[SOLVED] Graphics System Failure

ktriebol

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I have a Gigabyte GA-H270N-WIFI motherboard with an Intel i3-7100 CPU. I am using the Intel HD graphics 630. Once or twice a day, my screen goes black for about 5 seconds, and then returns to normal by itself. I think this is a graphics system issue. I thought it might be caused by excessive heat, so I thoroughly cleaned the dust away from the motherboard and CPU, but the problem persists. If it is indeed a graphics system problem, how can I determine if it is caused by the CPU or the motherboard?
 
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I have a Gigabyte GA-H270N-WIFI motherboard with an Intel i3-7100 CPU. I am using the Intel HD graphics 630. Once or twice a day, my screen goes black for about 5 seconds, and then returns to normal by itself. I think this is a graphics system issue. I thought it might be caused by excessive heat, so I thoroughly cleaned the dust away from the motherboard and CPU, but the problem persists. If it is indeed a graphics system problem, how can I determine if it is caused by the CPU or the motherboard?

Can you replicate it? If so, post your temps here. I'm sure a resident guru here will take one look and be able to answer. I do gotta ask the generic "Are all Drivers Up To Date" question and ask how much dedicated RAM is allocated to...

Mrgr74

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I have a Gigabyte GA-H270N-WIFI motherboard with an Intel i3-7100 CPU. I am using the Intel HD graphics 630. Once or twice a day, my screen goes black for about 5 seconds, and then returns to normal by itself. I think this is a graphics system issue. I thought it might be caused by excessive heat, so I thoroughly cleaned the dust away from the motherboard and CPU, but the problem persists. If it is indeed a graphics system problem, how can I determine if it is caused by the CPU or the motherboard?

Can you replicate it? If so, post your temps here. I'm sure a resident guru here will take one look and be able to answer. I do gotta ask the generic "Are all Drivers Up To Date" question and ask how much dedicated RAM is allocated to it in the Bios? Only a Max 64GB can be allocated to it. (lol @ 64GB) How much system RAM do you have installed?

https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...n-intel-processors/intel-hd-graphics-630.html
 
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ktriebol

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I can't replicate it, but I can answer some of your questions. I keep all of my drivers up to date periodically, including the Intel graphics driver. My BIOS says there is 256M dedicated to graphics. That seems to be a small amount. Would it help if I increase it? I have 8GB of RAM installed.

One thought just came to mind. My system drive is a 500GB NVME that is mounted to the underside of the motherboard. This puts it directly below the H270 chipset that is mounted on the primary side of the motherboard. It is possible that high heat from the drive is transferring to the chipset, and that could be causing my problem. I think I will clone my NVME drive to a 2.5 inch SATA III drive that I have in the system now, and then disable the NVME drive. The 2.5 inch drive is a ways away from the motherboard, so there should be no heat transfer issue with that drive.
 

Mrgr74

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I can't replicate it, but I can answer some of your questions. I keep all of my drivers up to date periodically, including the Intel graphics driver. My BIOS says there is 256M dedicated to graphics. That seems to be a small amount. Would it help if I increase it? I have 8GB of RAM installed.

One thought just came to mind. My system drive is a 500GB NVME that is mounted to the underside of the motherboard. This puts it directly below the H270 chipset that is mounted on the primary side of the motherboard. It is possible that high heat from the drive is transferring to the chipset, and that could be causing my problem. I think I will clone my NVME drive to a 2.5 inch SATA III drive that I have in the system now, and then disable the NVME drive. The 2.5 inch drive is a ways away from the motherboard, so there should be no heat transfer issue with that drive.

Depending on what you do with your system, general use, Youtube, VERY light gaming, things of that nature, 256mb should be plenty. You could try raising it a little to see if that helps though. Glad to hear about the drivers. As for the m.2 drive directly behind/above the onboard, before you moved it, I'd like to see how things run if you exposed the inside of your case (removing the cover lol) and have direct airflow entering it. Do you have a house fan you could try? Try this at it's default 256mb and then possibly again with a little more (if you felt it justified a try)

Let us know how things go.
 

ktriebol

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I just wanted to update this thread. My problem continued to get worse, and that made it easier to pinpoint the cause of the problem. It turns out that it wasn't a graphics problem at all. The motherboard and CPU are fine. One of my sticks of RAM was bad. After removing the bad stick, all is well.
 

Mrgr74

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I just wanted to update this thread. My problem continued to get worse, and that made it easier to pinpoint the cause of the problem. It turns out that it wasn't a graphics problem at all. The motherboard and CPU are fine. One of my sticks of RAM was bad. After removing the bad stick, all is well.

Thanks for the update. Sucks about the RAM tho. Sorry to hear that. Are you going to replace it or just get a matching Kit?

Either way, glad you figured out the issue and was able to fix it.
 

ktriebol

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Thanks for the update. Sucks about the RAM tho. Sorry to hear that. Are you going to replace it or just get a matching Kit?

Either way, glad you figured out the issue and was able to fix it.
The system is working fine with the 4GB stick. The truth is, I can't detect any loss of performance from when I had 2X4GB. Oh well, I ordered a new 2X4GB set anyway. They were only $36, and the speed will change from 2133 to 2400 (not that I'll be able to detect any difference anyway). One good thing about having two sticks in the system is that you can pull one when it goes bad and keep on running.
 
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