Solved Displays shut off during gaming.

[HAVOC]

Not sure where to put this, it's related to gaming.
I was playing Skyrim for a couple of hours. Game was running fine, no lags except for one point when I came out of a house (severe FPS drop). Saved game, quit to desktop, restarted the game, and it was fine. Played a little more (maybe an hour later) and then my center and left displays went into power saving mode, right display was still displaying the desktop. I had no control over the PC. There was also a low pitched humming coming from the case. I had to restart it by holding down the power button.

I was not playing the game in surround, just the center display. I also didn't have any temp monitoring programs running at the time. I just now installed EVGA Precision X.
I'll play again (tomorrow) and keep an eye on the temps.

Is there a log file on my computer that might tell me what happened? Overheated card maybe?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hum mate might be worth just reseating all cards and sticks and maybe test the PSU for volts at least.

 

[HAVOC]

It happened again, this time only after 5 minutes of gameplay. GPU temp went to 87 degrees C.
But this time when I restarted the computer I got a BSOD error message.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

It happened again, this time only after 5 minutes of gameplay. GPU temp went to 87 degrees C.
But this time when I restarted the computer I got a BSOD error message.

Hum sorry Havoc am not that good with those files yet but I would say that the temp on the cards is getting way too high. Are the fans spinning reasonably, clean, and if need be how are you at redoing the thermal compounds mate?

I personally would look at that problem first as the chips may well be close to their temp limits, If that temp were in a CPU then I would almost certainly do the thermal stuff and clean the cooler system.

 

[HAVOC]

I was thinking that I might need to redo the thermal compound. I converted that temp and it's 188.6 F :shock: I'll have to play the game again with the case side panel off and see what the fans are doing.

I did use a can of compressed air to blow out the heatsinks when I put my computer back together. I do have all the stuff to redo the TIM so that's what I might be doing later today.

I have Arctic Silver 5, Prolimatech PK-1 and Shin-Etsu. I also have enough of ArctiClean.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Good stuff Havoc I thought perhaps you might be a tad surprised if you converted the temps mate as that temp is very close to the max that will shut down most CPU's! For example the Tcase temp for the Intel i5 3570 is only 67.4C!!
See this Processors — Processor operation temperature FAQ

It's good you have the Arctic cleaning stuff too a I always use that and either Arctic Silver 5 or the Noctua NT-H1 compound slightly preferring the Silver though

 

[HAVOC]

I have the case side off and found out that my 6 ch. Lamptron controller wasn't hooked up like I thought it was.
5 and 6 are for the two top case fans. I thought they were 1 and 2 (so I had 5 and 6 off). 3 and 4 are for the two front case fans (those were on). 1 and 2 weren't connected to anything but I had them on. Channel 2 is also dead (just found that out).

I'm going to put the case side back on and try playing again.

 

[HAVOC]

I put the side of the case on. Had the 4 channels that I'm using on my controller set to max.
The temp gradually rose from about 60C to 87C and then was hovering around 86C to 89C. It was playing fine after about 10 minutes this time and the displays finally shut off. The noise I'm hearing is from the speakers and I think the game is still running even though the displays shut off.

In Precision X, my fan speed is at 42% with the temp at 88C.
As I type this, my fan speed is at 47% with the temp at a cool 48C.
The fan is also set to auto.

 

[HAVOC]

I set the fan to manual (80%). I was playing the game with a temp of 61C. The displays shut off again.
I set the changes I made back to their defaults (tweaks) and unchecked the mods I was using. Now the game won't even start, it either crashes to desktop or hangs. I verified games files through Steam and it says 1 file is bad but never downloads anything.

I finally uninstalled it (saved my save games).

I'm now reinstalling Skyrim, I'll put my saves back and see what happens.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

So why not just try turning the wick up on the fans altogether? It might be H that the GPU's will have to be done mate


As a by the by I had a Lamptron in my Sandy Bridge but found it was terribly flimsy and it eventually gave up the ghost, so I ended up with a Scythe Kaze Pro temp / fan control and got another one for my Ivy bridge build.

I reckon they are much better quality units than the Lamptron and worth a look at if you ever decide to change

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok so all is still not well? you may have to turn the fans up full tilt H and I see your case does not have that many case fans - see I am lucky in that the HAF XM has stacks of fan positions and I have currently 3 x 200mm one in two out and 4 x 140mm two in two out so airflow is not a problem for me.
I am just concerned mate that you are going to cook the GPU's - just as a matter of interest what is the ambient temp of the room that the machine is running in?

 

[HAVOC]

I don't know the temp of the room I'm in. The dial for the (electric) heat doesn't have a thermometer.
I have other issues. I uninstalled/reinstalled the game and it won't even start. I can choose different save games and it will show the game loading screen and it just stays there. I have to C-A-D to get to the desktop and Skyrim is always not responding.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

No H I was just wondering cos I have heat problems out here when the ambient temps are high so if those temps were like they were in a hot room then I wouldn't be so concerned.

But you are obviously in a cool place mate and that is the concern.

Well where to from here?

 

[HAVOC]

I'm thinking about taking the cards out and reapplying the TIM. Maybe do some other stuff while I'm in there.
May have to do a reinstall of Windows.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

I'm thinking about taking the cards out and reapplying the TIM. Maybe do some other stuff while I'm in there.
May have to do a reinstall of Windows.

Mate that is what I would be doing - the reinstall leave until the GPU's have been done.

While you are at it how about cleaning the slots out GPU and RAM ? If I haven't mentioned it before you can do that by cutting a thin strip of an old credit card say 5 - 10mm wide - round the corners off wrap some non fluffy microweave cloth (the glass cleaning variety) round the end of the card strip, moisten it very lightly with some alcohol and GENTLY wipe down the slots to clean any dust or crud that has got "hardened" onto the slot contacts. Do the same to the stick contacts only again very gently.

If we run through the very basic stuff first and it works then all well and good eh?

 

[HAVOC]

What I don't understand is why the game crashed when I had the fan set at 80% and the temps looked good. I tried loading a save but it seems as if all of them are corrupt. I started a new game and it worked until the first cut scene at Helgen, right after you choose your character. Left and center displays shut off.

I also have Dishonored, I'm going to try and play that to see what the problem might be. Also check my temps while I'm at it.

I'm also doing this at the same time as digging my car out. 3 feet of snow is not fun

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hum you're right of course try a sfc /scannow Havoc if it hasn't been already mentioned

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

 

[HAVOC]

Ran sfc /scannow three times. No issues found.

Played some of the first level of Dishonored, no issues and the temp was about 80C.

 

[HAVOC]

Played some more of Dishonored. Still fine. Going to try some Skyrim later.

 

[sygnus21]

Played some more of Dishonored. Still fine. Going to try some Skyrim later.

I doubt it's a game issue. It really sounds more like a overheating GPU. Also be aware that Skyrim was updated recently with a newer hi-res texture pack, about 4.7 gigs. Anyway what that means to you is if you're running the game in DX11 mode, and you have a weak/faulty card, that texture pack could be pushing the card a bit harder, and if it's already weak or faulty, it could be pushing it over the edge.

Since Dishonored isn't a DX11 game (it’s DX9), or isn’t using any hi-res textures, it could be why you don't see the issues seen with Skyrim. In other words Dishonored isn’t as graphically intensive as Skyrim, your video card isn’t running as hard as it would with Skyrim… even without the texture pack.

Anyway one thing to listen for, and take note of, is fan noise, if you hear the GPU fan suddenly ramp up, or get louder and stay that way, it's a sure sign the card is starting to overheat.

The other could be a power supply that’s starting to go, again, Skyrim is a very CPU, and GPU intense game, and will task a system. If you have faulty components, Skyrim will probably push them over the edge.

That said, it’s not unusual for Skyrim to cause BSOD’s, I got one shortly after I got the game. First time I ever got a BSOD from game. Anyway it turned out to be an unstable overclock.

The other unfortunate issue with Skyrim IS the unexplained CTD’s (Crash To Desktop). I’ve gotten and still get them occasionally. Unfortunately it’s an issue you have to live with when playing Skyrim as Bethesda STILL hasn’t fixed the issue after all the patches released.

Despite the above statement, I still feel like your issue is more hardware than game issue, and I would start looking at the video card first.

Good luck.