Video output turn into vertical lines

[roflcopterofl]

Hello, about a month ago I started having weird issue with my computer. The picture on the monitor would go out and would show white and blue vertical lines. When this occurs the computer still seems to function, along with the audio being played. This issue always happens when I watch youtube (which I do alot). Just today (after it not happening for a month) it occured again.

I have tried:
Testing with the diagnostics provided with the computer (I believe it's with the bios)
Reseating ram
Reseating video card
Running mem test
Updating video drivers

Nothing was reported

My specs are:
7770 Hd
3770 i7 Cpu @ 3.4Ghz
1tb HDD
180gb Cherryvile SSD
12 gbs of ddr3 1600mhz ram


Any idea on what could be causing this?


Thanks

 

[roflcopterofl]

Also: The audio is being played through the hdmi cable, connected to the video card. Could this mean that the graphics card won't be the problem since audio still plays when this issue occurs?

 

[Surgeking]

It only happens on youtube? Not during games or under heavy loads? How are temps? If you updated the drivers over the old ones you might try a clean install by removing the drivers and wiping it first.

 

[roflcopterofl]

It only happens on youtube? Not during games or under heavy loads? How are temps? If you updated the drivers over the old ones you might try a clean install by removing the drivers and wiping it first.

Every time it occured it happened on youtube. A few times the screen blacked out totally. The issue is very inconsistent. I have tried (safely) GPU stress tests to see if it would occur during heavy loads and it did not. Temps are normal. For the drivers I have even tried a fresh OS and that hasn't seem to have an effect on it.

 

[willard]

Could be the video card, or it could be the monitor. Collapsing to lines is a common failure mode for monitors.

As far as the video card, the audio working isn't an indicator that the card is fine. Almost every component in your computer is involved in making the audio play. It's completely possible that the video card is sending garbage video with pristine audio.

Does the problem only occur when using YouTube? Is it easily reproducible?

If you've got another monitor you could easily determine whether or not it's the monitor. With both monitors connected, if both go out, then it's not the monitor. If only one goes out (and always the same one), then it is the monitor.

As a side note, what's with the goofy 12GB of memory? I've only ever seen that with people doing triple channel memory (which you can't be, because you're using a 3770) or with people who have mixed and matched memory kits and are running 2x 4GB and 2x 2GB (bad idea, potential problems with no tangible benefits over 2x 4GB).

 

[roflcopterofl]

Could be the video card, or it could be the monitor. Collapsing to lines is a common failure mode for monitors.

As far as the video card, the audio working isn't an indicator that the card is fine. Almost every component in your computer is involved in making the audio play. It's completely possible that the video card is sending garbage video with pristine audio.

Does the problem only occur when using YouTube? Is it easily reproducible?

If you've got another monitor you could easily determine whether or not it's the monitor. With both monitors connected, if both go out, then it's not the monitor. If only one goes out (and always the same one), then it is the monitor.

As a side note, what's with the goofy 12GB of memory? I've only ever seen that with people doing triple channel memory (which you can't be, because you're using a 3770) or with people who have mixed and matched memory kits and are running 2x 4GB and 2x 2GB (bad idea, potential problems with no tangible benefits over 2x 4GB).

When the issue occurred I switched the input of the monitor (which is actually a flatscreen tv) to a different input. The screen looked fine and when I switched it back to hdmi the issue was still their. I do have my other monitor hooked up now and will see if the issue occurs. I have a feeling it's not the tv because after switching the inputs to a something different it was fine (unless the hdmi port is bad on the tv?). As for the RAM its a really fun setup. 2 4GBS and 2 2GBS. Good old Dell...


Edit: The issue does not seem easily be produced. Their can be 1 day to 1 month gap between the issue occurring.

 

[willard]

If I were you, I'd probably take out the 2GB sticks and just run with the 4GB ones. It's pretty rare to use more than 4-5 GB of memory unless you're doing rendering. If the 2GB and 4GB sticks are rated at the same speed, timings and voltage, and they're in the correct channels, then you're probably fine, but it's possible the mix is actually slowing things down a bit. There's certainly no benefit to that last 4GB for 99.99% of people.

unless the hdmi port is bad on the tv?

Bad HDMI port is possible, though I'm not familiar with that failure mode on an HDMI port. The ones I've seen fail just totally stop working, or do really weird stuff (like work fine until an audio signal is received, then drop the video signal). HDMI is a pretty awful standard, thanks to HDCP.

Really, narrowing down an issue like this is all about trial and error. Keep changing one thing at a time until the problem goes away/comes back, then you've got your culprit.

 

[roflcopterofl]

If I were you, I'd probably take out the 2GB sticks and just run with the 4GB ones. It's pretty rare to use more than 4-5 GB of memory unless you're doing rendering. If the 2GB and 4GB sticks are rated at the same speed, timings and voltage, and they're in the correct channels, then you're probably fine, but it's possible the mix is actually slowing things down a bit. There's certainly no benefit to that last 4GB for 99.99% of people.

unless the hdmi port is bad on the tv?

Bad HDMI port is possible, though I'm not familiar with that failure mode on an HDMI port. The ones I've seen fail just totally stop working, or do really weird stuff (like work fine until an audio signal is received, then drop the video signal). HDMI is a pretty awful standard, thanks to HDCP.

Really, narrowing down an issue like this is all about trial and error. Keep changing one thing at a time until the problem goes away/comes back, then you've got your culprit.

Awsome thanks for the help. So it is possible that ram could be the issue? It was installed by Dell so I would think they would install it right, but then again it that's coming for the people who install intel 4000 drivers instead of the raedon drivers.