Gigabyte GTS450 causes random black screen

TVeblen said:

Can you borrow another nVidia graphics card from another system to test with? Any PCI-e x16 card will do.

Unfortunately, I do not have access to another nVidia graphics card (unless I buy a new one).

mjf said:

The GTS450 does recommend a minimum 400W PSU. I think trying another graphics card as suggested above is a good idea. Maybe the shop that sold you the card could oblige.

I actually have a 500W PSU. So, I think that should be sufficient (hopefully).

Britton30 said:

Well, you might give the newer 280.26 driver a go and see what happens now. It seems about 50/50 on whether it works on different systems.

Also please fill out system specs with this tool. This will make them available in each of your posts. https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/180324-system-info-see-your-system-specs.html

I will get my profile updated with my system specs using the tool you pointed me to. Thanks for that. (I'm at work at the moment - I will get it updated later this evening when I get home)

I will also try out the new 280.26 driver, to see if this resolves the issue.

I must say that as of the last BSOD, I have not seen any more - but I have not tried using IE9 since the BSOD. So I am not able to confirm that it will not recur.

I have not checked whether my MOBO BIOS has a newer version. If there is a newer one available, I will try it out to see if that helps.

Sure, I'm in no rush to flash the BIOS. So, I will wait for the moment. Thanks. :)

So, I am closing this thread as "Solved" because I have not seen any more black screens since I re-installed the OS and did the following:

• disabled the "High Definition Audio Device" which is associated with the graphics card
• disabled the Etron USB3.0 device in the motherboard BIOS before installing the OS (also did not install the Etron drivers)

Thanks everyone for all the inputs/comments.

Sadly, I am seeing the black screens once again. I have managed to root cause it to the GTS450 graphics card.

I have sent it back for warranty claim to Gigabyte (via the store I bought it from). However, now I have to wait for (possibly) 2 months for Gigabyte to get back about the issue.

It looks like many users have reported of the nVIDIA GeForce 4xx series products facing the black screen issue. Not sure if it is a hardware of driver issue. Have to wait till Gigabyte get back to me.

Britton30 said:

One of their solutions was I shouldn't have installed Win 7 and go back to XP Others may have different experiences though.
I now have the ASUS GTX460.

Holy crap! Really? Gigabyte can give such an answer? I had very high opinion of Gigabyte actually, thus my move to get a Gigabyte MOBO and graphics card.

Deviating from the original topic of this thread, I plan to give my current PC to my dad and I plan to get another computer in 2-3 months time. Any suggestion of MOBO and graphics card makers I should go for?

• For the MOBO, I was actually thinking of getting either the ASUS P8P67 PRO B3, ASUS P8P67 DELUXE B3 or the ASUS P67 SABERTOOTH B3 - any opinions of which one I should go for.
• And which graphics card should I pick - Asus, Sapphire or XFX? nVidia or ATI?

I understand that these are very much personal preferences. But any opinions? To me, there are no correct or wrong answers. It is all about just being well informed before making a purchase. Opinions most welcome.