Grey Screen Death

[Robbo32]

Hi all, I was on my PC tonight and it got a grey screen, alt-tab, control-alt-delete wasn't working so I just went for a restart and while it turns on I get nothing on screen. I've noticed the USB ports seem to have died so I thought it must be a motherboard issue, the screen is on standby mode so nothing's being sent to it either. All the fans seem to be going still and the lights on the USB side of the motherboard are still on. I've searched around on the forums but I'm not sure anything matches up exactly, any ideas on what the issue might be?
I'm relatively new to the hardware type of things so I'm mildly proficient with the bits and pieces.

 

[cin19]

If you have other monitor, try it out. If you don't have one, but have the laptop, you can use the laptop as the monitor. The problem maybe from the monitor, GPU, PSU, or MB, etc.

 

[Robbo32]

If you have other monitor, try it out. If you don't have one, but have the laptop, you can use the laptop as the monitor. The problem maybe from the monitor, GPU, PSU, or MB, etc.

Hi Cin, I initially cleaned the entire case with a can of compressed air and the next day when I turned it on it was all okay. I thought that perhaps there had been a build up of dust that I'd cleared out but again earlier this week there was the same issue with the Grey Screen. I've tried another monitor with no fix there, how can I tell if the PSU is the issue? What does MB mean sorry?

 

[skibo1219]

Grey is usually GPU related, check cable for bent pins or even a weak cable connection to your GPU card. if you can get into safe mode without any grey screens then next would be to update the drivers, even if they are the most recent versions, just do a clean install.

 

[cin19]

And can you post your PC specification? Like other member said the problem may related to GPU, driver or PSU.

 

[Robbo32]

And can you post your PC specification? Like other member said the problem may related to GPU, driver or PSU.

No worries, GPU- AMD Radeon HD 7950
CPU: Intel i7-3770
12 gb of RAM
Baseboard: Gigabyte H77m-D3H
PSU: Thermaltake (500w) TT-500NL1NH-1

Any other specs needed?

 

[cin19]

Take out the hd7950, use the onboard intel iGPU to see what happens, I will say you will be fine, not grey screen. Also you can test the hd 9750 in other pc, like in your friend pc. Because I think your Thermaltake 500W can't handle your PC with hd 9750.

 

[Robbo32]

Grey is usually GPU related, check cable for bent pins or even a weak cable connection to your GPU card. if you can get into safe mode without any grey screens then next would be to update the drivers, even if they are the most recent versions, just do a clean install.

Clean installed to the latest version and when I restarted after the install I had a grey screen.
Left it for half an hour and it was okay again. However on the windows splash screen it has two red lines running vertically down the screen.

Take out the hd7950, use the onboard intel iGPU to see what happens, I will say you will be fine, not grey screen. Also you can test the hd 9750 in other pc, like in your friend pc. Because I think your Thermaltake 500W can't handle your PC with hd 9750.

I havent pulled anything out before, if thats what I have to do then I'll do it, I'll see what you think of my reply to skibo and that will be my last resort, thanks for your help guys

 

[skibo1219]

Grey is usually GPU related, check cable for bent pins or even a weak cable connection to your GPU card. if you can get into safe mode without any grey screens then next would be to update the drivers, even if they are the most recent versions, just do a clean install.

Clean installed to the latest version and when I restarted after the install I had a grey screen.
Left it for half an hour and it was okay again. However on the windows splash screen it has two red lines running vertically down the screen.

Take out the hd7950, use the onboard intel iGPU to see what happens, I will say you will be fine, not grey screen. Also you can test the hd 9750 in other pc, like in your friend pc. Because I think your Thermaltake 500W can't handle your PC with hd 9750.

I havent pulled anything out before, if thats what I have to do then I'll do it, I'll see what you think of my reply to skibo and that will be my last resort, thanks for your help guys

The red lines point to your card or another graphics related issue.

I'm with Robbo32, lets test without your card installed. But before that, if you have a spare PSU around or can borrow one with same 500w, but try for more wattage 550w or more, swap it in and see if problem continues. If not, problem is obvious.

If the problem is still there, and before you remove your card. Go into the BIOS and make sure on board graphics is turned on. Save and exit. Shut down your system, remove card, reboot. Check if problem persists with both power supplies (assuming you have a spare). After this, reinstall your card and see if all is ok.

 

[Robbo32]

Hi guys, changed over the power source and the issue persisted. Removed the hd 7950 and it runs just fine.
That's all I can do for now and it looks like i'm in for an upgrade! Thanks for your help.