Random black screens?

[Al Capwn069]

Ok so I built my computer a week or so ago. Everything works great except for one thing. It seems like every time I try to play on something even slightly graphic intensive (in this case Starcraft 2 or Crysis 2) every now and then my screen will randomly go completely black for 5-10 seconds then come back on, and usually everything is brighter when it does. Then it will do the black screen again some time later, and when the screen comes back it's normal again. It does this over and over again. I put Crysis 2 in windowed mode to see if it said anything after the black screen occurs, and sure enough there is an error message saying "Display driver NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 266.44 stopped responding and has successfully recovered." What can I do to make this stop? It's getting pretty frustrating. Thanks. Here's my build.

Gigabyte gtx 560 ti SOC edition
Asus P8P67 Pro B3 mobo
Intel core i7 2600k
8gb G-skill DDR3 RAM
Seasonic X-series 750w PSU
Windows 7 64 bit

 

[crewton]

you could try driver 266.58 to see if that works.

 

[vvhocare5]

Whats the golden rule on graphics issues? Come on...

Temperature or voltage...!

Check the gpu temps first with gpuz (since its free), then check to make SURE you are using the right power leads from that psu. Some people overuse certain power lines..

 

[Al Capwn069]

I'm posative I'm using the right power leads. Double checked just to make sure. And I've never seen my GPU temps go above 67 degrees celsius.

 

[Al Capwn069]

And I actually did find a driver version 266.66. Installed it, didn't help whatsoever.

 

[Mousemonkey]

You may not like this suggestion but have you tried downclocking the card?

Edit: The latest driver is 270.15 by the way.

 

[Al Capwn069]

I have not...and I'd prefer not to if I can help it lol.

 

[Mousemonkey]

It won't hurt or harm the card in any way but it might give an indication of whether the card is just clocked higher than it can actually handle, I say this because I've seen quite a few forum posts concerning the 560 black screening and the Gigabyte cards to seem to seem to feature quite a bit more than any others.

 

[BloodyLion]

I had the same problem with my GTX 560 Ti when i played Crysis 2 and Homefront aswell as Bulletstorm!
and I didn't either know what the problem was.
But It didn't happen when I played other Games. And u can try to remove your drivers and install them again. I did that and not thing happend after that.

 

[coreydmorton]

It won't hurt or harm the card in any way but it might give an indication of whether the card is just clocked higher than it can actually handle, I say this because I've seen quite a few forum posts concerning the 560 black screening and the Gigabyte cards to seem to seem to feature quite a bit more than any others.

He's right, if your gpu is getting driver errors and disconnecting for your monitor, then it's probably an unstable overclock, if you don't want to downclock then just add a moderate amount of voltage to rule out the unstable overclock.

 

[Al Capwn069]

Honestly a little new to the whole "build your own computer" thing. Where do I go to change clock speeds and/or voltage for my GPUs?

 

[coreydmorton]

Honestly a little new to the whole "build your own computer" thing. Where do I go to change clock speeds and/or voltage for my GPUs?

Download MSI afterburner, there will be all the overclocking option you need for you GPU, including voltage (which you have to go into settings, and allow it to be changed) it'll explain how to change the volts when you open the program for the firs time (at least i'm pretty sure)

 

[BloodyLion]

Download MSI afterburner, there will be all the overclocking option you need for you GPU, including voltage (which you have to go into settings, and allow it to be changed) it'll explain how to change the volts when you open the program for the firs time (at least i'm pretty sure)

He can use the OC Guru that came with the video card its very good program as good as MSI afterburner!

 

[coreydmorton]

He can use the OC Guru that came with the video card its very good program as good as MSI afterburner!

Well it doesn't really matter what you use, plus if he use's the one off the cd it'll be out of date, unless he updates it

 

[Mousemonkey]

Honestly a little new to the whole "build your own computer" thing. Where do I go to change clock speeds and/or voltage for my GPUs?

As you are a self confessed 'newbie' messing around with voltages might not be a good idea as it's very easy to damage the GPU or VRM's by by going too high and you won't get a lot of warning before something goes pop.

 

[BloodyLion]

Well it doesn't really matter what you use, plus if he use's the one off the cd it'll be out of date, unless he updates it

Yes ure right
But when i tried to download OC Guru from Gigabyte it did not work and thats why I used my CD

 

[coreydmorton]

Yes ure right
But when i tried to download OC Guru from Gigabyte it did not work and thats why I used my CD

Touche!

 

[Al Capwn069]

Thanks guys. I downloaded msi afterburner and turned my GPUs from 950 mhz to 900mhz. Seems to have fixed the problem, although it still does it in Starcraft 2 alone. I seem to be having a lot of issues with that game, don't think it's an overclocking problem like it was with the other games. Thanks again

 

[Al Capwn069]

Best answer selected by Al Capwn069.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey