Random display drop-outs, sudden black screen, no apparent warning signs.

[Boswell_138]

This has been an ongoing issue for a couple of years now, I've tried numerous fixes and spoken to a local tech support company more times than I can count now, still to no avail.

Every so often my display will drop out, sometimes it will happen twice in ten minutes, sometimes it will go for a week without any issue. When the error occurs I get a black screen and sometimes a low hum comes through my speakers. When the error occurs the only way to correct it is with a system restart, which brings everything back to normal.

Resetting my monitor brings the display back, always frozen. There’s also usually a few coloured lines or dots randomly scattered about the screen and often the cursor is enormous, I don’t have a picture but I’ll follow up with one if it happens again.

In terms of warning signs there don't seem to be any, it happens at random whether I'm checking my email or playing games or doing anything else for that matter; I've stress tested my GPU several times and it's performed very well generally, in short the problem doesn't seem to be linked to graphical stress.

I’ve also tried two different monitors and various different connection cables, I even changed my surge protector to see if the problem might be being caused by power surges.

I’ve also tried a fresh installation of my OS, flashing my BIOS and, most recently, changing my motherboard (though admittedly I haven’t done a fresh install of windows since changing it). None of these fixes have made the slightest bit of difference.

If anyone has any insight or has experienced a similar problem before, it would be very much
appreciated. Process of elimination is now pointing me towards the GPU, but every idea I’ve had so far has got me precisely nowhere.


Here's a part list:

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/37wTnn
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/37wTnn/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: Asus Z97-P ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi Adapter

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-07 12:09 BST+0100

 

[cin19]

Because you already did the fresh installation of my OS, flashing the BIOS, so the problem maybe from the hardware, not the drivers.
You may try:
1) Take out one of the 4GB RAM, use the 2X 4GB, and set up the memory XMP profile in the BIOS, if your memory came with the 2X4GB Kit + other single 4GB. Also remove the wireless card, and r9 290, use the onboard iGPU. If you had other add-on device like the sound card, remove it too. Then boot the PC, and use it for a while to see the PC will get the black screen or not.

Because you said "There’s also usually a few coloured lines or dots randomly scattered about the screen and often the cursor is enormous" that related to GPU like overheat, or PSU can't handle the GPU, or GPU has problem, or the monitor.

2) May test the RAM one by one with MemTest86 http://www.memtest86.com/download.htm
3) May go into the BIOS, hardware monitor section to check the +3.3V, +5V, and +12V to see what those voltages look like. Usually the PSU voltage tolerances like this http://pcsupport.about.com/od/insidethepc/a/power-supply-voltage-tolerance.htm