Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in

Reply to this thread

Solved Forum question

Started by PCgamer81 | | 5 answers
Display driver keeps crashing - sometimes to a black, fuzzy, noisy screen
*specs listed in signature*

Anytime I am in game and a lot is going on, my PC crashes. Sometimes it will happen even when I am not in game - such as browsing the web, but it usually recovers. When I am in game and it crashes, sometimes it will crash to a black screen with this horrible noise. And I am forced to turn off the PC and restart it.

I just updated the drivers a few days ago when the new CCC was released. So I am up to date as far as that goes.

I read somewhere on the internet that you are supposed to totally remove all of the old display drivers before updating. Well, that is something that I never have done. So I downloaded an app (from Guru I believe) that uninstalled every display driver on my PC (there were a lot) and when it rebooted (in a low resolution) I installed the newest CCC drivers fresh. So far, this seems to have worked. I just got finished playing a short session of Red Faction Guerrilla (which recently gave my PC fits due to all the action) and so far it's working perfectly.

I also use MSI Afterburner with a custom fan profile, and as far as I know it never goes above 75 degrees even with a heavy overclock.

I have not yet fully tested the machine since uninstalling all the old drivers and reinstalling the latest drivers, so the problem could start again. I thought I would create a thread and see if there is any thing that might also be causing this, and perhaps see if anyone has any suggestions.

Even though I plan to upgrade my PC very soon, I plan to give these cards to this kid that comes around (it would really blow him away as he uses onboard video on his PC), so I am hoping the problem is not the cards themselves.

Thanks.
  • By posting on this site, I confirm I am over 13 years of age and agree to abide by the site’s rules.

Best solution chosen by PCgamer81

October 19, 2014 6:38:55 AM

Somehow, I don't think the problem is with your hardware. It's the CCC 14.9 update that seems to have messed things up. Might even be a Windows update that came out a few weeks before the CCC update. Not sure which update that was, but I got it on my Windows 7 home premium 64-bit.

I've done a clean install of Windows 7, as well as Windows 8.1 but the problem remains. Everything works fine with the IGP. No problems at all with it.
October 11, 2014 5:58:27 PM

I hate to think it is the PSU - when I built this rig I made the PSU the priority and went with the best I could afford. It's the Seasonic 80+ platinum. I guess it could be the PSU but I would hate to think it.

I am going to play Red Faction Guerrilla for an extended session and if all goes well I will consider the problem fixed (I used to could only play for a few minutes before a crash). If it continues to crash, I will try reseating the cards. Thanks guys.
October 11, 2014 5:11:00 PM

If the cards aren't overheating, their fans are clean and the drivers are installed properly, you could try to reseat both the power cables and the cards themselves in the PCIExpress slots. Reset the card's configuration to default state (no O.C. and if you can, run a more aggressive fan profile while testing them). I would also try to troubleshoot using the first card only and see if the issue persists - it could be a PSU issue too. My final try would consist in using a different HDD with a freshly installed Windows 7 x64 and the latest drivers. If you still have issues with one card, I would try to connect it to another motherboard - if it keeps behaving like that, even without overclock, the card's got issues (probably VRAM).
October 11, 2014 4:50:47 PM

Set your clock speeds to default and see if it still happens.
October 11, 2014 3:40:58 PM

Try re-seating your graphics card and making sure the power cables are in tight. Sounds stupid I know but one time after moving my PC I got display driver crashes. Give it a shot.

See all answers