[SOLVED] Green dots on screen

[TheMogul0]

Hello guys. So, I have a pretty new setup, bought everything in November, 4070ti, i7-13700kf, 32gb ram. Now, for a month already, sometimes when I am done gaming, almost as soon as I close the game, the monitor is almost full of small, green dots/squares. The green thingies disappear most of the time after like 10-15seconds and everything is back to normal, only I have to disconnect and connect the headphone again, because the sound is gone. So far, it only happened after gaming. Never during gaming or during any other activity like browsing or watching movies. It doesnt happen every time after I am done gaming, so I have no idea what the issue could be. I am little disappointed as everything is brand new and I am already having these problems. Can someone please help me? Also, maybe worth to mention, the monitor is 165hz, but I always use the overclocked option, which is 180hz. Someone any ideas, please?

Also forgot to mention, the GPU temperature never goes beyond 73celsius and also the CPU cores are never above 72, so it shouldnt be because it cant handle the games. Probably unrelated, but there is sometimes a big difference in temperature between the CPU cores. Sometimes even like 20celsius difference.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

Use DDU to remove all GPU drivers(Intel, AMD and Nvidia) from your platform, then manually reinstall with the latest driver sourced from Nvidia's support site in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

 

[Darkbreeze]

The variance in CPU core temperatures is likely normal. The only way this would not be normal is if you were running a steady state thermal stress test like Prime95 Small FFT, AVX options disabled, and still had a 15 degree or higher variance between the highest core temperature and the next highest.

As for the rest, what the rest of the FULL hardware specifications including motherboard model, current motherboard BIOS version, exact power supply model and approximate age, exact memory kit model, etc.?

 

[TheMogul0]

CPU: I7-13700kf
CPU cooler: Dragon Firebreather catch IT 360 RGB watercooling + 6 other, normal fans
Motherboard: Z790 Aorus Elite AX
Ram: 32GB
SSD/HDD: 1TB SSD / 1TB HDD
GPU: Zotac Gaming 4070TI
PSU: I think 750W but could be 850, not sure
Chassis: AZZA AERO RGB FULL ATX 4 fans
OS: Windows 11 Home
Monitor: LG UltraGear 27GP850-B 27 Inch Gaming Monitor - QHD 2560 x 1440, Nano IPS 1ms 165Hz (180Hz Overclock)

The BIOS version I checked in the system information, not sure if that's the right one, but it says American Megatrends International, LLC. FE, 2023. 07. 24.
SMBIOS Version 3.5
BIOS-mod UEFI

And as I said, I bought the pc pre-built, in november 2023. Hope that helps

 

[Darkbreeze]

You'll need to hit pause while the machine is first booting up and note the actual BIOS version there on the POST screen, OR go into the BIOS and find the BIOS information on the main page. The information being offered from the system info applet does not match up with anything listed on the product support BIOS update page for the Z790 Aorus Elite AX. Possible listed versions are F1, F2, F3, F5, F6c, F6d, F6, F7, F8, F9 and F10 so unless this is an OEM exclusive board model, which sometimes we see on prebuilt systems that use specially released versions of common aftermarket board models but that use prebuilt model specific BIOS releases, then that BIOS release information is questionable. It would be best to go into the BIOS and see what it actually says there before doing anything else on this.

Normally I'd just say skip the dumb stuff and simply update to F10 since that's the latest version, but I don't want you to install a BIOS release that was not intended for your board if it is a proprietary OEM model version of the Elite AX and not an aftermarket Elite AX.

This COULD be important, as very often problem like this might be cleared up by updating the BIOS.

As to the PSU, "750w" is not a model. That is just the capacity. The problem with that is that VERY often these OEMs use extremely poor quality, cheaply designed power supplies in their prebuilt systems that otherwise have fairly decent components because this is one area where they can increase their profit margins, and a lot of the time it ends up being a problem since it's actually the MOST important component in the system. So knowing the exact model is of the highest importance here. A poor quality or faulty PSU can easily cause any problem you could ever see on a PC including graphical glitches, intermittent issues, or any type of symptom that any kind of faulty part could have, since every part in the machine relies on the power supply and expects to see good, clean, stable power in sufficient quantity. If it doesn't get that, or if the PSU has problems, you could see anything happening including hardware failure at some point.

It would be wise to look at the label on the side of the PSU and find the actual model or at least the brand name AND series, for example, Corsair RMx, Seasonic Focus GX, EVGA G7, etc. Being as this is an Azza chassis and Azza often includes a PSU with their cases, there is a good chance it's an Azza power supply and if it is you want to get that out of there and get a real PSU in there ASAP because ALL of their power supplies are pure garbage.

This is the most likely causes although of course BIOS issues that might be corrected by updating, driver issues that might be cured by running the DDU and reinstalling the latest Nvidia drivers or even a motherboard issue could all be possible, but I think in this case the PSU needs to be clarified before pursuing any other potential issues.

 

[TheMogul0]

Thank you so much for your reply! As for the PSU, it should be a Xilence gaming 80+ power supply, but not too sure if it's a 750W or an 850W one.
As for the BIOS version, I looked it up by typing "wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion" in CMD and it only says "SMBIOSBIOSVERSION
FE"
Like there is nothing after version, only FE in the following line.

I am not really that techy when it comes to these stuff, but when you are talking about "OEM model version of the Elite AX and not an aftermarket Elite AX", is that a bad thing? I am not quite sure, my apologies.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Ok, so I found an answer for you and while it doesn't specifically state that this is an OEM version made specifically for whoever prebuilt this machine, it does indicate that there are different REVISIONS, and yours, for future reference, is revision 1.x. Revision 1.0 is different, and has the BIOS versions I listed above. For your version, bookmark this for future reference so you don't accidentally in the future mistake your board revision for a rev 1.0 board.

https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Motherboard/Z790-AORUS-ELITE-AX-rev-1x/support#support-dl-bios

The latest BIOS release for your board is version FH and I would advise you to update the BIOS to that version. If you are not familiar with updating the BIOS then I would highly suggest you watch ALL of these videos, twice, so that you are entirely familiar with the process, then proceed to update after downloading the BIOS release version "FH" and putting it on a FAT32 formatted flash drive. You can also update IN the BIOS using regular Q-flash instead of Q-flash Plus, but Q-flash Plus is a lot easier and far more foolproof. Just be sure to follow the directions from these videos exactly as outlined in them. There may be very minor differences between Gigabyte boards that have Q-flash plus such as different type of flash button or flash button in different location, but process is basically identical for them all.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf-gXBskUGs

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cQLYROKJ_Q

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVHa46UoM0A



You Xilence Gaming is extremely, EXTREMELY poor quality. It is about as bad as bad can get and is listed on the Avoid tier here:

PSU Tier List rev. 17.0g - Cultists Network

PSU Tier List will help you to choose the best PSU out of hundreds of models on the market. From budget to the highest end Power Supplies.

cultists.network

But even if it wasn't, I would already know that because aside from one very mediocre Xilence model series which is the SQ series, I have never seen a positive review of ANY Xilence power supply and have seen a BUNCH of extremely bad ones including almost every one of them stating plainly that Xilence PSUs are dumpster fire type units. I would VERY HIGHLY recommend that you replace it immediately with something that has decent quality and is either listed on Tier A or B at the link I posted above for the PSU cultists tier list or among those listed as recommended on my PSU recommendations thread here:

Discussion - PSU recommendations and power supply discussion thread - Tom's hardware

Below you will find MY standard list of recommended power supplies and beyond that this thread is intended as a landing place for questions or discussions regarding specific units, platforms or related PSU tech, all of which are all welcome to be discussed here. If it's related to power supplies...

forums.tomshardware.com

If and hopefully WHEN you DO decide to replace it, and there is a VERY good chance that this PSU is your entire problem (And honestly I'd probably wait to do the BIOS update until after you've replace the PSU to ensure a sketchy PSU doesn't cause any problems with the update, but I'll leave that decision up to you), it would be wise to come back here and ask regarding the specific model you intend to update to especially if it's listed on Tier B on the Cultists tier list because there ARE a few models that they have listed in positions that many of us don't 100% agree with and believe are better off avoided. Mostly it's fairly accurate, but there are, in our opinion, a few discrepancies on there. Expect to pay somewhere in the realm of 80-120 dollars US if you want to get a PSU that is worth purchasing and would be considered good enough for your configuration. Keep in mind, "watts" means nothing and "brand" means nothing. ONLY the model really matters because there are 500w models that are far better options than some 1000w models and every brand out there has both good and bad models so it pays to know exactly what model you are getting and make sure there is a trustworthy professional review of that unit before doing so.

 

[TheMogul0]

Ok, so I found an answer for you and while it doesn't specifically state that this is an OEM version made specifically for whoever prebuilt this machine, it does indicate that there are different REVISIONS, and yours, for future reference, is revision 1.x. Revision 1.0 is different, and has the BIOS versions I listed above. For your version, bookmark this for future reference so you don't accidentally in the future mistake your board revision for a rev 1.0 board.

https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Motherboard/Z790-AORUS-ELITE-AX-rev-1x/support#support-dl-bios

The latest BIOS release for your board is version FH and I would advise you to update the BIOS to that version. If you are not familiar with updating the BIOS then I would highly suggest you watch ALL of these videos, twice, so that you are entirely familiar with the process, then proceed to update after downloading the BIOS release version "FH" and putting it on a FAT32 formatted flash drive. You can also update IN the BIOS using regular Q-flash instead of Q-flash Plus, but Q-flash Plus is a lot easier and far more foolproof. Just be sure to follow the directions from these videos exactly as outlined in them. There may be very minor differences between Gigabyte boards that have Q-flash plus such as different type of flash button or flash button in different location, but process is basically identical for them all.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf-gXBskUGs

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cQLYROKJ_Q

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVHa46UoM0A



You Xilence Gaming is extremely, EXTREMELY poor quality. It is about as bad as bad can get and is listed on the Avoid tier here:

PSU Tier List rev. 17.0g - Cultists Network

PSU Tier List will help you to choose the best PSU out of hundreds of models on the market. From budget to the highest end Power Supplies.

cultists.network

But even if it wasn't, I would already know that because aside from one very mediocre Xilence model series which is the SQ series, I have never seen a positive review of ANY Xilence power supply and have seen a BUNCH of extremely bad ones including almost every one of them stating plainly that Xilence PSUs are dumpster fire type units. I would VERY HIGHLY recommend that you replace it immediately with something that has decent quality and is either listed on Tier A or B at the link I posted above for the PSU cultists tier list or among those listed as recommended on my PSU recommendations thread here:

Discussion - PSU recommendations and power supply discussion thread - Tom's hardware

Below you will find MY standard list of recommended power supplies and beyond that this thread is intended as a landing place for questions or discussions regarding specific units, platforms or related PSU tech, all of which are all welcome to be discussed here. If it's related to power supplies...

forums.tomshardware.com

If and hopefully WHEN you DO decide to replace it, and there is a VERY good chance that this PSU is your entire problem (And honestly I'd probably wait to do the BIOS update until after you've replace the PSU to ensure a sketchy PSU doesn't cause any problems with the update, but I'll leave that decision up to you), it would be wise to come back here and ask regarding the specific model you intend to update to especially if it's listed on Tier B on the Cultists tier list because there ARE a few models that they have listed in positions that many of us don't 100% agree with and believe are better off avoided. Mostly it's fairly accurate, but there are, in our opinion, a few discrepancies on there. Expect to pay somewhere in the realm of 80-120 dollars US if you want to get a PSU that is worth purchasing and would be considered good enough for your configuration. Keep in mind, "watts" means nothing and "brand" means nothing. ONLY the model really matters because there are 500w models that are far better options than some 1000w models and every brand out there has both good and bad models so it pays to know exactly what model you are getting and make sure there is a trustworthy professional review of that unit before doing so.

Alright, so I took the pc apart, because now, it didnt even want to start and the vga light was on. While I was at it, I checked the psu and it’s an Gigabyte Ultra Durable Gold 850. Sorry for the confusion. I also reset the cmos battery. But it just doesnt start anymore, vga is always on. I dont know what to do.

 

[TheMogul0]

Some extra info. Tha vga light is on, but so are the rgb lights on the gpu, its fans are working as well, so it is clearly getting power. I have no idea what else I could try, I guess I will have to take the pc back to where I bought it from, let them figure it out.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Did you follow THIS specific procedure? EXACTLY as it is outlined here? If not, I would try this FIRST, and then, yes, if it still does not want to start and is stopping on the VGA light every time then I would take it back and make them figure out what is going on. It is very likely that there is a problem with the graphics card since you were already having graphical anomalies and are now stopping the POST process at VGA. Being as you took it apart though I assume you disconnected the cables, so make certain that when you reconnected them you plugged your monitor into the graphics card video output and not any of the ones on the motherboard.


BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

Trying a different monitor as well, if possible, is also a good idea if there is a lack of display. It happens.

 

[TheMogul0]

Did you follow THIS specific procedure? EXACTLY as it is outlined here? If not, I would try this FIRST, and then, yes, if it still does not want to start and is stopping on the VGA light every time then I would take it back and make them figure out what is going on. It is very likely that there is a problem with the graphics card since you were already having graphical anomalies and are now stopping the POST process at VGA. Being as you took it apart though I assume you disconnected the cables, so make certain that when you reconnected them you plugged your monitor into the graphics card video output and not any of the ones on the motherboard.


BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

Trying a different monitor as well, if possible, is also a good idea if there is a lack of display. It happens.

But what I dont understand is, why did it only happen right after gaming? Why not during gaming, why always right after the game is closed? Shouldnt it happen during the heavy load of gaming? I really dont understand that part. Or is that normal that it happens afterwards?

 

[Darkbreeze]

It's not normal that it happens afterwards, but it's also not unheard of for problems to happen after closing out of a game either. Sometimes this could be a PSU issue, and for the record the one you have IS a much better unit than what we though you had at first even though it isn't a fantastic model. It should be good enough for your 4070 ti and it has enough capacity. It is just an "ok" model, but it shouldn't be causing problems ALTHOUGH, any PSU CAN be faulty whether new or not, and regardless of model. Any electronics can come from the factory with problems and it happens all the time. So I wouldn't rule that out, but given the symptoms I'm more inclined to believe it is the graphics card.

But if it's under warranty and you can take it back and let them deal with it, that is probably the best idea.

Be SURE that you tell them what it was doing originally though, not just what it's doing now. Tell them it was doing that thing with the dots when you closed out of games, and now it won't POST at all.

 

[TheMogul0]

Ye, as I said, I bought it like 5 months ago, so everything should be under warranty so it's probably best to take it back, it's just that I am a little bummed that it's so new and I am already having these problems. Thank you so much for your help though, appreciate it!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Anytime at all. Good luck.