Intermittent Black Screen? Can't Solve...

[Pepi93]

Getting really frustrated here...

I continue to experience intermittent black screen issues with my gpu.

It happened with my Powercolor HD7950, which I'm in the process of RMA'ing for that and another reason...

Now I bought a XFX R9 280 (on Wednesday), it installed fine, no issues, and Saturday I get about 5 black screen issues right after another...screen goes out for 3-5 seconds then comes back. I was playing league of legends.

I tried once again to do a driver reinstall...here's how I install AMD drivers. I'm now trying the newest beta driver from AMD as well as MSI afterburner 3.0 beta 19. I believe all my MSI afterburner settings are correct, disable ulps etc...

How I Remove AMD Drivers:

1. Access Add/Remove Programs via the Windows Control Panel
2. Double Click “AMD Catalyst Install Manager”
3. Use the Express Uninstall Option
4. Reboot after the uninstall process has completed
Remove left over files/folders:
1. Access Folder Options from Windows Control Panel
2. Click the view tab and select “Show hidden files/ folders and drives (Apply Settings)
3. Access Drive “C” (Or wherever your OS is installed)
4. Delete the folder named “AMD”
5. Go to “Program Files” and delete all AMD / ATi associated folders
6. Go to “Program Files (x86)” and delete all AMD / ATi associated folders
7. Go to “ProgramData” and delete all AMD / ATi associated folders
8. Go to “Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local” and delete all AMD / ATi associated folders
9. Go to “Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming” and delete all AMD / ATi associated folders
Remove left over registry entries:
1. Access ‘Regedit’ (This can be found in Administrative Tools or by Windows Search)
Please Note: We will be using the left side panel within ‘regedit’ during this tutorial
2. Click “HKEY_CURRENT_USER” and extend the folder
3. Click “Software” and extend the folder
4. Delete AMD/ATI associated folders
5. Click “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” and extend the folder
6. Click “SOFTWARE” and extend the folder
7. Delete AMD/ATI associated folders
8. Click “Wow6432Node” and extend the folder
9. Delete AMD/ATI associated folders
10. Click “HKEY_USERS” and extend the folder
11. Click “.DEFAULT” and extend the folder
12. Click “Software” and extend the folder
13. Delete AMD/ATI associated folders
14. Click “S-1-5-18” and extend the folder
15. Click “Software” and extend the folder
16. Delete AMD/ATI associated folders
17. Feel free to check the remaining “S-1-5” / “Software” folders for AMD / ATI folders (and remove them)
18. Close ‘regedit’ and empty your recycle bin, followed by a reboot

I've tested my PSU, it's fine, I'm not sure if I'm just unlucky or if I'm doing something wrong? Could the dozen driver install/reinstalls be causing this?
My system is not overclocked, no heat issues, clean, good cooling…
Before I return this XFX card to the store on Monday I'd like to see if I can figure it out.

No I don’t have another system to try this in and like I said, it could be days before I’d see another black screen pop up.

Thanks.

 

[Pepi93]

I've also performed tests with 3DMark, Heaven and they both passed.

 

[caddi daddi]

#1 are you clocking the card?

#2 can you try another pcie slot?

 

[Pepi93]

#1 not clocking anything

#2 I'd have to remove the HDD bay, but in theory it is doable...

My GTX 560 ti never gave me black screens before I switched to AMD...same motherboard...

Onboard graphics is also disabled.

 

[caddi daddi]

two in a row with the same issue is pretty rare.

 

[Bustos]

Did you remove the Nvidia drivers prior to installing the AMD drivers?

 

[Pepi93]

I did a clean install before putting in AMD card. using secure erase etc...the works.

 

[S_I_N]

have ya tried a different cable?? I'm meaning the HDMI DP or DVI cable whichever your using

 

[Pepi93]

No I have not, I don't have one ATM, I'll get another next time I'm at a comp store. Could this cause black screens?

Also, no one has yet commented on if repeated driver install/uninstall could be the issue? Regardless of the install method that I posted.

have ya tried a different cable?? I'm meaning the HDMI DP or DVI cable whichever your using

 

[S_I_N]

I say that cause its about the only thing you havent tried and no ones commented on the OP of driver removal cause its good. You said this happened with a new install as well so its not driver removal/update related (from the looks of it)

 

[Pepi93]

You said this happened with a new install as well so its not driver removal/update related (from the looks of it)

Yes but the clean install was on the powercolor which is currently in the process of being RMA'd...that card gave me other issues too...BSOD's etc...

I did not yet do a clean install since I bought the XFX...figured I didn't have to since it's also an AMD card.


I'll buy a gold plated HDMI cable since this one came stock with my monitor and it's just generic.

 

[caddi daddi]

hdmi< hmmmmmmm.
my setup does the same, hdmi to a 46 inch led tv.
when i move it to a monitor its fine.
when i listen to music the screen goes black, music keeps playing and nothing will bring it back other than a reboot.

 

[Pepi93]

I just bought a new cable...we'll see what happens...tired of this BS to be honest.

 

[Woomack]

I have black screen in system on a new R7 250X whenever I install 14.4 drivers. Without drivers ( default vga driver ) all is fine. Maybe older version will help.

Edit:
Looks like 14.6 beta fixed black screen for me.

 

[Alaric]

I've been noticing a lot of folks reporting various graphics/video anomalies lately with the same two common elements-XFX cards and AMD drivers. I have been having my own issues from minor (flickering) to major (losing video completely until a reboot). XFX support was eager to help , but I noticed the issues got more frequent after downloading the 14-6 beta last night. The only two things I haven't changed chasing it down are the card and the source of the drivers. XFX doesn't provide drivers at all or I would have tried that , too. Last bit of evidence (for my problems) is MOM.exe kicking up errors all over Windows event viewer.
I'm going to try AMD's driver removal utility , then double check it with Driver Fusion. After those reboots , I'll reinstall the 14-4 whql and take it from there.

 

[Pepi93]

I've been noticing a lot of folks reporting various graphics/video anomalies lately with the same two common elements-XFX cards and AMD drivers. I have been having my own issues from minor (flickering) to major (losing video completely until a reboot). XFX support was eager to help , but I noticed the issues got more frequent after downloading the 14-6 beta last night. The only two things I haven't changed chasing it down are the card and the source of the drivers. XFX doesn't provide drivers at all or I would have tried that , too. Last bit of evidence (for my problems) is MOM.exe kicking up errors all over Windows event viewer.
I'm going to try AMD's driver removal utility , then double check it with Driver Fusion. After those reboots , I'll reinstall the 14-4 whql and take it from there.

Don't use amd's driver removal utility, it removes other drivers as well, such as chipset etc...you can basically do a clean install after...

I'm using the latest beta and so far no issues...I'll repost in a couple of days.

 

[Alaric]

I did end up passing on the AMD gizmo. Just a Windows uninstall and reboot , which left most of the drivers intact. Ran Driver Fusion and went through my C:\ drive on a search and destroy for ATI/AMD , rebooted again and decided to try the beta first. After Woomack's post I realized the old drivers were there throughout my issues , so I figured what the heck. So far , so good. The only flickering now seems to be IE 11 LOL. Not getting any issues anywhere else. I'll just have to wait and see if my black screen problem shows back up. Good luck!

 

[Woomack]

To delete driver you can simply enter hardware manager, delete device ( gfx card ) and tick delete software/driver files. It will remove all driver files from your system folders/registry. At least it's working for me without any issues on every AMD card.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Pepi, what PSU do you have?

Edit: Saw it after posting in my pre-coffee state. You're good there.

 

[Pepi93]

knock on wood, I haven't had any issues since I changed HDMI cables...