Gigabyte GTS450 causes random black screen

[drdunno]

I recently purchased a new PC. The following are the specs:

Processor: Intel Core I7 2600K
MOBO: Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3
Graphics: Gigabyte GTS450
RAM: 2 x 4GB - Corsair PC133
HDD: 2TB - WD SATA 3
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium x64

NOTE: I have not overclocked the hardware.

When I installed the OS and drivers, I used all the default drivers provided by the hardware manufacturers.

After setting it up, I was seeing black screen without a mouse cursor displayed after the Welcome screen. At this point the HDD activity led stopped blinking and the only way for me was to do a hard reboot/shutdown. I found that I was only able to access the OS through Safe Mode.

I proceeded to uninstall the graphics driver and all the graphics apps, and allowed Windows Update to detect and install the graphics driver accordingly, which it did. It seemed to fix the problem **partially**, where I was no longer seeing the black screen immediately after the Welcome screen. Now, what I have found is that the system boots up find and I see the desktop coming up. However, at random point after the PC is turned on, I hit the black screen of death (mouse cursor not available, HDD activity led not blinking). At this point, the only way to get out of it is to perform a hard reboot/shutdown.

I removed the GTS450 graphics card and I'm using the MOBO on-board HDMI to connect to my monitor, and now it seems to be working just fine - been using it for 2 days and I have not seen any black screens.

I would like to re-install the GTS450, but I do not know how to fix this issue. Given the hardware config above, would any of you know why I might be facing the random black screen problem? And any suggestions or known methods to overcome this problem?

-DR

 

[TVeblen]

Hello Dr. Welcome to the Forum.

It sounds like a failed video card. But you should check to eliminate other simple reasons before replacing the card.

A graphics card can also fail due to insufficient power, overheating, driver conflicts, RAM issues, and connection issues.

Power: check to be sure that the PCI-e power connectors are properly plugged into the card. IIRC the 450 uses two 8 pin connectors. Unplug and re-plug these any make sure they are fully seated.
Check your power supply specs and let us know the Brand & Model, how many total watts, and if you can, the number of Amps it puts out on the 12 volt. It should be 22A or more for that card IIRC.

I think we can rule out overheating, as the error occurs right away. The card doesn't have time to overheat.

Driver conflicts might occur when both graphics engines are trying to run at once. Many modern motherboard's BIOS automatically switch off the onboard graphics when a graphics card is detected in the slot. But you should check.
With the 450 installed in the computer, go into safe mode and navigate to the Device Manager and check to see if only one or both graphics adapters are shown.
If both are shown, choose the on-board adapter, right click, and then DISABLE (don't uninstall).
If that makes no difference, and you can go into your BIOS settings, you could disable the onboard graphics manually there (be sure the 450 is still installed when you do this).
In all cases above you want to see if the system will run the 450 w/o problem.

RAM issues can be tested simply by downloading and running http://www.memtest.org/#downiso for at least 3 passes. There should not be any errors.

Connection issues are tested by re-seating the video card being sure it clicks into its slot correctly and checking the DVI cable connections.

Try those diagnostics and see if they uncover anything. If not you could just have a dud card. If this is a new boxed system then your best back is to bring it back for warranty repair/replacement.

 

[Britton30]

Hi Dr. If you're using the latest nVIDIA driver, that could be the problem, many people at the forum have had various issues with the new 280.xx. So far the most stable driver has been the 270.61 WHQL from nVIDIA, plug in your specs and try the 270.61, you should have the GTS450 installed for this.

Use Phyxion.net - Driver Sweeper to remove old graphics driver first, the nVIDIA clean install, well, isn't always clean.

 

[drdunno]

TVeblen & Britton30 - thanks so much for the advice and guidance.

I tried the following:

1. performed memory check using memtest86+ - no problems detected
2. tried running Phyxion.net Driver Sweeper - but everytime I ran it (I ran it as Administrator), Windows 7 complained and gave an error - any idea why I could not get it to run successfully?
3. uninstalled all the nVidia drivers via the Uninstall programs
4. using devcon (which I got from WDK), I removed all the nVidia drivers which were not removed cleanly - I am familiar with devcon because I have previously actually develop Microsoft MPIO drivers and used devcon to clean up the DriverStore after a driver uninstall.

I then re-fitted the GTS450, installed the 270.61 nVidia driver and rebooted the PC. After the reboot, everything seemed to be working fine - no black screen after the "Welcome screen". I decided to reboot the PC and KABOOM - BSOD with the message BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER. I power cycled the PC and from this point onwards, shut downs always resulted in black screens and after about 1-2 minutes after the black screen, the PC would reboot and indicate that the PC did not shut down properly and ask whether I wanted to boot into Safe Mode, etc. Also, opening certain software resulted in a black screen as well - back to square one.

I had a hunch it was something to do with the installed drivers. I proceeded to disable the nVidia High Definition Audio devices (four of them) in the Device Manager. From this point onwards, everything seems to be working fine. No more random black screens when running certain software and no more black screen during shutdown. So, I think I can root cause the black screen to the nVidia High Definition Audio device/drivers.

I then did a search for nVidia High Definition Audio and black screen and found the following:

• black screen lock up"s ? nivida HD driver blame - NVIDIA Forums
• What's with 'nVidia HD Audio' driver? - Hardware Canucks

Now, my question is whether this is a driver or hardware issue. And ideas/comments?

 

[LiquidSnak]

I had a similar issue with the sound features fighting over control of my machine. I disabled the nvidia HD audio (useless anyway if you don't use HDMI outs) and that fixed the issue, so I concur that that might have been your problem. The Driver issue on windows 7 would throw a "display driver has stopped working" or something similar message from the taskbar. Other than this snafu, which I'm sure is correctable with research, but I'm lazy and don't use HDMI so I think it's pointless, the GTS450 is a strong card, and I've thoroughly enjoyed mine. (So much I'm about to pick up another)

 

[TVeblen]

You should have some "minidump" files from the BSOD events.

I suggest reading this http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/96879-blue-screen-death-bsod-posting-instructions.html , and then start a new post in that forum to get one of the bluescreen gurus to take a look and advise as to what Windows says is the cause of the crash.

We have been focusing on the graphics card because that is what you suspect, but it could very well be something else completely.

 

[Britton30]

BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER
I have had this myself Drdunno and was related to my USB 3.0 driver and usb3mon. Do you have the Renesas driver?
In msconfig or through CCleaner, if you have it, disable the usb3mon starting on restarts. Let us know how that goes.

   Note

This will likely disable USB 3, it is a buggy driver

 

[drdunno]

You should have some "minidump" files from the BSOD events.

I suggest reading this http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/96879-blue-screen-death-bsod-posting-instructions.html , and then start a new post in that forum to get one of the bluescreen gurus to take a look and advise as to what Windows says is the cause of the crash.

We have been focusing on the graphics card because that is what you suspect, but it could very well be something else completely.

I will possibly do this the next time I hit a BSOD (hopefully, I never face this problem from this point onwards - famous last words )

BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER
I have had this myself Drdunno and was related to my USB 3.0 driver and usb3mon. Do you have the Renesas driver?
In msconfig or through CCleaner, if you have it, disable the usb3mon starting on restarts. Let us know how that goes.

   Note

This will likely disable USB 3, it is a buggy driver

I have an Etron drivers installed. The Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 MOBO has Etron EJ168 chips (USB3.0/2.0). I have a couple more tests to run to finalise whether the Etron driver could be a culprit. I'll post an update when I am done with this.




BTW, for the nVidia Hi Def Audio driver issue (where I have now disabled this driver to avoid the black screen), I was wondering - I am using a Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 MOBO and a Gigabyte GV-N450OC-1GI (powered by nVidia GeForce GTS 450 GPU). Since MOBO and graphics card are both by Gigabyte, shouldn't Gigabyte have found this during their h/w compatibility tests and tried to fix it? (I'm asking just to check if any of you know how Gigabyte test their products).

 

[Britton30]

The nVIDIA HD Audio is for the HDMI output and shouldn't affect your normal playback.
I think Gigabyte does little in quality control from my experinces with them, both with my current mobo and a GFX card from them which I trashed. They even told me their own GFX card would not work with my board even though its spec said otherwise. It will not work in another computer either.

I have no info on the Etron USB drivers, but they could well be causing the same issues as Renesas' do.

OFF topic: I sent my Gigabyte mobo in twice to be fixed, the first time nothing was done. The second time they only updated the BIOS.

 

[TVeblen]

"Shouldn't Gigabyte have found this during their h/w compatibility tests and tried to fix it?"

You are their quality control! You are doing the compatibility tests right now!

Your symptoms are common when there are conflicting drivers. I just took a look and that board has onboard graphics. Now normally a modern MB will switch off the onboard graphics chip when it detects a graphics card but sometimes that does not happen.

Check in Device Manager to see if it lists 2 graphics adapters.
Test by either disabling the onboard one from Device Manager, or go into the BIOS settings and disable it from there and see if it changes anything.

 

[drdunno]

Thank you for all the inputs.

So, after messing about, I think my OS has become unstable after the numerous times I have performed System Restore. So, I decided to re-install my OS. But this time, I had a plan as to what I will do in the process of installing the drivers, especially to avoid driver conflicts.

My PC h/w specs:
Processor: Intel Core I7 2600K
MOBO: Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3
Graphics: Gigabyte GTS450
RAM: 2 x 4GB - Corsair PC1333
HDD: 2TB - WD SATA 3
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium x64

Here's what I have done so far and, touch wood, I have not seen a single BlueSOD or BlackSOD (hopefully this could come in handy for others):

1. In the BIOS, disable the USB3 controllers
2. In the BIOS, change the setting such that the BIOS will turn off the on-board display device if a GPU is detected on the PCI slots (this is to avoid any clash between the on-board graphics and the GPU, while also to avoid clash of the on-board HDMI port's hi-def audio device driver with the on-board hi-def audio driver)
3. Install the OS (in my case, RE-install the OS)
4. After the Win 7 installation completes, install the drivers for the MOBO using the provided CD - NOTE: Ensure that you do not install the Etron USB3 drivers - you should not see the driver in the list if you have already disabled the USB3 controller in the BIOS
5. After the MOBO drivers have been installed, reboot, and then install the nVidia drivers - I used 270.61 from the nVidia website (as suggested by Britton30) - I would suggest that during the installation, you do not use the "Express" installation settings, but instead use the customised settings so that the Hi Def Audio Driver can be excluded from the install
6. After the nVidia driver installs, open up Device Manager, and under the "Sound, video and game controllers", right-click and disable each of the "High Definition Audio Device", except for "Realtek High Definition Audio".
7. Reboot, and you should be up and running

I am sure some of you will feel that my steps above take a rather radical approach and that I am not doing justice by disabling some of the MOBO features in the BIOS, while also disabling some of the devices on Windows' Device Manager. The thing for me is, the steps above are more to help folks who have faced or are facing similar issues to what I have experienced, and just want to move on to use the PC without having to wonder when the system is going to crash again.

A message to Gigabyte (I understand this is not a Gigabyte forum - but hopefully the message goes to them): Please test your MOBOs THOROUGHLY with all supported graphics cards and have a list readilly available of which graphics cards are supported/compatible with the respective MOBOs - It is VERY shameful when customers face compatibility issues between Gigabyte products on the same system.

 

[Britton30]

Sorry you had to reinstall but glad it all works now. Been there, done that, got a tee shirt.

For Gigabyte: GIGABYTE - Support & Downloads - Technical Support

 

[drdunno]

Sadly, BSOD encountered today.

Windows Update installed IE9 and when I launched IE9, within a few seconds, I got a BSOD. The error I got on the BSOD screen said BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER, but it seemed to point to nvlddmkm.sys (NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver).

I am currently using GeForce/ION Driver v270.61. Should I try the GeForce 280.26 Driver? I remember Britton30 saying that the 270.61 driver was fairly stable and that the newer ones have been causing problems for many users.

BTW, I have created a new thread to report the BSOD in the "Crashes and Debugging" forum (BSOD after opening IE9 - Win7 x64 - BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER).

Any comments/suggestions for this new problem?

Also, would you have any personal opinion on ATI graphics cards/drivers, compared to NVIDIA's graphics cards/drivers? Are ATI's products doing better in terms of issues being reported due to graphics hardware/driver related issues?

 

[TVeblen]

Sorry to hear that.

In Device Manager, under graphics adapters, is there just the one card listed?

From my time on this forum I can tell you that we get issues posted for ATI and nVidia based cards about equally. It's not like one video engine or it's driver is more buggy than the other. Each company has it's bad days.

Keep in mind that ATI and nVidia make the graphics chip (the video engine) and drivers for it. Other manufacturers make the graphics cards. The issues with a "bad card" come down to issues in the manufacture of the card, not the graphics chip or the video engine.
Some card manufacturers have issues far less than others.

If you remove the graphics card and run only on the onboard graphics, does the issue go away?

 

[drdunno]

If you remove the graphics card and run only on the onboard graphics, does the issue go away?

Yes, it worked and no issue were seen because the onboard graphics does not use nvidia drivers. However, a point to note is that when I used the onboard HDMI port, I had uninstalled the nvidia drivers and used devcon to clean up the DriverStore.

Hmmm... Very odd. For some strange reason, my post in "Crashes and Debugging" is missing Luckilly, I had copied the body of the thread I had posted. Will resubmit now.

 

[TVeblen]

When the 450 is installed:
In Device Manager, under graphics adapters, is there just the one card (the 450) listed?

 

[drdunno]

When the 450 is installed:
In Device Manager, under graphics adapters, is there just the one card (the 450) listed?

Yes, only one graphics adapter is listed - NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450. This is because I have set the BIOS to disable the on-board graphics device if it is able to detect GPU on the PCI bus (or something to that effect).

 

[TVeblen]

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

 

[mjf]

I have a similar setup (see specs) but with an ASUS motherboard. It's a bit ironic that my Gigabyte GTS450 seems to work fine (touch wood!!!!!) even with the "280.26-desktop-win7-winvista-64bit-english-whql" driver.

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.

 

[Britton30]

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. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/180324-system-info-see-your-system-specs.html