Monitor loses signal but PC stays on

[Future Lambo]

I have already looked up countless threads about this but haven't been able to find one that fits exactly what's happening with my PC.

Basically the problem takes place in this order of events:

1) Anything graphic or resource intensive triggers a black screen which then results in the monitor displaying a "No Signal" message.

2) Any audio previously playing before the black screen becomes very slowed down and distorted.

3) Key inputs and mouse clicks have absolutely no effect and the PC only becomes responsive after a restart.

The solutions I have tried so far:

1) Memtest86 and Memory Diagnostic Tool to test RAM.

2) Prime95 to test CPU.

3) Monitored GPU and CPU temps and each are WAY under high temperatures (around 30 - 43 C each) before the black screen takes place.

4) Rolled back graphics drivers.

5) GPU stress tests resulted in an instant black screen.

At this point, I'm just trying to confirm for sure that it's a GPU issue before I RMA it and I'm still unsure since there shouldn't be any audio issues if it's just the GPU. I only did 1 pass on Memtest and neither the CPU or RAM tests showed any errors so I'm not sure what it could be at this point. Does anyone have any other ideas as to what can be the cause?

EDIT: I tried starting up a game (Rocket League) both in Safe Mode and a regular boot, there's no black screen or PC freeze in Safe Mode and it even make it to the main menu where it renders the game whereas with a regular boot it doesn't even show the beginning splash screen. Does this confirm that it's a driver issue?

 

[airplanegeek]

Try uninstalling your gpu drivers using ddu, and then reinstalling them again.

 

[Future Lambo]

Try uninstalling your gpu drivers using ddu, and then reinstalling them again.

I tried this alongside reseating and cleaning the GPU, and before reinstalling them again I tried running the applications in Normal Mode with every driver but NVIDIA ones active and there were no crashes or black screens after running them. However, after reinstalling the drivers the issues began again and the applications that caused no problems before installing the drivers now do.

 

[airplanegeek]

Try reinstalling windows.

 

[Future Lambo]

Try reinstalling windows.

I tried inserting the card into another PCIE slot and this seemingly fixed the issues, so the slot could have been the problem this whole time. However, if it was the GPU that caused the faulty slot then should I be plugging it into slots that are actually working? What causes a faulty slot other than being loosened due to the weight of the card?

 

[James Mason]

It sounds like a software issue if it's working in safe mode, even though the windows basic drivers are working vs the nvidia ones, windows could still be broken somewhere else when the nvidia ones try to work.

So i'd also say try reinstalling windows.