So ever since I built my pc, I have been experiencing frequent, and sudden display driver failures. I'm no expert on computer bugs, but I am studying computer science and have been my family's tech support for ages and even did some work on cyber security for a summer, and this one really stumps me.
So let's address the problem;
Reconstruction is easy. I just need to turn on my computer, and launch a game. Other things can trigger the problem, such as opening the system tab in Event Viewer (inconsistent) or using too much memory (inconsistent) usually through a web browser.
What's the problem? Well, when my display driver crashes, I am met with two black screens (double monitor setup) and a whole bunch of frustration. Audio fails about 40% of the time, and It's obvious I'm still uploading and downloading as I've had the problem while in a call with my friends and could still hear and speak to them. Sometimes, however, my whole pc freezes with the failure and I need to restart. Input from keyboard and mouse are ignored by the system.
Details? Well, I can have it randomly, or when launching a game, or after a game has been launched for a while.
What have I done to try and fix it? You better sit down for this. I'll try to go in the order of what I tried.
1: Restarting (couldnt do much else, as the display driver failed and couldnt recover)
Result: No change
2: Updating windows
Result: No change
3: Updating all drivers including display adapter
Result: Inconsistencies. Sometimes games would last a few minutes without crashing, sometimes I would gsod or bsod or just plain freeze/crash. I also started getting memory problems yet my memory is 32 GB
4: Reinstalling Display drivers
Result: Increased Volatility
5: Re-seating the GPU
Result: None
6: Taking apart my pc completely, cleaning everything from dust, and replacing it. Everything was re-seated
Result: None
7: Flashing my BIOS
Result: Stable consistency with freezes and crashes
8: Double checked heating and tried to downclock my GPU and overclock its fans and downclocked its power consumption
Result: Games lasted slightly longer before crashing
9: Tried reverting back to other windows updates
Result: None
10: Checked for system corruption with sfc /scannow
Result: Fixed corrupted files, and couldnt fix others. No impact
11: Tried DDU'ing and reinstalling GPU drivers
Result: Games lasted slightly longer
12: Tried downgrading my GPU drivers to a more stable version
Result: None
13: Checked both event viewer and reliability monitor and found no trace of a problem. All it saw was kernel error 41 from me having to use the case button to power it down when it was freezing
Result: No new information
14; Tried a complete fresh install of windows
Result: Loss of progress and a lot more frustration
I've had this problem before and it either disappears from a patch or was fixed by any of the above. This is the first instance I have been unable to repair it.
What I've ruled out:
It is not a hardware problem. Otherwise Basic Microsoft Display Adapters would have the same problems
It's not a virus. Otherwise Windows Defender would have found it or resetting would have flushed it
It's not my BIOS unless it's a setting. My BIOS is fully updated
It's not a program. Resetting confirmed that its not a faulty program
It's specifically my GPU. If it was something else, then something else would be effected. Both my monitors are plugged into my GPU and while my pc does freeze sometimes, usually it carries on ignoring the problem.
It's not a temperature problem. I get anywhere from 40-60 C idle and 50-70 C under intense pressure
It's not dust
Specs:
ASRock b450M pro4 mobo
RX580 Armor GPU
Ryzen 5 3600X CPU (watercooled)
4x 8BG 3000mhz RAM
1TB SSD
1000W power supply
Really curious if anyone is still reading, please, if you know what this is, or how to fix it, or just general info, please tell me, I've tried everything and now I reach out to the world for help. I genuinely have no more ideas and my whole world is online and I'm watching it die.
Thanks for reading, Godspeed.
