Question Screen flicker - not due to bad monitor

[YinJiang]

I have a weird problem with my system - on EACH fresh boot up, within an hour, my monitor will start to flicker black. This problem can be resolved by turning off the monitor and turning it on again, or unplug the HDMI/DP cable and reconnect. Then the problem goes away until the next system boot up.

Things I have tried so far:
Different monitors, same problem.
Different cables and ports, same problem.
Using a laptop to connect to the monitor, no screen flicker.
Swapped out a graphics card (to an old R9 290, same problem but much less often (maybe once in every 5-10 boot ups)

Could it be the MB? Or PSU? bad PCIE port? What could be the most likely culprit in the hardware that can cause such a problem? Any insight is greatly appreciated!

My list of parts:
MSI Ventus 3080 12G (on latest driver)
Ryzen 9 5900X
32GB Corsair Ram
Asus Aorus B550
Corsair 750W PSU (10 yo)
a mix of SSD/HDDs

 

[Ralston18]

My thought is the PSU.

This:

"Corsair 750W PSU (10 yo)"

10 year old PSU is a very likely suspect.

History of heavy use for gaming, video editing, or even bit-mining?

Look in Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer?

Check for error codes, warnings, or even informational events just before or at the times flickering begins.

My thought is that the PSU is degrading and something gets warmed up/too hot after about an hour.

Then power to some component or components falters and fails until the PSU is cooled down again.

 

[YinJiang]

My thought is the PSU.

This:

"Corsair 750W PSU (10 yo)"

10 year old PSU is a very likely suspect.

History of heavy use for gaming, video editing, or even bit-mining?

Look in Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer?

Check for error codes, warnings, or even informational events just before or at the times flickering begins.

My thought is that the PSU is degrading and something gets warmed up/too hot after about an hour.

Then power to some component or components falters and fails until the PSU is cooled down again.

Thanks! I have not suspected that - I looked through event log and saw many critical events - Event ID 41: "The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly."

These events corresponds roughly to the flickering but I'm pretty sure there's more flickering occurrences than the logged events. However, besides those flickers, I cannot think of anything else that could happen this often. Maybe sometimes the power loss is so sudden that it didn't have enough time to write to the log?

Thanks for the insight - This makes me think the PSU is very likely the cause!

 

[Ralston18]

Consider that a loose connector or component could mimmick power problems.

As a matter of elimination:

Power down, unplug, open the case.

Clean out dust and debris.

Verify by sight and feel that all cards, connectors, RAM, jumpers, and case connections are fully and firmly in place.

Use a bright flashlight to inspect for signs of damage: bare conductor showing, kinked or pinched wires, melting, browning or blackening, cracks, corrosion, loose or missing screws, swollen components, etc..

Give it a few days if possible to determine if the errors decrease or change.

Also (as should always be being done) ensure that all important data is backed up at least 2 x to locations away from the problem PC. Verify that the backed up data is both recoverable and readable.

If the PSU decides to go out in a flash of glory it may take other things with it.....

 

[YinJiang]

Consider that a loose connector or component could mimmick power problems.

As a matter of elimination:

Power down, unplug, open the case.

Clean out dust and debris.

Verify by sight and feel that all cards, connectors, RAM, jumpers, and case connections are fully and firmly in place.

Use a bright flashlight to inspect for signs of damage: bare conductor showing, kinked or pinched wires, melting, browning or blackening, cracks, corrosion, loose or missing screws, swollen components, etc..

Give it a few days if possible to determine if the errors decrease or change.

Also (as should always be being done) ensure that all important data is backed up at least 2 x to locations away from the problem PC. Verify that the backed up data is both recoverable and readable.

If the PSU decides to go out in a flash of glory it may take other things with it.....

So I dug deeper into the error and found the following:

SystemSleepTransitionsToOn

7

This number varies between 1-20, almost like the black screen is caused by a vicious cycle of going to sleep and waking up...

 

[YinJiang]

Cleaned all contacts, purchased a brand new PSU (EVGA 850W Gold), problem persists.

 

[YinJiang]

New development: Used my old R9 290 for 2 weeks, and it did not happen again, so I thought it must be the graphics card. Got a different card - 3080 ti, the problem persists. So, the flickering happens only with 3080 and 3080 ti, but not with the r9 290. It keeps getting weirder...