Screen/gpu problem?

Hello in the first place!

So, yesterday I was playing CS:GO competitive mode and my screen went completely black. I tried to alt+tab but nothing. Did ctrl+alt+delete and opened the task manager and I noticed the screen was all jagged. I mean the fonts, etc, it looked like 3 images on top of each other with a 2mm deviation each. Went back to playing even though it was bad. After 5 minutes, same thing happened but this time I had to shut down pc because I couldn't go back to Windows. Reconnected to my match and after 5 minutes it happened again. This went on for like 7-8 times until I stopped playing. Some of the times I saw the screen going from black to white, like screen was black and then a white spot would run from top right corner till the opposite side. Everytime i needed to switch off pc manually, otherwise it would stay black. But before turning black, it would get all jagged like I described above. I took a screenshot while it was jagged, to see if would actually be jagged due to GPU or the screen. And when I opened it when screen was fine, I realised there were no problems in the screenshot.
I can add that I used the computer before playing, for some hours and it was fine. The laptop is the one in my signature (without the overclock).
I assume either the screen or GPU are broken? If so, why? Laptop is 4 years old but I never had a issue with it.
Can you guys help me?

 

It sounds like your card is dying to me. Your machine was released before Optimus/Enduro, so your card works when downclocked... probably stressing it is killing it. If you're somehow still under warranty, I suggest trying to get a warranty repair. If you're not, then you may want to look into a side card or a new laptop on the whole.

 

But if the problem would be the GPU wouldn't the artifacts show in the screenshot?
I'm not under warranty anymore, it ended 2 years ago. If I need to buy a new one, I think I'll go for a full desktop as I don't need a laptop desktop replacement anymore.

 

several things to try in order to narrow it down:

- boot the system into safe mode, if the problem persists its less likely to be gpu related even though u cant count it out yet

- run prime95/memtest86+ to stress the cpu and ram, see if they check out fine. usually with ram ud get bluescreens/freezes but with cpu ur screen could actually suddenly turn black with system being unresponsive

- watch ur screen if any of the artifacts appear while the gpu is NOT under stress, if both cpu and ram check out, that would point to a screen issue

- connect an external screen/display if u have one at hand and see if those glitches appear there as well. if they do, u can rule out the internal screen

- try and log ur cpu/gpu temps when u put stress on them during games or benchmarks, see if they check out. optimal temps would be anything below 90, up to 95 is suboptimal but still "ok", anything above 95 is the red zone and would point to a repaste being your next order of business

cheers

 

Artifacts do not show in screenshots. They only show if you take an external screenshot. If an in-game artifact shows in a screenshot, the game is specifically mis-rendering something.

 

Will try all that and post results here. I experienced this for the first time yesterday and I didn't have time to try other games/apps. Might try furmark under safe mode.

 

next time it happens take a picture using your phone and then post it.

also download some temperature monitoring tools from my link below. hwinfo64 / core temps / gpu-z / msi afterburner for graphs.

 

I just arrived from uni and it happened like 6 times right after pressing the power button. The screen would just stay white and at the 5th try the image was all jagged (forgot to take picture, silly me). I'm gonna run some furmark now and see what happens. I have Speedfan running too.

EDIT1: Just ran Furmark and couldnt even stand 2 minutes. Went full dark and wouldn't come alive again and needed to switch off on power button. Temps weren't even that high, around 70 (both GPU and CPU). Will try safe mode now.

Ran Prime95 for around 5-10minutes and nothing happened. Temps are as shown here:



Can't run Furmark under safe mode. Meanwhile, made a bootable a USB drive with Memtest.

EDIT2: Just connected an external monitor and I can't say for sure that it doesn't happen on it. I made a video of what happens. You can clearly see the image all jagged when it flashes black but it surprisingly it goes well again. I can't run Furmark when connected only to the external screen, only when on the laptop one. But as you can see in the video, after selecting screens, it stays ok. I really doubt this is the screen though. Why would the heat(GPU) do this to the screen?

When video is done uploading, I'll post here the link.

 

temps are fine.

next, just to eliminate them, could be a faulty hard drive or ram. run a sector scan using HD Tune in link below and then mem test for ram.

i see you have a seagate so its worth trying this as well http://www.seagate.com/gb/en/support/downloads/seatools/

just 2 bad sectors is enough to cause major problems. it just depends on were on the drive the bad sectors are (if it is bad sectors).

 

Oh I shall add that I have a SSD and the HDD is only used as storage and only a few games. I forgot to update the sig about the SSD. Sorry about that. Video goes below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxv91oyVftuha01WbURmTFVhZDA

 

no worries.

bugger, shouldnt be the ssd then. which drive was the game you were playing stored on.

its just guess work on my part now.
the only gpu thats died on me was a 9800GT and that went from gaming to frozen screen and sound still going. hard turn off and on and whole screen full of lines.

hopefully others will be able to advise further.

 

The game is on the HDD but Furmark is on SSD and it still happens.

Hopefully the video I posted is helpful.

 

I'd take the GPU out, replace check all the thermal pads and re-paste it. If it still cuts out I would apply a large underclock to the card and test again, if it does not happen either the power brick is struggling (Unlikely since your video shows it detecting power still) or the GPU could be on its way out.

 

Do I need to replace the pads as well? Never took the GPU cooler out even though I repasted the CPU some times.

EDIT: I replaced the GPU thermal paste and fixed the pads and now it doesn't work for good. With external screen, works fine for now. It happens as the video below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxv91oyVftuhTmlObGJUUzRfU00/

I shall add that this happened yesterday too but I managed to make it work after some reboots. No luck so far. Also, managed to run Furmark on the external screen and no issues at all.

 

hm, cpu temps are fine and it seems to run stably under prime95. ssd is out, ram is still in although unlikely, internal screen seems unlikely.....so yeah, meaker is right, just gpu and/or psu left to consider.

 

I can add that I ran Memtest for around 30mins and did not find any errors whatsoever. How can I rule out the psu? Also, did you see the video I posted? I think I edited after you posted

 

Memtest must finish all its tests. Ending it prematurely will not be conclusive and can give false impressions of working RAM. Take this from me, it's this kind of stuff that made my friend upgrade his ENTIRE PC aside from his RAM because he kept telling us his RAM came back clean in memtest.

 

Will do that now How many passes do you recommend?

 

You need to finish all 10 tests, I believe need to be done. My friend's error was all the way on test 8.

 

I just did. It says, "pass complete, no errors". So, RAM is ruled out?
Meanwhile, while Memtest was running, the screen turned on and is like this :

I can also say that after the reboot, the Windows loading appeared fine but now the screen doesnt work again. Im starting to be afraid that I need a new PC.

 

I SERIOUSLY think it's just your video card that's dying. You have a very long-lasting AMD mobile card, honestly. I haven't seen such a long lasting one in a while.

 

I honestly think that too. I needed to save for a new PC, as this was getting quite dated already. Do you think it's worth it to buy a new (same or better) graphics card or save and get a full PC? I'm inclined for the last option. And I don't trust taking this to a shop as they charge ridiculous amounts of money.

 

I would have suggested you replace that GPU yourself lol. That's why you have a Clevo!

As for replacing or repair, I suggest replacing if you got the money. Honestly, you could probably grab a solid W370SS or W355SSQ (NP 7378 and NP 7358 respectively) and let them tide you over for the time being if anything. Otherwise, if you can wait it out, maxwell GPUs may be out for purchase soon *nudge nudge* =D. A 970M or 980M would be an amazing thing.

 

I'll need to think about what I'll do. When I got this laptop I really needed a desktop replacement that's why I went for it and it lasted a long time. Right now I don't need a laptop desktop replacement anymore. But I'll need to think about this. I'll keep trying to fix this though

 

oh uve gotta ne KIDDING ME!!!! my machine just started showing visual glitches, ugh!

first i was watching a flash video online when the screen turned black. switched off the laptop, cold booted it, noticed bluish tinted specks on the bios splash screen (should be black n white), then the windows boot sign and bam, black screen. did a cmos reset without battery, tried again, still the same....craptastic!!! will have to do a visual inspection of my gpu at home (at gfs house now), reseat it, repaste it, check the thermal pads, try again and hope for the best!!!

 

Good luck man, hope it works.

One option for you scan is to see if any new cards would work with the older systems and maybe see if you can get a cheap CPU upgrade.

 

alright, reseating didnt help. checked the symptoms online (exclamation marks all over black screen between bios splash screen and windows boot logo, among others) and compared with other user reports, pretty sure its the gpu (ram + cpu should be fine, otherwise i wouldnt even get to the boot logo).

sooo i decided to try myself at baking :-D lets see if i can squeeze some extra juice out of it to help me bridge the time until i get a replacement (gpu or system).

stats for info:
- removed heatsink and thermal paste
- removed all stickers and foam gap fillers
- removed black tape surrounding gpu die
- placed card on 4 aluminum balls, made sure its perfectly level
- preheated oven to 200C / 392F
- baked card for 8 min
- let it cool down slowly for 30 min with oven door slightly ajar, then another 30 min with door completely open
-slap it back in and see if it works....

unfortunately, i dont have thermal paste here at my gf's so ill report back later... wish me luck!

 

I hope it works and lasts for some time. I would consider replacement options if it does work still.

 

yep, definitely, since im aware that baking is only a temporary solution at best. but doesnt matter, it didnt work *sigh*

anyways, already got my eye on a cheap 560M and on a replacement 7970M on ebay. either way, its cheaper and less hassle / faster than waiting for a 980M system (even tho that would be awesome, of course )
main priority atm is to get a functioning system i can use at work! fortunately, my gf offered me her cute lil dell laptop for the time being

 

Yes, I think the latest GPU I can install is the 7970 and that would need some modifications in the cooler. The best CPU I could get would be the 920XM, IIRC.

Tomorrow I'm gonna leave the laptop in a shop to see how much they would charge and then get it back. I'm not too confident in leaving my things in unknown hands, but I gotta try

Godd luck to you jaybee. We are both in the same situation, pretty much

 

alrighty, pulled the trigger on that 7970M on ebay. original clevo rev. 1.2 with 12 months warranty from Clevo itself (can send it in to the local clevo service center here in germany) for 380€ shipped. quite the dough but still cheaper than a new system and i just couldnt bring myself to go for a crappy 560M

 

Can I ask you where you got it from? The sellers name? I'm thinking to get one. And you are in Europe too, so I guess the price would be around the same as me, but I'm trying to find a 7970 on ebay and I can't find , lol.

EDIT: Is this the one?

 

You don't seem to have put the link to the one you are looking at scan.

 

Sorry, that was a big fail. This one I meant:

AMD ATI Radeon HD7970M 2GB GDDR5 V1 2 Clevo Alienware Warranty 12 Months | eBay
Btw, is the 7970M the best known GPU working in a W860CU?

 

yep, thats the one! and yeah, afaik thats the newest/fastest gpu ive seen working peoperly in a w860cu. although im not really an expert on that model, of course

 

btw, i just saw that the same seller also offers a v1.1 revision of the 7970M, but id advise u to go for the v1.2, since thats the only one that has been found to work in laptops without iGPU (e.g. HM series, CU series, older alienwares, etc.)