Question Screen goes black while gaming but audio not affected

cratkins

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Oct 21, 2008
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For several months now I have been dealing with an issue while under load when gaming where my screen(s) go black, I hear the Windows error sound, but the computer remains on. If I am, say, using Discord, I can continue to speak and to hear people, but have no video output.

The first thing I did was check the Event Viewer (here is a sample from the most recent instance -- but they are all similar):

Log Name: System​
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power​
Date: 11/9/2019 08:44:41 PM​
Event ID: 41​
Task Category: (63)​
Level: Critical​
Keywords: (2)​
User: SYSTEM​
Computer: GamingRig​
Description:​
The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.​
Event Xml:​
<System>​
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power" Guid="{331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}" />​
<EventID>41</EventID>​
<Version>2</Version>​
<Level>1</Level>​
<Task>63</Task>​
<Opcode>0</Opcode>​
<Keywords>0x8000000000000002</Keywords>​
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2019-11-10T04:44:41.997602600Z" />​
<EventRecordID>103441</EventRecordID>​
<Correlation />​
<Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="8" />​
<Channel>System</Channel>​
<Computer>GamingRig</Computer>​
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />​
</System>​
<EventData>​
<Data Name="BugcheckCode">0</Data>​
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter1">0x0</Data>​
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter2">0x0</Data>​
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter3">0x0</Data>​
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter4">0x0</Data>​
<Data Name="SleepInProgress">false</Data>​
<Data Name="PowerButtonTimestamp">0</Data>​
</EventData>​
</Event>​

Which immediately led me to suspect the power supply, but I wanted to do some google-fu on my own first. Based on various sources, I tried:
  1. Swapping out the multi-plug on the outlet
  2. Trying a new surge protector
  3. Reseating all internal power connectors
  4. Updating GPU driver
  5. And, finally, trying a new PSU which I just installed today.
None of the things I tried seemed to help. But with the new PSU I am actually having more frequent events. Now simply trying to launch a game causes an Event 41. Also, my ASUS motherboard is now reporting that it detected a power surge and enabled some "protections."

Is it likely that this really is a power supply issue? I'm thinking now that it's a GPU problem, but I don't understand how a new power supply would make it worse.

Here are my specs:

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Professional​
Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601​
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz, 3501 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)​
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 0704, 8/7/2012​
SMBIOS Version 2.7​
Motherboard ASUS Maximus V EXTREME​
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB​
Adapter Description NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970​
OLD power supply Corsair HX750​
NEW power supply Rosewill PHOTON Series 1200W (It was on sale and I figured I could go big for future proofing on my next build)​

EDIT:

Also, I have to physically power down the computer when the screen goes black, and sometimes my USB keyboard will not power-up on boot until I switch the port it is plugged into. The mouse is unaffected, but I just have to try a different USB port and then the keyboard starts working.

In my system info there is an entry under Problem Devices:
Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller PCI\VEN_1B21&DEV_1042&SUBSYS_84881043&REV_00\4&11EB9DBD&0&00E4 The drivers for this device are not installed.​
 
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