Display Shuts Down While Gaming - Windows 10 - NVIDIA (EVGA) GTX 970 - i5-4690k

[Ghost_Kage]

Hello!

I just recently upgraded my computer (installed new MOBO/CPU) and I also went ahead and upgraded to Windows 10 in the process, thinking this would be a good idea. I may have been wrong.

Since the upgrades I was happily gaming for many hours until my display shut off - forcing me to restart the computer. This has since happened regularly - sometime less than 3 minutes into booting up a video game - other times an hour in.

I remember something similar happening to me in the past with my old AMD-FX4100 CPU and I determined it was the CPU overheating. I don't believe that to be the case this time as I checked the temps of the CPU in Prime 95 and when I could while gaming and everything seemed to be in the acceptable/normal range.

I have tried to make sure I have the recent drivers for my GPU, recently updated/flashed my BIOS, and also updated the Intel Chipset drivers.

Essentially the display shuts off as if I unplugged the display cable from my monitor, it reads "No Signal", and there is a brief buzzing/humming noise. I can still hear the video game and hear myself walking around if I press buttons on my keyboard. I have attempted to unplug and plug the DVI cable back in with no success. I am forced to restart my computer to have my display reappear. I'm connecting the graphics card to my monitor using a DVI cable.

Here are my system specs, hardware, and accessories:

Graphics Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970
Processor: Intel Core i5-4690k
Solid State Drive: SanDisk Ultra II 480GB SATA III (550 MB/s)
Hard Drive: Hitachi HDS72105 500GB
Motherboard: MSI Intel Z97 LGA 1150 ATX Motherboard
RAM: Kingston HyperX Genesis 16 GB (DDR3)
Power Supply: Corsair GS800 (800W ATX12V v2.3)
Display: LG 34UM65-P 34" LED Backlit UltraWide IPS Monitor (2560x1080)
Keyboard: EagleTec K005 / KS03 Backlit Gaming Keyboard
Mouse: Logitech G9 Gaming Mouse

I am thinking this may be a driver issue/conflict involving Windows 10 and NVIDIA but if that is the case I'm not sure what I can do to fix it. I feel like I have a very popular graphics card that should work fine with Windows 10.

Let me know if you need any more information and thank you in advance for any help!

 

[nerp]

Was this a clean install? From what I read, you took the SSD with windows, put it with new hardware and upgraded to Windows 10? If that's the case, I'd suspect you have some driver issues and other problems and a fresh install would probably do the trick.

 

[Ghost_Kage]

Essentially what I did was reinstall Windows 7 after upgrading the hardware. I did not format the hard drive however prior to doing so. I then upgraded to Windows 10 and reinstalled the drivers for my GPU, MOBO, and CPU. Would a clean install mean formatting the drive I have Windows on? Would I need to format my SDD as well which only has Steam and games on it?

Thanks again!

 

[UsandThem]

Essentially what I did was reinstall Windows 7 after upgrading the hardware. I did not format the hard drive however prior to doing so. I then upgraded to Windows 10 and reinstalled the drivers for my GPU, MOBO, and CPU. Would a clean install mean formatting the drive I have Windows on? Would I need to format my SDD as well which only has Steam and games on it?

Thanks again!

With Windows 10 you can just reset it under settings - update. You can do a limited reset or a full reset. I'd do a full reset which would be like doing a clean install.

 

[Ghost_Kage]

Will this delete all of my files and settings? So far I have uninstalled all display drivers using the Guru Driver Uninstall utility and reinstalled the NVIDIA one. I then placed everything at performance setting instead of balanced as that was recommended by someone having similar issues. I also noticed my cable powering my MOBO was not seated correctly and I *think* I have fixed that as well. For some reason the clasp on this chord will not lock into place on my MOBO..

Edit: Don't want to jinx it but so far one of these fixes or all of them seem to have corrected the problem. Hopefully...

 

[UsandThem]

Will this delete all of my files and settings? So far I have uninstalled all display drivers using the Guru Driver Uninstall utility and reinstalled the NVIDIA one. I then placed everything at performance setting instead of balanced as that was recommended by someone having similar issues. I also noticed my cable powering my MOBO was not seated correctly and I *think* I have fixed that as well. For some reason the clasp on this chord will not lock into place on my MOBO..

Edit: Don't want to jinx it but so far one of these fixes or all of them seem to have corrected the problem. Hopefully...

Hopefully you fixed it, but yes a full reset will delete everything and install Windows 10.

 

[Ghost_Kage]

So, just a quick update. So far everything appears to be working and I think I have fixed the issue. Here is what I have done in the event anyone else has the same problem and hopefully they don't have to spend as much time as I did troubleshooting:

-Uninstalled all of my display drivers using the Guru Display Driver Uninstaller utility located here. This included my current NVIDIA drivers and my old AMD driver remnants. This was done in Windows 10 safe mode.

-Set the power settings of my computer to "High Performance". Instructions for how to change these settings can be found here.

-Set the NVIDIA settings power management mode to "Prefer maximum performance" in the NVIDIA control panel. This is found under Manage 3D Settings>Power Management Mode.

During the course of all of this trouble shooting I also discovered the 24 pin connector from my PSU powering my MOBO was loose when my MOBO did not turn on. I was able to secure it successfully and I do not know if this was also causing my issues.

Thank you again nerp and UsandThem for offering advice during this and good luck to anyone else having this same problem!

 

[UsandThem]

During the course of all of this trouble shooting I also discovered the 24 pin connector from my PSU powering my MOBO was loose when my MOBO did not turn on. I was able to secure it successfully and I do not know if this was also causing my issues.

Thank you again nerp and UsandThem for offering advice during this and good luck to anyone else having this same problem!

Glad to hear you figured it out and got it working.

Loose power connections; The 24 pin, CPU, or the PCI-E cable(s) can cause a whole range of instability and crashes if not installed properly. Generally they stay in place, but if you move your computer around or if it gets bumped by kids or pets, be sure to double check your connections in case they wiggle loose.

 

[nerp]

Glad it looks like you got the situation resolved. A loose/disconnected connector certainly would cause these problems. Chances are you could set the power settings back to default and not have any problems.

 

[Ketchup]

Glad to hear the problem has gone. It was most likely a driver issue. There should be no need to set your computer to high performance. It won't hurt anything, but it will cause your computer to consume more power, as well as put out more heat.