Fairly Major Display Driver Crashes

[Zaku77]

Specs:

Windows 8.1

500 GB SSD

8 GB RAM

Gigabyte G1 Gaming Z97 Mobo

Intel 4790k (not OC'd)

EVGA 980 SC x 2

 

So I've been having some crashing issues with my system ever since I upgraded my mobo and CPU, and it's really quite annoying. I've had several things happen, but I believe it's all related to display driver crashing. I've had game all of a sudden go completely black screen and be stuck that way until I physically hold down the power button. I've had games go black screen for 10-15 seconds and then eventually the whole computer reboots. I've had the display driver randomly crash on its own. Every time I start almost any game the screen flashes a few times and the game goes into and out of full screen. I think there's probably been more, but this is more than enough to elucidate the point.

 

Now, I think it's my display driver because I've looked through Windows logs--and I've started using the Whocrashed program--and they both point to this. To try a simple fix, I recently swapped out which GPU was in which slot, but this doesn't seem to have made a difference. I also keep up with the newest drivers, so this has been happening throughout several different drivers. I'm starting to wonder if it's a hardware issue with one/both of my cards.

 

Some of the games that have had some of the aforementioned issues: The Witcher 2, Battlefield 4, Trials Evolution, Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow 2, Dark Souls II, Singulairty, and surely others that I cannot think of. 

 

So my question is now: what more can I try myself? Or is it time to try and RMA my cards?

[Senzelian]

Specs:

Windows 8.1

500 GB SSD

8 GB RAM

Gigabyte G1 Gaming Z97 Mobo

Intel 4790k (not OC'd)

EVGA 980 SC x 2

 

So I've been having some crashing issues with my system ever since I upgraded my mobo and CPU, and it's really quite annoying. I've had several things happen, but I believe it's all related to display driver crashing. I've had game all of a sudden go completely black screen and be stuck that way until I physically hold down the power button. I've had games go black screen for 10-15 seconds and then eventually the whole computer reboots. I've had the display driver randomly crash on its own. Every time I start almost any game the screen flashes a few times and the game goes into and out of full screen. I think there's probably been more, but this is more than enough to elucidate the point.

 

Now, I think it's my display driver because I've looked through Windows logs--and I've started using the Whocrashed program--and they both point to this. To try a simple fix, I recently swapped out which GPU was in which slot, but this doesn't seem to have made a difference. I also keep up with the newest drivers, so this has been happening throughout several different drivers. I'm starting to wonder if it's a hardware issue with one/both of my cards.

 

Some of the games that have had some of the aforementioned issues: The Witcher 2, Battlefield 4, Trials Evolution, Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow 2, Dark Souls II, Singulairty, and surely others that I cannot think of. 

 

So my question is now: what more can I try myself? Or is it time to try and RMA my cards?

Have you tried each card individually?

Whats the GPU load on each card while playing a game? I had a problem, where both cards were only running at 50% load.

Have you completly removed all GPU drivers and downloaded & installed them again from the NVidia homepage?

[Bananasplit_00]

id say try using 1 card at a time to see if both or just one a foulty

[Zaku77]

Have you tried each card individually?

Whats the GPU load on each card while playing a game?

Have you completly removed all GPU drivers and downloaded & installed them again from the NVidia homepage?

I haven't tried each card on its own. The GPU load varies wildly per title, and I do a clean install of each new driver, which should completely remove everything each time, right?

[Senzelian]

I haven't tried each card on its own. The GPU load varies wildly per title, and I do a clean install of each new driver, which should completely remove everything each time, right?

It should... 

Doesn't mean it'll actually work.

I would definitly completly remove all GPU drivers. I used a tool to do that, which worked really well. But I can not remember which one it was  <_< 

Maybe I can find it later.

Edit: Here is the tool that I used: http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

After you got the new drivers, you should see if both cards are actually completly maxed out. You can simply try this by using a benchmark like 3D Mark FireStrike and GPU-Z.

If they're both running at 99/100%, then they're most likely fine.

You can then even try them one by one, to see if one of the cards might still have some problems.

Other than that I have no idea what else you can do.

[Zaku77]

It should... 

Doesn't mean it'll actually work.

I would definitly completly remove all GPU drivers. I used a tool to do that, which worked really well. But I can not remember which one it was  <_< 

Maybe I can find it later.

Edit: Here is the tool that I used: http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

After you got the new drivers, you should see if both cards are actually completly maxed out. You can simply try this by using a benchmark like 3D Mark FireStrike and GPU-Z.

If they're both running at 99/100%, then they're most likely fine.

You can then even try them one by one, to see if one of the cards might still have some problems.

Other than that I have no idea what else you can do.

I'm using the tool now, so we'll see if that fixes anything. I don't usually use benchmarks, so I don't know if that will make them crash. But I don't see why it wouldn't. The annoying thing about troubleshooting this is that it's a very intermittent problem. It might not happen until I've been on a game for two-three hours, or it may happen five minutes in and then not happen again all day. It's made even pinning down as much as I have quite a pain in the ass.

[Senzelian]

I'm using the tool now, so we'll see if that fixes anything. I don't usually use benchmarks, so I don't know if that will make them crash. But I don't see why it wouldn't. The annoying thing about troubleshooting this is that it's a very intermittent problem. It might not happen until I've been on a game for two-three hours, or it may happen five minutes in and then not happen again all day. It's made even pinning down as much as I have quite a pain in the ass.

 

Typical SLI problems. They are really annoying.

Do you have your 980s overclocked?

[Zaku77]

Typical SLI problems. They are really annoying.

Do you have your 980s overclocked?

They are to a modest degree, but I've had these crashes without Precision X running.

[Senzelian]

They are to a modest degree, but I've had these crashes without Precision X running.

Usually the overclock stays, even if the programm you used to overclock the cards with is closed.

That's at least what it does in MSI Afterburner.

[Zaku77]

Well, I've had the heaven benchmark running for about twenty minutes now on max, and nothing has crashed yet. I don't know if that means that it's not going to happen with the benchmark, or if I just didn't leave it on long enough for it to randomly happen. Regardless, though, this helps enforce that it is not caused by stress.