- Jun 16, 2015
- 3
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- 4,510
Hi guys,
For a couple of months my graphics card (at least that's what I think has been the issue), a Sapphire R9 280x Vapor-X, has been behaving quite erratically. Sometimes, especially when loading a video game (eg. loading video game menu, loading a new map in a video game like Counter Strike), or editing a video in a program like Adobe Premiere, my computer will abruptly freeze up and I will just get a gray screen (and sometimes other colors, both with and without vertical lines running across). Generally, when this happens, my music stops if I am listening to a song.
In fact, last night I was editing a video in Premiere Pro and my computer would get the gray screen immediately after I opened my project! I restarted my PC and tried again multiple times, and this happened without fail. Luckily, it doesn't seem to be immediately shutting off on project open today but the general issue still persists (just had it gray screen on me while doing some random Premiere editing like 1 hour ago)
This is obviously very disruptive. Although I didn't realize it at first (I was restarting my computer whenever I got a gray screen), after about 4 minutes my system partially recovers and I get a notification from my tray informing me that "Default Radeon WattMan settings have been restored due to unexpected system failure." After this point, I can generally see my actual screen again, although the visuals are buggy and some portions of the screen (eg. Premiere toolbar menu options) are black when I mouse over them. Some things are also unusable in this state, and my screen can also repeatedly lapse back into the gray screen of death in this state.
This issue seemed to begin occurring after I fiddled around with overclocking my processor, an AMD FX6300, through my Asus M5A99X EVO 2.0's (my motherboard) BIOS. Now, the overclock thing could just be a coincidence; I'm not too sure. However, it is worth noting that when I was experimenting with overclocking I adjusted CPU voltage and CPU ratio, along with disabling some features like Cool & Quiet. I may have adjusted DRAM or North Bridge voltage too, although I'm not so sure about those. However, to the best of my ability, I do not remember changing the voltage or the clock speed of GPU. Though there's always a possibility that I accidentally fried when changing voltages, I don't really think I went overboard with setting the voltage—I tried to do it incrementally. Additionally, I've long since disabled the overclock and reset my settings in BIOS, though I might have missed 1-2 couple of things.
My temperatures seem to be ok—this was happening during wintertime with chilly temperatures and a Hyper 212 Evo on my processor. Also, almost right before my computer froze I checked my temps with MSI Afterburner and they were approx. 40C for both the GPU and CPU.
Additionally, I realize the R9 280x and FX 6300 are kind of power hogs but I'm not sure if wattage itself is the issue—my PSU, the Corsair CX600M, delivers 600 watts which in my opinion should be more than sufficient.
My GPU drivers are pretty up to date: I updated them about a month ago. Additionally, this issue has been happening on multiple different GPU driver versions, it's not like the latest Radeon driver update introduced it.
Also, last night my computer kept getting the gray screen and coming back and then getting the gray screen and coming back again and again. I opened up my computer and took a peek at my GPU while this was happening. My GPU has 6 green lights, which serve as some sort of power indicator (I looked it up online). Turns out, some of the green lights were flickering and being inconsistent. For example, one second I would have 2 green lights on and the other I would have 5—stuff like that. That certainly concerned me, and made me think even more than before that the GPU was the root cause of this issue. If you would like, I could attach a video I recorded of this happening.
This problem is really perplexing me, and is a massive headache. I would really appreciate if someone could help out and assist me in isolating the exact cause of this issue so I can take action. I am free to respond with more information or details if you would like, just ask.
Thank you
TLDR: Computer is freezing to a gray screen during certain intensive activities (loading game, editing w/ Premiere Pro). Can't figure out why. Please help!
For a couple of months my graphics card (at least that's what I think has been the issue), a Sapphire R9 280x Vapor-X, has been behaving quite erratically. Sometimes, especially when loading a video game (eg. loading video game menu, loading a new map in a video game like Counter Strike), or editing a video in a program like Adobe Premiere, my computer will abruptly freeze up and I will just get a gray screen (and sometimes other colors, both with and without vertical lines running across). Generally, when this happens, my music stops if I am listening to a song.
In fact, last night I was editing a video in Premiere Pro and my computer would get the gray screen immediately after I opened my project! I restarted my PC and tried again multiple times, and this happened without fail. Luckily, it doesn't seem to be immediately shutting off on project open today but the general issue still persists (just had it gray screen on me while doing some random Premiere editing like 1 hour ago)
This is obviously very disruptive. Although I didn't realize it at first (I was restarting my computer whenever I got a gray screen), after about 4 minutes my system partially recovers and I get a notification from my tray informing me that "Default Radeon WattMan settings have been restored due to unexpected system failure." After this point, I can generally see my actual screen again, although the visuals are buggy and some portions of the screen (eg. Premiere toolbar menu options) are black when I mouse over them. Some things are also unusable in this state, and my screen can also repeatedly lapse back into the gray screen of death in this state.
This issue seemed to begin occurring after I fiddled around with overclocking my processor, an AMD FX6300, through my Asus M5A99X EVO 2.0's (my motherboard) BIOS. Now, the overclock thing could just be a coincidence; I'm not too sure. However, it is worth noting that when I was experimenting with overclocking I adjusted CPU voltage and CPU ratio, along with disabling some features like Cool & Quiet. I may have adjusted DRAM or North Bridge voltage too, although I'm not so sure about those. However, to the best of my ability, I do not remember changing the voltage or the clock speed of GPU. Though there's always a possibility that I accidentally fried when changing voltages, I don't really think I went overboard with setting the voltage—I tried to do it incrementally. Additionally, I've long since disabled the overclock and reset my settings in BIOS, though I might have missed 1-2 couple of things.
My temperatures seem to be ok—this was happening during wintertime with chilly temperatures and a Hyper 212 Evo on my processor. Also, almost right before my computer froze I checked my temps with MSI Afterburner and they were approx. 40C for both the GPU and CPU.
Additionally, I realize the R9 280x and FX 6300 are kind of power hogs but I'm not sure if wattage itself is the issue—my PSU, the Corsair CX600M, delivers 600 watts which in my opinion should be more than sufficient.
My GPU drivers are pretty up to date: I updated them about a month ago. Additionally, this issue has been happening on multiple different GPU driver versions, it's not like the latest Radeon driver update introduced it.
Also, last night my computer kept getting the gray screen and coming back and then getting the gray screen and coming back again and again. I opened up my computer and took a peek at my GPU while this was happening. My GPU has 6 green lights, which serve as some sort of power indicator (I looked it up online). Turns out, some of the green lights were flickering and being inconsistent. For example, one second I would have 2 green lights on and the other I would have 5—stuff like that. That certainly concerned me, and made me think even more than before that the GPU was the root cause of this issue. If you would like, I could attach a video I recorded of this happening.
This problem is really perplexing me, and is a massive headache. I would really appreciate if someone could help out and assist me in isolating the exact cause of this issue so I can take action. I am free to respond with more information or details if you would like, just ask.
Thank you
TLDR: Computer is freezing to a gray screen during certain intensive activities (loading game, editing w/ Premiere Pro). Can't figure out why. Please help!
Last edited:
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