New System, BSOD (Black SOD) on what seems to be heavy loading

[RandomAlec]

Hey everyone,

I need big time help. I just put together my PC and unfortunately am experiencing a pretty bad issue. I've tried searching on the Internet and it seems it happens to a lot of people when just generically searching for black screen crash...I found a single thread with someone experiencing the issue with the same motherboard and CPU at least.

ASUS Maximus V Formula
i7 3770k w/ H100i cooling system
2x8GB GSKILL Trident X 1866 RAM
2x ASUS GTX680 2GB in SLI Mode
Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB SSD
Western Digital 1 TB Caviar Black HDD
SeaSonic 850W Rated 80 Gold power supply

That's pretty much my set up. So, here are the times when the black screen has occured:

1. Playing SimCity for about 2-3 hours, then black screen crash, in this case it actually rebooted on it's own after about a minute sitting there for a bit trying to see what happens.
2. Playing Battlefield 3, running OBS (live stream software connected to Twitch), black screen crash after about 10 minutes of playing.
3. Playing BioShock Infinite, running OBS, black screen crash all three times I have tried to play. Crash has occurred 2 minutes in up to about 5 minutes in of gameplay.

Solutions I have tried:

1. Checked CPU temps while doing everything above, temperatures reach max of 80C
2. Reset BIOS to default settings just to make sure.
3. Updated BIOS to latest version (was outdated by two updates)

Please help, I don't know what to do anymore and it's a shame I just built this PC and am having issues. 😞

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Hey there! 🙂

This sounds like your display is crashing.....have you seen any error messages after the crashes..particularly the one where it recovered.

Any way, you will need to trouble-shoot display stuff. Are you OCing GPUs? CPUs if so back to stock for everything.

Check simple things like SLI bridge is good...try another bridge....make sure you CLEAN install latest drivers make sure cards are not overheating etc.

Lately I have seen so many threads where AI suite is the problem I would say if you have AI suite installed uninstall it and clear away all traces (check any forum post by "chino" for a utility in his sig)

[RandomAlec]

Arne Saknussemm wrote:
Hey there! 🙂

This sounds like your display is crashing.....have you seen any error messages after the crashes..particularly the one where it recovered.

Any way, you will need to troublecheck display stuff. Are you OCing GPUs? CPUs if so back to stock for everything.

Check simple things like SLI bridge is good...try another bridge....make sure you CLEAN install latest drivers make sure cards are not overheating etc.

Lately I have seen so many threads where AI suite is the problem I would say if you have AI suite installed uninstall it and clear away all rests...

Just to clarify, it is unresponsive black screen of death. Computer goes black and stays on, but can't do anything besides hard shut down.

I have never gotten error messages when I have booted up after BSOD. It's like it never happen, not even the annoying Microsoft has encountered a problem message.

No OCing, at all.

Card temperatures have also been fine during heavy loading, but I will try and monitor when I try playing again.

I got the part where you said uninstall AI Suite, I do have that installed, but what do you mean by clear away all rests?

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Sorry RandomAlec...edited post while you ere replying...

Often drivers and things like AI suite need scrubbing from the registry etc...more than just an uninstall. For drivers remove them and then use something like driver Fusion to get rid of all traces...(preferably in safe mode) For AI suite there is an app. This would be it...run it after uninstalling I think.

http://rog.asus.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17726&d=1361952625

Not saying it is AI but you can always install it again...if you want to

That power supply is in principle a good one and should give you enough power just check connections are 100% seated etc. to rule out power issues.

EDIT: and of course the most obvious step try the cards one at a time on their own to see if it happens with one or both or not at all when not in SLI....

[tzvia1]

I agree with RandomAlec; remove AI Suite, and make sure that it is a clean removal. I think there is a cleaner to get it all... (just about everything you uninstall leaves junk in either Windows folders and/or registry, a pet peeve of mine) but never having it installed I am not sure. I would then remove one of the video cards as a test, along with getting the latest video driver installed after a clean removal of the old driver. Personally, I only use reference video drivers from Nvidia, and the only utility I use with it is the EVGA (my cards manufacturer) utility for the fan curve. I try not to load up the OS with stuff like AI Suite and other such stuff, only OS and drivers. Just about every piece of hardware comes with craplets and most of the time they are junk.

The only other thing I would suspect is ram, and if you don't have any luck testing the video card angle, you could go down to 1 stick of ram at a time to see if you have bad ram but it does not sound like a ram issue.

Check your Windows logs; there may be something in there that can give you a clue as to what is crashing that you can search for or post here. I think it may be SLI related though. Nvidia has had drivers that were known for SLI crashes. The last few have been much better and I rarely have issues with them now.

[RandomAlec]

Ok, back with an update. Just did the whole live stream with BioShock Infinite after uninstalling AI Suite (with cleaner in safe mode), still black screen of death.

I had my laptop monitoring activity through ROG Connect and not a single thing was out of line or unusual. I'll try the video cards now. Be back in a bit. 🙂

How can I post the system log here, do I just save the entire file? I see where the event has occurred, I don't see any weird issues. Log just indicates where shutdown occurred, uptime of 7 seconds (unresponsive), then force shut down.

[Shawnnepc]

RandomAlec wrote:
Ok, back with an update. Just did the whole live stream with BioShock Infinite after uninstalling AI Suite (with cleaner in safe mode), still black screen of death.

I had my laptop monitoring activity through ROG Connect and not a single thing was out of line or unusual. I'll try the video cards now. Be back in a bit. 🙂

How can I post the system log here, do I just save the entire file? I see where the event has occurred, I don't see any weird issues. Log just indicates where shutdown occurred, uptime of 7 seconds (unresponsive), then force shut down.

Have you tested the power supply yet? Seasonic is one of if not the best PSU brands in the world (IMO), yet every once in a while someone from QA goofs and a defective one gets to a consumer.

Also, try running the games on each 680 on it's own (disconnect one GPU) to rule out a defective GPU in the SLI chain.

[Chino]

RandomAlec wrote:
1. Checked CPU temps while doing everything above, temperatures reach max of 80C

Not saying that this is the root of your problem but it's definately out of place. An i7 3770k at stock speed paired up with a H100i should get no where near 80C on load. Things that you should verify:
1. Is the pump working?
2. Are the fans working?
3. Did you install them in the right direction?
4. Check your profile in Corsair Link if that's what you're using. You need a more aggresive one.

On to the graphics issue. Can you specify the exact model of your GTX 680? I'll also need you to download a few programs for me: MSI Afterburner, Unigine Heaven and 3DMark.

[RandomAlec]

Ok, I'll try and answer all your questions so far in this one post. Now is when I am able to get back on here to post, meaning that I'm still having the issues.

Since my last post I have removed the SLI bridge, tested and still crashed. Then I now have removed both video cards, reinstalled my RAM, and reseated my mobo power cable all in one go. Running BF3 right now to see if it crashes.

The exact model of both my GPUs is GTX680-DC2-2GD5

Chino wrote:
Not saying that this is the root of your problem but it's definately out of place. An i7 3770k at stock speed paired up with a H100i should get no where near 80C on load. Things that you should verify:
1. Is the pump working?
2. Are the fans working?
3. Did you install them in the right direction?
4. Check your profile in Corsair Link if that's what you're using. You need a more aggresive one.

On to the graphics issue. Can you specify the exact model of your GTX 680? I'll also need you to download a few programs for me: MSI Afterburner, Unigine Heaven and 3DMark.

I was wrong about the maximum temperature, it reaches more like 58-65C. The 80C I mentioned was me incorrectly reading the "TJ Max" instead. But anyway, as far as I know the pump is definitely working, otherwise wouldn't it be much closer to 100+C or something...how can I check if the pump is working?
Fans definitely work and are pointing in the right direction (blowing air from outside onto the radiator).
I'm not necessarily using Corsair Link, I plugged it in mobo side but I don't even have the required program installed. If I really need to change the profile to a more "aggressive" one like you say, please advise on how I can do this please. This is my first time ever dealing with a water cooling system, sorry for any ignorance.

[Zka17]

WHile OC'ing graphic cards I'm getting that unresponsive black screen pretty often... in my case is always about unstable graphic settings caused by not enough voltage (power) and occasionally overheating...

So, RandomAlec, how are you cooling your GTX680s? And how high OC you have on them?

While on stock settings a 850W PSU may seem OK for your setup, in case of OC'ing becomes very fast too small... - I know, you said no OC at all, but some Asus cards have a factory OC on them already... which is the exact model of yours?