Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Feb 2012
- Posts
- 2,932
- Location
- London
Hi guys,
My friend has been having the following issues.
PC randomly freezes, mouse flickers and screen goes black – looking for troubleshooting advice
I'm looking for some advice diagnosing an intermittent problem with my PC. Sometimes, when I turn it on, the mouse cursor starts flickering or jumping all over the screen, the display intermittently flashes black, and eventually Windows freezes completely. I then have to force the PC to shut down.
PC specifications
- Case: HYTE Y70 Touch (with integrated screen and GPU riser connection)
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
- Motherboard: ASUS PRIME X870-P WIFI
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 16GB
- RAM: 32GB DDR5, running at 6000MHz
- BIOS: Updated to version 1681
- Graphics: AMD integrated Radeon graphics available through the CPU
Troubleshooting I've already tried
- Tested each RAM stick individually, using the same motherboard slot. The issue persisted with either stick.
- Swapped graphics cards to test whether the original GPU was faulty.
- Tested the PC using the CPU's integrated graphics. Windows ran smoothly, without the mouse flickering or screen going black.
- Disabled and physically removed the dedicated GPU. Again, the PC ran smoothly using integrated graphics.
- Updated the BIOS and tried changing the PCIe link speed from Auto to Gen 4, but this didn't resolve the problem.
- Tried updating the NVIDIA graphics drivers, but this didn't fix the issue. Windows has also crashed during attempts to install the drivers.
- Tested Safe Mode, where the mouse was stable and the system behaved much more normally.
- Initially reset Windows during the earlier stages of troubleshooting, but the problem persisted.
What I've done with the original place of purchase.
I've been in contact with original place of purchase, where I purchased the components. They suggested the issue could potentially be PCIe-related. I sent my original RTX 5080 back to them for testing, but they reported that they couldn't find any fault with the card.
During my own testing, I installed a replacement RTX 5080 from another PC into the problem system, and it booted and ran smoothly. This made the original GPU seem like a possible culprit, but their testing didn't identify a fault.
Original place of purchase have also suggested that the problem could be the PCIe riser cable or GPU connection in the HYTE Y70 Touch case, as the graphics card connects to the motherboard through the riser rather than directly into the PCIe slot.
What I'm trying to establish
Given that the system runs smoothly on integrated graphics, and a replacement RTX 5080 appeared to work in the same system, what would you investigate next?
Could this be a faulty or intermittent PCIe riser cable, a motherboard PCIe slot or signal issue, GPU power delivery, a driver/software problem, or something else entirely?
I'd appreciate any suggestions for further tests that could help isolate the fault before I start replacing components unnecessarily. Thanks!
My friend has been having the following issues.
PC randomly freezes, mouse flickers and screen goes black – looking for troubleshooting advice
I'm looking for some advice diagnosing an intermittent problem with my PC. Sometimes, when I turn it on, the mouse cursor starts flickering or jumping all over the screen, the display intermittently flashes black, and eventually Windows freezes completely. I then have to force the PC to shut down.
PC specifications
- Case: HYTE Y70 Touch (with integrated screen and GPU riser connection)
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
- Motherboard: ASUS PRIME X870-P WIFI
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 16GB
- RAM: 32GB DDR5, running at 6000MHz
- BIOS: Updated to version 1681
- Graphics: AMD integrated Radeon graphics available through the CPU
Troubleshooting I've already tried
- Tested each RAM stick individually, using the same motherboard slot. The issue persisted with either stick.
- Swapped graphics cards to test whether the original GPU was faulty.
- Tested the PC using the CPU's integrated graphics. Windows ran smoothly, without the mouse flickering or screen going black.
- Disabled and physically removed the dedicated GPU. Again, the PC ran smoothly using integrated graphics.
- Updated the BIOS and tried changing the PCIe link speed from Auto to Gen 4, but this didn't resolve the problem.
- Tried updating the NVIDIA graphics drivers, but this didn't fix the issue. Windows has also crashed during attempts to install the drivers.
- Tested Safe Mode, where the mouse was stable and the system behaved much more normally.
- Initially reset Windows during the earlier stages of troubleshooting, but the problem persisted.
What I've done with the original place of purchase.
I've been in contact with original place of purchase, where I purchased the components. They suggested the issue could potentially be PCIe-related. I sent my original RTX 5080 back to them for testing, but they reported that they couldn't find any fault with the card.
During my own testing, I installed a replacement RTX 5080 from another PC into the problem system, and it booted and ran smoothly. This made the original GPU seem like a possible culprit, but their testing didn't identify a fault.
Original place of purchase have also suggested that the problem could be the PCIe riser cable or GPU connection in the HYTE Y70 Touch case, as the graphics card connects to the motherboard through the riser rather than directly into the PCIe slot.
What I'm trying to establish
Given that the system runs smoothly on integrated graphics, and a replacement RTX 5080 appeared to work in the same system, what would you investigate next?
Could this be a faulty or intermittent PCIe riser cable, a motherboard PCIe slot or signal issue, GPU power delivery, a driver/software problem, or something else entirely?
I'd appreciate any suggestions for further tests that could help isolate the fault before I start replacing components unnecessarily. Thanks!
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