Windows 8.1 x64 Bit Black screen after login

ne0rmatrix · April 3, 2015

Hello everyone. Having an issue with both old system and new build pc. Old system spec's are as follows. Asus M5A97 R.2 with Phenom II 945 and 8GB DDR3 1600 Ram. It has a Windforce 290 Video card and runs Windows 8.1 64 Bit with latest updates. Issue i have is it goes to black screen after cold boot when Windows has been loaded for about 2 to 3 min. Just black screen with no apparent cause. It does not happen if I have it running and reboot or return from S3 state. It only happens on first cold boot and pressing restart and it works fine. It could be the 290 video card or my AC 1200 USB Adapter. Not sure which. It only happens if I have all recent updates. Been going on for 6 months.

Second system is an Intel system i build to replace above system. Its a Asus maximus Hero VII and Intel 4790K with 8 GB DDR3 1600 Ram. Same ram from above system. And a Windforce 290 Video card. Same OS Windows 8.1 64 Bit with latest updates. Same freaking issue. After all updates applied black screen shortly after login from cold boot. About 2 or 3 min after desktop appears I get a black screen and after reseting system it works fine. Return from S3 or rebooting will not have issue appear. It only happens from cold boot and system works great otherwise.

Any ideas anyone? Oh and event logs show nothing out of the ordinary. No overheating or power supply problems. Tested PSU with 2 different testers and it tests fine. Have system on a Tripplite Battery backup and PSU is less than 3 years old. CPU is less than 2 months old and same for mobo. No system instabilities except issue noted above. Can game for 18 hours straight with no issues.

Goowpea · April 3, 2015

Did you OC-ed that GPU? Install their OC software and check the fans curve. In my built I had a problem with my GPu crahing when the fans were spinning too slow. I wasn't turning of my screen but I was receiving drivers crashes. I changed the fans speed to be at 20% at the lowest and now it's working fine.

ne0rmatrix · April 4, 2015

I will check the fan speeds. Have not OC the GPU more than once. Played around with settings but will check again and set fan speeds. It would be odd for such setting to persist through multiple installs of Windows and change in hardware configs. Unless it is written to card in nvram? Did not think it stored settings that way? Or does GPU store settings in application only? Anyways will check and report back.

Tarantula · April 4, 2015

1.)

It's USUALLY a driver conflict causing a registry anomaly.

What needs to happen is that you remove every device externally attached to the computer - usb dongle adapters for Wifi are THE WORST. Then boot it up.

2.)

Should that not get you past the login I would disconnect all the non-OS drives (just remove the cables).

After all the polava, try:

3.)

Boot up the computer and let it run into the black screen, if it stays on leave it on for 20mins (don't forget its on, put an alarm on your phone)

Then boot it down by holding the power button for 5-7 seconds.

Turn off @ the PSU, pull the external power out.

Press the power button (it should run the rest of the juice out, hopefully lowering the chance of Static/ESD and also important for reasons I don't know how to explain)

Look at the top right & left of the motherboard - are on of the ATX cables partly disconnected??

Pull the GPU out of the PCIE slot (may need to unscrew the bracket holding it there, beneath the IO shield on the back of the case), and put it back in after leaving it out for a minute or two.

All of these steps are things that I have tried, I have a similar system to yours, and they helped when my system did the same thing. Let us all know how you go, and if you try any of the suggestions. I have a feeling step three is more of a luck thing and a snake oil sales pitch so try the other two first, as they are much easier.