Certain Games Causing Black Screen and then Restart

[AA-ron]

Description of the Issue:

About a month ago I started to have some issues running certain games. When I started them up the screen would go blank (Monitors reported nothing was connected) and then eventually the computer would just restart. It originally started with everything locking up and I would have to perform a manual restart. Example (Overwatch works fine and the new Warcraft 3 crashes immediately.

 

Computer Specs (Built 5 years ago):

CPU: Intel Core I7-5820K 3.30GHZ
Memory: Kingston HyperX Predator T2 16GB
Motherboard: ASUS X99-A ATX LGA2011-3
Video Card: ASUS Radeon R9 390
Case: Antec Twelve Hundred 1200 V3
PSU: Corsair AX760 760W ATX 12V V2.31

 

Troubleshooting Done:

1. Eliminated software problem by reinstalling both working and nonworking games and the issue persisted. Went as far as wiping the drives and reinstalling windows, but same issue.
2. Thought about overheating so I used compressed air and cleaning off everything. I do have NZXT Sentry 3 5.4-Inch Touch Screen Fan Controller and it keeps temps between 30-60 degrees and I've never received alarms.
3. GPU tested using Heaven Benchmark. Ran it for about 30min, temperatures stayed normal, didn't notice any display issues (stuttering or such).
4. Last test I did was using FurMark and it crashed and rebooted about 30 sec after starting it.

Final Thoughts:

Just wondering If anyone can provide some advice or thoughts for next steps. I think it might be the PSU, but I wanted a second opinion before buying hardware. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Chen G]

How long before the computer restarts from when the screen goes black?

[RageTester]

I would check if one of RAM sticks isn't broken... if power supply was the problem you would have issue with all games and everything that activates GPU or uses more power.

[Juular]

Likely it's GPU issue (loose solder balls resulting in lost connection between GPU chip and PCB), just had the same behavior on my friend's R9 280, he heated up it in an oven and it's working fine now. But you should confirm that it's GPU issue first, then talk to manufacturer support and only then trying to heat it up, and with extreme care, there are guides on how to do that.

If you have a heat gun : https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-fix-a-graphics-card/

If not, using an oven :

In addition to steps described for both methods, i'd recommend to cover entire coverage of GPU PCB with several layers of foil (caps and all plastic parts especially) except the area that GPU chip covers on the front (from the side of IHS\die) and the back. And trying a bit lower temperature & time at first.

[AA-ron]

30 minutes ago, Chen G said:

How long before the computer restarts from when the screen goes black?

Now it restarts immediately

[Juular]

Regarding the PSU if you confirm that it's indeed an issue (as in you've tested the GPU in other system and it works fine), don't buy a new one, contact Corsair first, it has 7 years warranty and it may be still available if you have a proof of purchase depending on when you've bought it.

[AA-ron]

28 minutes ago, RageTester said:

I would check if one of RAM sticks isn't broken... if power supply was the problem you would have issue with all games and everything that activates GPU or uses more power.

Will check the RAM. regarding the power I think based on performance requirement games can require more power from the PSU to run the hardware requirements (Just a wild guess though).

[Mateus Montemor]

I had a similar problem, but it was with a 1070 (if u want to see a more in depth description of it you can go to an old post i did here), i tried various things: DDU and install new driver, different DP cables, different power cables to the gpu, but nothing worked, the only thing i had left was to RMA it and the store i bought confirmed it was a fabric issue with the card, so they replaced for a 2070 (which was a replace for the 1070 price since it was already one year old). For u, it might seem the card is just dying from age, since u have the build for 5 years, but idk, just giving a word from what happened to me

 

here is the video of my problem i used as one of the proofs for the RMA (it happened most in csgo smokes, not once in heaven or other benchmarks)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdOJmRqBiCc&t=60s

 

[Chen G]

22 minutes ago, AA-ron said:

Now it restarts immediately

I'm going to bet it's the PSU.

[AA-ron]

32 minutes ago, Juular said:

Regarding the PSU if you confirm that it's indeed an issue (as in you've tested the GPU in other system and it works fine), don't buy a new one, contact Corsair first, it has 7 years warranty and it should be still available if you have a proof of purchase.

Good to know about the warranty, thanks. I don't have another rig to test the GPU , but I would have assumed that running Heaven Benchmark would have caused a failure if it was GPU.

[AA-ron]

34 minutes ago, Mateus Montemor said:

I had a similar problem, but it was with a 1070 (if u want to see a more in depth description of it you can go to an old post i did here), i tried various things: DDU and install new driver, different DP cables, different power cables to the gpu, but nothing worked, the only thing i had left was to RMA it and the store i bought confirmed it was a fabric issue with the card, so they replaced for a 2070 (which was a replace for the 1070 price since it was already one year old). For u, it might seem the card is just dying from age, since u have the build for 5 years, but idk, just giving a word from what happened to me

 

here is the video of my problem i used as one of the proofs for the RMA (it happened most in csgo smokes, not once in heaven or other benchmarks)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdOJmRqBiCc&t=60s

 

Thanks for the details, it seems to be happening with more and more things now so I would guess you are probably right with it dying from age.

[AA-ron]

Update:

I found another video card (AMD Radeon HD 7700) in my hardware pile and swapped it for my current one. All the games started working again so I suspect that was the cause of my issues. Going to do some more testing, but I still think it's odd that it was forcing the system to reboot. It does require quite a lot less power to run so not totally ruling out PSU.

[Jortuk_]

Did you do any further testing AA-ron?

 

I'm currently having the same issue with my RX 5700 XT - I can play the new COD and Cyberpunk but I'll get a black screen then restart when playing The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ (which is surely an easier game to run).

 

I'm thinking of buying a new PSU but I'm not sure.