Overclock causing black screen

istari675

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Nov 20, 2012
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Just a week ago when I had my OS on a HDD drive my overclocking setup was working fine. Now I got an SSD and put the OS on that and when I try and overclock my CPU back to how it was before the screen turns black with just the mouse working. I haven't made any changes besides the SSD and there is no software installed that wasn't installed before.

Motherboard: M3970AM-HP (Angelica)
CPU: FX-6100
SSD: Premier Pro SP900
 
Solution
How much stress testing did you do with the original hdd only setup? When I was much newer at this I didnt' realize how much testing can be done to truly achieve a "real stable" OC. I'm not assuming this is your error but I am asking. Have you tested your original setup with prime95? Intel Burn test? Don't just answer "yes". Please be specific about settings ie standard, high, very high stress level for intel burn test, _ hours for prime95 and settings, your actual oc settings such as vcore, utilizing offset or not and how much? If these details are above your head you may have much more to learn but that's the fun of it. If you are already familiar than you should know to list such details when posting but perhaps you were in a...

bebop460

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Jun 25, 2011
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I'd put the HDD back in; if the issue is then fixed, you know it is likely a config issue with the SSD.

I've had black screens occur when overclocks were unstable. OS corruption can also cause this too I believe. So if the system is still acting weird with the HDD in it, for the next step I'd set the CPU/RAM/GPU to stock and try that. If it functions fine after that, overclock each component 1 at a time to see which is giving you issues. It that doesn't work, I'd wipe the drive(s) and reinstall your OS.
 

istari675

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Nov 20, 2012
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It is certainly the CPU overclocking causing the problem. I dont OC the RAM and the GPU has been overclocked this entire time with no problem, but when I try and do it on the CPU I get the instant black screen. Is there a quicker method to that suggestion though. I have reinstalled windows along with all my programs about 5 times this month and I cant bring myself to do all that work again on a hunch.
 

bebop460

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Jun 25, 2011
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I'd revert the CPU to stock and see if the issue goes away (write down your OC bios settings first if necessary of course). If it does, it would seem to be an unstable overclock. Unfortunately, I know nothing of your CPU, so I can't help you much to stabilize it.

Regardless, I'd run memtest overnight (8-12 hours) to make sure the RAM is stable.
 

istari675

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Nov 20, 2012
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The issue never shows up if the CPU is at stock. I'm just confused because I've overclocked my fx 6100 before up to 3.8 but now it crashes at any overclock at all. The only difference between now and the last time it was overclocked successfully is the bios being in ahci mode.
 

jnewegger23

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How much stress testing did you do with the original hdd only setup? When I was much newer at this I didnt' realize how much testing can be done to truly achieve a "real stable" OC. I'm not assuming this is your error but I am asking. Have you tested your original setup with prime95? Intel Burn test? Don't just answer "yes". Please be specific about settings ie standard, high, very high stress level for intel burn test, _ hours for prime95 and settings, your actual oc settings such as vcore, utilizing offset or not and how much? If these details are above your head you may have much more to learn but that's the fun of it. If you are already familiar than you should know to list such details when posting but perhaps you were in a rush. You get out what you put in! So, please fill us in so we can help you better! By virtue of your problem and your response to bepop406 you display a habit of rushing which is counter to those who truly achieve stable OCs. You would know that while their may be "faster" solutions that those are not ones that eradicate the possibility of your cpu oc stability as a variable. The details are important here. So please take the time to indicate them and you will spend your time much more efficiently here. Enjoy the process! If you find it too tedious to revert to your previous setting due to not having the luxury of time which most of us understand, then you may be better off just finding the stable oc with your new setup. What bepop406 is recommending will help you narrow down the problem. If you start fresh that could be faster but it also may not get you to the specific variable as fast as you'd like either and could actually make you take much longer to figure out. 2min to give us more detail could save you a lot of headache. Thanks!
 
Solution

istari675

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Nov 20, 2012
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I just used AMD Overdrives stress testing feature for a short time. I was only overclocking it to the amount it was already boosted to so I never had any problems with it before. I would just have it set to overclock when I was playing BF4 because it wasnt very optimized..
 

bebop460

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Jun 25, 2011
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As far as I recall, you can't just switch from IDE to AHCI, and your issues could be related to this; You must change a reg. key (I had to in Windows 7 at least) or reinstall. I don't recall the guide I used, but this one may help: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/269592-32-switch-ahci-format-install .

Also, a short test is not sufficient to determine stability, even if you are only overclocking to the equivalent of your boost clock. It can give a rough idea, but prolonged testing is needed, like jnewegger23 mentioned.

A CPU overclock can cause RAM instability; I would run Memtest as I mentioned above.
 

jnewegger23

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Based on what I'm seeing so far you can't rule out that the cpu oc is causing instability. It may be a factor. You can try all else but you'd be surprised how the smallest variable can make an oc unstable. Even a rock solid oc can be thrown requiring new troubleshooting. bepop460 has given you some decent places to start. If all else is continuing to fail you I recommend ultimately finding others with the same mobo and cpu and learn to manually oc as that is generally much more stable than any manufacturer optimizer. I've tried them and they're okay but there's nothing like having ultimate confidence in your oc! Best of luck!