System crashing after PC freezes, followed by a black screen—likely related to the GPU.
System crashing after PC freezes, followed by a black screen—likely related to the GPU.
Hello everyone, I’m experiencing this unusual issue on my PC. Mostly everything works normally until it suddenly freezes for a few seconds and then displays a black screen. It stays there until I force a reboot. Sometimes it turns black and restarts by itself; other times it just remains black. My monitor still shows a signal, though at one point it appeared to have no signal. Another time, browsing the web caused it to freeze for several minutes instead of seconds, then go black and restart. Yesterday it even failed to POST, showing only a motherboard splash screen without any sound. It seems to happen randomly, whether I’m playing games or idle. I’ve tried everything—clean install, reinstalled Windows, updated drivers, re-seated RAM and GPU, checked fans and temperatures, ran memory diagnostics, disk checks for bad sectors and errors. I need help identifying the cause, possibly related to the GPU, RAM, PSU, or even my SSD. My system specs are: Gigabyte Twin Turbo OC GTX 970, Asrock A320M Pro4, AMD Ryzen 1500X, GeIL Dragon AMD Edition, 8GB DDR4, 60GB SSD, Corsair TX 650W, and PSU. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I’d start by testing the GPU under heavy stress. Running something like Firestrike or a continuous Heaven session should push it to its limits. If it struggles, try another GPU to see if performance improves. Let me know the results!
I plan to test the system under high volume to check for crashes. Since I don’t have a backup GPU, I’m considering replacing it now. My priority is fixing the PSU or RAM first before purchasing a new one.
So the GPU is out of the question. For RAM, consider running HCI MemTest at a minimum of 400%, aiming for 1000% if possible—this usually works well. If it passes without errors, the PSU might be the issue. You can also try MemTest86 and boot from an USB drive. Have you updated your motherboard’s BIOS? If not, updating to the latest version would be wise. This update also helps maintain support for Summit Ridge CPUs, which are being phased out in favor of newer models like Pinnacle Ridge and Matisse. Updating chipset drivers could also be beneficial. Here’s the link for your board’s BIOS update guide: https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/A320M Pro4/index.asp#BIOS Also, what driver version are you using? If you test a few older versions, new drivers sometimes fix bugs that affect older GPUs. I had a similar issue with my 1080 when I upgraded from 417.35 to 422—downgrading temporarily helped until the latest version was released.
Thanks for the response, RAM seems ok as I have tested with one stick in each slot and still had the issue. However in new developments I have encountered a freeze that just stays on on whatever I am doing and the PC is completely unresponsive, also encountered an issue when I restart the PC I black screened during the restart, it seemed to shut down correctly but then it was stuck on a black screen before I even saw the BIOS splash screen, my keyboard was not lighting up as it usually would but my PC was on and the fans spinning. There must be something causing these issues, going to try flash the BIOS now.
I need to mention it's version 970. I just replaced my 960 a few weeks back that had identical issues. My Intel IGD would function, but only when powered on and in the PCIE slot. Occasionally it would appear and at idle with no load it worked fine. Within a few minutes of gaming or FurMark, it would black screen and I'd have to toggle the PC on and off to get it running sometimes. Installing a new RX 580 fixed the problem.
You're experiencing random freezes while using Furmark under stress. It's showing stability during active use but freezing unexpectedly in idle or browsing situations, even before your PC starts up. This could be related to system resource management or background processes. Consider checking for background applications, adjusting startup settings, or running a system diagnostic.
It should not work well in a low-power setting or during driver installation. Try starting in safe mode after accessing Device Manager and turning off the graphics card. After rebooting, use DDU to remove the display driver, then reinstall it and restart again in safe mode. Follow these steps to clean and restart your system. Check for the latest driver for your GPU, as the GTX 970 is likely the cause. The PSU seems unlikely since your case is recent and the Corsair power supply is solid. If you encounter file system issues with the SSD, it may prevent a proper Windows boot without a system32 error or missing boot record.
The issue with the 970 is that it heats up significantly (the entire design does). Large temperature differences can drain a card quickly. It could have failed completely.