulls 500w MAX under full GPU and CPU load. More like 450w when gaming and 250w when idle. The PSU may be shot.
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June 20, 2013 10:42:28 PM

tiny voices said:
Try a different PSU. Something from a reputable manufacturer and preferably not one more than 700w or so. PSUs are most efficient between 35%-75%. Being at the low end of that for a long time can actually be bad for a PSU. Your system here likely pulls 500w MAX under full GPU and CPU load. More like 450w when gaming and 250w when idle. The PSU may be shot.


Weird, I was just looking around at AMD's site and it said "550 Watt or greater power supply with one 150W 8-pin PCI Express® power connector and one 75W 6-pin PCI Express® power connector recommended"

does that mean it only draws the 150+75, and the 550w total being to completely power the computer? CPU, mobo, etc.

Also, do you know any software we can use for testing before he goes out and buys something, just so we can see if there is more wrong with the system
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June 20, 2013 10:46:55 PM

That GPU will draw 350w MAX ever at 100% load. Those numbers (550w) are VERY overstated for people who buy crappy off brand PSUs which don't actually make their stated wattage.

I can guarantee that system pulls no more than 500w TOTAL.
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June 20, 2013 10:52:00 PM

tiny voices said:
That GPU will draw 350w MAX ever at 100% load. Those numbers (550w) are VERY overstated for people who buy crappy off brand PSUs which don't actually make their stated wattage.

I can guarantee that system pulls no more than 500w TOTAL.


Wow that was a big overkill. Well he decided that he would go for a new PSU and a GPU, probably the 660Ti and looking at a corsair HX750
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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June 20, 2013 10:56:04 PM

I would get a 650w max PSU from Seasonic unless he is going to SLI in the immediate future.
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