PC black screening with audio

[ryanfernxndez]

Parts: Ryzen 3 2200G on a Prime A320M-K mobo with a XFX RX 580 8GB powered by a EVGA 600W 80+ white.

I had an issue on my PC that slowly started getting worse which was that in a game or even just on google chrome, my PC would black screen and seemingly stop working for 5 seconds. After, my monitor would turn on but it would just be a grey screen but the audio would turn back on for a few seconds, until the audio cuts out again. It stays like this for hours and hours or until I restart my PC. The crashes didn’t depend on the time that my PC had been running for either, it could happen 5 minutes after it turned on or after 8 hours of running.

To trouble shoot this, I took out my GPU and used my onboard graphics since I heard that the 2200G has good onboard graphics and even then I kept crashing so I thought it was an issue with my PSU. So I upgraded my PSU from 550W to 600W not for the 50W increase but for just a new PSU that hopefully wasn’t broken.

I put my new GPU in with my PSU and it still crashes, and even when using onboard graphics with my new PSU it STILL crashes - so I’m lost on what to do next.

On the most recent crash with my GPU, as I was playing my game my frames dropped from constant 60 capped to 8 and some fans inside my PC are going crazy, with my screen freezing constantly but staying on until the previous black screen with no audio thing happened. I then took out my GPU to test my onboard graphics, went into a game and crashed again within 3 minutes of loading into the game.

Any help would be appreciated, ty for reading x

[phillpower2]

XFX RX 580 8GB powered by a EVGA 600W 80+ white.

Anything less than a Gold efficiency rated PSU from a proven brand such as Corsair, EVGA or Seasonic is not good enough to support your GPU, remove the add on video card from the PCI-E slot on the MB and use the onboard video while we help you troubleshoot, post back when you have done this and we can take a look for you.

[ryanfernxndez]

Anything less than a Gold efficiency rated PSU from a proven brand such as Corsair, EVGA or Seasonic is not good enough to support your GPU, remove the add on video card from the PCI-E slot on the MB and use the onboard video while we help you troubleshoot, post back when you have done this and we can take a look for you.

Thanks for taking your time to reply.
Ok, I just thought it would be fine since I heard white rated PSUs were ok. I’ll remove the card ASAP.
One thing that has progressed since I posted was I ran memtest86 on one of my ram sticks. I got 4 passes with 0 errors on one stick, but when I tried it with the other stick my PC doesn’t even boot. However, now that I am running just one 8gb stick the crashing is still occurring. Any ideas?
Edit: I also have since cleaned out my PC using compressed air and the crashing is much less frequent but still happening every now and then.

[phillpower2]

Not sure where you heard that as White is just about entry level and only any good for a PC that only has integrated graphics, the reason for the low rating is because they are made with less safety features, thinner wire and weaker capacitors so as to keep manufacturing costs down, good brands make a point of advising users what a certain PSU should be used for, Corsair for example say the following about one of their Bronze efficiency rated PSUs;

"CX Series Modular power supply units are an excellent choice for basic system builds and desktop PC computer upgrades, offering high reliability, low noise, and the flexibility of modular cabling. "

Note that they state suitable for basic system builds, some efficiency rating info for you here

To properly test your RAM you need to insert one stick at a time in DIMM slot A1 which is the one nearest to the CPU, 4 passes is ok but 5 is better, once both sticks have been tested like this you repeat the steps with both sticks of RAM in the board and after running the firs lot of tests you must then swap the two sticks of RAM into the opposing slots and test again.

On the most recent crash with my GPU, as I was playing my game my frames dropped from constant 60 capped to 8 and some fans inside my PC are going crazy, with my screen freezing constantly but staying on until the previous black screen with no audio thing happened.

with the other stick my PC doesn’t even boot. However, now that I am running just one 8gb stick the crashing is still occurring. Any ideas?
Edit: I also have since cleaned out my PC using compressed air and the crashing is much less frequent but still happening every now and then.

Please see the explanation below;

Software such as Windows can crash and when it does crash you get a BSOD and when enabled a crash dmp is generated.

Hardware failure such as a weak power supply and/or overheating are not software related and when a computer freezes, restarts, suddenly turns off or the screen goes jumbled the behaviour should be described as the “computer shut down unexpectedly” etc and not as having crashed as the latter implies a software issue as opposed to an obvious hardware issue when described properly.

Having the correct info means that helpers will not be looking for a software issue when the problem is clearly hardware related.

You are welcome btw

[ryanfernxndez]

Please see the explanation below;

Software such as Windows can crash and when it does crash you get a BSOD and when enabled a crash dmp is generated.

Hardware failure such as a weak power supply and/or overheating are not software related and when a computer freezes, restarts, suddenly turns off or the screen goes jumbled the behaviour should be described as the “computer shut down unexpectedly” etc and not as having crashed as the latter implies a software issue as opposed to an obvious hardware issue when described properly.

Having the correct info means that helpers will not be looking for a software issue when the problem is clearly hardware related.

You are welcome btw

Thanks again for taking your time to answer and thank you for the clarification.
I tried doing what you told me which was to take out my GPU and when turning on my PC I would get to the boot screen and then my monitor would get no signal. After restarting my PC a few times, it took me to the recovery screen saying something like ‘Windows couldn’t load correctly’. But when I put my GPU back in I would get to the login screen and it would work fine other than the unexpected shutdowns of course. Any ideas?

I will test my RAM kit over the weekend using memtest86. Thanks for the suggestion.

[phillpower2]

That sounds to me as if the settings have been changed in the BIOS somehow, see the below;

Try restoring the MBs default factory settings in the BIOS, they are sometimes listed as one of the following " factory defaults" “most stable” or on newer boards “optimized” please note that if you have both the “most stable” and the “optimized” options in the BIOS you should choose the most stable" option as in this instance the “optimized” settings are a form of overclocking that can cause instability.

You are welcome btw but can I ask that you do not quote every reply as we have to read the full post to make sure nothing gets missed, thanks.

[ryanfernxndez]

Ah thank you, I successfully logged in using my onboard graphics. I unfortunately am busy and will have to leave testing the RAM in memtest86 till tomorrow.
Is there anything else that I can do till then to further troubleshoot the issue?

[phillpower2]

Download then run Speccy (free) and post the resultant url for us, details here, this will provide us with information about your computer hardware + any software that you have installed that may explain the present issue/s.

To publish a Speccy profile to the Web:

In Speccy, click File, and then click Publish Snapshot.

In the Publish Snapshot dialog box, click Yes to enable Speccy to proceed.

Speccy publishes the profile and displays a second Publish Snapshot. You can open the URL in your default browser, copy it to the clipboard, or close the dialog box.

[ryanfernxndez]

Sorry for the late reply, but I tried to run speccy but it caused my PC to start lagging and eventually just freeze. It was just left at ‘analysing’ for twenty minutes while frozen but I thought I’d let it run for a bit just in case. Any ideas?

[phillpower2]

No idea tbh as running Speccy does not put a computer under any load and if a computer can boot into Windows ok then Speccy should be able to run.

[ryanfernxndez]

Just tried it again and it just magically worked. Sorry for the delay.

Here is the URL: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/k...D2JTL80rBvKrJD

[phillpower2]

Strange goings on indeed and your Speccy report is even stranger as you apparently have no storage drives which is impossible else you would not be able to boot into Windows, will post the info below for another way that we can take a look at any storage devices and for now just mention your RAM.

One of the things that Ryzen CPUs are known for are their need for fast RAM and you having only a single stick of RAM is causing a bottleneck, the Ryzen 3 2200G works best with 2933MHz RAM and to be able to achieve this speed you need two sticks of matching RAM working in dual channel, your present RAM can only work in single channel and is therefore limited to 1197.6 MHz

Can you upload an expanded screenshot of Disk Manager for us.

Access Disk Management via Run.

Press the Windows+R keys to open Run, type diskmgmt.msc in the empty box then press OK.

To capture and post a screenshot;

Click on the ALT key + PRT SCR key..its on the top row..right hand side..now click on start…all programs…accessories…paint…left click in the white area …press CTRL + V…click on file…click on save…save it to your desktop…name it something related to the screen your capturing… BE SURE TO SAVE IT AS A .JPG …otherwise it may be to big to upload… after typing in any response you have… click on Attach files to add the screenshot.

Screenshot instructions are provided to assist those that may read this topic but are not yet aware of the “how to”.

[ryanfernxndez]

[ATTACH type=“full”]7489[/ATTACH]
Hopefully this is ok.

[phillpower2]

You have a serious problem with the amount of free storage space on the C: partition which is way too small for Windows to be installed on, as to why is explained below;

For Windows to be able to run efficiently and to be able to update, on a mechanical HDD you need to have between 20 and 25% of the partition or drive available as free storage space at all times and on an SSD between 10 and 20%, if you don`t you risk Windows becoming corrupt or not being able to update which also puts you at risk of malware attack.

Data only storage devices should not be allowed to get any lower than 10% of free storage space of the full capacity of the drive/partition on the drive, this also to avoid data corruption.

[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)]Please note that storage devices can physically fail if the amount of free storage space is allowed to drop below the required 10 or 20/25% minimum.

Uninstall as many unused programs, games, videos and music files as you can and get yourself another means of backing up to, post back when you have between 20 and 25% free storage on the C: drive/partition and we can go from there.[/COLOR]

[ryanfernxndez]

I think I will just do a factory reset of my PC and reinstall everything from there while being more diligent to installing things on my C: drive less.
Do you reckon that this is the main culprit of the unexpected shutdowns? If not, after the factory reset, what further steps should I follow? Thanks for helping, hopefully the reset sorts this out.