HD 6850 Black Screen - Windows+D Always Fixes It

[Smoolean]

Hi everyone,

I have an odd situation. From time to time, my screen will go black, and Windows+D to hide the "trigger" app always fixes the issue immediately. I'm running on a rig I built a few months ago. i5, HD 6850, Windows 7 64-bit, etc...

I am overjoyed with the performance of this card, and this has only happened probably 3-4 times in 3 months, and seems to exhibit a pattern with particular apps, so I don't think it's a "bad" card per say.

The black screen is triggered by seemingly random applications, and only happens probably once every... 5 weeks?

I hadn't noticed it for a month or longer, than earlier this week Minecraft would make the entire screen go black. Then, if I minimized the game by pressing Windows+D, my screen immediately came back up. This pattern existed sporadically, and I eventually was able to continue playing. I wasn't playing in full screen mode.

Today, Google Chrome exhibited the same behavior. But never has before. Same with DreamWeaver a month ago.

I'm pretty positive it's not a matter of the card being overloaded, as I can play StarCraft 2, and Just Cause 2 on max settings at 1920x1200 without seeing a black screen EVER.

It seems incredibly random and somehow tied to specific apps.

I installed the latest HD6800 drivers when I put my machine together. I supposed it's possible there's an update, but this issue just seems so darn random. Any ideas?

Thanks for any and all input / ideas!

***EDIT***
I have not overclocked, and probably never will as I'm a rig-builder rookie!

 

[SparkyJJO]

Wouldn't hurt to update drivers. The version you have might have a bug or something.

I hate random stuff like that which makes no sense.

Could also be something totally unrelated to video as well. Yeah I know, another monkey wrench to consider. But I've had weird things like that happen. At one point, touching my computer case would make my computer act funny then freeze a minute later. Ended up being a hard drive problem, some sort of ground issue on the circuit board :|

 

[Smoolean]

Wow, now that is weird! My system is still a newborn, hopefully nothing like that surfaces

Good point, I went ahead and updated the drivers. Even if "the issue" still exists I probably won't experience it for a month or so

I do know that in the latest ATI drivers there was a fix related to cursor lag when moving the mouse in the ballpark of the top right of your display. Perhaps this is somehow oddly related... not that it would make any sense.