RTX 4080 black screen with DP 1.4 DSC

[alexlow]

Hi Team,

I am seeking a solution for my current RTX 4080 black screen issue. Since February 2025, the problem has worsened. I recall that the issue began after I installed the latest NVIDIA graphics driver and my Windows system updated something in the background.

The black screen occurs while running games, during which the display loses signal and the GPU fan runs at full speed. I have tried reinstalling the NVIDIA driver multiple times, starting with version 566.36, and most recently installed the latest driver, version 581.42, from the official ROG 4080 website. However, the black screen issue persists.

The strange part is that when this happens, I have to perform a hard shutdown and restart my PC. After restarting, everything works normally, and I can game without further black screens. It seems to occur only once during the first cold boot of the PC each day. I bought a new monitor ROG Strix OLED XG32UCWMG this month Nov 2025, but the black screen issue still happened. 

Below was my Nvidia control panel setup and PC spec. 

my PC Spec:
Processor: i9-14900k
motherboard: Asus ROG Z790E Gaming Wifi
Power supply: ROG 1000W gold aura edition
GPU: ROG Strix GeForce RTX® 4080 16GB GDDR6X OC Edition
RAM: corsair dominator ddr5 16gbx2
Monitor: ROG Strix OLED XG32UCWMG (newly monitor purchase at Nov 2025) (DSC On)
DP cable: DP 1.4 Vesa (2m)

Nvidia setup:
Nvidia driver version: 581.42 version (downloaded from ROG4080 website, having a clean uninstalled using DDU, and clean installation)
Low latency mode = On
Power Management mode = Prefer maximum performance
Thread optimization = on
triple buffering = off
vertical sync = on
texture filtering - quality = high performance
Gsync: enable for full screen mode, done tick for enable settings for the selected display model

Bios Setting:
BIOS Firmware = Updated to latest (v3001, May 2025) 
Intel ME Updated automatically with BIOS 
PCIe Settings done set as Gen 4 fixed, ASPM / Native PM / Clock Gating = disabled 
Display Settings Primary Display = PEG Slot 
Power Settings (BIOS) ErP Ready (S4 + S5) enabled 
Power on by PCIe / USB = disabled 
Restore AC Power Loss = Power Off 
Virtualization / VMD = Disabled 
Fast Boot = Disabled 
Windows Power Plan = High Performance, PCIe Link State = Off

[Nate152]

Hello alexlow

Try the Game Ready Nvidia driver 581.80. - GeForce Game Ready Driver 581.80 | Windows 11 | NVIDIA

You might want to check for a firmware update for your monitor.

You could try this Nvidia firmware update. - NVIDIA GPU UEFI Firmware Update Tool | NVIDIA

[alexlow]

Hi Nate152, thanks for the advice. I was checking my hardware and found something strange with my PCIe 16-pin cable connection. It looks like the PC builder installed the cable the wrong way — the end labeled PSU / BG40 was connected to my GPU, and the 600W PCIe end was connected to the PSU. This setup has been like this since I bought the PC in 2023, I’ve been experiencing daily black screens that last about 3 seconds before recovering.it possible that this incorrect cable orientation was the main reason for my black-screen signal issue?

I have now unplugged the cable and corrected the connections on both the GPU and PSU sides. I will test my GPU again during tomorrow morning’s cold boot to see if the issue is resolved.

[MrAgapiGC]

this is on?  VGA white led?

if so, there is not fix. What you can do, is play with monitor menu, do not select anything,  so is awake when post. (restart or turn on) i have test that, firmware etc,  for the last 7 years. there is no fix to it. nor firmware updates nor gpu update. or drivers. in other words monitor is sleeping. timer on this is very short  before goin to sleep again. 

promise if you get use to the monitor to play with it you will be fine. 99.9% of users do not even turn off the monitor. try it. i have done this since i move to pc and start using UEFI and secure boot.  

on am5 is worst since take more time to post  cheers!

[alexlow]

it does on. every day i cold boot startup the pc, ,my motherboard Q-LED Indicator Lights all no issue and no any fault code detected when i on pc. Just like i mentioned above, i did found my pc builder installed wrong side for the PCIE 16 pin cable. not sure this is one of the causes or not as my friend 16 pin cable it does not label which part under psu/gpu port but the cabled provided by Asus ROG 1000w Gold aura PSU it does label specific port either PSU or PCIE 600w. A lot of user did mentioned check for 12VHPWR cables but i checked for my build it does use the latest 12V-2x6 connector. not sure 12V-2x6 connector if installed it in opposite side between psu ands gpu got any affect or not. hope my gpu not cooked...as i no found this issue since i bought this pc at Nov 2023 until today.

[Nate152]

Ok,

Your ROG Strix 4080 OC should be fine, play some games and see how it goes.

Give us an update anytime.

[alexlow]

So far, after monitoring for the past two days, the black screen issue hasn’t appeared anymore and everything seems stable for now. I will continue to monitor it throughout the month until 2026 arrives.

Let me summarize what I’ve done so far:

Most Important Fixes

1. Reversed the incorrect 16-pin PCIe cable orientation — This was the main cause of the black screen issue. After correcting the cable direction, I noticed my GPU fans no longer suddenly ramp to full speed, even when playing high-performance games like Forza Horizon 5, Zenless Zone Zero, and Genshin Impact.

2. Rolled back the NVIDIA driver to the first version released for the ROG RTX 4080 (526.98). After installing this driver, I kept all NVIDIA Control Panel settings at default. The only changes I made were enabling G-Sync, turning DSC On, and setting my monitor to 4K resolution at 240 Hz. 

3. Uninstalled Ai Suite 3, then reinstalled a clean version of Armoury Crate and GPU Tweak III.
The reason for this step is because I noticed my CPU temperature readings occasionally dropped to 0. When I checked Event Viewer and Reliability Monitor, I found that atkexComSvc.exe would sometimes stop working, even after doing a clean install of Armoury Crate. To fix this, I opened services.msc and changed atkexComSvc to “Automatic (Delayed Start),” which seems to resolve the issue.
(I discovered that this CPU sensor reading issue can also cause black screens, although it’s not related to the GPU.)
If you use an external sensor tool like HWiNFO, CPU and GPU readings are actually fine — so it seems the latest Armoury Crate has a bug in its sensor monitoring.

[Nate152]

This sounds good, it seems reversing the gpu power cable fixed the blank screen and a fan issue you were having.

I use all 3 programs too, and it's best to use only one monitoring program at a time.

Armoury Crate - I mainly use Armoury Crate for lighting and peripheral customization. (Mouse, Keyboard, Headset)

GPU Tweak III - I use this for gpu overclocking, fan control (if air cooled) and monitoring gpu temp, clock speeds, and voltage. I sometimes use the OSD when playing games.

HWinfo - I use this to monitor all pc hardware, temps, clock speeds and voltages.