Black display on Windows Startup? - Gigabyte GTX980 G1 Gaming

[TheShaolinMonk]

Hi Guys,

I recently Upgraded my system. I bought a i7-4790k, a Gigabyte Z97X-SOC Force, and a Gigabyte GTX980 G1 Gaming. A fresh windows was installed before the installation of these parts. It did not require a new installation. However now, I keep getting the same problem.

It would seem, that on startup of windows, after I hear in my headphones the windows sounds which would indicate it has loaded to the desktop, my screen goes black, starts cycling between HDMI and analogue, and then just stays black, with the light turning on and off. It knows it's connected to something, as there is no "Connect" logo showing as it would if it were entirely disconnected.

The current workaround I am doing is, on startup, I leave my HDMI cable completely disconnected from my GPU, let Windows turn on, and after I hear in my headphones that the Windows sound plays, I can connect my HDMI and it shows the desktop. I should clarify, I also have a second monitor connected via VGA to the motherboard VGA socket. This error never happens when launching in Safe mode. I tried a fresh reinstall of my Nvidia Drivers but does not seem to have worked. My current Driver is shown in the Geforce Experience software: Ver. 353.06

Spoiler

I have MSI afterburner and have Overclocked my Card a little bit, and it is completely stable when playing games, however, I have been making sure to reset it to default before turning off my PC, and Windows does not boot with any OC software anyway. It was happening from before I OC'd anyway, but thought it was worth mentioning. Everything runs fine when playing games, such as War Thunder or Project Cars, Overclocked or not.

Here are the Specs of my PC:

• 
  ■Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
  ■750W PSU
  ■Gigabyte Z97X-SOC Force Motherboard
  ■i7-4790k (stock, no OC) with a Hyper 612pwm cooler
  ■16gb of DDR3 RAM (Ripjaws-x 1600, 4 x 4gb)
  ■Gigabyte GTX980 G1 Gaming
  ■SanDisk SDSSDHP128G and a 1TB HDD
  ■2 displays - a Samsung S24B300 and a Samsung SyncMaster 2015BW

If there is any other information needed please feel free to ask. I have a feeling the Card I got happened to be a bad egg, as this does not seem normal, but of course, I am not sure. Any Help would be of assistance.

 

[TheShaolinMonk]

Update 1:
I installed individual drivers for both my monitors from the Samsung Website, no difference.[/list]
I seem to be able to restart my PC at night after it's been running for a long time, and it starts normally. In the morning, when it has been off, this error happens again. Does my card need to have warmed up or something? Really weird...

Update 2: 14/06/15
My system boots completely fine with the GPU disconnected and the HDMI monitor in my motherboard.

Update 3: 15.06.15
Placing a password on my account is now my workaround. It stops windows from booting to the desktop, and seems to boot properly after I put my password in.

Update 4: 17.06.15
I temporarily got rid of my password workaround - I tried using an adapter and connecting my second monitor directly to my GPU as opposed to through VGA into my motherboard. Thought it was working at first, until my PC failed to recover from Sleep... The screen would go black when I clicked on my account to go back into the desktop, and it would stay black. The desktop would only load when I pushed the "off" button...

 

[Bossyfins]

I would look into the screen manager for Windows. Try some different settings

 

[TheShaolinMonk]

I would look into the screen manager for Windows. Try some different settings

Do you have any suggestions? I have fiddled with whatever settings that are in the control panel already. Power settings, were on "balanced" but are now set to "High performance", with no difference. I couldn't really find much else in the power settings to change. My second monitor, being VGA in the Motherboard, is running off the CPU integrated graphics, so don't know what else I could change, or if I missed something...

 

[TheShaolinMonk]

So I got rid of my password workaround - I tried using an adapter and connecting my second monitor directly to my GPU as opposed to through VGA into my motherboard. Thought it was working at first, until my PC failed to recover from Sleep... The screen would go black when I clicked on my account to go back into the desktop, and it would stay black. The desktop would only load when I pushed the "off" button...