Question Black screens randomly

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Ok, so i have an ongoing issue. It started in early 2019 and still persists.
I get random black screens that last for a couple of seconds when doing anything from gaming to forum browsing. It happens more some days than others. Some artifacts and black lines show up just before the black screen happens. It is very random, sometimes I can run perfectly for a week without bugs, but sometimes it will black screen 5 times in 30 seconds. My pc is responsive when the screen is black, I can click on things and type in fields and it seems only my display is killed. Sound also continues to play when the screen is blank, making me think my GPU is to blame.

My system specs (1.5yrs old) are as follows:
MSI B350 Gaming Plus motherboard
AMD Ryzen 3 1200 at 3.7ghz 1.275v
G.skill Ripjaws V 2x4gb 3200mhz ddr4 ram at rated specs.
PNY Nvidia Geforce GTX 1050 2gb with drivers from late February. Overclocked +100 core +575 Mem
Corsair cx550m 550watt PSU
Windows 10 PRO 64bit
BenQ GW2270 1080p 60hz VA monitor connected using HDMI female to DVI male.

I have installed different gpu drivers, no difference.
I have removed the stable CPU and GPU overclocks, no difference.
I have used a DVI cable and an HDMI to DVI cable with the same results.
I even tried tearing the video card down and making it dust free and as good as new, no difference
CPU and GPU are cool in games. GPU and cpu run in the high 40c range in TF2, not the most demanding but the black screens still happen sometimes in tf2.
The monitor doesn't do this when i use my laptop plugged into it over VGA, so i think its my pc.
 
I have just found something. I think this might be a power issue. I have continued to use the GTX 1050 and held a "grin and bear it" kind of attitude to the black screens until I save up.
Next to my desk I have a wall receptacle with 4 outlets.
Outlet 1: Plugged into my monitor only
Outlet 2: Plugged into my pc only
Outlet 3: Plugged into my soundbar
Outlet 4: Plugged into a power strip.
I have been messing around with an old power supply (safety first) and have been using it plugged into the power strip plugged into the same receptacle as the monitor and pc. It will be turned into a lab bench PSU once some connectors come in the mail. The power supply has been configured with a switch mounted to short the "PSU ON" green wire to ground to turn on the PSU outputs. A green LED with current limiting 220ohm resistor has been mounted as the only output to the +5v rail so the LED lights up when the outputs have been turned on. I noticed every time I would turn on the power strip with the PSU plugged in I either see a single line running across my monitor at a random spot or a black screen for a second. Even if I just turn on the power strip with just my phone plugged into it, I still see a line running across the screen for a second. This happens EVERY time. The screen still randomly blanks aswell.
The lights in the room don't dim and the breaker isn't tripped, but my pc black screens.
What do you think?
 
Last edited:

iMatty

Reputable
Mar 14, 2019
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Well from what you've mentioned above, it actually seems like a power supply issue.
But the only way to make sure that it is a power supply issue is by getting another power supply and testing it, i don't really know any other way