Hi Everyone, Hope you are all well.

I'm after some advice regarding possible faulty MSI 770 Lightning. Intermittently when using full 3d mode, my computer will crash with a solid pink or green screen. The only way to recover from this is to physically push the power or reset button.

Sometimes the PC will boot straight back up but as soon as the GFX card goes into full power mode again, this will crash with the same symptoms.
Once after restarting it, the computer failed to get part POST and had the beep code for GFX card not found. There were no lights on the card either when it failed to POST.

I have tried the card in a friends machine after it kept crashing in mine but it was working all OK. If I put it back in my computer it works OK again so the fact this works in a friends PC could just be a red herring. I am currently trying to obtain a spare GFX card so I can continue to test another GFX in my computer for some time. I did try another GFX card for a few days and this worked find but I'm starting to doubt whether this was long enough.

I've tried new drivers after completely removing all the old drivers but this made no difference. It was a long shot as it was failing POST at one point but it's worth a shot.

One other thing to notice is the card has LED's on it which light up depending on which mode the card is in (all lights for 3d mode, half for power saving mode). Before the card crashes it's normally in 3d mode but as soon as it does crash, half the LEDS go off.

The card is still in warranty until December but I don't want to RMA it if I have no solid proof it's the card at fault as its so intermittent. Oh forgot to mention, the card is running the stock settings and has never been overclocked.

EDIT: Temperatures don't exceed 70 Degrees C and the problem does happen on different games.

The rest of my PC spec is:
Asus P8P67
Intel I5
Corsair 8GB RAM
XFX 850 Black Edition PSU

Has anyone had any similar issues in the past?

Thanks a lot in advance for your help

No idea what the fault is.

I would swap out the video lead in the first case and keep my fingers crossed that the issue was caused by a faulty cable.

Rule out the most simple cause and fix first before further panic.

efish said:

No idea what the fault is.

I would swap out the video lead in the first case and keep my fingers crossed that the issue was caused by a faulty cable.

Rule out the most simple cause and fix first before further panic.

Click to expand...

Although a good suggestion the cable wouldn't cause the crashing. Changes in screen colour alone however then I would agree.

When it crashes are you sure it's not getting hot?

Also I wonder if it could be your PSU.

I don't think it's temperature related as I created a custom fan curve where the fans go full speed at 70 degrees and during most applications when it crashes, the fans don't get to full speed. Infact, It's very rare it goes above 70 Degrees.

Yeah I'm torn between the motherboard, PSU and GFX card. Problem is, if I try a new GFX card, it might not be half as power hungry as my current one.

Datamonkey said:

Although a good suggestion the cable wouldn't cause the crashing.
Also I wonder if it could be your PSU.

Click to expand...

Still good to rule out as the machine may not be experiancing a crash when this happens.

I often mis- dignose (but that may just be me) and like to start simple.

I would change the lead and check all my psu cables were secured properly as a fist step.

I have the 750 xfx black edition. Well made and cost a lot at the time be well ****ed off it had developed a fault but as it is a good p.s.u.

My first assumption would be to hope its a simpler fix than replacing the p.s.u.

Certainly want to rule it out at the start before doing anything else.

Hi Guys,

OK we have had some progress. I did try other PSU's on my machine and so far its been stable with both of them. I did find something which could have potentially caused the issue!

On HW Monitor, the 3.3 rail was showing 3V. To add to this, when I changed the PSU, I noticed that one of the pins out of the 24 pin ATX extension cable I was using was loose and had in fact come out of the block.

So after this is back in, my system seems to be running all OK! Me being me though and wanting to know how things work, does the 3.3 rail have any interaction with the PCIe slot and would this cause the issues above?

I guess it's just a matter of time to confirm whether this is the issue but it would be nice to know your guys thoughts.

Thanks a lot

It's IIRC, the 3.3v rail contributes to the PCIE slots. What brand is your PSU? If you're having issues like that, it might be worth an upgrade before anything more serious goes.

It's an XFX 750W one. It's not the PSU's fault though, I noticed one of the pins from the extension cable I was using was loose.

Extension cables are definitely a no-no for something like that. Generally even molex/sata adapters should be approached with caution. I had bad experiences with an XFX PSU in the past, but you may be ok. Any funny smells or pops from it?

Nope, no burning smells or pops.

I have just had to repalce a faulty p.s.u.

Built a rig for my son. New evega gold 750 watt psu old 570 ti that was working perfectly. Card blew within a month. Happned at exact same time as reports came out that nividia driver was frying cards.

I thought at first it must be the card, just age or remote possibility it had been the driver.

No idea really.

Replaced the card a few weeks ago and instantly found out it was the Evega p.s.u. Bought a new p.s.u for my own rig and replaced the evega with my old 750 xfx black, which still works flawlessly.

I think you need to swap out components if you have not isolated the fault. I would be inclined to try and test with a different p.s.u first.

Less chance of inflicting damage on a second component.

Saying that the xfx black is a seasonic. I always use them on my own rigs never had a problem with them. Should not have gone with a slightly cheaper option for my son.

The other thing you could do is contact M.S.I. or retailer, explain the issue, ask what steps you should take before sending back, see if you get a helpfull a response. You may get nothing back, the person at the other end may not have a clue, but you never know it may be a problem they are aware of. No harm in trying.

The risk is definitely further damage down the line. You might also want to double-check which brand of PSU is inside your XFX - from memory the Blacks aren't all created equally... Personally, if I'm even remotely convinced my PSU is on the way out, it goes.