Display driver crashes, monitor gets no signal, and PC occasionally restarts whenever I try to launch a game.

[Celadon]

As the title states, whenever I try to run a game (ex. Final Fantasy XIV, Ragnarok Online 2), my monitor will go black, and then sometimes recover and give me the "Display driver stopped responding and has successfully recovered". Other times, the screen will remain signal-less and then my PC will either restart itself, or I have to power-off the computer myself. As far as I can tell, this only happens when I launch a game that puts some load on my GPU -- idling doesn't crash me, and neither does playing Minesweeper or Solitaire (I had to fall back on these to pass the time. Yay!)

I've tried reinstalling the most up-to-date graphics drivers, uninstalling drivers, and installing an older version, but none of them seem to have helped.

I've also tried changing my power saver settings to maximize performance, since some people suggested that on some sites/threads I've read elsewhere.

Additionally, my BIOS will sometimes freeze up and I'll have to restart manually, as well. Sometimes, performing a system restore will let me play for a little while, but then it'll crash again eventually. I'm not really sure what's going on, at this point.

I'm planning on testing with a different graphics card from my older computer once I manage to get a screwdriver (oh, the woes of forgetting to bring a screwdriver with me to university...), but until then, I'm hoping I can get some suggestions to get things working again.

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Build:
Intel Core i5-4670k 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Asus GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card
Asus PCE-N15 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter
Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case
Corsair CX 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply

I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium, and I do not overclock.

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Gotta get to class now, but I'll be back to check up on the thread in about two hours. Thank you in advance, and I appreciate all the input I can get!

If you need me to post any logs or anything, ask away -- I'll do my best.

 

[ihog]

Try downclocking the GPU a little bit, and see what happens.

 

[tinmann]

Are you motherboard bios up to date? Which input method are you using hdmi or dvi? I would try using a different connection type first I have had problems with hdmi ports in the pass. And if that fails try seating the gpu in another Pci-e x16 slot and see if the problem still persist.

 

[Celadon]

Try downclocking the GPU a little bit, and see what happens.

I'll try this, but I've no experience with overclocking/downclocking -- will read up on it before doing it, though. Thanks for the suggestion.

Are you motherboard bios up to date? Which input method are you using hdmi or dvi? I would try using a different connection type first I have had problems with hdmi ports in the pass. And if that fails try seating the gpu in another Pci-e x16 slot and see if the problem still persist.

[strike]Going to go update my BIOS now.[/strike]
Worried I'll do something wrong.

I'm assuming I should look at the BIOS Version/Date? The webpage for my mobo is http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z87%20Extreme4/?cat=Download&os=BIOS and lists version 2.30 -- do I just download that one and use it? The scary "We don’t recommend users to update the BIOS if their system is already running normally. ASRock® assumes no responsibility for any damages caused by improper operations of downloading or updating the BIOS. Before you download or update the BIOS, please read " (How to Update)" below carefully." sure is intimidating.

I was originally using HDMI, but switched to DVI in hopes that it would help, but they both result in the same problem. I'll try reseating the GPU to the second/third PCI-E slot after I get my hands on that darned screwdriver. Thanks.

 

[Celadon]

Update:
[strike]Running a game in windowed mode in the background will not crash me until it becomes the active window. Afterwards, there's no DVI or HDMI signal.[/strike]
I was wrong. I get to see pretty pictures and stuff for a few seconds, and then it crashes. Darn.
Additionally, watching a Youtube video in fullscreen will also result in signal loss.

I can watch videos in fullscreen on safe mode, albeit in poor quality. Hm.

 

[Celadon]

Disabled Aero, managed to watch videos in fullscreen. Games still crash, regardless of whether the Aero theme is on or off. I also lost signal before my desktop even loaded in one reboot.

When I crashed from watching videos, I would have no sound, then would hear sound again for a few seconds, then would lose sound again, entirely. Not sure if that info helps, though.

 

[Celadon]

Switched to the Intel integrated graphics. Everything will launch on it.
You go, Intel.

Does this narrow anything down?

 

[ihog]

Yes, that usually means something is wrong with the graphics card. Like I said, try downclocking it. Asus's GPU Tweak, just lower the core and memory clocks by 50-100 MHz and see what happens. It won't hurt anything besides performance, but if it fixes the issues, then you know the card is defective, and you should RMA it.

 

[Celadon]

Yes, that usually means something is wrong with the graphics card. Like I said, try downclocking it. Asus's GPU Tweak, just lower the core and memory clocks by 50-100 MHz and see what happens. It won't hurt anything besides performance, but if it fixes the issues, then you know the card is defective, and you should RMA it.

Will do. I downgraded the drivers some more last night and managed to get games to run for a few hours. This morning, when testing again, I managed to stay on for a good 2 minutes or so before crashing.

Progress!

 

[Celadon]

While downclocking didn't do anything for me, I think I managed to figure out what was wrong, and I'm feeling a mix of joy and disappointment -- joy because everything works now, and disappointment because I found out that the power cable connected to my PSU is loose.

..yep.

Thanks for all the help, and good luck to anyone else who might have this problem, haha. I'll make another thread if the problem returns as a result of something other than the power cable. Thanks again!

 

[ZemoVIII]

The same thing is happening the exact same thing. I dont think its a gfx card problem because I replaced mine and its still happening. I try many diffrent things too. I took out everything put it back in when I put in the gfx card the same problems you have mention persist. As of now im usin my mobo intergrated gfx to go on. It works perfectly fine w/o the gfx card.