While Gaming - Black Screen Reboot

[Roadhaug]

Need Help: I am getting a black screen instant reboot in the middle of Gaming. I only play Smite but it has been continually happening.

My System:
Need Help: I am getting a black screen instant reboot in the middle of Gaming. I only play Smite but it has been continually happening.

My System:

Asrock z77 extrme4 motherboard
intel i5-3570k cpu (NOT overclocked)
GTX 980ti GPU w/ ACX 2.0 cooling
Hyper 212 EVO aftermarket cpu cooler
16GB gkill sniper low voltage DDR3 ram
Coolermaster HAF full tower case
Samsung 840 EVO 250gb SSD
Running Windows 7 premium home edition fully updated 64 bit
Dell 27" S2716DG (Displayport) Gaming Monitor
Asus DRW-24B1ST dvd rom drive

Whats Happening:

While playing Smite on maximum settings my screen will randomly go black and the computer reboots. It's pretty instant and I am booted back up within 30 seconds and back into the game but it will happen again 5 minutes later and so on and so on.

Other Details:

I have tried figuring this out myself and have done several things in hopes it would fix the issue. Here is what I have done:

-Stress Tested both my CPU and GPU. The CPU never gets above 50 and the GPU maxes at 68.

-Completely dissected, air sprayed, cleaned, and reassembled all components in my case. They were moderately dusty. Problem still persists.

-Dismounted aftermarket cooler, removed old thermal paste, reapplied fresh thermal paste, and remounted heatsink and fan. Problem still persists.

-I replaced my old GTX 770 GPU with my current 980ti, problem still persists.

-Replaced my old Samsung 1080p with a Dell gaming monitor 2560x1440 144hz, problem still persists.

-Complete reinstall of windows 7 premium home 64 bit, with all updates. Checked to make sure all drivers are up to date. Problem still persists.



I am at a loss for ideas on what's happening and how to fix it. Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

 

[Jamieman123]

This sounds to me like a PSU problem. Had one of these a few months ago. Got absolutely stumped after replacing the motherboard, reapplying thermal paste, changing GPU and even in cases Underclocking. I once tried all of these methods and until I asked for an RMA on the PSU my problem persisted. For the price of a new PSU, it may well be worth it.

The PSU change fixed it for me, the problem was, the PSU was not putting out as much Wattage as expected, which may be expected here if it is a little old or you may just have a faulty PSU. This is definitely something to look into because at first, I did not look into this and I ended up spending a lot of time trying to fix a problem that was due to nothing that I was replacing.

How long have you had it, rough estimate?

 

[Roadhaug]

Thank you for responding.

I just placed an order with Newegg last night for a PSU tester, as well as a new HX1000i (I plan to SLI an additional 980ti a year or two down the road when prices drop).

I want to use the tester to verify my PSU is faulty. It was purchased around this time two years ago. Any chance it's still under warranty?

I did the paperclip test last night. The fan would cut on for a few seconds and then stop each time I would flip the switch, but only once for each time I unplugged and replugged from the actual wall outlet. I do realize the paperclip test only alerts you to wether or not the PSU is completely dead or not. In my case I suspect that it's just starting to fail, as the black screen reboots have gotten more and more frequent. Still only during gaming though. Which leads me to believe the PSU has to work harder than it should to put out the power it once did, and I'm guessing it's not cooling itself properly, causing the PSU itself to overheat. Does this sound like something that happens? This will be my first PSU failure so I've been lucky to this point, but it has been frustrating enough that I decided I'll keep an actual PSU tester at home.

This sounds to me like a PSU problem. Had one of these a few months ago. Got absolutely stumped after replacing the motherboard, reapplying thermal paste, changing GPU and even in cases Underclocking. I once tried all of these methods and until I asked for an RMA on the PSU my problem persisted. For the price of a new PSU, it may well be worth it.

The PSU change fixed it for me, the problem was, the PSU was not putting out as much Wattage as expected, which may be expected here if it is a little old or you may just have a faulty PSU. This is definitely something to look into because at first, I did not look into this and I ended up spending a lot of time trying to fix a problem that was due to nothing that I was replacing.

How long have you had it, rough estimate?

 

[Jamieman123]

This does still sound to me like it is the PSU as the mention of Only during gaming is exactly what was happening to me. I could watch youtube, listen to music but after about 20 minutes of GTA V t would cut out and then over and over. I would definitely look into this PSU idea further. It seems to be due to more strenuous activities like Gaming as when you are not gaming GPU usage is very low so this could link to reduced / faulty PSU output. However, heat may be an issue as mentioned but I would tend to go more towards the Faulty PSU. However, do not rule that out but changing PSU fixed my problem. Hope this helps Roadhaug! Jamie.

 

[Jamieman123]

Also two years is a reasonable time without a failure, although you are a lot under the estimated lifetime, much luckier tham me with my 8 months. I found out my PSU had 3 years warranty so that may be something you want to look into as you may be able RMA and save money.