Screen blackouts when loading pages with video ads

constantthought

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Radeon 6700 series 1gb gddr5
Asus M5A78L/USB3 ATX
8gb Kingston ddr3
AMD FX 6100 6-core 3.3ghz
Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit (will move to 64bit once I have backed up everything)
500w PSU

Hi all, got a bit of a problem since I made my new build yesterday. My computer screen blacks out every now and again and it seems to be mostly when a video advert loads (like when going on this site every time i load a new page with a video ad the screen will drop out for a few seconds). I tried to download the latest video drivers (which was a beta driver) but the problem still persists. 30 minutes before this my computer was working fine with all my old gear and still the same gfx card.

Any ideas on a possible solution or cause to this?

Thanks
 

suat

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Do you get a message in system tray "AMD display driver stopped responding ad has successfully recovered" or something similar ? As a first remedy, disable Adobe Flash acceleration.
 

constantthought

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I also just tried loading a flash game and it is unplayable as it continuously cuts out while it's running with more black screens than visible screens, I am genuinely mystified about this one :S
 

suat

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Have you connected the power cable to the gfx card securely ?

I suggest you to install Kombustor ( http://www.geeks3d.com/20120423/msi-kombustor-2-3-0-download-gpu-stress-test-opengl-direct3d-physx/ ) and do a burn-in test ?

While doing the test, keep your eye on the 12V output of your PSU.
 

djscribbles

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I would be a bit suspicious of Adobe.
Perhaps try an older version of Adobe Flash Player.

If you are using IE, try firefox/chrome which have a separate version of Adobe, and may not have the issue.

Worst case scenario, get the AddBlockPlus addon. You still won't be able to play flash games, but you won't get cutout when visiting sites with flash adds (and as an added benefit, you won't get flash adds at all)

edit: Though if you think you have power issues, I would follow suat's suggestion, regardless of whether you can fix your flash issue. It's better safe than sorry.
 

constantthought

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Thanks for the advice guys. I'll load up kombustor and post the results suat. Oh and yea the power cable is connected to the gfx card fine, as far as i am aware I haven't done anything wrong when installing my new gear.

With regards to adblock it won't let me install it as my new computer is slowly falling to pieces with corrupt folders in the chrome app data on my hard drive. Chkdsk cant even solve it, it just gets to around 3 percent then decides it's more helpful to just give up and close. Utter nightmare
 

constantthought

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Well I think I have solved the problem! I have gone for a fresh install of 64-bit windows 7 and all the previous problems have gone. No more black screens and so far I haven't had any restarts. I have heard that when installing a new motherboard and CPU you should always do so onto a clean version of windows, so i guess they were right. Bit strange the issues I was having but I'm glad that it has now hopefully been resolved!

Thanks for the help guys :)
 

constantthought

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Sigh... Flash problems still persist. That rules out any software related problems pretty much... Damn. It has to be the power supply doesn't it? It's the only logical option, everything else is brand new. hmmmm
 

djscribbles

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It could be some incompatibility between flash and your hardware/drivers.

If your PSU wasn't sourcing enough current, I would really expect the "AMD display driver stopped responding and has successfully recovered" that suat asked about earlier to be thrown at least some of the time (it doesn't rule it out though, either).

I also really get the feeling I've seen something similar myself at some point, though I don't know when, it would have been on a 7870. My wife's PC with a 7770 tends to 'jiggle' the image on screen when online (i think when flash is present but may be everywhere), I almost bought a new monitor preemptively until I noticed that it stopped when I closed firefox.

Personally, I really don't trust flash as being stable, and am suspicious it could be your problem. Try rolling around a few different versions of graphics drivers and see if there is any improvement.

If you have some games you can try running, you should be able to rule out/confirm a PSU issue. I would expect a relatively demanding game to work your GPU harder than flash by a longshot.

edit: (As a note, I'm only avoiding the PSU as the issue because it is free to test different versions of software; if you order a PSU you don't need your out some money)
 

constantthought

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djscribbles- Thanks for the advice, you raise a good point about the PSU. I have just tried playing Darksouls but it is unbearable as the drop outs happen during games it would seem as well. Not while the game is running so much but more so when it is loading up the game or durring in-game loading screens. So from the sounds of it it might be neither flash or my PSU? I'm going to try and roll back my drivers as suggested and see if there are any improvements

jtt283 - I have pretty much zero information about my current PSU other than it is an unmarked 500w PSU from my friends old computer. The one I had before that was a decent PSU but it seemed to die the moment I used it with my new motherboard and set up, although it is currently working on my friends basic home computer- which adds more mystery to this whole situation
 
Open your case and check its label. It may well be a cheap generic that isn't good for anywhere near 500W; as soon as you load up a game (or use accelerated video), your computer's load exceeds what it can produce. Insofar as a stressed PSU can output dangerous amounts of ripple and noise, it would be best to not continue to stress it; find out more about it before you use it any more. With a HD6770 in it, your system should hardly use 300W under load, so replacing your PSU will not be an expensive proposition ($45 will get you a 380W Antec Earthwatts; there's a rebate on a Corsair Builder that I think brings that one down to $30).
 

constantthought

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Yea it's definitely a cheap one. It was a standard Dell build which it came from (or something like that) so it certainly isn't high quality. My previous one though was a decent PSU and also another 500w, but it does the same thing as the cheap current one. Starts up, gets to windows, cuts out, restarts then loads up for a few hours with no problems then the cycle repeats. I just have a hard time believing that it is the PSU because I have used 2 separate ones and there were no problems before I changed mb.etc, it was only after I switched mb, ram and cpu that the problems arose. Not to mention the fact that my old PSU is running fine on my friends comp. It's all just so frustrating!

I also in a desperate effort unbuilt my computer today and rebuilt it making extra sure that nothing was wrong and the errors still persist. I will have to buy a new PSU asap and hopefully solve this problem but atm I am feeling more inclined to throw my computer out the window.

Maybe it's just the mb inbuilt surge protection just being overly protective? Will it fry any components if I disable it as a test? The last thing I need is more problems
 
Is the mobo mounted on standoffs (or are they built into the case)? Disconnect all of your drives except perhaps the boot drive; perhaps there is something in your system with a near-short in it. Any wires showing signs of extreme heat? Any variance in fan RPM that could indicate fluctuating (e.g. dropping) voltage? Remove all expansion cards and make sure no debris (like a staple) has fallen into a slot, and make sure nothing like a screw is loose on or under the mobo.
 

constantthought

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I will give it a try in the morning, it's pretty early here so I should get some sleep. I'll give it another go in the morning and attempt a full troubleshoot. Oh and the mb is on standoffs that are built into the case. Both fans are running at around 5500rpm (cpu and case fan i think) and there is no noticable heat coming from anywhere. I will also try swapping gfx cards if I can find another one tomorrow and see if that helps at all

Thanks for the help, i appreciate it!
 

djscribbles

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Given that your seeing the same effects in games, I am on board with trying to find a hardware problem :)

The RPM question jtt asked was more about how your fans behave when your display drops out; do you hear the RPM of the fans change when it happens (especially immediately when it blacks out) and slowly build back up to their normal running speed. He is (I think) looking for an indication that something is happening that causing the 12V supply to sag (so instead of 12V it's giving only 10V), which would cause the fans to slow down.