Screen Froze With Blue Boxes

[Callum_19]

Ok, so my PC basically just froze, with random blue boxes scattered all over the screen. It did it a little bit earlier when I was watching a film, but it seemed to crash everything and then returned back to normal allowing me to use my PC again, but this time it didn't unfreeze, so I had to turn it off. I'm currently waiting for it to cool down just incase it was overheating, but as far as I'm aware nothing in it is overclocked.

I just tried to turn it back on and it shows the loading screen for a few seconds then goes black, back to the loading screen again but with blue boxes, then doesn't display

My specs:

Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-6700k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache

ASUS® MAXIMUS VIII RANGER: RoG, PCI-e 3.0, SATA 3.0, LG1151

32GB HyperX FURY DDR4 2666MHz (4 x 8GB Kit)

CORSAIR 750W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET PSU

ASUS STRIX GTX™ 980 Ti

Does anyone know what is causing this issue, and how I can fix it?

 

[weberdarren97]

Please power off the system, unplug it, press the power button for three seconds to drain any remaining power, then open up the chassis and remove the GPU. Then take out the CMOS battery. Put the battery back in after thirty seconds. Then put the GPU back in, close up the chassis, plug in the system and try booting again.

Please note that removing the CMOS battery will clear all non-factory BIOS settings. It will factory reset the BIOS, except for any BIOS updates you have done.

 

[Callum_19]

The GPU displays the BIOS perfectly fine, but it's when it tries to boot into windows that the PC is just giving up if that helps

 

[weberdarren97]

Still, try reseating the card. Meaning to power down the system, unplug it, drain any remaining power, take the card out and put it back in. Then put everything back the way it was and try again.

 

[Callum_19]

That worked, thanks!

Do you have any recommendations to stop it happening again? And if it came unseated could that be due to how heavy the card is, I feel as though it's not supported enough towards the end of the card, it seems to flop down a bit, do you have any suggestions to make it less "droopy" towards the end of the card?

 

[weberdarren97]

Is it the base model STRIX or the limited edition that's no longer on the Asus site? If I know the exact model, I can look to see if there's a backplate available for the card, it'll help keep it more stable.

Edit: Is this your card? https://www.asus.com/us/Graphics-Cards/STRIXGTX980TIDC3OC6GD5GAMING/gallery/

 

[Callum_19]

Is it the base model STRIX or the limited edition that's no longer on the Asus site? If I know the exact model, I can look to see if there's a backplate available for the card, it'll help keep it more stable.

It's this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-Gaming-NVIDIA-GeForce-Graphics/dp/B014ZC2F2E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465699782&sr=8-1&keywords=asus+strix+980+ti

It looks like it already has a backplate, but due to the length of it, it doesn't have any support towards the front of the case

also, do these settings in GPUTweak look alright for the card? I haven't touched them but I'm not really sure.

I just have it on the S setting, which in the older version of the software was silent mode.

 

[weberdarren97]

That setting compromises performance in order to make the card run quieter. Try the G profile if you want serious performance.

 

[Callum_19]

That setting compromises performance in order to make the card run quieter. Try the G profile if you want serious performance.

I currently only use it for rendering 3D, haven't had time to play any games since getting it. Would having something pull up on the PCI-E cables plugged into the end of it be a good way to support it? and yes, that's my card!

 

[weberdarren97]

Never pull on the power cables. If you accidentally pull the connectors off of the card, then you're in trouble.