Blinking to black in Skyrim

fade · Jun 12, 2015

I am having difficulties with my PC video blanking to black during Skyrim. I've seen in a few times in other games, too, but most commonly in Skyrim. I've disabled all mods, and I'm still seeing it. I've verified the game cache, etc. It can start fairly quickly.

To be clear, this is what's happening:
The game blinks to black for 0.5-5 seconds during which audio still plays.
Usually it recovers.
After doing this a number of times, I get a blue screen message that the driver entered an infinite loop.

Usually, I'd google this, but it hasn't been all that helpful. I see people are having a black screen crash with Skyrim, but that's a complete crash, not the one I'm having. I really hope this isn't hardware, because I JUST RMA'd the video card and got a brand new one a couple months ago. I've tried the usual tricks like underclocking. Curiously a Furmark stress test performs just fine. No problems at all. There are no overtemperature problems.

Here's some specs:

Fully updated Windows 7 64 bit
8 GB DDR3 1600 RAM
ASUS M5A97LE R2.0 motherboard
AMD FX-4100 quad core 3.6gHz processor
Corsair 500W power supply
XFX R9 270x 2GB graphics card

Reinstalling the drivers now, but I suspect that will solve nothing.

GasBandit · Jun 12, 2015

fade said:
I am having difficulties with my PC video blanking to black during Skyrim. I've seen in a few times in other games, too, but most commonly in Skyrim. I've disabled all mods, and I'm still seeing it. I've verified the game cache, etc. It can start fairly quickly.

To be clear, this is what's happening:
The game blinks to black for 0.5-5 seconds during which audio still plays.
Usually it recovers.
After doing this a number of times, I get a blue screen message that the driver entered an infinite loop.

Usually, I'd google this, but it hasn't been all that helpful. I see people are having a black screen crash with Skyrim, but that's a complete crash, not the one I'm having. I really hope this isn't hardware, because I JUST RMA'd the video card and got a brand new one a couple months ago. I've tried the usual tricks like underclocking. Curiously a Furmark stress test performs just fine. No problems at all. There are no overtemperature problems.

Here's some specs:

Fully updated Windows 7 64 bit

8 GB DDR3 1600 RAM

ASUS M5A97LE R2.0 motherboard

AMD FX-4100 quad core 3.6gHz processor

Corsair 500W power supply

XFX R9 270x 2GB graphics card

Reinstalling the drivers now, but I suspect that will solve nothing.

I've also got an R9 270x, and the card itself seems prone to some wierdness. I notice my driver crash and recover on average 2 or 3 times a day, though usually it's so quick it's barely a single-frame flicker of blue before it returns to normal. Make sure you do a complete clean of all the driver files before you install new ones. And maybe try a different version of the drivers. I can tell you which version I have that I know works with skyrim when I get home.[DOUBLEPOST=1434152377,1434152243][/DOUBLEPOST]Also make sure you're using the AMD site's drivers and not the manufacturer specfic drivers.

PatrThom · Jun 12, 2015

The symptoms suggest that it's not Skyrim's fault, it has something to do with the video.
I would try with a lower resolution or a different monitor first (and then try the other one) to see if it's a sync issue just to make sure, otherwise you're probably going to be digging through drivers until you can rule them out.

--Patrick

fade · Jun 12, 2015

Ok. Swept the registry clean and reinstalled the latest driver. So far so good.

fade · Jun 13, 2015

...

And now it's back. Manifesting a bit differently though. Now when it blinks out, I see the desktop. Then it blinks back in.

fade · Jun 13, 2015

Aaaaaaand now we're back to the black screen blinking completely.

fade · Jun 13, 2015

Yeah so, I've tried multiple drivers, from old to beta, going through the effort to completely clean out the cruft each time. But always the same. I'm suspecting it's hardware, which is really annoying because this is already a replacement card.

Thread Necromancer · Jun 14, 2015

Might be worthwhile to investigate any directx issue. I don't know if you play any other games or have noticed any other issues but I would look there before abandoning more hardware.

PatrThom · Jun 14, 2015

Now starts the troubleshooting, if you're ready for it. Is Skyrim the only game that does this?

--Patrick

fade · Jun 14, 2015

No, but it is more common in Skyrim than other games. And now Furmark does seem to be crashing whereas it wasn't before.

PatrThom · Jun 14, 2015

Well, that sounds like hardware.

Don't limit yourself to thinking it's the card, though. It could be happening because of poor power delivery (PSU) or swelling caps (MLB). It could even be happening because you have a board that likes to share slots (though this is less likely because I assume you put the card in the "main" slot, whichever one that is).

--Patrick

fade · Jun 15, 2015

I have run several long term stress tests through OCCT with error reporting turned on. The card has passed with flying colors not crashing once. And it's running hotter and with a heavier load than it ever does while gaming.

GasBandit · Jun 15, 2015

Did you ever try reinstalling DirectX?

fade · Jun 15, 2015

That's on my list. I just ran Arkham City at max settings with zero trouble. While I don't know engine specifics, the graphics in that game seem more GPU intensive than Skyrim.

fade · Jun 15, 2015

Ha, so ahem well see
I just uninstalled every trace of Skyrim and reinstalled it with no mods. Ahem. Well apparently I must've screwed something up when I modded it. Working fine now. Oops.

That said, I have had this error before, but it's pretty rare.

fade · Jun 16, 2015

I can't say I'm not confused by this outcome. I played for a couple of hours after posting that, just to be sure. Not one glitch. I reenabled most of the mods. Not one glitch.

The only unusual thing I can think of is that OCCT asked to install DX11 (which was already installed). I said yes.

PatrThom · Jun 16, 2015

Newer DX packages do get released, and they don't always trumpet the fact that they are a newer version of 11 than the old version of 11.

--Patrick

fade · Jun 18, 2015

And back again. Confirmed in Borderlands 2, and Portal 2 this time. Memtest86 passes fine for hours. A PSU stress test passes fine. I don't have any alternate hardware to try, though.

Thread Necromancer · Jun 19, 2015

Have you done a clean install of directx yet?

I'm still leaning towards a complete clean install of Directx. Bias maybe because almost EVERY time I had problems with a windows game it would clear from a directx clean install, but .... that's what I'm still looking at.

fade · Jun 19, 2015

I've completely wiped the computer and started over to no avail.

drifter · Jun 19, 2015

Fucking gremlins man.

PatrThom · Jun 19, 2015

Nothing useful in the log viewer? Does that still exist post-XP?

--Patrick

fade · Jun 19, 2015

The only new info is that if I run OCCT now, it shows the same crash, but since it's windowed, I get the "Display driver has stopped working successfully recovered" message until it finally blue screens. But that's the same crash, and it's so generic. A billion things could cause it. I did see a suggestion from MS itself to increase the TRD delay, but I have a feeling that won't really work. I have an RMA request in, and I'm considering trying to RMA the motherboard, too. In the meantime, I may go buy a PSU locally with the intent to return it. But by my calculations, this one should be more than sufficient with room to spare. And it's a not a cheapy--it's a nice certified Corsair.

PatrThom · Jun 19, 2015

My PSU concern was mainly one of not having all the aux power connectors attached, or trying to use a 6-pin adapter in an 8-pin socket, which would shortchange the power delivered to the card. You might also have a BIOS/UEFI setting that allows you to control the power delivered to the slot, or the motherboard might have another aux power connector somewhere. It was never one of the power supply not being able to supply enough power, it was one of whether or not there were enough avenues in place to get that power to where it needed to go.

--Patrick

fade · Jun 20, 2015

Wasn't to you in particular. People at Tom's and the support staff at XFX were suggesting 500 might be too low. But I come up with about 325 needed when I do the math.

PatrThom · Jun 20, 2015

fade said:
Wasn't to you in particular. People at Tom's and the support staff at XFX were suggesting 500 might be too low. But I come up with about 325 needed when I do the math.

They do need extra for surge demand, and you're going to want reserve capacity anyway to compensate for fade over time, but I left the comment more for future educational purposes.

--Patrick

fade · Jun 22, 2015

Ah. I think I may have found the trouble. Maybe. It may well be a case of me messing around too much in the bios and shutting some motherboard features off. I'm doing another clean install for reasons I am not going to type into a phone keyboard. Will update.

fade · Jun 24, 2015

Nope. In any case, the video card RMA was finally approved after jumping through all the hoops and being told I'm wrong 400 times.

I may still try the PSU also just to rule it out, but I suspect it will change nothing.

Eriol · Jun 24, 2015

Good luck

fade · Apr 20, 2016

Well. I never followed up on this, but XFX told me the card passed all their testing with flying colors. The tech I was paired with tried to tell me the symptoms did not seem like video card symptoms. He suspected the 500w power supply was insufficient, or perhaps it was bad RAM. It's not the RAM. I tested that four ways from Sunday, and I know it's fine. I don't get this guy's reaction. The problems are clearly graphics related. The driver crashes under games and under Premiere using hardware acceleration. It happens usually at the same places in games and in the same games. E.g. Assassin's Creed III is all but unplayable. Dishonored crashes a lot. Some don't crash at all, like Shadows of thes Mordorssss.

Anyway, so I replaced the power supply with an 850 W gold standard, and I replaced the RAM just as a test. Same things. Same crashes. No improvement. Time to hit up support again. I can't wait for this card to be outdated so I can feel comfortable ditching it.

strawman · Apr 20, 2016

They don't call it bleeding edge for nothing.

fade · May 13, 2016

Well, I did get XFX to offer a replacement, but the tech was still snotty about it. "I don't think this will fix it." I mean, I've eliminated everything but the card and the motherboard. And I guess the CPU, but I would expect the problems to manifest outside the graphics subsystem if it was the CPU. The motherboard, maybe. I can try the 4x slot as a simple elimination test, but I doubt it. I'd expect the problems to occur regardless of load if that were the case.

PatrThom · May 13, 2016

It's not a bad idea, so long as the x4 slot has an open end for the rest of the card to stick out.
You also might consider installing a tool such as SpeedFan so you can see if this ends up being a temperature issue. My basis for this is the "worked fine for them but not for you" so there has to be SOMETHING different between your system and their test bed aside from the brand choice of components (unless you've hit on some weird combination).
If you are going to reset the motherboard settings, look for "load fail-safe defaults" or clear out the CMOS to rule out missing anything buried.

--Patrick

fade · May 13, 2016

I've been logging the temps on everything, and I haven't noticed anything unusual.

fade · May 19, 2016

Okay, tried the 4x slot, no crashes. Looks like the XFX guy may be right, dammit. I talked to Asus, and they actually agreed it was probably their mobo. So I'm RMAing it tonight. The board is right near the 3 year warranty mark, so I have to sneak it in. Still a popular selling board on Newegg, surprisingly.