Screen goes blank randomly. See post for completed troubleshooting steps.

[phillpower2]

You have at least resolved one problems with the Windows updates now installing so hopefully we are making inroads, your computer is certainly better protected against malware.

Not sure why but your GPU is shown to only have 4GB of VRAM which is not possible as all versions have 8GB, this could be a driver issue.

A question for you and a suggestion for you to check, I do have a couple of other ideas but the outcome of the first check may give us clue as to whether or not we are on the right track.

Q: Speccy shows that Windows has installed Nvide drivers for your video card, did you give it permission to, bad idea if you did but also bad idea if you didn`t as Windows 10 has a habit of installing unnecessary and/or incompatible drivers that cause folk no end of grief.

Suggestion, restart the computer in Safe Mode only (No Networking) and test, make a note of any issue/s that may occur then again restart the computer in Safe Mode but this time with Networking, test and then post back with an update for us if you will.

You are welcome btw

[InFlux93]

Good morning.

So, in response to your question, I don’t think I ever explicitly gave permission for automatic updates purposely. But I did check and I think that they are on. See attached photo. Do I need to switch it to no?
[ATTACH type=“full” width=“427px” alt=“Capture.PNG”]6044[/ATTACH]

In regards to testing the PC in both safe modes, no issues exist while running in safe mode. Computer runs fine, no random blank screens.

[InFlux93]

Also, just out of curiosity I did some of my own research. According to a couple of forums, it is reported that the appropriate VRAM capacity doesn’t display correctly on most spec scanning software. I downloaded GPU-Z and below are the specs that are being read through that software:
[ATTACH type=“full”]6045[/ATTACH]
As you can see the memory size is displaying 8192MB and not half of that.

[phillpower2]

Hi InFlux93,

You can safely change that to No as there is only Microsoft who will be upset by it as they will have less control of your computer

Things being ok in both versions of Safe Mode suggests that this is either a software (inc drivers) or a settings option that is tripping things up, possibly the drivers that Windows installed.

Create a new folder on the desktop, named Nvidea drivers.

Download and save to the folder a different version of the drivers to those that you presently have from your GPUs website.

Download DDU from here

Create a new system restore point then run DDU and uninstall all present Nvidea drivers.

Restart the computer in Safe Mode only (No Networking).

Install the new GPU drivers that you saved to the folder on your desktop.

Restart the computer, test then post back with an update for us.

Thanks for the GPU-z info, was aware of such anomalies but we do need to mention anything that we see in case someone else thinks that we have missed it.

[InFlux93]

Unfortunately the issue persists…

I did update to the latest driver for the GPU. If you think I should try an older one I can. The graphics card driver previously installed was from July of last year.

It does seem however to not happen so quickly. It took a bit longer for the error to occur.

Here is an update Speccy: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/f...3VF6BBLRercu06

[phillpower2]

Speccy is still showing Nvidea drivers that were installed yesterday.

4/4/2020 NVIDIA - Display - 26.21.14.3200
NVIDIA Display driver update released in July 2019

[InFlux93]

No matter what I do, Speccy keeps saying that it’s installed the updates that you listed. I went into the group settings and configured the automatic updates and set it to “disabled”.

I ran DDU and every time, a few moments later I get a notification that the Nvidia control panel automatically installs. Should I try running DDU in safe mode?

[phillpower2]

Try a different approach, manually download and save to the folder on your desktop the latest drivers for your GPU from here

Run DDU to get rid of the present drivers, restart in Safe Mode only, install the latest drivers, restart, test then post back with an update for us.

Windows will hopefully not replace 2020 drivers with drivers from last year.

[InFlux93]

I’ve done exactly what is listed above. Issue still persists. I checked to make sure automatic updates is still off, they are.

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/dcyPxLzEhi3drnXQnvlztXi

[phillpower2]

Did you install the driver that is highlighted in the attachment below;

[InFlux93]

Hey Phil, sorry I haven’t gotten back to you, I took a break from working on the PC. But yes that is the update that I installed. I’m going to redo the steps described and make sure I haven’t missed anything.

[phillpower2]

No problem and thanks for the update (y)

No rush on my behalf as I will be going offline soon, back tomorrow am UK time.

[InFlux93]

Hey Phil,

Sorry it’s been so long, I finally got back on the computer to work on it. I just needed to take a break since my frustration and anxiety was kicking my butt.

Anyways, I did what was recommended, used DDU to remove the display drivers, installed the latest display drivers, and I still have the persisting issue of blanking screen. Here is a speccy: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/q...2eKRcQ4v1stlHh

Am I right in suspecting a hardware issue? Or is it not because the issue doesn’t occur in safe mode or when not running programs in normal boot mode?

[InFlux93]

I have a idea but want to get advice first on weather I should or not.

In my girlfriend’s PC, the one we are having trouble with, she has a RTX 2070. In my PC, which works fine, I have an RTX 2060. Should I swap cards so that I can see if the issue persists?

[phillpower2]

Good idea, thanks for checking (y)