New gaming rig with constant black screens. (8350 + r9 290X)

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Mittah

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May 27, 2015
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Hello everyone,

For quite a long time I've been having issues with what I suspect my GPU.

The problem:
Whenever I am browsing the internet or using Fruity Loops or simply on the desktop, after a while, this can either be late or quick, my screen goes black. Numpad and everything becomes unresponsive and the screen will simply not get back on no matter what. My pc is still ''running'' yet unresponsive to any kind of input. I have to use the power button to turn it off and start it back up.

Current setup:

Motherboard: AMD Asrock 970 Pro3 R2.0 AM3+

GPU: Asus Radeon R9290X-DC2OC-4GD5

CPU: AMD FX-8350 AM3+

Powersupply: CoolerMaster PSU G Serie 600W G600

HDD: Western Digital Blue WD10EZEX 1TB

RAM: Kingston HyperX Beast KHX16C9T3K2/8X (8gb)

Case: CoolerMaster Case N400

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium NL OEM 64bit SP1

I assembled this pc roughly 1-2 months ago so it's very frustrating to see a ''new'' pc crash so often..

Special information:

- Sometimes there is a very quick flickering before the initial black screen, this is less than half a second

- I've tried AMD beta drivers (15.4) and I now went back to the latest 'normal' drivers. Both cause the same issues.

- I've put my entire pc in performance mode aswell as Cool n Quiet and c6 off in the bios.

- I've enabled 'Force Constant voltage' and disabled ULPS in MSI afterburner.

- I've set a custom fan profile, idling at 50% fan speed. Idle temp of GPU is roughly around 35 degrees celcius.

- This issue only occurs when not gaming. When I am playing games it ''almost'' never crashes to a black screen, I vaguely remember this happening a couple of times in the beginning. Games I play are games like: GTA 5, Assetto Corsa, ArmA3, Reign Of Kings, WoW, etc.

- I usually have a headset, a ps3 controller and a Mixtrack Pro (hooked into 2x Behringer 150Watt speakers(have their own power cable)) as USB inputs. (Not sure whether this is relevant, maybe for the power supply)

- I am running the latest Windows/driver updates.

- Screensaver interval set to non-existant. Apparantley this was a fix.. not.

- Im running a Benq 1920x1080 screen. It's a VGA screen. using a Display port to VGA converter cable so I can run my screen. (r290 doesn't support VGA)

- Did a memtest, memory is perfectly fine.

- Ran 2 Heaven 4.0 benchmarks right after eachother (1920x1080 Ultra 8xAA) and the temps were as following:
GPU max temp: 72
VRM max temp 1: 78
VRM max temp 2: 66
Max fan speed: 90%
GPU load: 100%




My thoughts

I've read somewhere on a post here http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-2010230/290x-black-screen-crash.html from sirmatthewofhodge (27 December 2014 19:14:49). This sounded like my issue and this made me suspect that the 'black screen issue' has to do with the 2d clocks. I tried changing this with MSI afterburner but there is no option to do so.

I am really desperate and can use any advice..
I thank you for reading this far and would greatly appreciate any effort to help.
If you need further information, let me know.

Kind regards,
Mittah
 
Solution
cdrkf
Hmm I think that PSU is a bit low for that setup is my first thought...

It's a reasonably quality supply at least, although if you say the machine is ok during gaming it's probably enough.

Temps are certainly worth a look, again though if ok during gaming (typically the most intensive task you use a machine for) that would suggest that isn't the problem.

I would consider the display port to vga a problem (they are tricky sometimes as I use them for multi screen), however if the num lock key is frozen then it sounds like a complete system lockup. To be honest it may not be related to the GPU at all. As @shadowR34per says memory could be the culprit maybe?

Alternatively it could be software related, in which case performing a clean...
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cdrkf

cdrkf

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Mar 18, 2013
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Hmm I think that PSU is a bit low for that setup is my first thought...

It's a reasonably quality supply at least, although if you say the machine is ok during gaming it's probably enough.

Temps are certainly worth a look, again though if ok during gaming (typically the most intensive task you use a machine for) that would suggest that isn't the problem.

I would consider the display port to vga a problem (they are tricky sometimes as I use them for multi screen), however if the num lock key is frozen then it sounds like a complete system lockup. To be honest it may not be related to the GPU at all. As @shadowR34per says memory could be the culprit maybe?

Alternatively it could be software related, in which case performing a clean boot would be a good idea, just to rule out some random bit of software causing you problems (if your unfamiliar with this have a look here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/929135).
 
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Solution
M

Mittah

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May 27, 2015
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Just did a memtest, did it multiple times. Memory is perfectly fine.
Will do another heaven 4.0 benchmark, did them multiple times already and I know the temps are fine but I'll do it again and list the results..
Any other suggestions?
The VGA thingy sounds like a possible issue but then why would this only happen during desktop applications and not during gaming?
What about my thoughts about the 2d settings?

Thanks for the replies.
 
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M

Mittah

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May 27, 2015
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Well something interesting happend. Heaven 4.0 crashed after running it 1-2 minutes @ Ultra 1920x1080 8x AA settings. This normally doesn't happen. I'll try again with ULPS on again and disable force constant voltage. The reason for this is that these were my latest 'possible fixes' yet it didn't help.

I might do a FurMark test instead though, to really stress that GPU.
The clean boot suggestion could be my next try to find a solution.

- Edit: just got back after running 2 heavy Heaven 4.0 benchmarks after eachother. 1920x1080 @ Ultra 8x AA.
This is roughly 10-12 minutes but don't underestimate the benchmark.

Temps:
GPU max temp: 72
VRM max Temp 1 : 78
VRM max Temp 2: 66
Max fan speed: 90%
GPU load: 100%

As you can see, overheating shouldn't be an issue, am I right? The max temp 'stalled' at 72 and didn't go beyond that.
 
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Mittah

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Idle temps of the CPU:
t0Sedwo.png



Will update soon after some intensive cpu testing. What do you recommend for testing?
 
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M

Mittah

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Shameless bump..

- So far I've set my 2d clock profile to 525 Mhz (Core clock) and 900 Mhz (Memory clock) and my 3d profile is defualt 1050 Mhz & 1350 Mhz.

 
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cdrkf

cdrkf

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Mar 18, 2013
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I don't think this is GPU related to be honest. You saying that the number lock is unresponsive suggest a total system freeze. If this is a settings issue it's probably CPU power settings in the bios. Alternatively it could be a hardware issue like a faulty motherboard or power supply.
 
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M

Mittah

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May 27, 2015
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For some reason, the best answee has been selected yet this was not the fix. Now, a couple of months later I have resolved the issue. The issue was software related and not PSU related. Apparantley AMD drivers, cNt recall which one, had a testdriver alongside with their public driver included. This caused the PC to act all strange and the PC also tendes to crash when running/making changes with MSI afterburner. After removing MSI and deleting all the gfx driver and then updating to W10 and the W10 drivers, I have not had a single crash yet.
 
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M

Mittah

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May 27, 2015
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Ah I see, I sounded a bit rude in my comment which was not intended. Your reply was indeed helpfull but I believe my issue where a combination of many things. Thank you for the effort though, appreciated
 
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owlpal

owlpal

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Mar 21, 2012
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Hiya Mittah.
I just want to say that ive got the same graphic card as you, but ive got a Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 Motherboard.
And im having exactly the same problems that you had.
Ive tried everything, it actually started when i had Windows 7 x64 and a Radeon HD7970 Graphic card, and i had the flickers, the black screen and had to reset everytime.
So i upgraded my card to the Radeon R9290x and ive still got the same problems, although now i also have another problem, when i watch a Youtube vide the iframe for the video stays in colour, but everything in the background after 5 seconds starts to fade to black and white but not the actual video, that stays colour.
I only had 850W of power at the time so i upgraded to 1250W thinking it was that, but still got the error, hmm so i bought a new monitor 2560x1440 res, still got problems, the only thing ive not changed was the Sabertooth MB and my processor which is a AMD FX-8350 8 Core, i even thought it was a Ram problem, so i doubled the Ram and now have 12gb and im pulling my hair out here.
I thought it would go away with the Windows 10 upgrade, but ive still got it. Im now running out of ideas. Somebody said to reverty back to windows 7 x64, then purchase a SSD and install Windows 10 on it and the basic drivers only and then ti should be fine as he has had the same problem, and he fixes PC's for a living, so im buying a SSD this coming Wed, and hr is coming round my place to install it all for me and hopfully it will be the end of it.
Mine too is perfectly fine when playing a game, it never crashes at all, ONLY when viewing online or videos or photos. only windows applications just like yours.
Im just about to format my HD and try to install windows 10 again and the basic drivers as ive heard that sometimes it might not work first time. But this is the last time im doing it until i buy a SSD on Wednesday.
Ive even had the screen flickering just before it crashes too, just like you did. And this has been happening since the previous card which was the Radeon HD 7970 i think it was!

Any tips or suggestions will be greatly appreciated as im gob smacked here and totally frustrated, this is a build of 2 years old, apart from the new additions/.replacements ive been doing since then.
Im glad you got yours sorted as i can feel your pain here!
 
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