[SOLVED] GeForce GT 710 Card - monitor 1 of 2 keeps flickering?

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Event2020

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My System is a dedicated music DAW.
Asus American Megatrends 1905 BIOS
Asus P8H77-V Motherboard
32 gig fast RAM
Windows 7 64 bit (kept updated with all latest appropriate drivers and updates)
3 Samsung Evo Hard Drives
Duel Monitor Display 2xHP w1907v
1 Monitor in to the Grapics Card VGA Port and the other into the DVI-D port via a DVI-D to VGA Adapter.


The windows install has been slim lined taking out bloat ware and system services not needed for audio production and has been stable as a rock and extremely fast.

I have just purchased and installed a ASUS Nvidia GeForce GT 710 Graphics card and I only installed the Graphics Card driver and the HD Audio Driver. I did not need nor want the 3D stuff as I will not use it and it could cause conflicts with my resource hungry soft synths and so on.

Since installing the card the primary monitor (the software sees it as Monitor 1) flickers on and off and when I say flicker I mean the video feed to the monitor and not the mains power.
The feed will be fine for 10 - 15 seconds then will go to black for a second before coming back. In another 30 seconds it happens again, maybe 10 seconds it happens again and so on.
This happens only to the primary monitor (Monitor 1) and Monitor 2 performs perfectly.

This is what I have tried to cure it.
Spoke by web chat to Asus tech support - utterly useless and they admit they have little tech training beyond trying a couple of quick fixes none of which worked. At the tech supports suggestion, I tried moving the GT 710 to my only other PCI slot but it made no difference - the tech support then simply said return it to the place of purchase.

Swapped the video cables around so that Monitor 1's now went to Monitor 2 - no difference

Swapped the cables at the back of the card so the one that was in the VGA port was now in the adapter on the DVI port and the other was now in the VGA - No difference.

Removed the GT 710 from my computer and uninstalled all GeForce software and drivers that came on the install CD.
Plugged each monitor in turn in to the Motherboards own VGA port to test it was not a monitor or cable issue and ran a couple of CPU intensive programs - both monitors performed perfectly.

Downloaded the latest driver set I can find for the GT 710 (431.60-desktop-win8-win7-64bit-international-whql.zip) and performed a clean install for just the Graphics Card driver and the HD Audio only - no difference the issue still happens.

I do not know what else to do - to me this seems like a driver issue but I may be wrong.

The last time I had computer issues, many years ago and several computers back, the issue was caused by bad driver programming and clashing IRQ's.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
 
Solution
You really need to upgrade your platform. Your system is old, not to be insulting, but the point being that newer systems have FULLY isolated audio circuits so that things going on via other buses and systems on the board cannot be transferred to the audio circuit. And, a lot of other reasons too. But I understand that financially, what OUGHT to happen isn't necessarily what CAN happen. I'd think about it though.

You could get into something with maybe somewhere in the area of about double the single and multithreaded performance, for a lot less than you might think. Something to think about.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£182.34 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock X570...

Event2020

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You have been brilliant in trying to help on this and I very much appreciate it especially this time of night.

Please pass on my thanks to the other person as well.

I am going to call it a night on this as I feel a bit frazzled and I will come back to it fresh tomorrow.

Thanks again :)
 

Event2020

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Just been having a quick browse at PSU's while I wind down a bit before I head on to bed and I wonder if you would say that the PSU below is good for my machine?

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/650...MIlOa429Tl5AIV1_ZRCh0ZFQ8UEAQYASABEgKVUPD_BwE

In your PSU spoiler I notice the one below here gets a favorable mention?
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/620...620gb-wires-80plus-bronze-1x120mm-fan-atx-psu

Just seeing what my options are should I have to go down this road.

Sadly as I have paid out £120 on two graphic cards in two days an expensive PSU is just not possible for me...
 
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You want to avoid the S12II, M12II and S12-III models. The first two are very old group regulated platforms and the S12-III, for Seasonic, is poor quality and not even made by them. It is farmed out to a third party and the product is poor.

All of the Seasonic Prime models are excellent. For you though, I might consider something that is either significantly higher capacity than what you could ever need, which that is and it is also a hybrid, semi-fanless unit that keeps fan operation off until it's needed, but more importantly maybe something that is either semi or fully passive, with no fan operation to introduce hum, line or motor noise, vibration or any other undesirable artifacts into recording, editing or conversion operations.

Are you doing professional work, or is this just something you do as a hobby, on the side, etc.?

What exactly is it, if you don't mind my asking, that you do?
 

Event2020

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Hi Third-eye and thank you for your reply.

Both monitors are run at 1280 x 800 as this is the minimum my production software will support, any lower and it starts chucking error message.

I can only run them at 60Hrz as there is no other available setting for these monitors.

When doing my testing as detailed in my first post all tests were carried out using the 3 different cards first in one PCI slot and then repeated in the 2nd - the result was the same.
 
Hi Third-eye and thank you for your reply.

Both monitors are run at 1280 x 800 as this is the minimum my production software will support, any lower and it starts chucking error message.

I can only run them at 60Hrz as there is no other available setting for these monitors.

When doing my testing as detailed in my first post all tests were carried out using the 3 different cards first in one PCI slot and then repeated in the 2nd - the result was the same.
What mode are you trying to use the monitors in? Cloned, spanned or extended? When the monitor turns off intermittently, what are you doing when it happens. Are you using your special software that only works at 1280x800 or does it happen when nothing is running? Is the program full screen or windowed when it happens? The issue might be related to your software and may not be a hardware issue at all.
 

Event2020

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Hi Third-Eye

Thank you for your questions and I will take each point in turn .

What mode are you trying to use the monitors in? Cloned, spanned or extended?
Monitor 1 (the primary) is extended across to Monitor 2.

When the monitor turns off intermittently, what are you doing when it happens.
Absolutely nothing, this issue starts as soon as the computer is booted, it sometimes happens WHILE the computer is booting.

Are you using your special software that only works at 1280x800 or does it happen when nothing is running?
As per above - it happens when nothing is running.

Is the program full screen or windowed when it happens?
The issue might be related to your software and may not be a hardware issue at all.
This point may not count as the issue happens whether a program is open or not.

Many thanks
 
Hi Third-Eye

Thank you for your questions and I will take each point in turn .


Monitor 1 (the primary) is extended across to Monitor 2.


Absolutely nothing, this issue starts as soon as the computer is booted, it sometimes happens WHILE the computer is booting.


As per above - it happens when nothing is running.


This point may not count as the issue happens whether a program is open or not.

Many thanks
When the system boots up the monitors will flicker on and off depending on which one is the primary. I see it every-time on my system when I'm connected to my TV and I reboot.

You could try using the on-board video again to try to get extended or spanned display. You said it worked with one monitor at a time connected with either VGA or DVI, but with both at the same time it caused lag. Were you using Windows display menu or the Intel display menu software to change to extended mode before? When you installed the Intel display driver, did you also install the Lucid Virtu software? If you connect the second monitor to the motherboard, check to see what the refresh rate is set to when using extended mode. It might possibly be forced to 30hz automatically.

You could also try different resolutions and do other tasks to see if the monitors keep having the issue with both connected to the motherboard output. Another thing you could try is getting an HDMI to DVI cable (or an hdmi cable and dvi adapter) to use the HDMI output on the motherboard to plug into the monitors DVI input so that both monitors are using DVI input.
 

Event2020

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Hi Third-eye

Thanks for your continuing suggestions.

Both monitors are VGA input only (no DVI) and as I have said in my previous posts, plugging a monitor into the Motherboards onboard GPU sockets cause so much lag when I have my software open that it is un-uasable.

Using the Motherboards own GPU is not really suitable for me as this computer is a dedicated DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) and anything that pulls on the main board can cause glitches, dropouts, random noise in audio as it is being recorded and played back.

I also do not want to keep installing different drivers for the very same reason as my system is supposed to be a stripped down and sleak OS. As I have said in my previous posts this computer has operated flawlessly since the day I built it with out the need to keep installing different graphic drivers and from a post I have made over in a Community Forum for my main music software manufacturer I have learnt that although old my MB is more than capable of supporting two basic monitors at a mid resolution.

My old Graphics card, ASUS HD 5450 was the one the software tech support recommended and is the one they used to use in their own in-house machines as it is not a fancy card and it pulls such a low load on the system. No graphics acceleration or 3D as it is not needed on a dedicated music PC.
 
You really need to upgrade your platform. Your system is old, not to be insulting, but the point being that newer systems have FULLY isolated audio circuits so that things going on via other buses and systems on the board cannot be transferred to the audio circuit. And, a lot of other reasons too. But I understand that financially, what OUGHT to happen isn't necessarily what CAN happen. I'd think about it though.

You could get into something with maybe somewhere in the area of about double the single and multithreaded performance, for a lot less than you might think. Something to think about.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£182.34 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock X570 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard (£169.00 @ More Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£154.38 @ Aria PC)
Total: £505.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-23 20:17 BST+0100




As far as the PSU is concerned, this would be more than adequate even if you decided to upgrade to a much higher end graphics card at some point. Like, pretty much any of them other than the Vega 64.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: SeaSonic PRIME Ultra Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£100.47 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £100.47
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-23 20:19 BST+0100
 
Solution
Hi Third-eye

Thanks for your continuing suggestions.

Both monitors are VGA input only (no DVI) and as I have said in my previous posts, plugging a monitor into the Motherboards onboard GPU sockets cause so much lag when I have my software open that it is un-uasable.

Using the Motherboards own GPU is not really suitable for me as this computer is a dedicated DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) and anything that pulls on the main board can cause glitches, dropouts, random noise in audio as it is being recorded and played back.

I also do not want to keep installing different drivers for the very same reason as my system is supposed to be a stripped down and sleak OS. As I have said in my previous posts this computer has operated flawlessly since the day I built it with out the need to keep installing different graphic drivers and from a post I have made over in a Community Forum for my main music software manufacturer I have learnt that although old my MB is more than capable of supporting two basic monitors at a mid resolution.

My old Graphics card, ASUS HD 5450 was the one the software tech support recommended and is the one they used to use in their own in-house machines as it is not a fancy card and it pulls such a low load on the system. No graphics acceleration or 3D as it is not needed on a dedicated music PC.
The only thing I can think of that isn't because of the motherboard, is you have cheap VGA cables without proper shielding or an RF choke (the large barrel looking thing). You could be experiencing signal interference from something, possibly your audio hardware and equipment or some other electronic device. It might even be the VGA cables themselves.

I guess this is it from me. I can only suggest trying to get new higher quality cables and /or a new motherboard. The only other option would be just a whole new system.
 
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