Black screen in full screen games

[ZeroTolerance0]

This issue is only happening in a few of my games so far. If I’m playing in full screen my monitor will turn black and I can’t see anything. The weird part is it only happens when I’m looking in certain directions or while I’m in the options menu. I can still hear the in game audio. If I switch to windowed mode the issue goes away, however, I encounter the same issues in windowed full screen. I’ve been looking all over for a fix, but haven’t found much of anything. I’m playing on 1920x1080 which is the native resolution of my monitor. Also, I don’t have VSYNC turned on.

I am using a two monitor setup. My main monitor is an Asus VG245H, and my secondary monitor is an Asus VS239H-P. This problem I’m having only happens when I’m playing the game on my main monitor. I tried it on my secondary monitor and had no issues. My main monitor is about a month old and my secondary is roughly 2 years old now.

I was on the newest recommended update for my graphics driver. I tried updating to the newest optional update which came out yesterday, and I still have the issue. I have also tried an older driver and encountered the issue again. I’m not really sure what to try at this point.

I just tried using DDU then reinstalled the newest recommended driver. I’m still encountering the problem, however. One thing I did notice though, is that when I was in safe mode to run DDU, my main monitor was black. Once I opened a program on my second monitor I was able to see the duplicated screen on the main monitor. I’m not sure if this was due to the lack of drivers, or if it is due to whatever is happening.

PC Specs:
Windows 10
ASRock H97 Anniversary
Intel i5-4460
MSI R9 390
Samsung 850 EVO 120GB - Main Drive
Western Digital Blue 1TB - Secondary Drive
Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1600MHz
EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G1

[TwitchisMental]

I am sorry to hear about that issue. We can assist you with that.

Let’s start by getting a little bit more information.

You mentioned that the issue does not occur when using the secondary monitor. How are these monitors connected?(DVI,VGA, HDMI?)

Have you tried removing the video cable from the primary monitor and instead use the video cable from the secondary to rule out a possible video cable issue?

When did this issue begin to occur specifically? Did it begin after installing a certain program or making a settings change?

[ZeroTolerance0]

My main monitor is hooked up via HDMI, and my secondary monitor is hooked up via DVI. I tried hooking up my secondary monitor with the same HDMI from main and there were no full screen issues. I also tried a different HDMI on the main monitor, but still had the same issue. The only other port on my main monitor is VGA, which my graphics card does not have a port for. The main monitor also does not have a DVI, so I can’t hook it up that way either.

I tried messing around a little with the refresh rate of the main monitor as it is capable of 75hz, although I didn’t find anything there either. I don’t think this is an issue, as I haven’t been receiving any out of range messages, however, I figured it was worth noting.

As far as when the issue began, I am not too sure. There wouldn’t have been any software changes other than downloading a couple games off of steam. I don’t know for sure when it started, as the games it happens on I don’t play very often. It’s possible it started around the time I got the monitor, however, I’m not sure what defect in the monitor would cause it to be so specific in when it decides to go black.

[TwitchisMental]

Thank you for that information. Before we just jump straight to saying the monitor is bad, let us get some more information.

Please download MiniToolBox and save it to your desktop. Run the program by right clicking on it and selecting Run as administrator. When the program opens select the following boxes:

Flush DNS
Report IE Proxy Settings
Reset IE Proxy Settings
Report FF Proxy Settings
Reset FF Proxy Settings
List content of Hosts
List IP Configuration
List Winsock Entries
List last 10 Event Viewer Errors
List Installed Programs
List Devices (Only Problems)
List Users, Partitions and Memory size

Please post the log in your next reply .

[ZeroTolerance0]

Here is what it came up with.

[TwitchisMental]

Thank you for the quick reply.

Please allow myself or another member a bit of time to review the logs and get back with you on the next step.

[TwitchisMental]

Okay, after a bit of review, I have one quick test I would like you to try, if you haven’t already.

Lets get you to temporarily disable your AntiVirus program(Avira).

You can do this by -
[ul]
[li]Right-clicking on the icon of Avira found in the system tray (near the clock) and unchecking “Activate AntiVir Guard”.[/li][li]To turn it back simply check the option.[/li][/ul]
After you have disabled the protection, go ahead and try to play your games like normal. If the problem no longer occurs, you may just need to add the games to the ignore/exception list.

If the problem still occurs, turn back on your AntiVirus and we will continue to the next step.

[ZeroTolerance0]

I forgot all about checking that, however, even after disabling it, I still ran into the same issue.

[TwitchisMental]

I forgot all about checking that, however, even after disabling it, I still ran into the same issue.

Thank you for the confirmation.

I know you have mentioned using DDU to uninstall your driver, but to be better safe then sorry, could I get you to run the official AMD Cleanup Utlity? This will remove everything from the graphics driver to the AMD Control Center.

The tool, instructions, and download can be found here - https://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-art...l-Utility.aspx

After you have run this tool, please perform a system reboot. From there you can get the latest AMD Drivers and Software via the auto detect software found here - https://support.amd.com/en-us/download/auto-detect-tool

After completing these steps, try to play your game and see if the problems continue to occur.

[ZeroTolerance0]

Still no luck.

[phillpower2]

Excuse the interjection folks

Took the liberty of looking through the MTB log and noticed the following;
NVIDIA PhysX System Software 9.17.0524 (HKLM...{B2FE1952-0186-46C3-BAEC-A80AA35AC5B8}_Display.PhysX) (Version: 9.17.0524 - NVIDIA Corporation)

Being that you have an AMD platform GPU you should not have anything related to Nvidea drivers on your computer, use DDU to clear out the Nvidea software as a starting point

[TwitchisMental]

Excuse the interjection folks

Took the liberty of looking through the MTB log and noticed the following;
NVIDIA PhysX System Software 9.17.0524 (HKLM...{B2FE1952-0186-46C3-BAEC-A80AA35AC5B8}_Display.PhysX) (Version: 9.17.0524 - NVIDIA Corporation)

Being that you have an AMD platform GPU you should not have anything related to Nvidea drivers on your computer, use DDU to clear out the Nvidea software as a starting point

Get out of my mind please . Haha <3

@OP Please try the suggestion above.

[ZeroTolerance0]

Thinking back, the first game that this started happening in was the one that actually downloaded that along with the game files. I thought it was weird, but just left it there. Sadly though, the problem is still occurring.

[TwitchisMental]

Thinking back, the first game that this started happening in was the one that actually downloaded that along with the game files. I thought it was weird, but just left it there. Sadly though, the problem is still occurring.

Thank you for the confirmation.

Looking at your monitor and video card, it looks like your monitor supports Free Sync(not to be confused with v-sync). Have you went into the AMD Radeon Settings and checked to see if Free Sync is enabled?

It may also be helpful to me and the other members if we get some specific games that this is happening in.

[ZeroTolerance0]

When I go into my Radeon settings and look under this monitor, it tells me that it is not supported. I knew that was a feature of this monitor when buying it, however, I never planned on actually using it so when I originally saw this it didn’t bother me. I am hooked up via HDMI, which is all is required for AMD free sync. Could this potentially be part of the problem?

Edit: I have actually just figured out how to turn free sync on, and after doing so the problem still occurs. I’m turning it back off.