Corrupted graphics, black screen vertical lines across page.

[shelldrake]

Hi,

Last year my PC started showing corrupted graphics, blue & green screens (not BSOD) and black vertical lines across the screen. Computer was still under warranty, the shop replaced the PSU.

Problem still occurred, I replaced the Gigabyte HD7970 3GB with an older MSI 2GB R7850-2GD5/OC that I had around the place. As soon as I booted up and ran the PC for a hour or so no problems with the video. Tried using different HDMI cables no change. I wasn't able to get the screen corruption to replicate.

So I requested a refund for what I thought was a dodgy GPU. The shop refunded me the money.

So I purchased a R9 290 4GB card, put it in and the same problems came back along with the message "the display driver has crashed and recovered" I completely wiped the SSD and installed windows, as soon as Windows had finished installing even before I could install any specific drivers the same problems came back.

I tested the monitor on my other PC with the same HDMI cable for over a week and didn't have one problem.

I tested in safe Mode, same thing, corruption and driver crashes, black screens etc.

So by now weeks and weeks had gone by and I demanded the store look into it further. They stress tested the PC overnight and weren't able to replicate, when I told them about the BIOS resetting when ever the power fails or the cable being unplugged, they replaced the Gigabyte Motherboard with an ASUS one.

I get the PC home, put my R9 290 back in and instantly get the same video corruption.

Could it be RAM? Everything points to GPU, but this has happened with two different makes and models of GPU, the PSU and motherboards have been replaced.

I booted the PC up tonight again with no devices, such as mouse, keyboard etc. plugged in except for the HDMI cable, same black screen and mouse cursor only as soon as Windows finished booting.

I get no corruption on the BIOS post screen or the Windows Load screen, only when Windows starts.

I've swapped power cables, mouse, keyboards, monitors, HDMI cables and still cant explain it.

Could it be RAM? That's about the only thing that hasn't yet been replaced, but the PC isn't rebooting, isn't BSOD or normal RAM symptoms, no error beeps on POST etc.

I'm really at a loss and is really stressing me out... Any ideas?

 

[hang-the-9]

This issue is most often the video card or power supply, possibly too much heat.

It's not a monitor issue, very unlikely it's a RAM issue and as equally unlikely it's a motherboard issue.

 

[johnbl]

here are some ideas:

- remove any GPU overclocking software.
- update your BIOS or reset it to defaults and reconfig. (always do this after you swap out any hardware, it will rebuild the database of hardware/interrupts and DMA channels that the BIOS sends to windows)
- underclock your GPU buy 50 or 100Mhz or overclock your PCI_E bus if your BIOS can do that and you know you have good power and no overheating problems.

 

[shelldrake]

This issue is most often the video card or power supply, possibly too much heat.

It's not a monitor issue, very unlikely it's a RAM issue and as equally unlikely it's a motherboard issue.

here are some ideas:

- remove any GPU overclocking software.
- update your BIOS or reset it to defaults and reconfig. (always do this after you swap out any hardware, it will rebuild the database of hardware/interrupts and DMA channels that the BIOS sends to windows)
- underclock your GPU buy 50 or 100Mhz or overclock your PCI_E bus if your BIOS can do that and you know you have good power and no overheating problems.

Thanks for the reply.

I thought about heat, however the problem sometimes happens as soon as Windows loads, other times within 10-20 mins.

The fan on the CPU heatsink and on the GPU appear to be working correctly.

Not sure about the BIOS though.

The motherboard was brand new with standard settings when the PC was returned from the store and I put my new GPU in, however I'll give resetting it a go.

Also with the OC, I believe the card is OC by factory, I'll see if I can slow it down. I also have no GPU OC software installed.