Random Black Screen, Computer Remains On

[leaflet757]

For the past month, my computer has been experiencing random black screens but the computer still remains on. The problem got worse and worse to the point the black screens were happening 3 times a day on my AMD Sapphire HD 7970 graphics card. Soon after I was seeing strange graphical glitches whenever the computer was on:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/c3t31wq4pxisx83/IMG_0254.JPG?dl=0

Eventually I decided to try a new graphics card, NVidea GTX 970, in hopes that would solve the problem and for a while I thought it did. I completely removed my old drivers and installed the new card, but just today I received a black screen again with the new card while playing Assassin's Creed Unity.

In fear of having the same issue after spending money on a new card, I wanted to get some help debugging what might be the problem. Here is my current system hardware:

Operating System
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Core i7 3820 @ 3.60GHz
Sandy Bridge-E 32nm Technology
RAM
16.0GB DDR3 @ 800MHz (11-11-11-28)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. P9X79 PRO (LGA2011)
Graphics
IPS235 (1920x1080@60Hz)
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 (EVGA)

 

[Thelps]

The first point of suspicion will be the Graphics Card overheating. This will cause either a black screen or a 'Display Driver has stopped responding' error message.

Monitor your Graphics Card's core temperature with a program such as GPU-Z or MSI Afterburner.

GPU-Z: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

MSI Afterburner: http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm

If you're seeing temperatures above about 80°C while gaming then your card is getting hot enough to potentially fail or crash. GPUs should perform into the 90°C range but become increasingly unstable after 80°C. Keeping temperatures below that is usually a safe benchmark.

If this is the case then consider increasing your card's fan speeds via MSI Afterburner or via the advice in this article:

Adjusting Graphics Card Fan Speed: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/adjust-graphics-card-fan-speed-57415.html

You might also want to consider a custom cooling unit for your Graphics Card such as those made by Arctic or NZXT. This will radically reduce GPU Temperatures but requires installation on the Graphics Card, labour on your part and a certain amount of risk.

 

[leaflet757]

The first point of suspicion will be the Graphics Card overheating. This will cause either a black screen or a 'Display Driver has stopped responding' error message.

Monitor your Graphics Card's core temperature with a program such as GPU-Z or MSI Afterburner.

GPU-Z: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

MSI Afterburner: http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm

If you're seeing temperatures above about 80°C while gaming then your card is getting hot enough to potentially fail or crash. GPUs should perform into the 90°C range but become increasingly unstable after 80°C. Keeping temperatures below that is usually a safe benchmark.

If this is the case then consider increasing your card's fan speeds via MSI Afterburner or via the advice in this article:

Adjusting Graphics Card Fan Speed: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/adjust-graphics-card-fan-speed-57415.html

You might also want to consider a custom cooling unit for your Graphics Card such as those made by Arctic or NZXT. This will radically reduce GPU Temperatures but requires installation on the Graphics Card, labour on your part and a certain amount of risk.

Thanks for the tip. I installed both programs and I will be leaving them running for the next few days to see if I can spot some kind of pattern. So far it seems like my computer's gpu stays between 30-50°C. I have yet to monitor the tempurature when it is doing harder work but hopefully overheating was the cause.

If for some reason the computer black screens again, would you happen to know anything else that might contribute to the problem?

Thank you

 

[Thelps]

You'll need to monitor your GPU temperature during a GPU-intensive task such as gaming, 3D graphics editing or benchmarking. That will give you a true picture of your GPU's temperature under load.

If heat is indeed the cause then your only solutions are to either lower graphical settings in the 3D programs you use (reducing stress on the card and thus heat buildup) or look into improving cooling. Even something as simple as pointing more case fans directly at the card can shave 5°c-10°c off your temperatures.

A radical after-market cooler installation can almost cut temperatures in half. My NZXT Kraken setup on my GeForce 780 GTX reduced maximum load temperatures from 75-80°c to around 40-45°c.