MSI Afterburners causes unexpected issues by increasing core/memory clocks, leading to artifacts, freezes, and crashes.
MSI Afterburners causes unexpected issues by increasing core/memory clocks, leading to artifacts, freezes, and crashes.
MSI Afterburner suddenly started behaving erratically—overclocking my 2 GTX 980 GPUs beyond normal levels. Initially, my PC performed well until the game caused it to freeze completely. After a few minutes of trying to recover, I pressed the reset button. A quick restart brought the desktop back online, but it was covered in hundreds of black squares, resembling bullet holes, and the mouse stopped working.
Later, after another blue screen, the system would crash again. The next boot revealed clear signs of the problem: MSI Afterburner had automatically increased memory and core clock speeds by a massive +1000, causing numerous artifacts like flickering shapes, rainbow marks, and dots. The PC would freeze and then either go black or crash with a short blue screen.
This was the second occurrence on the same system. Earlier, after a clean Windows 10 installation, I had reset everything and removed the software. Still, it kept lagging and freezing, making it impossible to use MSI Afterburner or uninstall it. The issue seemed to damage my GPUs severely—adding such a high number of clocks was extreme.
I tried restarting repeatedly until I could finally disable the software by pressing RESET DEFAULTS. However, the problem persisted because the system would constantly lag and freeze. I’m worried MSI may have burned or damaged my GPUs. Anyone else experienced this? How can I prevent it next time? Also, what should I do to check the health of my graphics cards after these events?
Jasjar :
Press shift while starting up to enter safe mode.
I recently tried restarting my PC and holding shift during the BIOS prompt and the brief flashing "–" before Windows appears. It didn't help. Are you certain this is the correct procedure?
Also, could you share any information about the automatically-killer-overclocking issue?
I have seen bugchecks that had several different versions of the overclock driver running from different directories at the same time. I would hate to even guess what each driver did to the cards. Make sure you do not have more than one copy and it is current for your card. I tell people to remove it before I debug problems. Often the problem just goes away.
quotemsg=18315031,0,883311]
Jasjar :
Enter safe mode by holding shift while booting
Just tried restarting my PC and holding the left or right Shift - during BIOS message and during the short flickering "-" before Windows loads up. Didn't work. Are you sure that's how it is done?
Also, do you have any insight about the automatically-killer-overclocking bug?[/quotemsg]
I have observed bugchecks with multiple versions of the overclock driver running simultaneously from various directories. I would avoid even speculating about their effects on the cards. Ensure there is only one copy and it matches your card. I advise removing it before debugging any issues, as the problem often disappears afterward.
I noticed several users installing MSI overclocking software in various directories simultaneously. The driver might load into memory more than once. I don’t have details about your specific machine; I’d need a memory dump to analyze further.
Ransome :
johnbl :
I’ve seen bugchecks where multiple versions of the overclock driver were running from different locations at once. It would be risky to assume what each one did to the cards. Make sure you have only one copy and it matches your card’s current version. I advise removing it before debugging, as the issue often resolves on its own.
quotemsg=18315031,0,883311]
Jasjar :
Try entering safe mode by holding Shift during boot.
I recently restarted my PC and used Shift while the BIOS message appeared and during the brief flickering before Windows loaded. It didn’t help. Could you confirm if that’s the correct procedure?
Additionally, do you have any information about the automatically-killer-overclocking bug?
What exactly is being removed? What are you targeting at the same time? (I recently cleaned up my Windows 10 installation, which doesn’t seem relevant.) I also frequently remove the DDU driver.
In the meantime, I reset MSI Afterburner.
I uninstalled MSI AB with NO option to keep nothing.
Removed Nvidia Driver and its extras (HD audio, experience, etc.)—mostly using safe mode.
Then I used DDU Display Driver Uninstaller to fully remove any leftover Nvidia graphics drivers and completely uninstall the driver.
Typically, you can simply use DDU directly without manual removal first.
Finally, I downloaded the latest Nvidia driver and installed it via a clean install for extra security.
After that, I reinstalled MSI Afterburner from scratch and made some adjustments.
Should I be safe now?
I worry this problem might come back, beyond my control...