Question Graphics card randomly disconnects ?

[RageMouse]

Recently my GPU has been disconnecting more frequently, I've cleaned everything, reinstalled Windows 10, reinstalled GPU drivers with DDU, checked my ram for errors and my drives also seem fine. My computer has also froze once entirely which does not seem to happen anymore. Is my GPU just dying or is something else causing it to disconnect? I don't think it's an overheating issues because it has crashed in League of Legends multiple times where my GPU and CPU never go above 50C.
Setup,
OS: Windows 10
GPU: GTX 980Ti
RAM: 16gb DDR4
MOBO: Asus Z170 Pro Gaming
HDD: 1TB
SSD: Samsung EVO 970 1tb & Samsung EVO 850 500gb
CPU: i7 6700k with watercooling Kraken x52
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 850 watt

 

[cdrkf]

Recently my GPU has been disconnecting more frequently, I've cleaned everything, reinstalled Windows 10, reinstalled GPU drivers with DDU, checked my ram for errors and my drives also seem fine. My computer has also froze once entirely which does not seem to happen anymore. Is my GPU just dying or is something else causing it to disconnect? I don't think it's an overheating issues because it has crashed in League of Legends multiple times where my GPU and CPU never go above 50C.
Setup,
OS: Windows 10
GPU: GTX 980Ti
RAM: 16gb DDR4
MOBO: Asus Z170 Pro Gaming
HDD: 1TB
SSD: Samsung EVO 970 1tb & Samsung EVO 850 500gb
CPU: i7 6700k with watercooling Kraken x52
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 850 watt

Can you give some more details about what is happening when you say 'disconnecting'? It could be a display issue rather than a problem with the gpu (I have run into problems with connections over display port for example), when it disconnects is the game / computer still operating in the background with just the display off, or does the machine crash / software running crash (e.g. restart, crash to desktop etc)?

 

[RageMouse]

Can you give some more details about what is happening when you say 'disconnecting'? It could be a display issue rather than a problem with the gpu (I have run into problems with connections over display port for example), when it disconnects is the game / computer still operating in the background with just the display off, or does the machine crash / software running crash (e.g. restart, crash to desktop etc)?

When playing a game, after a while or even after a minute sometimes, I hear the disconnect windows noise, and my screens go to black. I can still hear sound and my PC continues to run, after a bit I hear the connect windows noise and my screens come back. Even the game sound is still working, but it's just a black screen or the game crashes and shows an error with something like, graphics device has been disconnected while the game was running.

 

[revodo]

Fascinating. You've done all the major software troubleshooting including a full system reset, and it still persists.

1: What cable connection do you have? HDMI to HDMI? DisplayPort to HDMI? HDMI to DVI?

2: Are the fans still running? What are the temps of the GPU / CPU?

3: Do you have any recording software running in the background like ShadowPlay or OBS?

 

[RageMouse]

Fascinating. You've done all the major software troubleshooting including a full system reset, and it still persists.

1: What cable connection do you have? HDMI to HDMI? DisplayPort to HDMI? HDMI to DVI?

2: Are the fans still running? What are the temps of the GPU / CPU?

3: Do you have any recording software running in the background like ShadowPlay or OBS?

Yeah, I'm just very confused and I've already tried so many things.

1: My 144hz monitor is connected with DisplayPort to DisplayPort and my 2nd monitor a generic samsung 60hz one is connected with HDMI to HDMI.

2: I think my fans stop running when it disconnects I have not checked it tbf, so I will look next time. Last time it crashed I was playing Days Gone and my GPU was at 83C and CPU was around 50-60ish C. But then again it also crashed multiple times when playing League of Legends in which neither of them even reach 60C.

3: I have nothing running, maybe an overlay like the Xbox one but other than that no.

 

[revodo]

Yeah, I'm just very confused and I've already tried so many things.

1: My 144hz monitor is connected with DisplayPort to DisplayPort and my 2nd monitor a generic samsung 60hz one is connected with HDMI to HDMI.

2: I think my fans stop running when it disconnects I have not checked it tbf, so I will look next time. Last time it crashed I was playing Days Gone and my GPU was at 83C and CPU was around 50-60ish C. But then again it also crashed multiple times when playing League of Legends in which neither of them even reach 60C.

3: I have nothing running, maybe an overlay like the Xbox one but other than that no.

Do you have extra HDMI / DisplayPort cables to swap out and try? Everyone always suggests this, but really, who has tons of extra cables laying around? Still, if you're able, it would be worth it to rule out a faulty cable.

Depending on when your video card was manufactured, it might be over 6 years old. Possible to start failing after that amount of time, but unlikely.

Also, can you try resetting your BIOS settings?

 

[RageMouse]

Do you have extra HDMI / DisplayPort cables to swap out and try? Everyone always suggests this, but really, who has tons of extra cables laying around? Still, if you're able, it would be worth it to rule out a faulty cable.

Depending on when your video card was manufactured, it might be over 6 years old. Possible to start failing after that amount of time, but unlikely.

Also, can you try resetting your BIOS settings?

Sadly I don't have spare DisplayPort cables around, I do have some HDMI ones. I'm very worried that it is indeed my GPU but it seems to work fine in every benchmark I try etc.

I will do that right now!

 

[RageMouse]

Do you have extra HDMI / DisplayPort cables to swap out and try? Everyone always suggests this, but really, who has tons of extra cables laying around? Still, if you're able, it would be worth it to rule out a faulty cable.

Depending on when your video card was manufactured, it might be over 6 years old. Possible to start failing after that amount of time, but unlikely.

Also, can you try resetting your BIOS settings?

I have reset my BIOS settings and sadly it still crashes, weirdly enough I didn't hear the disconnect sound this time, just my screens going black, 2nd one first then my main monitor.

I have ran HWiNFO in the background to maybe figure out what is happening but I have no idea what to look for, here is the link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o3L1IDAWDR2thQcbYDkdJxKFAdg21_YK/view?usp=sharing

EDIT1: I'm now gonna try without my 2nd monitor.
EDIT2: Unplugging my 2nd monitor didn't seem to help.

 

[revodo]

I have reset my BIOS settings and sadly it still crashes, weirdly enough I didn't hear the disconnect sound this time, just my screens going black, 2nd one first then my main monitor.

I have ran HWiNFO in the background to maybe figure out what is happening but I have no idea what to look for, here is the link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o3L1IDAWDR2thQcbYDkdJxKFAdg21_YK/view?usp=sharing

EDIT1: I'm now gonna try without my 2nd monitor.
EDIT2: Unplugging my 2nd monitor didn't seem to help.

Forgot to ask, does the screens going on and off happen only in games? Or the desktop environment as well?

 

[RageMouse]

Forgot to ask, does the screens going on and off happen only in games? Or the desktop environment as well?

Only in games.

 

[revodo]

Try these links. One of the solutions might work for you.

Random black screen flickers

Fix: Geforce Experience Black Screen in Windows 10

 

[RageMouse]

Try these links. One of the solutions might work for you.

Random black screen flickers

Fix: Geforce Experience Black Screen in Windows 10

I think they are both different problems, I'm going to use my old 650 ti and see if it makes any difference.

UPDATE: Switching to my 650 Ti Boost seems to get rid of the crashing, does this mean my 980 Ti is just broken in some way?

 

[revodo]

I think they are both different problems, I'm going to use my old 650 ti and see if it makes any difference.

UPDATE: Switching to my 650 Ti Boost seems to get rid of the crashing, does this mean my 980 Ti is just broken in some way?

It's possible. I'd run the 650 and stress test it as much as possible. If it really doesn't have a problem then it could be a few things left. (Not necessarily probable, but possible)

1: Video card is dying / has permeant hardware issue.

2: Current drivers are causing the issue. Try to roll back to an old driver, maybe 6 months to a year old just for testing.

3: Thermal paste might have eroded. If possible, reapply thermal paste to GPU / fans.

4: PSU might be having issues, and the 650 draws much less power than the 980, making the 650 stable and the 980 unstable.

 

[revodo]

Yep, just checked the specs.

The 650 requires a 250 watt PSU, and the 980 Ti requires a 600 watt PSU.

That might be the issue if your PSU is indeed having issues.

 

[RageMouse]

Yep, just checked the specs.

The 650 requires a 250 watt PSU, and the 980 Ti requires a 600 watt PSU.

That might be the issue if your PSU is indeed having issues.

Hmm is there any way to check if the PSU is giving enough power?

 

[RageMouse]

It's possible. I'd run the 650 and stress test it as much as possible. If it really doesn't have a problem then it could be a few things left. (Not necessarily probable, but possible)

1: Video card is dying / has permeant hardware issue.

2: Current drivers are causing the issue. Try to roll back to an old driver, maybe 6 months to a year old just for testing.

3: Thermal paste might have eroded. If possible, reapply thermal paste to GPU / fans.

4: PSU might be having issues, and the 650 draws much less power than the 980, making the 650 stable and the 980 unstable.

Oh oops I skipped over this post, I'll try the drivers later today, good tip. And I'll do some benchmarking with the 650 ti boost.

 

[RageMouse]

Update!

I installed 399.07 and it seems to work fine now. I ran a GpuMemTest and came back with this error on the newer drivers.

Error 5250: Error waiting command queue to finish copyBlocks kernel!

If anyone is still looking at this thread, do you have any tips or things that could be wrong with it?

 

[Syed_Yasir]

Update!

I installed 399.07 and it seems to work fine now. I ran a GpuMemTest and came back with this error on the newer drivers.

Error 5250: Error waiting command queue to finish copyBlocks kernel!

If anyone is still looking at this thread, do you have any tips or things that could be wrong with it?

Hey man, I'm getting the exact same issue. Can you tell me if you managed to fix it yet?