Solved Black screen on AMD GPU after restarting within Windows 7

[Nitesco]

This is a strange issue. After restarting my PC within Windows 7, the shutdown sequence starts as normal, with the "Shutting down..." message, then I get a black screen, with no visible HDD activity. But if I use the restart button on the front of my PC at this point, then the PC boots, and Windows 7 starts loading as normal.


I don't know what the primary cause of this is, but I can say with 90% certainty that this started happening when I installed some important security updates that Microsoft pushed out in January 2018.


Other than that? Here's some things I can report.

• Opened up my PC to clean it. No issues after a restart around that point, but that was before the January Windows Updates.
• Had performed a tweak on my RAM speed settings around this period, so I reset those back to normal. Still getting the restart issue.
• Used the Startup Repair from Macrium Reflect (detailed description on what it does here) twice. Still getting the restart issue. The restart issue seems especially strange now because if there was a real boot problem, I wouldn't be able to even be able to use my PC.
• Reset my BIOS settings from within my BIOS. Still getting the restart issue.

What I'm suspecting is that there might be something inside Windows 7 itself causing this. Which could go back to those January updates from before. And I'm no stranger to the situation of very specific Windows Updates screwing with my GPU. Also, my GPU drivers have not been updated in a while, so I could update those (after using Display Driver Uninstaller) and see how it plays out. But I don't know if attempting to update could cause more issues.


Anyway, any input would be helpful for this weird, select issue I'm having.

 

[mrjimphelps]

Have you tried uninstalling the January 2018 updates? After doing that, see if the problem has gone away. If it has, then you can be sure that the updates had something to do with it.

 

[Anak]

mrjimphelps tip would be a good place to start.

Going back several months when starting my WU's (windows updates) I'd see a darkened screen that informs me that I have to wait until other programs shutdown before the updates can proceed. This tells me that there is a program that is slow to close before the updates can proceed, more than once it was Firefox but that has stopped since I've updated to FF Quantum v57 and higher, and more than once it was windows update itself.
The only thing I can think of when it was WU is, it was waiting for the Control Panel app to close before the updates could proceed, and even that has stopped I haven't seen this behaviour since last Fall of 2017.

• Your scenario is slightly different in that you're reporting that you see a black screen without any messages is that correct?

• When you say "no visible HDD activity" you mean the blinking light? How long do you wait before you do the hard reboot?

If you do revert to before the January updates and all is okay then that's your problem, the updates and you could wait until February as there may be improvements to January's in February that won't cause this problem.

If there's no change after reverting try resetting those BIOS settings to default and see if that helps. You might want to take notes on any changes you have made so you can go back to them, some update utilities offer to save the previous settings but I couldn't find anything for asrock MB's maybe you know of something.

 

[Nitesco]

mrjimphelps tip would be a good place to start.

• Your scenario is slightly different in that you're reporting that you see a black screen without any messages is that correct?

There's the typical "Shutting down..." message (edited the original post with that detail), but after that, no output from my GPU, hence the black screen, because then my monitor goes on standby because there's nothing coming in for it to show. It's as if the reboot starts and then doesn't finish.


I can say that I don't think Firefox Quantum is a cause of this. I make sure to close that before restarting my PC. But I will double-check the Task Manager to make sure it's completely closed from this point.

• When you say "no visible HDD activity" you mean the blinking light? How long do you wait before you do the hard reboot?

That's correct. No blinking HDD activity light. All I hear is that the components inside are still active, as if nothing was actually turned off.



I've waited around 5 minutes when I noticed this happening, because I left the room after restarting, assuming my PC was just going to boot into Windows as normal. 5 minutes or so later, nothing. Then I go for the hard reboot by pushing the Reset button on the front of my case.

If you do revert to before the January updates and all is okay then that's your problem, the updates and you could wait until February as there may be improvements to January's in February that won't cause this problem.

I'm going to uninstall KB4054998 as per mrjimphelps's suggestion and let you know how that turns out.

 

[Anak]

I don't see it here, maybe it's in the other jan. update thread but didn't you mention that you use HDMI for your video cable? if so do you think using VGA would make a difference?

 

[Nitesco]

New info that shows it might involve my GPU drivers. Found this out when I installed some updated AMD drivers today. I wanted to see if that was part of the problem.

I try to restart to Safe Mode, same issues as before. I use the Boot Select to go into Safe Mode, use Display Driver Uninstaller while in Safe Mode, restart...the Restart goes through with no issues.

I restart to install the latest AMD drivers, finish that, restart afterwards, and that also goes through fine.

Now I'm back in Windows with the latest AMD drivers up and running, I do one more restart to see what's up. It happened again. The hang after the "Shutting down..." message.


So what I'm getting from this is that it could very well be GPU driver-related. I don't know if it's the center of the problems at this point, but this does show progress. But at the very least, now I can tell that there's something within Windows causing this, and less chance that it's a hardware issue.

I don't see it here, maybe it's in the other jan. update thread but didn't you mention that you use HDMI for your video cable? if so do you think using VGA would make a difference?

I don't have a spare VGA cable to test that with. I do wish I had a spare DVI cable to check, though.

As it is, I'm not sure if it's actually related to video inputs, but it's something I'll keep in mind.

 

[Anak]

Something that caught my eye in what you said:

I try to restart to Safe Mode, same issues as before. I use the Boot Select to go into Safe Mode, use Display Driver Uninstaller while in Safe Mode, restart...the Restart goes through with no issues.

I restart to install the latest AMD drivers, finish that, restart afterwards, and that also goes through fine.

Now I'm back in Windows with the latest AMD drivers up and running, I do one more restart to see what's up. It happened again. The hang after the "Shutting down..." message.

Do you realize you were always in windows? Safe Mode starts windows with a minimal set of drivers and services. All we need to do is figure out which set of drivers and services are causing the conflict.

I've never used a separate GPU always ran what came with the machine, is the process automatic when you plug in the board or do you have to shut off the on-board graphics before the new GPU will work, is there some video tied in with your MB (motherboard)?

Did you try running in safe mode to see how the display worked?

 

[Viscon]

I have exactly the same problem!
Installed KB4056894 security rollup plus KB4055532 .net framework security rollup, and got same issues as you, Nitesco...
Black screen after restart, no hdd activity, monitor in standby mode (only difference i have DVI output).
Now when I hit restart button PC and windows loads fine.

OK... I restored system partition with Macrium Reflect to the state before applying all those patches and the problem is entirely gone.

 

[Nitesco]

Good things to report. Sorry I haven't checked in a lot, life stuff to deal with.

I have exactly the same problem!
Installed KB4056894 security rollup plus KB4055532 .net framework security rollup, and got same issues as you, Nitesco...
Black screen after restart, no hdd activity, monitor in standby mode (only difference i have DVI output).
Now when I hit restart button PC and windows loads fine.

OK... I restored system partition with Macrium Reflect to the state before applying all those patches and the problem is entirely gone.

This did the trick. I uninstalled KB4056894 days ago, and the restart problem has vanished. No issues to report after the "Shutting down..." message.

Going forward, I'm going to hold off on installing the monthly Windows Updates until I look through reports and find that they're safe to install. This ordeal me think there was a serious problem with my PC, and this is not the time to be needing any new hardware, with prices being what they are.

Thanks for the help, everyone.