Issue with a blank display - completely unpredictable - no event viewer or minidumps available
Issue with a blank display - completely unpredictable - no event viewer or minidumps available
Hello everyone, here’s my setup:
12700K
3080 (palit)
32GB 2x16GB Corsair DDR4
MSI MPG Z690 Edge wifi
Corsair CX750f
My issue happens unexpectedly. Both DP and HDMI connections are affected—I haven’t experienced this on the integrated card, which is why I’m considering an RMA for the GPU while still under warranty.
Suddenly my PC will black screen completely. It’s a hard crash that forces a shutdown and reboot. Sometimes it takes longer; a CMOS didn’t resolve it, and I’ve had to change power connectors and tweak CMOS/RAM settings multiple times just to get a boot. Reseating the GPU helped in some cases.
I’ll be playing a game and it black screens instantly. From what I understand, having YouTube running in the background and several tabs open increases the chance, though it’s still quite random. On some nights I can use dual monitors without any issues during long sessions.
When it does occur, it happens very quickly during reboots. For example:
- After an hour of gaming, I got a black screen.
- Rebooting after 3 minutes while loading a game, I got another one right after launching it.
- After rebooting, I went straight into OCCT and everything was fine—no crashes.
There’s nothing in the event viewer or minidumps.
I can run Superposition at 4k without any problems.
I’ve tried OCCT on GPU, CPU, Power, and Memory—everything works fine.
Sometimes loading Wow or similar games causes a black screen, but again, it’s unpredictable.
No temperatures are spiking, and my GPU and CPU are at around 70% during full load.
I’m currently using only 16GB of RAM, after swapping ports and trying different configurations to see if it makes a difference—no change.
I’m not sure how to force the black screen, it’s really confusing!
Any suggestions or tests you could recommend would be appreciated? I’ve been testing my GPU drivers frequently, this problem keeps getting worse, and I need a better way to monitor my PC performance before it crashes. All temperatures look normal, and my GPU and CPU are at about 70% capacity.
Please let me know if you have any ideas or tools that could help identify the cause.
Have you attempted to use old GPU drivers prior to when the issue began? Likewise, I experienced a series of roughly four months with Nvidia drivers causing random black screens during rendering, with the only consistent problem being in Affinity Designer.
I believe your PSU isn't suitable for a 3080 GPU. You may need to look for a quality PSU with 850W or higher capacity.
You might be correct. During the building process the calculations indicated I was near 650/670 or lower under full stress, so I should recheck. It's quite strange that I initially considered PSU but only recently realized how quickly things deteriorated.
Bump - memtest86 worked well on both drives.
Currently I think the issue is with the GPU or PSU. I'm not sure if I can pinpoint the exact problem completely.
Update* It just froze completely. Shut down. Won't boot again. Tried resetting the CMOS and then booted, but no display. Had to remove the DP cable from the GPU and reinsert it, same position, and it worked after restarting...
I'm leaning towards it being the GPU.
Graphics card has been thoroughly tested on multiple monitors, 4k displays, and lasted over 48 hours without any issues. The power supply was replaced with a 750w unit. Windows 11 is now installed fresh, and Samsung confirms the M.2 slot works. Crashing occurs instantly during 4k benchmarks, especially on Superposition and when loading Elden Ring in 4k resolution. Different DP and HDMI connections were tried. The crashes result in an immediate shutdown and restart. Integrated graphics work without problems. I’m unsure what to test next—my motherboard or processor remains the main concern. Any suggestions?
I thought 750w was sufficient? The pc functioned for two years before that?
🙁
Costly test to carry out
750w is the lowest you should aim for with a 3080; it won’t take much to push it over and then you’re dealing with power spikes too.
Checking 3080 power spikes on Google and doing some research shows your setup is solid.
My reco is a good 850w minimum, bigger isn’t bad.