Question Graphic card issue - screen goes black.

[allidsarebusy]

Hello everyone, I have some very weird issues.

My system:

Seasonic Focus GX-1000 PSU
Motherboard ASRock X670E Taichi
G.Skill DDR5 Flare X5 2x16GB 6000
XFX SPEEDSTER MERC 310 AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
7900X3D CPU
About 3 weeks ago I had family over and my PC was running TW Warhammer 3 in the background while I was checking it from time to time. I do it sometimes. At some point, we felt what was like a burning smell. I thought it was from the outside, barbecue or something. Not very strong but you could smell it.

Then I noticed that my screen went black. I've restarted it and launched the game again. Same issue. I've run some stress tests in Adrenaline and my GPU failed them all.

Well, I've figured that I was just unlucky and sent it for repair. In the meantime, my PC was working from the built-in GPU and I had 0 issues with it.

Today I've received a completely new GPU and installed it. I'm getting the same situation. At first, everything seemed to be fine and I've passed a few stress tests, but then it started happening again. The screen will just go black when the GPU is under load and I need to restart my PC. I've tried reinstalling drivers, but with no luck. I've also noticed that my internet browser "Brave" becomes extremely slow as well.

I can't put my finger on it and I did not change anything hardware-wise for the last 6 months. The GPU is new so it should be fine. At the same time, my system was perfectly stable without it as well.

Any help would be very welcome!

 

[Ralston18]

Take a close look at the PSU and all cables/connectors to served components. Especially the GPU.

Power down, unplug, examine the PSU carefully. Do not open the PSU up - nothing repariable there....

Carefully sniff around the PSU and the computer in general - there may be some lingering odor that could help locate a problem.

If nothing seems amiss you can do a bit of testing provided you have a multi-meter and know how to use it.

FYI:

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-manually-test-a-power-supply-with-a-multimeter-2626158

Not a full test because the PSU is not under load. However, any voltages out of tolerance indicate a faltering or failing PSU. May be at or near its' designed in EOL (End of Life).

Swap in another known working PSU be sure to use only the cables that come with that PSU.

And do be sure that all important data is backed up to places away from the computer in question.

 

[allidsarebusy]

Ok mate, i think you may be on to something.....
I assume that doesn't looks good he? I mean i know the answer, but that's not good.
Do i need a new one? What can cause something like that?

 

[allidsarebusy]

P.S., can it be just the cable or do i need to swap the PSU?

 

[Ralston18]

I would replace the PSU. And use only the cables that come with that PSU.

Give the system a good cleaning and look for other signs of damage while doing so.

As for the cause - if everything was fine then the connector may have been defective in some way and degraded over time. However, that could apply to the entire PSU as well. Or some other component.

To learn more just google words/phrases such as "What causes PSU cables to melt".....

You will find many links and images.

E.g..

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1412804-psu-cable-melting/

Be sure to install a well-rated, quality PSU.

That situation could easily have been alot worse.

 

[allidsarebusy]

Thanks a lot, mate, for the advice.

I think it was my dumb ass who caused it. The 7900XTX has 3 power connectors: 2 main ones and a third meant for overclockers if I'm correct. I connected the 2 main ports to the same PSU cable and the third one to another, instead of connecting two separate cables to the two main ports.

It's the cable connected to the 2 main power connectors that melted in the PSU socket.

I've reconnected and tested it, and everything is working fine. But I will order a new PSU anyway.

Thanks a lot for the help!