Question Computer Black Screens, CPU Bug Light On MB. GPU or CPU/MB?
Question Computer Black Screens, CPU Bug Light On MB. GPU or CPU/MB?
CPU model: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X at 3.70 GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti
RAM: 32 GB
Motherboard: MSI B450 Tomahawk
Power supply: 1000W EVGA GT Series (NEW)
Storage: 4 SSDs combined for 7.25TB
The PC occasionally displays black screens during gameplay, usually shortly after starting a title, though sometimes it lasts up to an hour or slightly longer. Games that tend to cause this issue include resource-heavy titles such as Cyberpunk and RE4 Remake, while titles like KC: Deliverance are less affected. The problematic games for NOLVUS are Crusader Kings 3, possibly due to mods, and recently NOLVUS Skyrim (a large modpack). However, for NOLVUS, the crash lasted an hour and a half without black screen, and after restarting the next day it resumed smoothly at around 40 minutes into the game while creating a character—no NPCs or distant objects loading. The most recent incident involved running temperature monitoring programs on the second monitor; CPU and GPU temperatures stayed within normal ranges under load, ruling out overheating.
I suspect Star Wars Battlefront 2 was the culprit. I bought it for $10 on Steam, and upon launching it it became unstable, causing a blue screen. After restarting and checking Task Manager, I noticed multiple entries for SWB2 in parentheses, suggesting it might have been running concurrently. This likely triggered the crash. I uninstalled and refunded the game afterward.
Black screens also occurred once or twice more, so I stopped using the PC for about a month (keeping it completely off). When I resumed, only Crusader Kings 3 blacked out, while Cyberpunk, Helldivers 2, and Skyrim with over 100 mods (non-NOLVUS) remained stable.
The CPU indicator lights up on the motherboard, but it’s unclear if this indicates a damaged GPU or an issue with the motherboard itself. I haven’t updated the BIOS in about two years, and since I didn’t modify it recently, it shouldn’t be the main concern.
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For your motherboard's BIOS, consider removing all GPU drivers (Intel, AMD, Nvidia) using DDU in Safe Mode. Reinstall manually with the newest drivers from Nvidia's support site via an elevated command—right-click the installer and select Run as Administrator.
The CPU light is on the MB, which may signal a problem with the processor or memory controller. Verify if BIOS updates are pending and proceed step by step to the latest version, clearing CMOS once the flashing is confirmed successful.