[SOLVED] Old problem , just want to know

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toniplavna

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Hello guys,

I have a long problem from time to time and I will write whole story.

Short: problem is that in certain games my monitor goes black and message is check signal cable, gpu fans slow down and I need to restart.

After few years with different components, OS etc. I think its the drivers, but can be gpu or psu.

Lets start. I had old PC with : Asus p5k se, q 9300, 4gb ddr2 ram, hdd, 550 w PSU rasburo, MSI hd 6850 OC...

I remember that I had kernel power 41 error and when I got BSOD there was atikmdag.sys. I tried many thing with different drivers, OS etc. but no avail.

Problem was in GTA4, in one part of the Witcher 2... But for example I played Witcher 3 with no problems at all. Then I decided to go with GPU benchmarks and in the end with Furmark. Under them, all was stable, no blackscreen, nothing. So I think its not PSU and not GPU probably but drivers with certain games.

Now I updated my PC, I got i7 3770k, gigabyte z77mx d3h, 16gb ddr3 ram, GPU and PSU are the same. I was playing gta 4 before few days and same thing happened twice.
When Im playing Rome 2 Total war and Cities skylines, gpu is at 99% , sometimes my temps reach 80c in skylines when is hot outside but I have no problems at all.

Yesterday I installed Kingdoms come deliverance, and I get same error before I even hit the main menu. How it can be PSU, my GPU is not even under load at all. So I guess I can rule that out. So it happens only with certain games.

GPU is quite old and latest drivers are from 2015. no new ones, so I guess I cant do anything about it.

Do you know anything that I can try? I can't try spare GPU cuz I don't have one, or PSU. Only thing I can do is to try something with OS, drivers and similar thing.
 
Solution
PSU voltages are within range but 12V is pretty low in that range. Is at 11.52V when lower spec is 11.4. So all in all probably nothing to worry about - my concern would be that most reporting software can be quite inaccurate with voltage readings, they're just good for an indicator, so if the voltage reading is actually higher than actual, it could well be a problem.

3.3V is in range and no 5V is recorded for whatever reason.

However one thing I do notice is the GPU thermal diode shoots up to 510 degrees (which can't be right) as the fan RPM and % usage on it stops registering even though there is memory clock and fan % usage still active - not sure if this is when the crash occurs though and sensors just go a bit haywire...

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
i don't think its ram either BUT with WHEA errors it can be any hardware so best to test them in case we both wrong and it is ram :)

Need to check everything and through process of elimination, find cause

GPU already known cause of errors but only tests for those are benchmarks
Don't run at same time -
https://geeks3d.com/furmark/

https://benchmark.unigine.com/heaven

Could be HDD - HD Sentinel - https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_sentinel_trial.php (Click on the disk tab and run any tests you can)

DB will have some ideas as well I am sure :)
 
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toniplavna

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i don't think its ram either BUT with WHEA errors it can be any hardware so best to test them in case we both wrong and it is ram :)

Need to check everything and through process of elimination, find cause

GPU already known cause of errors but only tests for those are benchmarks
Don't run at same time -
https://geeks3d.com/furmark/

https://benchmark.unigine.com/heaven

Could be HDD - HD Sentinel - https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_sentinel_trial.php (Click on the disk tab and run any tests you can)

DB will have some ideas as well I am sure :)

I run both tests before on older PC before the update of the components and they were fine. I ll try again.
Both HDD and SSD are fine and tested also. SSD is brand new and ok.
 
I would suggest to change your PSU even if it's not your sole problem. You mentioned that it's old and the aged psu does shows problems especially if it's not from a reputable brand. You also mentioned that it has 37A in the 12V rails. That makes it 444w effectively. Barely enough if you apply a small OC and certainly not enough when you consider the age of the PSU that loses efficiency.

Consider buying a good quality PSU from a reputable brand.
 

toniplavna

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Ok this is the situation.

I done memory test and all good.

Yesterday I installed old rpg game, Gothic 3, with all patches played all fine but some sound speech line were missing so I decided to reinstall the game (lot of community patches and mods). Today, PAF check signal cable ! Thats 2005/06 game ffs!

After that I run Valley benchmark - PASSED
After that I run FURMARK on 1080p, stressed GPU until 81 celsius, Finished with no problem.

How it can be PSU? What the hell :(
 

toniplavna

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Im using dvi-i to vga adapter now but that cant be a reason as I know. My friend will send me dvi-d single link one just to try different output on my gpu...

Also Ill try something with onboard gpu in bios, try to disable it or smth if that can be some interference....
 

toniplavna

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Im now tracking the errors in event viewer and will post here. Also I will focus if there are some errors before kernel 41, that would mean that they happened before i manually turn off pc.

Also, I have windows 7 installed on my hdd, so I will try to run these games with that OS instead windows 10.
 

toniplavna

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Ok these are found in windows logs>system:

1.
The lirsgt service failed to start due to the following error:
Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source.

2.
The atksgt service failed to start due to the following error:
Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source.

Applications

1. This one is not red its yellow with ! mark


The rules engine reported a failed VL activation attempt.
Reason:0x8007007B
AppId = 0ff1ce15-a989-479d-af46-f275c6370663, SkuId = d450596f-894d-49e0-966a-fd39ed4c4c64
Trigger=UserLogon(1)
 

toniplavna

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Done the sfc scan:


Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.
For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at
windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For offline
repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag.
 

toniplavna

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After Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth and chkdsk i repaired


Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at
windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For offline
repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag.
 
Yeah, that's 100% completely not true. Memory problems can be anything from major errors that happen and cause you to blue screen every five seconds, to errors that ONLY show up when specific instructions are used and in some cases those instructions might ONLY be used by one specific application, or anything in between.

Memory errors ABSOLUTELY DO NOT have to be "visible more often" or even cause anything to happen that you can actually see and know is happening. Unstable or bad memory can even create micro-errors that you will NEVER know are happening until it's too late and your data is entirely corrupted, and never once EVER see a freeze, or blue screen, or any other signs of a problem.

It's certainly interesting when people make assumptions about things that they really don't know much of anything about. It must be my week for it, because I'm seeing it everywhere these last few days.
 
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toniplavna

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So far I didn't managed to find the cause of this. Memory is tested, all good. Problem was before on old rig with different memory sticks, which were fine also.

Today I will boot into windows 7 and try to play a game a bit just to see if the same thing will happen.

In the end I guess I will need to change the gpu and psu....
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
have you had any more BSOD since the WHEA? if so, share dumps.

I wouldn't replace either unless the problem is still there, and I am not a big fan of replacing things without knowing if they are cause.

RAM errors tend to be random, they aren't always blaming same things and often pick drivers out of system you have never heard of. If its constantly blaming the same drivers, I am less likely to blame ram right away. It will have you chasing things that aren't broken.

here are some ways to test PSU
the paper clip method - https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/what-is-the-paperclip-method-of-testing-a-psu.1336402/

or multimeter,

or in the BIOS to check the +3.3V, +5V, and +12V. - https://www.lifewire.com/power-supply-voltage-tolerances-2624583
 
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toniplavna

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have you had any more BSOD since the WHEA? if so, share dumps.

I wouldn't replace either unless the problem is still there, and I am not a big fan of replacing things without knowing if they are cause.

RAM errors tend to be random, they aren't always blaming same things and often pick drivers out of system you have never heard of. If its constantly blaming the same drivers, I am less likely to blame ram right away. It will have you chasing things that aren't broken.

here are some ways to test PSU
the paper clip method - https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/what-is-the-paperclip-method-of-testing-a-psu.1336402/

or multimeter,

or in the BIOS to check the +3.3V, +5V, and +12V. - https://www.lifewire.com/power-supply-voltage-tolerances-2624583


Best thing is that I dont have any BSOD at all, therefore, no dumps. Only black screen and check signal cable, sound is still there in the background.
And only while gaming, and certain games.

I will replace cable soon, but doubt it it is cable, but I will also change GPU output to DVI-D, maybe output is faulty.

Thanks for the tips, I will check +5% changes in the BIOS and post scr shot here.
 
Last edited:

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
I have had the no signal thing before, in my PC twice.,
first time was cause by GPU couldn't supply my 4k screen with a signal fast enough to keep it running
Second time was cause I was using HDMI and it can't do 4k 60hz and my monitor would do that again.
It also happens if the 2nd power cable on my GTX980 isn't in far enough

I assume you haven't bought a 4k monitor recently so it shouldn't be that reason
It could be a loose power cable if that GPU has a 6 pin or 8 pin it also needs besides the PCI power.

So it still could be GPU or PSU, we haven't really got any closer to answering that question

If it happens in particular games, you could run HWINFO at same time and log sensors, it might help show if there is any sensor based reason for the black screen.
Download HWINFO and install - https://www.hwinfo.com/download/
when the launcher appears, click Sensors only and click run

in next window, click the button next to the clock that says "logging start" if you mouse over it.
this asks you to name a log and you can save it anywhere you will remember it. Save as CSV file format as can read that in excel (its the default)
Play one of the games it crashes on. If its not all the time, you will need to set it to log before you start

once it happens, upload the log file and show link here. We look through
 
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toniplavna

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I have had the no signal thing before, in my PC twice.,
first time was cause by GPU couldn't supply my 4k screen with a signal fast enough to keep it running
Second time was cause I was using HDMI and it can't do 4k 60hz and my monitor would do that again.
It also happens if the 2nd power cable on my GTX980 isn't in far enough

I assume you haven't bought a 4k monitor recently so it shouldn't be that reason
It could be a loose power cable if that GPU has a 6 pin or 8 pin it also needs besides the PCI power.

So it still could be GPU or PSU, we haven't really got any closer to answering that question

If it happens in particular games, you could run HWINFO at same time and log sensors, it might help show if there is any sensor based reason for the black screen.
Download HWINFO and install - https://www.hwinfo.com/download/
when the launcher appears, click Sensors only and click run

in next window, click the button next to the clock that says "logging start" if you mouse over it.
this asks you to name a log and you can save it anywhere you will remember it. Save as CSV file format as can read that in excel (its the default)
Play one of the games it crashes on. If its not all the time, you will need to set it to log before you start

once it happens, upload the log file and show link here. We look through

Thanks I will try it.

Yes GPU has 6pin connector, it click ok, but Ill check if it become loose.

I have philips 1080p monitor so nothing fancy. Using VGA cable to DVI-I port with VGA adapter on the GPU end. Cuz I don't have VGA output on GPU.

As I know if that is a problem and cable got loose, you can just put cable back in and picture will appear again. But this isn't a case cuz I need to force shutdown a PC.

Still waiting for a DVI-D cable so I will try with that also.

I will install HWinfo when I get home.
 
They create problems, in a lot of cases, where none might otherwise exist. TBH, it might not be your problem, but if possible and if your graphics card has a DVI output and your monitor has a DVI input, I'd try using a straight DVI cable from card to display, no adapters, and see if you still have issues.
 

toniplavna

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They create problems, in a lot of cases, where none might otherwise exist. TBH, it might not be your problem, but if possible and if your graphics card has a DVI output and your monitor has a DVI input, I'd try using a straight DVI cable from card to display, no adapters, and see if you still have issues.

I will get the cable probably tomorrow so I will try with that.