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Screen Flashing pre Desktop

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R

Rawly

PCHF Member
May 27, 2022
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#1
HI. I've run into a minor issue with my monitor flashing for a period between login and the desktop screen appearing. It boots up fine until the login screen. If I leave it on for 5-10 minutes before logging in, the desktop usually appears without issue. If I login straight away, it will flash for up to 5 minutes before settling on the desktop screen and there are no further issues.

It's been happening for the better part of a year but it's not caused any further problems so I've just worked around it, I'm just wondering if there's a simple way of fixing it?
 
#4
let’s get your PC specs...

download Speccy from here; https://www.piriform.com/speccy/builds
in Speccy, click File > Publish Snapshot > Copy to Clipboard > Close.
paste that link into a post.
One area Speccy doesn’t show is the Power Supply Unit, so also include the make/model of the PSU.

while we wait for that, run these from an elevated command prompt;
  • chkdsk c: /r
  • sfc /scannow
  • dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
  • dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup /resetbase
 
#6
Speccy shows you have dual monitors attached to the GTX card.
have you tried only connecting one at a time, and if still showing the flashing, swapping and trying the other monitor?
has the GTX got one HDMI and two DP ports? if so, also with one monitor at a time, try it on either of those ports to see if that changes things.

at this stage I'm simply trying to narrow down what could be the cause; Windows, graphics card, monitor, cables.
 
#7
Only one of the monitors has a DP input so I've tried it with just that monitor with HDMI and DP and tried the other monitor on it's own with the HDMI and the issue is still there. I tried the HDMI on my TV as well, just in case, but it was the same.

If it helps, this is a new graphics card. The flashing still happened with my old one.
 
#8
sounds like we can rule out monitors, cables and the graphics card as potential causes.
can you take off the side cover and verify the make/model of the power supply?
and do you know it's age?

while the cover is off, how does the dust buildup look?

try rebooting the PC into Safe Mode and see if the screen flashes then as well.
 
#10
Sorry. It's definitely a Fractal Design essence 500W 230V PSU. The computer's about 2 years old so I have to assume that's the age of the PSU. There's no dust to speak of really, it's quite spacious inside and I clean it every couple of months.

I'll check out safe mode later on and provide an update.
 
#12
that's a very low-end, budget power supply to be running that GTX card with.
the minimum power specs for that card says 550w.
so that should probably be addressed. :)

while the power supply can't be ruled out as the root cause, the fact the issue isn't there in Safe
Mode suggests a software issue. (of course, in Safe Mode, the PC uses less power due to less hardware being active - so it could still be power related)

because this has been going on for so long, you probably can't pinpoint it to any hardware or software changes that occurred at the time.

reboot normally, then click the Start button and type in msconfig, on the Services tab, tick "hide all Microsoft services"
untick anything you think you don't need and reboot to see if that helps.
if issue still there, untick all the boxes.
if still no luck, do the same for the programs in the Startup tab.

theory is, one of those services/programs that gets automatically started normally is causing the issue, and it doesn't get started in Safe Mode.
 
#15
No joy I'm afraid. I've tried it with everything disabled on both the services tab and on the startup menu and the issue still persists.

Just thinking about the power issue you mentioned, the problem started when I had my previous graphics card which was a GTX 1660 Super. I don't know if that has a lower recommended power requirement. Either way, I have a 750W power supply somewhere I think so I'll try switching them over at some point.
 
#16
Rawly said:
It's definitely a Fractal Design essence 500W 230V PSU. The computer's about 2 years old so I have to assume that's the age of the PSU
Click to expand...

That is a budget PSU that was released in 2014 and which should not be used anywhere near any add on GPU, it is not even 80+ efficiency rated while your GPU needs a good quality brand Gold efficiency rated 550W or above PSU.

In addition to the above, you have high temperatures and high memory usage the latter which is most likely being caused by the RAM being too slow and causing a bottleneck, Ryzen CPUs are notorious for not liking slow RAM and you really should have 3200MHz RAM, nothing slower and likewise nothing any faster.
 
#18
phillpower2 said:
That is a budget PSU that was released in 2014 and which should not be used anywhere near any add on GPU, it is not even 80+ efficiency rated while your GPU needs a good quality brand Gold efficiency rated 550W or above PSU.

In addition to the above, you have high temperatures and high memory usage the latter which is most likely being caused by the RAM being too slow and causing a bottleneck, Ryzen CPUs are notorious for not liking slow RAM and you really should have 3200MHz RAM, nothing slower and likewise nothing any faster.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice. I'll look into the RAM.

I've got a Corsair CX750 in the loft, I'll try and install that when I get a chance.
 
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