Screen randomly goes black for a few seconds and then back to normal?

Draeger · 19 Jan 2015 at 15:16

Have noticed this happening in the last few weeks week. I can be sat at my PC with nothing more than the desktop or browser open and the screen will suddenly go black then a few seconds later return to normal as if nothing has happened? It has happened randomly maybe a few times a day in the past couple of weeks. Sometimes it goes days without happening at all. The monitor doesn't actually go off or into standby it's more the screen going black. At first I was thinking driver crashes and recovering after but usually you get a message popping up to tell you about that? The last time it did it I looked down at the case lights and the red disk activity LED was going nuts for about 30 seconds or so before calming down. Can't say if it did this the previous times but I'll watch out for when it happens again. I've had a look in the event viewer but there doesn't seem to be anything in there untoward. The weird thing is it never happens during gaming when the GPU is obviously working harder, it always happens when just browsing online or sat on the desktop. I've got excellent cooling and airflow through my case so I'm convinced its not a heat issue, temps for both the CPU and the GPU are good.

System spec is:-

i7 920 D0@4Ghz
Asus P6X58D-E
16Gb Corsair Vengeance RAM
Asus GTX760 Direct CUII OC GPU
Acer 24" LCD running at 1920x1080

The GTX760 was bought new from OcUK 5 months ago so its still under the Asus 2 year warranty but I was wondering if it could be anything else other than the GPU? Would be surprised and disappointed if the card was at fault. I occasionally game on this machine but the GTX760 has been sat at stock settings since it came out of the box. Having Googled for the issue at hand it throws up a few random forum threads but nothing of any great detail.

Just wondered if anyone had had this happen to them before?

wazza300 · 19 Jan 2015 at 15:19

could be idle/2d clocks

what web browser you using? if chrome try disabling hardware acceleration in the settings

also how much dram/vtt you using in bios?

Draeger · 19 Jan 2015 at 15:32

Cheers, yes - using Chrome. I'll check the settings. I'll check the BIOS settings too and post back. If it was 2d clocks, is there anything to check for there? Weird that the card has worked flawlessly since I got it then all of a sudden this happens.

wazza300 · 19 Jan 2015 at 15:46

idk other than driver issue somewhere or google chrome,

maybe clean install of drivers would help,use ddu to uninstall/clean install them (display driver uninstaller)

nails666 · 19 Jan 2015 at 16:20

Could be some random dodgy interference like I have on my wife's pc. Exactly the same symptom as you, screen just goes black for a few seconds and after much searching and frustration I realised it happens every time the little beer fridge in my office turns on or off! Absolutely nothing else in the office seems to be affected, 2 other PC's, 2 other monitors, tv, xbox, router etc, just my wifes monitor. I've tried changing where the monitor and fridge are plugged in, different surge protectors, everything and nothing seems to make a difference.
Years ago I had a similar thing at my parents house where an ancient boiler would send out a burst of interference when it turned on and disconnect our 56k modem, much to mine and my brothers annoyance in the middle of a UO session

Mel_P · 19 Jan 2015 at 16:29

My ASUS ProArt 24" monitor does the same - I would say for < 1sec. Running at 1920x1200. Ati Radeon HD 4800 series. Who knows why! No error messages etc - just seems to loose input then regain it. Never used to happen with old analgue monitor or my first DVI connected monitor. not using Chrome - haapens a few times daily - completely (apparently) random but presumably not actually random.

Draeger · 20 Jan 2015 at 09:23

wazza300 said:
also how much dram/vtt you using in bios?

Hi wazza, checked this morning and my QPI/DRAM value in the BIOS is set to 'Auto'. Always has been, I've never tweaked anything in the DRAM settings other than the bus volts which I set at 1.50 to match up with my Corsair Vengeance.

Had a look in Chrome too - Hardware Acceleration is unticked so it's not that. As far as interference is concerned, can't think of anything in the house which has changed or been altered which could cause this. System has been fine since I fitted this 760 in August time although I guess that doesn't strictly mean that that the possibility of something causing interference isn't plausible.

Noble-Kebab · 20 Jan 2015 at 09:47

Can you check the cable that's plugged into the back of the GFX card. Sometimes your cable can be loose. If you move it and the screen goes a bit crazy it's most likely that.

Draeger · 20 Jan 2015 at 09:50

I thought I had a spare cable lying around I could swap it out with to try but can't find it. I'll grab another one today and see if it makes any difference. In the meantime I'll remove the existing cable and refit it to see how that goes. PC has been on since about 08:30 this morning and so far it hasn't done it.

wazza300 · 20 Jan 2015 at 16:30

idk what to suggest

if it was fine before and its just started doing it it could be drivers maybe? could try manual dram/vtt of 1.32v and see if that helps at all,can always put back to auto

setter · 20 Jan 2015 at 19:31

Was getting a very similair issue on my second setup. Spec is.

i7 930, (stock)
asus p6 x58 de, (same board as op)
6gb 1600mhz ram
gtx 650 ti boost
750w antec true power psu
win7 64 hp

After reading this thread, i had a look in firefox options. Disabled hardware accelleration and done a clean driver install. Touch wood it's been fine since.

Draeger · 21 Jan 2015 at 09:01

wazza300 said:
if it was fine before and its just started doing it it could be drivers maybe?

setter said:
.....and done a clean driver install. Touch wood it's been fine since.

Well, so far I've had the PC on for a couple of days since posting this thread and typically, it hasn't exhibited the black screen symptoms again. That said, I'm going to do a clean driver install just in case. :cool:

setter · 21 Jan 2015 at 09:30

Looks like I spoke to early, after a few hours last night it started again. Seems to happen with multiple ff tabs open, screen flashes up and down from black to the web page. Card temps are ok at 31c, system is at stock. I'm gonna try it with one of the 780's from my main system.

Noble-Kebab · 21 Jan 2015 at 09:42

Really think it could be PSU related.

Gregster · 21 Jan 2015 at 09:58

I get this once every so often and can be whilst gaming or whilst web browsing. It never did it when using the cable that came with the monitor but I purchased a longer cable, as I wanted the PC quite a distance from the monitor and the cable I bought was quite cheap, so I put it down to that.

setter · 21 Jan 2015 at 10:04

I've wiggled the cable about, but ill try the one from the main rig as its known to be fine. Fir me it starts after the system has been on a few hours.

Gregster · 21 Jan 2015 at 10:12

I know it is my cable, as it never did it on the packaged one. I would look at that as the culprit.

setter · 21 Jan 2015 at 10:18

Unfortunately mate I've only got two dvi cables, if one is indeed at fault ill have to source another. The main system could use hdmi but I'm not sure if I have a long enough cable. No hdmi socket on the monitor of the second rig, its so old hdmi hadn't been invented.

Gregster · 21 Jan 2015 at 10:22

setter · 23 Jan 2015 at 13:49

Below is an image of what i get.

The above webpage is in full screen, but it flicks from full to what you see above very quickly. If i close the browser the flickering will continue on desktop until i reboot. Havent got round to trying other cables yet as ive took the system to bits to give the internals a clean.