Question BLACK screen auto-restart. Not a thermal issue. Not a PSU issue.

[bunkie01]

First time posting to TH. Thank you all in advance.

Problem: random black screen restarts, primarily while playing the video game Hades via Steam. No error message. No dump files written. Displays instantly go black, and the PC automatically restarts.

I religiously monitor my temps, and no component is even close to an overheat. Moreover, I’ve tested the CPU, GPU, and RAM for stability (OCCT) while monitoring temps and nothing reaches a dangerous level. I have stability tested the power supply with OCCT and found no errors. I have also stability tested the RAM with OCCT and found no errors.

Recently, the PC failed to boot (RAM LED stuck on orange). Fans and RGB would turn on, but the system failed to boot. I physically re-seated both RAM sticks, and the PC booted successfully. I have not run into this problem since, but worth mentioning, as it may be related to the current black screen restarts.

I have read a lot about some timing errors between the Corsair RAM DOCP Profile, Asus TUF X570 motherboard, and Ryzen 7 3700x. I'm not sure what exactly is to blame here. My first instinct is to update the BIOS, which I will be doing this afternoon. However, if the black screens persist, I'm just not sure where to go about identifying the failure between these three components.

Complete system specs:

• CPU: Ryzen 7 3700x
• GPU: Asus TUF Gaming 3080 (Drivers fully updated as of 7/5)
• Motherboard: Asus TUF Gaming X570 Plus Wifi (BIOS version 2607, dated August 2020)
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16gb 3200mhz (Set to DOCP Profile 1)
• SSD: Samsung Evo 970 1TB M.2
• Power supply: Evga G3 1000w
• Case: Fractal Meshify C
• Display(s): LG CX 65inch OLED as primary display, Asus TUF VG279Q1A as secondary display
• OS: Windows 10 64 bit (fully updated as of 7/6/21, including all optional updates)

A bit more information:

• I don’t believe this is a power supply problem. When the system black screens and auto restarts, the system fans and RGB stay ON the entire time. So power is still running throughout the system. It's NOT like other types of black screen auto-restarts, which appear similar to someone just yanking the power cord from the system.
• I don't believe this is a GPU problem. The GPU has been placed under max load for several hours in other games and did not replicate the black screen. The problem appears to happen exclusively with Hades, which is a low load game for the 3080.
• I don't believe this is a game file issue. This is a full system black screen auto-restart, NOT a black screen crash to desktop. It's not just the game failing, but the entire system. I could be wrong here, though.
• The black screen restart is not exclusive to a loading screen in game, nor a graphically intensive fight. It is truly random. If anything, it seems to happen more often during “quiet” moments in game (walking around a level, picking up an item, etc.).
• I do believe the aforementioned fail to boot problem is related to the black screens based on nothing more than a hunch.
• The system is six months old, and has ran well up until recently. This leads me to believe that none of the hardware components are at fault, because if they were, these issues would have shown up far sooner? Not sure here.
• Again, none of my PSU, CPU, GPU, and RAM tests in OCCT have turned up any errors. None whatsoever.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

From experience, the reason for an abrupt reboot when a system is taxed can occur due to two things;
1| If there's a thermal issue, meaning something in your platform is beyond it's comfort zone and needs a reboot to remove the load on it
or
2| The PSU in your system can't provided necessary power for the entire system when under load.

Now with your setup, the latest BIOS version is 4002, while you're on version 2607, meaning you need to gradually work your way to the latest(sans the BETA versions). I count 6 BIOS versions to update.

TO rule out the PSU, have you tried sourcing a donor PSU for your build from a friend or neighbor who owns a reliably built PSU that can deliver at least 750W of power for the entire build? EVGA tend to have hit or miss units even in their cream of the crop line of PSU's.

 

[bunkie01]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

From experience, the reason for an abrupt reboot when a system is taxed can occur due to two things;
1| If there's a thermal issue, meaning something in your platform is beyond it's comfort zone and needs a reboot to remove the load on it
or
2| The PSU in your system can't provided necessary power for the entire system when under load.

Now with your setup, the latest BIOS version is 4002, while you're on version 2607, meaning you need to gradually work your way to the latest(sans the BETA versions). I count 6 BIOS versions to update.

TO rule out the PSU, have you tried sourcing a donor PSU for your build from a friend or neighbor who owns a reliably built PSU that can deliver at least 750W of power for the entire build? EVGA tend to have hit or miss units even in their cream of the crop line of PSU's.

Thanks so much for the kind welcome!

I do agree that black screen auto-restarts are usually a PSU and/or thermal problem. However:

- I have not considered a thermal issue because I have not monitored any high thermals in any component even with the system under much, much higher load. Unless I am missing an instantaneous and catastrophic thermal spike, this doesn't seem to be a thermal issue. Moreover, under much higher load/wattage, I have not observed any dangerous thermals.

- Similarly, I have not considered a PSU problem because the system appears to handle max load/max power draw flawlessly.

The black screen auto-restarts appear exclusive to a specific game, Hades. Hades is a very low load/draw application.

Again, I feel compelled to mention the system did recently go through a bad failure to boot problem related to the RAM. The problem appeared permanently fixed by reseating the RAM. These current black screen auto-restarts could be completely unrelated, but I can't help but think they're related.

Could a massive RAM/timing error cause black screen auto-restarts? What about a VRM error?

Lastly, I will be updating my BIOS this afternoon. Do you suggest going straight from 2607 to 4002? Or should I update each BIOS version at a time until I get to 4002?

 

[Thomas7029]

Hello

Thanks so much for the kind welcome!

I do agree that black screen auto-restarts are usually a PSU and/or thermal problem. However:

- I have not considered a thermal issue because I have not monitored any high thermals in any component even with the system under much, much higher load. Unless I am missing an instantaneous and catastrophic thermal spike, this doesn't seem to be a thermal issue. Moreover, under much higher load/wattage, I have not observed any dangerous thermals.

- Similarly, I have not considered a PSU problem because the system appears to handle max load/max power draw flawlessly.

The black screen auto-restarts appear exclusive to a specific game, Hades. Hades is a very low load/draw application.

Again, I feel compelled to mention the system did recently go through a bad failure to boot problem related to the RAM. The problem appeared permanently fixed by reseating the RAM. These current black screen auto-restarts could be completely unrelated, but I can't help but think they're related.

Could a massive RAM/timing error cause black screen auto-restarts? What about a VRM error?

Lastly, I will be updating my BIOS this afternoon. Do you suggest going straight from 2607 to 4002? Or should I update each BIOS version at a time until I get to 4002?

Hello !.. I have the exactly same issue... Have you fixed this ?..