MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G crashes on a start up of any game to a black screen and the games sound playing in the background. HELP!

[kosanovskiy]

I have just build a new rig for myself and everything was going smoothly until ran into 2 issues. 

 

1st and smaller one being that my Benq GW2765HT monitor when powered down by a power button on the monitor stops recognizing the Digital Port and says "No Signal Detected" until I either disconnect and reconnect the Digital Port Cable from and to my GPU. OR unless I hard reboot my system.

 

My 2nd and much larger problem is the fact that no matter what I try I cant seem to get my rig to play any games in SLI. When SLI is disabled it runs everything nice and smooth but as soon as you enable SLI it all goes downhill. What happens exactly is you first see a quick glimpse (if even that most of the time) of the start-up of the game I'm trying to play then the screen just goes pitch black and I can only hear sound of the game. The keyboard as well as the whole system becomes unresponsive, none of the keys or shortcuts work (Ctrl+Alt+Del/Cnrl+Shift+Esc/Windows key) etc. At this point the only thing to do is to press and hold the power button on the case and force shutdown. 

 

Also as a side note before the first crash happened the screen was flashing extremely fast and lots of it for liek a good 30 seconds and then just died. Now I can't even get that at the start boot of the games. The games I tested this on is League of Legends, BF4, BF3, Diablo 3, CS:GO, and Heartstone. All of the games yielded the same result: Single car performed well and ran no problem, which in SLI configuration the game quickly flashed and then crashed to a black screen with the game music still playing.

 

I'm not sure what is causing the issue as the games run fine with a single GTX 970. I have already tried getting both the new nvidia drivers and the older ones by doing the safe boot driver sweeper uninstall and then install but been having 0/zip/nada/no luck at all. The SLI bridge seems to be working fine as when I take it of the option for SLI becomes grayed out. I'm literally pulling on staws now and a bit panicking since I have no idea what to do know. So if you can please please please help me.

 

My build is the following: Keep in mind I just build it few days a go so I have not overclocked anything at all so far.

 

CPU: 4670k

GPU: 2x MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G (SLI)

Mobo: Asus Z97-A

RAM: Ripjaws 2133 Cas9 1.6V

CPU Cooler: Hyper 212 EVO

PSU: EVGA Supernova G2 750 80+ Gold

Case: Corsair 300R

Monitor: BenQ GW2765HT 27'' 2560x1440 (connected via display port which arrears to be having his own issues)

 

 

Please help me, I literally don't know what else to do. I din't build a SLI rig just to not have SLI work.

 

Feel free to ask for any additional information. Thank you.

[wako7654]

 

I have just build a new rig for myself and everything was going smoothly until ran into 2 issues. 

 

1st and smaller one being that my Benq GW2765HT monitor when powered down by a power button on the monitor stops recognizing the Digital Port and says "No Signal Detected" until I either disconnect and reconnect the Digital Port Cable from and to my GPU. OR unless I hard reboot my system.

 

My 2nd and much larger problem is the fact that no matter what I try I cant seem to get my rig to play any games in SLI. When SLI is disabled it runs everything nice and smooth but as soon as you enable SLI it all goes downhill. What happens exactly is you first see a quick glimpse (if even that most of the time) of the start-up of the game I'm trying to play then the screen just goes pitch black and I can only hear sound of the game. The keyboard as well as the whole system becomes unresponsive, none of the keys or shortcuts work (Ctrl+Alt+Del/Cnrl+Shift+Esc/Windows key) etc. At this point the only thing to do is to press and hold the power button on the case and force shutdown. 

 

Also as a side note before the first crash happened the screen was flashing extremely fast and lots of it for liek a good 30 seconds and then just died. Now I can't even get that at the start boot of the games. The games I tested this on is League of Legends, BF4, BF3, Diablo 3, CS:GO, and Heartstone. All of the games yielded the same result: Single car performed well and ran no problem, which in SLI configuration the game quickly flashed and then crashed to a black screen with the game music still playing.

 

I'm not sure what is causing the issue as the games run fine with a single GTX 970. I have already tried getting both the new nvidia drivers and the older ones by doing the safe boot driver sweeper uninstall and then install but been having 0/zip/nada/no luck at all. The SLI bridge seems to be working fine as when I take it of the option for SLI becomes grayed out. I'm literally pulling on staws now and a bit panicking since I have no idea what to do know. So if you can please please please help me.

 

My build is the following: Keep in mind I just build it few days a go so I have not overclocked anything at all so far.

 

CPU: 4670k

GPU: 2x MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G (SLI)

Mobo: Asus Z97-A

RAM: Ripjaws 2133 Cas9 1.6V

CPU Cooler: Hyper 212 EVO

PSU: EVGA Supernova G2 750 80+ Gold

Case: Corsair 300R

Monitor: BenQ GW2765HT 27'' 2560x1440 (connected via display port which arrears to be having his own issues)

 

 

Please help me, I literally don't know what else to do. I din't build a SLI rig just to not have SLI work.

 

Feel free to ask for any additional information. Thank you.

 

 

Sounds like a PSU issue. First check the PSU connections to your hardware, Is the 8-pin connector on the motherboard connected to the PSU? (The one for the additional power on the upper left), Are all the 8-Pin Pcie connectors firmly connected?. Next make sure that you are using BIOS defaults and not running any overclocking software(uninstall MSI Afterburner if you have it). Lastly check on windows event viewer and see what happens on the time of the crash and share it here. 

[Thane Knox]

Correct me if i'm wrong,seems like your PSU can't handle that 2 GTX 970 . As i seen on Guru3d.com , they said that " 

"GeForce GTX 970 or 980 in 2-way SLI - On your average system the cards require you to have an 800 Watt power supply unit as minimum. "  You should use Cooler Master PSU Calculator to check if it enough power for your system. 

[kosanovskiy]

Sounds like a PSU issue. First check the PSU connections to your hardware, Is the 8-pin connector on the motherboard connected to the PSU? (The one for the additional power on the upper left), Are all the 8-Pin Pcie connectors firmly connected?. Next make sure that you are using BIOS defaults and not running any overclocking software(uninstall MSI Afterburner if you have it). Lastly check on windows event viewer and see what happens on the time of the crash and share it here. 

So just went though the whole case and made sure everythign was connected properly. It was, also since I did not do any over clocking yet I did not touch those settings yet. The BIOS is on default "Normal" setting. Also how do I post the event log in here? Sorry first time on the forums. 

 

Before coming here I looked at jonnyguru and he approved of this PSU for the 970 Sli's. So I thought I'm in the clear and almost everyone else agreed.

[kosanovskiy]

Correct me if i'm wrong,seems like your PSU can't handle that 2 GTX 970 . As i seen on Guru3d.com , they said that " 

"GeForce GTX 970 or 980 in 2-way SLI - On your average system the cards require you to have an 800 Watt power supply unit as minimum. "  You should use Cooler Master PSU Calculator to check if it enough power for your system. 

 

I based my decision on jonnyguru and he gave this a 9.8/10 for a 970 SLI build. 980's require 800+, 970 at 700+. The calculator gives 340 for single GPU 500 for double so 750W G2 is supposedly perfect for 970 SLI.

[wako7654]

So just went though the whole case and made sure everythign was connected properly. It was, also since I did not do any over clocking yet I did not touch those settings yet. The BIOS is on default "Normal" setting. Also how do I post the event log in here? Sorry first time on the forums. 

 

Before coming here I looked at jonnyguru and he approved of this PSU for the 970 Sli's. So I thought I'm in the clear and almost everyone else agreed.

 

This is how to open event viewer

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/open-event-viewer#1TC=windows-7

 

Then on the window, go to Windows Logs->System, try to check if you see any error/warning in the time it black screens.

 

Also worth a try before you do above is run memtests just to rule out that RAM could be an issue and/or make sure you have the latest MoBo bios.

 

EDIT: If you have another PSU you can test i think that would be great as well, as the symptoms above does seem to be PSU related. Wattage might be ok but it might be the PSU is faulty.

[kosanovskiy]

This is how to open event viewer

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/open-event-viewer#1TC=windows-7

 

Then on the window, go to Windows Logs->System, try to check if you see any error/warning in the time it black screens.

 

Also worth a try before you do above is run memtests just to rule out that RAM could be an issue and/or make sure you have the latest MoBo bios.

 

EDIT: If you have another PSU you can test i think that would be great as well, as the symptoms above does seem to be PSU related. Wattage might be ok but it might be the PSU is faulty.

 

Alright here are the stuff that happened at every black screen: These are the repetitive ones, so came up nearly every time the crash occurred. Sadly no other PSU, this is my first build so don't have spare parts. But my mobo bios is outdated by 9+ months (and to think that I bought a new product) so I'll have to do that later today and will run the memtest86 later as well.

I personally don't understand anythign it says in them but here are the warnings I you understand what they say. Thanks for helping

 

Log Name:      System

Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Boot

Date:          4/27/2015 10:32:37 PM

Event ID:      29

Task Category: None

Level:         Error

Keywords:      

User:          SYSTEM

Computer:      Vitaliy

Description:

Windows failed fast startup with error status 0xC00000D4.

Event Xml:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

  <System>

    <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Boot" Guid="{15CA44FF-4D7A-4BAA-BBA5-0998955E531E}" />

    <EventID>29</EventID>

    <Version>0</Version>

    <Level>2</Level>

    <Task>0</Task>

    <Opcode>0</Opcode>

    <Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>

    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2015-04-28T05:32:37.492657000Z" />

    <EventRecordID>4206</EventRecordID>

    <Correlation />

    <Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="8" />

    <Channel>System</Channel>

    <Computer>Vitaliy</Computer>

    <Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />

  </System>

  <EventData>

    <Data Name="FailureStatus">3221225684</Data>

    <Data Name="FailureMsgId">4643100166225512</Data>

  </EventData>

</Event>

 

Log Name:      System

Source:        Display

Date:          4/27/2015 10:30:16 PM

Event ID:      4101

Task Category: None

Level:         Warning

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:      Vitaliy

Description:

Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered.

Event Xml:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

  <System>

    <Provider Name="Display" />

    <EventID Qualifiers="0">4101</EventID>

    <Level>3</Level>

    <Task>0</Task>

    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>

    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2015-04-28T05:30:16.000000000Z" />

    <EventRecordID>4204</EventRecordID>

    <Channel>System</Channel>

    <Computer>Vitaliy</Computer>

    <Security />

  </System>

  <EventData>

    <Data>nvlddmkm</Data>

    <Data>

    </Data>

  </EventData>

</Event>

 

Log Name:      System

Source:        nvlddmkm

Date:          4/27/2015 10:30:07 PM

Event ID:      13

Task Category: None

Level:         Error

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:      Vitaliy

Description:

The description for Event ID 13 from source nvlddmkm cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.

 

If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.

 

The following information was included with the event: 

 

\Device\Video3

Graphics Exception: ESR 0x51d648=0x1919 0x51d650=0x0 0x51d644=0xff1ff2 0x51d64c=0x5

 

Event Xml:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

  <System>

    <Provider Name="nvlddmkm" />

    <EventID Qualifiers="49322">13</EventID>

    <Level>2</Level>

    <Task>0</Task>

    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>

    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2015-04-28T05:30:07.216610400Z" />

    <EventRecordID>4199</EventRecordID>

    <Channel>System</Channel>

    <Computer>Vitaliy</Computer>

    <Security />

  </System>

  <EventData>

    <Data>\Device\Video3</Data>

    <Data>Graphics Exception: ESR 0x51d648=0x1919 0x51d650=0x0 0x51d644=0xff1ff2 0x51d64c=0x5</Data>

    <Binary>0000000002003000000000000D00AAC0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000</Binary>

  </EventData>

</Event>

 

 

Log Name:      System

Source:        volmgr

Date:          4/26/2015 9:42:20 AM

Event ID:      46

Task Category: None

Level:         Error

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:      windows-uj49s6b

Description:

Crash dump initialization failed!

Event Xml:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

  <System>

    <Provider Name="volmgr" />

    <EventID Qualifiers="49156">46</EventID>

    <Level>2</Level>

    <Task>0</Task>

    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>

    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2015-04-26T16:42:20.328153700Z" />

    <EventRecordID>15</EventRecordID>

    <Channel>System</Channel>

    <Computer>windows-uj49s6b</Computer>

    <Security />

  </System>

  <EventData>

    <Data>\Device\HarddiskVolume2</Data>

    <Binary>0000000001000000000000002E0004C0091000000F0000C000000000000000000000000000000000</Binary>

  </EventData>

</Event>

 

 

Log Name:      System

Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power

Date:          4/27/2015 11:13:14 PM

Event ID:      41

Task Category: (63)

Level:         Critical

Keywords:      (2)

User:          SYSTEM

Computer:      Vitaliy

Description:

The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

Event Xml:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

  <System>

    <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power" Guid="{331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}" />

    <EventID>41</EventID>

    <Version>3</Version>

    <Level>1</Level>

    <Task>63</Task>

    <Opcode>0</Opcode>

    <Keywords>0x8000000000000002</Keywords>

    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2015-04-28T06:13:14.878853200Z" />

    <EventRecordID>4458</EventRecordID>

    <Correlation />

    <Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="8" />

    <Channel>System</Channel>

    <Computer>Vitaliy</Computer>

    <Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />

  </System>

  <EventData>

    <Data Name="BugcheckCode">0</Data>

    <Data Name="BugcheckParameter1">0x0</Data>

    <Data Name="BugcheckParameter2">0x0</Data>

    <Data Name="BugcheckParameter3">0x0</Data>

    <Data Name="BugcheckParameter4">0x0</Data>

    <Data Name="SleepInProgress">0</Data>

    <Data Name="PowerButtonTimestamp">130746751272567056</Data>

    <Data Name="BootAppStatus">0</Data>

  </EventData>

</Event>

 

 

 

Log Name:      System

Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power

Date:          4/27/2015 10:32:39 PM

Event ID:      41

Task Category: (63)

Level:         Critical

Keywords:      (2)

User:          SYSTEM

Computer:      Vitaliy

Description:

The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

Event Xml:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

  <System>

    <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power" Guid="{331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}" />

    <EventID>41</EventID>

    <Version>3</Version>

    <Level>1</Level>

    <Task>63</Task>

    <Opcode>0</Opcode>

    <Keywords>0x8000000000000002</Keywords>

    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2015-04-28T05:32:39.570948200Z" />

    <EventRecordID>4223</EventRecordID>

    <Correlation />

    <Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="8" />

    <Channel>System</Channel>

    <Computer>Vitaliy</Computer>

    <Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />

  </System>

  <EventData>

    <Data Name="BugcheckCode">0</Data>

    <Data Name="BugcheckParameter1">0x0</Data>

    <Data Name="BugcheckParameter2">0x0</Data>

    <Data Name="BugcheckParameter3">0x0</Data>

    <Data Name="BugcheckParameter4">0x0</Data>

    <Data Name="SleepInProgress">6</Data>

    <Data Name="PowerButtonTimestamp">130746726467979247</Data>

    <Data Name="BootAppStatus">3221225684</Data>

  </EventData>

</Event>

 

 

 

 

[Thane Knox]

I based my decision on jonnyguru and he gave this a 9.8/10 for a 970 SLI build. 980's require 800+, 970 at 700+. The calculator gives 340 for single GPU 500 for double so 750W G2 is supposedly perfect for 970 SLI.

Have you tested every single GTX 970 card?Somehow the problem can be some of the components on your VGA PCB card are broken . If you can't find the problem, i suggest you go and return pc to your manufacturer warranty though" sorry for my  bad english " .Explain what is your pc problem and maybe they can help you .

[kosanovskiy]

Have you tested every single GTX 970 card?Somehow the problem can be some of the components on your VGA PCB card are broken . If you can't find the problem, i suggest you go and return pc to your manufacturer warranty though" sorry for my  bad english " .Explain what is your pc problem and maybe they can help you .

 

Yup I tested everything, I bought the parts new as well. No worries I understood perfectly ..(i think) what you were trying to say. I build it myself so if anything I would return a single part which is why I'm actually trying to get it to work so I know what was wrong tot begin with.

[Thane Knox]

Yup I tested everything, I bought the parts new as well. No worries I understood perfectly ..(i think) what you were trying to say. I build it myself so if anything I would return a single part which is why I'm actually trying to get it to work so I know what was wrong tot begin with.

Consider this, if every single card is working correctly, then it might be your mainboard, try to test every PCI slot then see if it work too.

[kosanovskiy]

Consider this, if every single card is working correctly, then it might be your mainboard, try to test every PCI slot then see if it work too.

 

How would I go about testing the mobo PCI slots?

[Thane Knox]

How would I go about testing the mobo PCI slots?

I don't know how to describe, but here is my opinion. When you go for SLI your mobo has 2 slot of PCI right? . If the first PCI work properly yeah then go for 2nd PCI,see if it work just like the 1st PCI slot. Go stress test on it see if it work properly. You know stress test right ?

[wako7654]

From the log 

 

Log Name:      System

Source:        Display

Date:          4/27/2015 10:30:16 PM

Event ID:      4101

Task Category: None

Level:         Warning

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:      Vitaliy

Description:

Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered.

 

Above usually happens on unstable cards(or unstable overclocks)/ there is not enough power that is being inputted into the card. You could test each card one by one and test for stability, install each card separately (one at a time) and run some benchmarks. If both of them are stable individually then most likely its a PSU problem.

[kosanovskiy]

 

From the log 

 

Log Name:      System

Source:        Display

Date:          4/27/2015 10:30:16 PM

Event ID:      4101

Task Category: None

Level:         Warning

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:      Vitaliy

Description:

Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered.

 

Above usually happens on unstable cards(or unstable overclocks)/ there is not enough power that is being inputted into the card. You could test each card one by one and test for stability, install each card separately (one at a time) and run some benchmarks. If both of them are stable individually then most likely its a PSU problem.

 

 

Alright just did that and both cards run perfectly individually, BF4 50-55 FPS on Ultra, league of legends 300+, Diablo 3 180+.

 

So does this mean I have a faulty power supply and no giving the full 750W? Or does it mean it's not enough power in general and that I should get a 850W?

 

Also it seems that 750W works well with many other GTX970's SLI. Also It seems like I only need 500W for this build and the 250W extra was supposed to be for ever clocking. Is it really a shortage of power? 

[kosanovskiy]

I don't know how to describe, but here is my opinion. When you go for SLI your mobo has 2 slot of PCI right? . If the first PCI work properly yeah then go for 2nd PCI,see if it work just like the 1st PCI slot. Go stress test on it see if it work properly. You know stress test right ?

 

Oh that way, Yeah I did that already and it was fine, everything works as it should...except the damn SLI.

[wako7654]

Alright just did that and both cards run perfectly individually, BF4 50-55 FPS on Ultra, league of legends 300+, Diablo 3 180+.

 

So does this mean I have a faulty power supply and no giving the full 750W? Or does it mean it's not enough power in general and that I should get a 850W?

 

Also it seems that 750W works well with many other GTX970's SLI. Also It seems like I only need 500W for this build and the 250W extra was supposed to be for ever clocking. Is it really a shortage of power? 

 

I think 750w should be ok as it's not a power hungry card(But more headroom should be better, 850w). If the power supply is faulty and not supplying 750w then that's where the problem is though. 

[kosanovskiy]

I think 750w should be ok as it's not a power hungry card(But more headroom should be better, 850w). If the power supply is faulty and not supplying 750w then that's where the problem is though. 

 

I based my build on other and they seem to have no issues with OC'ing either. But yeah any way to test the PSU if it is supplying the full 750W? Or is the only option going to a store and purchasing a new one?

[Thane Knox]

I based my build on other and they seem to have no issues with OC'ing either. But yeah any way to test the PSU if it is supplying the full 750W? Or is the only option going to a store and purchasing a new one?

I worry about VRMs on your VGA card. If everything is fine then the last thing is your VGA card. 

[kosanovskiy]

I worry about VRMs on your VGA card. If everything is fine then the last thing is your VGA card.

But I tested my GPUs each separately, I even tested the PCIe slots to make sure they all work and everything alone works, but when SLI enabled and I turn on any game the screen goes black and keyboard becomes unresponsive. Only thing I hear is game sound. Since everything but games work fine I'm starting to think it might be a Direct x 11 issue and might have to do complete new instal of the systems OS. Because even games work with a single card. Also I just got a new 850w PSU and a new SLI bridge so will hope one of those fixes the issue.

[kosanovskiy]

Alright problem has been solved. Turned out my SLI connector to short and shorting itself out. That is why when I went tested with another connector it did not work. I had to go and purchase a 120mm one which was less rigid and thus it worked as it was able to transfer the connection between the two GPUs. I thank you all for the help as with out you guys I would not have been able to dig as far as this, in fact if wasn't for buying 3 different length and type of SLI connectors it would have been impossible to solve this problem. and you guys recommendations helped me just by mere luck to get the right length. So remember it always better to have a longer SLI connector than a short one if you are going to use heavy power GPU's. Thank you all for your help and suggestions.