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GTX 970 crashing

grumpysculler

grumpysculler

grumpysculler

Associate
Joined
23 Nov 2009
Posts
1,195
Hi,

I recently upgraded my aging 5770 to an MSI GTX970 https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-259-MS

Problem is, I get crashes with black screen and then the sound getting stuck on a loop. Unresponsive and it takes the power button to reset.

I've tried Inquisition and Titanfall, these crashes happen every single time between 10-20 minutes of playtime. I can run Furmark for at least 40 minutes without issue. I can run office apps all day without a problem.

I've cleaned out and reinstalled the drivers (using 344.75)
Dropped various quality settings in game
Dropped core and memory clock 100 MHz using MSI Afterburner

Temps are fine (max 70 on GPU, 50 on CPU), there's nothing obvious happening before the crash if I log sensor data. Nothing at all in event viewer.

Any suggestions, or is it RMA time?

Setup is:
i7-920 @2.67 GHz (not overclocked)
Gigabyte EX-UD5
6 gb RAM
650W Fractal Design PSU

Thanks in advance...
 
Aaarghh...

RMA and then "no fault found".

A google on "gtx970 black screen crash" gives plenty of people with the same problem but no solutions.

My £300 paperweight is on its way back to me, I guess I'll have a muck about with settings and end up chucking it. :(

Any suggestions from the community?
 
spleeny said:
there was an issue with random x58 boards and 9 series , have you updated your bios ?
Click to expand...

That's weird - I could swear I did a couple of years ago, but CPUZ says I'm running F7 (current is F13).

New BIOS incoming...

String said:
Try rolling back to an earlier driver?
Click to expand...

Any suggestions as to which one might be stable?

I don't have the card back yet, but I'll do the BIOS now. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
Hi grumpy,

I have the same CPU (OCed tho), ram and PSU as you, just different MB. I got a gtx970 a couple of weeks ago and I haven't had any errors; it looks like a MB/BIOS issue. I use the latest nVidia driver and it's completely fine.
 
Preto said:
Hi grumpy,

I have the same CPU (OCed tho), ram and PSU as you, just different MB. I got a gtx970 a couple of weeks ago and I haven't had any errors; it looks like a MB/BIOS issue. I use the latest nVidia driver and it's completely fine.
Click to expand...

Awesome - thanks.

I hope its the BIOS and not the MB itself...
 
Bah blooming humbug.

So I have:
- card tested as OK by OCUK
- latest BIOS and drivers for mobo
- clean install of Win7 SP1 (fully updated)
- a couple of runs on memtest passed on the RAM
- used multiple versions of nvidia driver

And the only thing that has happened is that my reliable black screen crash has become a reliable BSOD. Code 116 which (quelle surprise) says there's an issue with the GPU. It happens much sooner, within 10 minutes of benching now.

I also had an odd issue where, running Heaven, one of the HDDs would constantly disconnect and reconnect. It's unplugged at the mo. Doesn't happen under HDD load, does happen with Heaven running. Could be a dodgy disk, could be dodgy MB, could be dodgy PSU?

The PSU should be OK, but I'm starting to wonder. Is there any way to check without just putting a meter on one of the ATX connectors while benchmarking?

If it isn't that, then I'm left with the MB. Either it's duff (seems unlikely) or incompatible and I really don't want to replace it. Aside from anything else, I went socket 1366 which probably means replacing more than just the board...

Help me OCUK, you're my only hope...
 
Have you got another GPU you could chuck in to your system to test? Its not as if the 970 is causing issues because of power consumption because these cards are meant to be power efficient, cooler etc.

Everything else about your system seems in order as you're not overclocked or anything. So I would personally be suspect about new GPU first.
 
Sounds very frustrating! Probably of no help whatsoever but a couple of other things -

Try a different PCIe slot - your x58 boards likely has two x16 ones?
Ensure there are no other things using the PCIe bus (e.g. sound card)
Try forcing your PCIe bus to 100mhz rather than auto (also try 101 - odd x58 issues)
Watch the clocks and voltage on the card just before you get BSOD - is anything odd happening (throttling?)
Try a small (+30 mV) voltage offset on the core

Really wondering about your PSU as the hard drive will be on the same 12v line that gets loaded during heaven etc. That behavior only happening during heaven is not going to be motherboard related or drive related, it's likely to be +12v dipping under the threshold at which the drive cuts out. You could test this by having the drive connected to the PSU but not the board.

Is that PSU single rail or multiple rails? If it's multiple try using the 8 pin from one rail and the 6 pin from another to spread the load (you may need a molex type adapter, couple of quid)

I'm sure OCUK have tested it thoroughly but do you have a friends PC you can try it in to rule out a bad RMA process?

In theory 650w should be more than adequate for a single 970 as they are very efficient, but that's where my money is, it could be on the way out...
 
I have the same, but it's very random. It can go for 2-3 weeks without issue and then it will black screen and I have to restart.
Every single crash has been because of 'dxgkrnl.sys' and 'nvlddmkm.sys'. Obviously all to do with the Nvidia drivers. This all started after replacing my 7970 with the 970.

Hopefully a future driver fix will sort it all out. Hotfix driver 344.80 supposedly fixes the issue, I ought to try it out really :p Currently running 347.09
 
Ste said:
Ensure there are no other things using the PCIe bus (e.g. sound card)
Click to expand...

Ding ding ding I think we have a winner.

Up to an hour on heaven now and totally stable. HDD is still playing silly buggers from time to time, but I have a spare I'll swap in if I can't sort it some other way. 12V (single rail) looks stable with a meter on it but that won't catch any transients. Voltage doesn't move at all under load. It's 5 years old, but only working at half its rated power which should be plenty of margin.

The issue appears to be my USB3 card, which I completely forgot I had fitted. So small and tucked away at the top under the CPU cooler, never really think about it. Removed that just before the last heaven run and it's all tickety boo.

I'm going to leave it benching for another hour just to be sure.

All that bother over a £30 USB card. It will meet a suitably destructive (and theraputic) end.

Many festive thanks to all who chipped in. You've all been a great help.
 
Excellent, glad it works now!

Now get that i7 to 4ghz, so easy and makes such a difference in games. That system will last you a good few years.

Even in windows 2.6 vs 4.0 feels like a different league :)
 
Well it BSOD'd (116 again) after 90 minutes of Heaven on extreme, but I can probably live with that. I'll see how long I get in DA:I or titanfall, but I rarely get over an hour at a time so might never see any problems.

4GHz (or near enough, I might keep it a bit cooler) has always been the plan. Just never got round to it. Kids happened instead...

edit: Better find myself a new USB 3 controller too. reading cards off my camcorder or DSLR takes an age on USB 2!
 
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