Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 black screen

[ecanduysak]

hi folks,

my 970 is 3 years old now i guess, this issue started 2 - 3 weeks ago, when im playing games my screen just goes black, like i pulled out my monitor cable. pc is on, my keyboard has its lights.
and i think depending on the game just screen goes black because i managed to land my spaceship in X3 Terran Conflict with auto pilot hotkey. also managed to turn off my pc with hotkeys (alt+f4, enter).

what i tryed so far:
DDU Driver, Clean Install,
Clean Windows İnstallation,
Re-Flashed Gpu Bios,
Custom Bios (some people reported having similar issues, driver failures because of low voltage of the card. they managed to fix it with custom bios),
Mainboard Cmos cleared,
Card got re-mounted and re-plugged.

but problem never happened when i stress tested my computer, now im trying same things with my old HD6770. But 970 has %50 more tdp then this card. basicly not pulling same voltage...
also my temps were fine max 60-63 degree with 970

is there any way to understand is it a gpu or psu failure?

Specs:
G1 Gtx 970
i5 6600
MSI Z170A Gaming m5 (bios latest version)
8/8/8 = 24GB Corsair CL14 2400mhz ram
EVGA SuperNOVA 750W B2 80+ BRONZE

 

[eidairaman1]

hi folks,

my 970 is 3 years old now i guess, this issue started 2 - 3 weeks ago, when im playing games my screen just goes black, like i pulled out my monitor cable. pc is on, my keyboard has its lights.
and i think depending on the game just screen goes black because i managed to land my spaceship in X3 Terran Conflict with auto pilot hotkey. also managed to turn off my pc with hotkeys (alt+f4, enter).

what i tryed so far:
DDU Driver, Clean Install,
Clean Windows İnstallation,
Re-Flashed Gpu Bios,
Custom Bios (some people reported having similar issues, driver failures because of low voltage of the card. they managed to fix it with custom bios),
Mainboard Cmos cleared.

but problem never happened when i stress tested my computer, now im trying same things with my old HD6770. But 970 has %50 more tdp then this card. basicly not pulling same voltage...
also my temps were fine max 60-63 degree with 970

is there any way to understand is it a gpu or psu failure?

Specs:
G1 Gtx 970
i5 6600
MSI Z170A Gaming m5 (bios latest version)
8/8/8 = 24GB Corsair CL14 2400mhz ram
EVGA SuperNOVA 750W B2 80+ BRONZE

All you can really do is try the card in another machine, or try another power supply in yours, only other thing you can do is replace the thermal interface material on the gpu, memory, vrms, but this highly sounds like the card is dying.

 

[ecanduysak]

All you can really do is try the card in another machine, or try another power supply in yours, only other thing you can do is replace the thermal interface material on the gpu, memory, vrms, but this highly sounds like the card is dying.

thats what im afraid of, i have a friend who have 6600K with same motherboard, and hes also using gtx 970. at weekend im gonna bring my card to him. pffff... card is out of its guarantee, and buying a new card will be an issue.... prices are crazy high here in turkey.....

 

[eidairaman1]

thats what im afraid of, i have a friend who have 6600K with same motherboard, and hes also using gtx 970. at weekend im gonna bring my card to him. pffff... card is out of its guarantee, and buying a new card will be an issue.... prices are crazy high here in turkey.....

Well if it doesnt fail in that other machine, it could be your motherboard or powersupply at that point.

 

[droopyRO]

Did you try to downclock your card or lower its PowerLimit with MSI Afterburner ?

 

[PLAfiller]

I had the same issue with my 970 with black screen under load, replaced my PSU and this solved the problem isntantly. But your PSU is better than mine and you have been using it for 3 years trouble free, so I guess it must be the card. How old is the PSU?

 

[John Naylor]

Yes.... there is is there any way to understand potential failure issues ... system errors are generally recorded in Windows System and Application Logs. Event Viewer is kida like the thingie mechanics plug into your dash which display error codes. You can then look up what those codes mean and diagnose your problem. The 1st step after any shutdown should be to open event viewer and look for any Errors / Warnings at the date / time screen went black. The copy the exact message(s) and to a web search to look for potential causes.

The B2 is a quality pretty decent model line tho experience has shown that EVGA units have variable quality (had 2 G2s had to replace) ... and 750 watts is well more than what's needed for that build. Have you tried using just the recommended 2 x 8GB or memory ? Always best to use dual channel memory in pairs. Are they in the correct slots ? Are they a "matched pair" came in same package ?

However, after installing a custom BIOS, all bets are off.... that may not have fixed the old problem but more likely apt to introduce a new one.

 

[ecanduysak]

first of all thank you all for your comments, and advices.

i used my HD6770 for 1 day, i did stress test it, also played games with it but never had issue with it. not even a bsod or driver caused freeze lol.

flashed latest OEM bios to my card. the thing is, my card has dual bios. so i just flashed one of it. i flashed custom bios to check if it changes anything about black screen issue or not. well it didnt changed anything so i rolled it back.

today, i checked my card again if there is any dust on it. then used ddu with new gpu installation option. turned off the system then mounted 970 again, checked cables inside my case if anything moved or not, cautious installed my card, installed latest driver with admin rights (my UAC is off anyway) ,im playing with it for like 1.5 - 2 hours so far. i also have msi afterburner on, checking the values while testing it.

Well if it doesnt fail in that other machine, it could be your motherboard or powersupply at that point.

well only machine i can try card on it is my friends machine, he has an asus version of gtx 970, right after i read your comment i just called him, i was already thinking about it anyway. he said he has no issues with his card, also had no stability issues recently. ill let you know when i have chance to visit him.

Did you try to downclock your card or lower its PowerLimit with MSI Afterburner ?

nope, but if i get any black screens again gonna check it. my power limit is %100 atm.

I had the same issue with my 970 with black screen under load, replaced my PSU and this solved the problem isntantly. But your PSU is better than mine and you have been using it for 3 years trouble free, so I guess it must be the card. How old is the PSU?

i bought it few months before then my gpu, ordered from amazon. it had to sit in my cabinet for few months without getting unpacked. so both runned together for their first time and untill today.
but like 1 or 2 months ago, we had some electricity problems in our neighborhood. it just cut then came back too much on that period. im using current protected socket, but shit happens you know...
i also read similar articles like your problem, if there is a hardware end on this issue, ill prefer new psu everyday. if my gpu is done, only thing max i can get is a 1060 3gb....

Yes.... there is is there any way to understand potential failure issues ... system errors are generally recorded in Windows System and Application Logs. Event Viewer is kida like the thingie mechanics plug into your dash which display error codes. You can then look up what those codes mean and diagnose your problem. The 1st step after any shutdown should be to open event viewer and look for any Errors / Warnings at the date / time screen went black. The copy the exact message(s) and to a web search to look for potential causes.

if i can re-create the issue again, i will check it ASAP.

The B2 is a quality pretty decent model line tho experience has shown that EVGA units have variable quality (had 2 G2s had to replace) ... and 750 watts is well more than what's needed for that build. Have you tried using just the recommended 2 x 8GB or memory ? Always best to use dual channel memory in pairs. Are they in the correct slots ? Are they a "matched pair" came in same package ?

However, after installing a custom BIOS, all bets are off.... that may not have fixed the old problem but more likely apt to introduce a new one.

good idea, all of my ram sticks from corsair, vengeance, cl14, 2400mhz. even has same cooling plates on them, only difference is 2 of them are black, 1 of them is red. after it read this, i just saw i got 1 red paired with 1 black (no racism). probably read the damn manual wrong when installing those things. i think my ex motherboard had 1 with 3, 2 with 4 pairing. im re-organizing them right now.

 

[ecanduysak]

no black screen so far... hope it will continue like that.