Black screen flashing during normal use of PC

[ultimategamernerd]

I have an evga gtx 980 SC, 16gb ddr3 @1866mhz, asus z97-A usb 3.1, adata sx900 ssd, seagate barracuda 1tb, i7 4790k, and evga 750w b2 bronze PSU. All clocks are stock, and all is air cooled. 

 

The issue arises when i am doing normal stuff. On the desktop or in chrome, and the screen will flash back a couple times and return to normal. No errors, crashes, or hardware incompatibilities. Everything has the latest drivers, and i have had this problem ever since i bough the PC back in summer 2015. I recently replaced both the GTX 980 and PSU via evga RMA service. they were kind and very helpful, but the issue still exists. 

Does anyone know where this problem could have originated? Thanks all. I am desperate at this point. 

[Fireknives]

Have you tried a different monitor yet? Seems like you have all the basis covered on the hardware side. Maybe the cable? Try moving that around and see if that can cause it. 

[ultimategamernerd]

3 minutes ago, Fireknives said:

Have you tried a different monitor yet? Seems like you have all the basis covered on hardware side. Maybe the cable? Try moving that around and see if that can cause it. 

Ah yes. I forgot to mention that. It is only the primary monitor that does this. I have a dual HP ips 25xw monitor setup, and i have switched between monitors and ports and cables on the back of the 980 and without fail, it is always only the primary monitor that has issues. 

Edited April 14, 2016 by ultimategamernerd

[Fireknives]

Are you overclocking your monitors for a higher refresh rate? I think the profile that is set up for refresh rate will stay at the primary spot if the monitors are the same. I can't remember if mine did that when I last swapped mine or not. So might just want to give that a quick check.

[IanDrexP]

Normal stuff? So it does not happen while playing games?

[ultimategamernerd]

7 minutes ago, Fireknives said:

Are you overclocking your monitors for a higher refresh rate? I think the profile that is set up for refresh rate will stay at the primary spot if the monitors are the same. I can't remember if mine did that when I last swapped mine or not. So might just want to give that a quick check.

Nope. I dont mess around with any of the settings fro anything. Its a workstation so i avoid any and all tinkering for the sake of reliability. 

[ultimategamernerd]

1 minute ago, IanDrexP said:

Normal stuff? So it does not happen while playing games?

I dont play to many games, but its never happened to me whilst the card was drawing mass power. so...yeah...not during games, not during 3d modelling. But in sketchup (low power) or in other less graphically demanding tasks liek the internet it DOES flicker. and its freaking me out. 

[IanDrexP]

Maybe try to increase the voltage through MSI Afterburner? At idle maybe the GPU is not getting enough voltage to keep it stable?

[ultimategamernerd]

Just now, IanDrexP said:

Maybe try to increase the voltage through MSI Afterburner? At idle maybe the GPU is not getting enough voltage to keep it stable?

I am very afraid of altering power settings on my PC. It makes sense, but i am  curious if such a thing is possible? Its not actually crashing. No errors at all, no driver failures. the card, i assume, stays powered on. 

[IanDrexP]

Nvidia GPUs have a voltage offset which goes higher than what the manufacturer has originally set but moving that offset up is perfectly safe if it is using the stock bios and stock settings on Afterburner, but you have to go to Afterburner settings and make sure "Unlock voltage control" is checked to do so.

 

The voltage was what I was thinking because I had a problem before because I undervolted my R9 390 to the max to save power and it was fine with normal usage but during games it would crash so I lowered the undervolt a bit and it worked fine. In your case I see it as the opposite where maybe at idle it isn't getting enough voltage to keep it powered on? 

[Fireknives]

When you go into nvidia control panel (shown in pic) what does your power management setting say? Might want to set it to Max and see if that helps. Might be that your core clock is dipping to low. I think I have heard of that being a problem but I don't remember much about it.

[ultimategamernerd]

10 hours ago, IanDrexP said:

Nvidia GPUs have a voltage offset which goes higher than what the manufacturer has originally set but moving that offset up is perfectly safe if it is using the stock bios and stock settings on Afterburner, but you have to go to Afterburner settings and make sure "Unlock voltage control" is checked to do so.

 

The voltage was what I was thinking because I had a problem before because I undervolted my R9 390 to the max to save power and it was fine with normal usage but during games it would crash so I lowered the undervolt a bit and it worked fine. In your case I see it as the opposite where maybe at idle it isn't getting enough voltage to keep it powered on? 

 

10 hours ago, Fireknives said:

When you go into nvidia control panel (shown in pic) what does your power management setting say? Might want to set it to Max and see if that helps. Might be that your core clock is dipping to low. I think I have heard of that being a problem but I don't remember much about it.

Okay, I will try both of these. I am understanding that if im not overclocking, then raising the voltage limit like IanDrexP suggested will not induce any reliability or thermal issues. I am also assuming that raising the limit is not the same thing as "overvolting" (call me out if i am wrong there). And as for Fireknives, would combining these suggestions be a bad idea? as in...raising the voltage limit, and then forcing the card to work harder? 

[IanDrexP]

6 minutes ago, ultimategamernerd said:

 

Okay, I will try both of these. I am understanding that if im not overclocking, then raising the voltage limit like IanDrexP suggested will not induce any reliability or thermal issues. I am also assuming that raising the limit is not the same thing as "overvolting" (call me out if i am wrong there). And as for Fireknives, would combining these suggestions be a bad idea? as in...raising the voltage limit, and then forcing the card to work harder? 

No don't set it to max... The GPU should be able to adjust its voltage accordingly depending on its workload.

 

I suggest adding increments of 25 mV when adjusting the voltage. This is voltage tuning in my opinion not overvolting because you are increasing voltage within safe specifications from the manufacturer and not outside of limits placed by them.

[ultimategamernerd]

5 minutes ago, IanDrexP said:

No don't set it to max... The GPU should be able to adjust its voltage accordingly depending on its workload.

 

I suggest adding increments of 25 mV when adjusting the voltage. This is voltage tuning in my opinion not overvolting because you are increasing voltage within safe specifications from the manufacturer and not outside of limits placed by them.

Ahh okay. This is starting to make sense. I will try that as soon as i reinstall the 980. We will see how this goes 

[ultimategamernerd]

Okay, so...ive tried everything that was suggested. increasing the voltage limit to +50 mV with afterburner, and by changing the Nvidia settings to demand more power draw....and to no avail. The screen will still flash periodically. 

I was wondering though; any chance its the pcie slot on the ASUS Z97-A USB 3.1? i am using the top one, but the one below is 8x (which is fine for bandwidth, i think) so would that possibly be the blinking problem? 

[-rascal-]

27 minutes ago, ultimategamernerd said:

Okay, so...ive tried everything that was suggested. increasing the voltage limit to +50 mV with afterburner, and by changing the Nvidia settings to demand more power draw....and to no avail. The screen will still flash periodically. 

I was wondering though; any chance its the pcie slot on the ASUS Z97-A USB 3.1? i am using the top one, but the one below is 8x (which is fine for bandwidth, i think) so would that possibly be the blinking problem? 

Are you using the HDMI connection for both monitors, and are there any adapters used to convert to HDMI or VGA (since your monitors are HDMI or VGA inputs).

 

In the monitor settings itself, is it set to auto-select input source, or manually set to use either VGA or HDMI?

 

The two "temporary" DELL UltraSharps will experience quick black-screen flashing if I have the input source set to auto-detect / auto-select. I don't recall, but I think it was the monitor with the HDMI connection that had the flashing issue for me (one is connected via DisplayPort, and the other is through HDMI).

 

Also, which version graphics (GeForce) drivers you using, and have you tried the latest ones available from nVidia?

 

You could try the second PCI-Express slot on your motherboard; it may or may not help, though.

[ultimategamernerd]

6 hours ago, -rascal- said:

Are you using the HDMI connection for both monitors, and are there any adapters used to convert to HDMI or VGA (since your monitors are HDMI or VGA inputs).

 

In the monitor settings itself, is it set to auto-select input source, or manually set to use either VGA or HDMI?

 

The two "temporary" DELL UltraSharps will experience quick black-screen flashing if I have the input source set to auto-detect / auto-select. I don't recall, but I think it was the monitor with the HDMI connection that had the flashing issue for me (one is connected via DisplayPort, and the other is through HDMI).

 

Also, which version graphics (GeForce) drivers you using, and have you tried the latest ones available from nVidia?

 

You could try the second PCI-Express slot on your motherboard; it may or may not help, though.

I am using the DVI connector via an IO gear dvi to hdmi cable for the primary monitor, and an hdmi to hdmi connection fro the secondary monitor. Both are set to auto-detect inputs. I am using a clean install of the latest nvidia drivers, but have had this issue for almost 10 months, even after an RMA of the PSU and GPU.

I should mention as well: no matter which inputs i use for which monitors, it is always the one set to primary that blinks. I have no idea why.

Also, i noticed today that scrolling fast in facebook in google chrome especially triggered MULTIPLE flashes, lasting a good five minutes, again without any driver or hardware errors. I am now trying firefox for the fist time have have seen no problems. I have no idea how this could affect whatever is going on.

[ultimategamernerd]

I have tried everything that was suggested, and to no avail. i Switched the cables around as well, just to be sure, and now both monitors flash black occasionally. Help.