Strix Z390I Gaming Black screen issue on reboot and occasional boot.

[28BeersLater]

Hi,

I'm noticing a strange issue on my Z390I motherboard, where occasionally on boot I have a totally black screen - no signal detected. Usually (but not always) killing the power and performing a "cold boot" brings back the video signal. It will ALWAYS do it when I restart through windows. I don't believe this is a GPU Driver issue, as a "Blank screen boot" will not even show the bios splash screen, - so pre Windows loads fine, as I can hear system sounds, and RDP too the machine.

I know the first thought here will be "It's the GPU", but I had this issue previously, and blamed it on my Strix Vega 64. I swapped it out for my one of the trusty GTX980s from my other rig and the problem seemed to go away, but is back. I find it suspicious that exactly the same issue would manifest itself twice in the same way. To make life extra difficult, both of my rigs feature hard pipe water cooling, - so swapping GPUS is a major job! I don't believe it's a PSU issue either - everything is logged as stable. I run three monitors, I've swapped ports, I've disabled fast boot, run the windows DISM repair (again, black screen at post... I don't think it is driver related). Also running the latest Bios 2603. I can't boot in safe mode for a full DDU safe mode driver uninstall as the screen is blank if rebooted...

I've been googling this morning, - it looks like Windows 10 blank screen issues are by no means uncommon... but I can't escape the fact that it is blank at post.. BEFORE drivers have anything to do with it. Possibly UEFI related?

System Specs:

Strix Z390I Gaming Mobo
i9-9900FK
Corsair Vengance Pro RGB 32GB
EVGA GTX 980 SC (Previously ROG Strix Vega 64)
Corsair SF 750 PSU
Windows 10 PRO Build 18362 Installed in EUFI
Nvidia Driver 440.97 (Multiple tried)
Latest Nvidia GPU Firmware (Flashed today using their tool)
3x LG IPS monitors, 1 connected via HDMI, 2 via DP -> HDMI

And help ideas or previous experiences appreciated!

[xtasy]

I have something similar; sometimes when restarting my PC the screen will go completely blank and not come back. After a while of sitting on a blank screen the pc will shut off and power cycle by itself and when it comes back there's usually a signal, if not I have to manually hold down the power button and cold boot it

I have an ASUS Maximus X Hero board, running BIOS 1602 so I should probably try to update the BIOS

[MrAgapiGC]

xtasy wrote:
I have something similar; sometimes when restarting my PC the screen will go completely blank and not come back. After a while of sitting on a blank screen the pc will shut off and power cycle by itself and when it comes back there's usually a signal, if not I have to manually hold down the power button and cold boot it

I have an ASUS Maximus X Hero board, running BIOS 1602 so I should probably try to update the BIOS

Yep try that first. all board at least last 2 bioses need to be in. I was with a friend from the us on a issue that was fix 1000% with the bios update

[28BeersLater]

xtasy wrote:
I have something similar; sometimes when restarting my PC the screen will go completely blank and not come back. After a while of sitting on a blank screen the pc will shut off and power cycle by itself and when it comes back there's usually a signal, if not I have to manually hold down the power button and cold boot it

I have an ASUS Maximus X Hero board, running BIOS 1602 so I should probably try to update the BIOS

That sounds like a different issue. 😞

Mine is still responsive, - just no video signal. a tap of the power button allows the system to shut down gracefully. - reboot nearly always has video signal.

I wonder if it is a conflict with the provisions for onboard graphics, - which I can't use as I have an i9-9900 KF looks like there are quite a few "black screen issues" with this chipset/i9-9900 combo...

Anyone else have any insight that that they can share?

[28BeersLater]

Update.. Although the PC works from most cold boots perfectly, its still annoying me, - and I suspect the real cause for my Vega 64 "dying".

I replicated the problem by rebooting the machine. Sure enough no screen. I RDP'd to the video signal-less pc and checked device manager - No GPU showing up. (Only the Microsoft virtual one for RDP). just as a sense check I conformed that when RDPing you still see GPU drivers, I rebooted this machine, (power off, wait, power on) and used it to RDP to the other machine, sure enough, I could see the Microsoft virtual GPU, and the two idle GTX-980s in that machine.

So it seems that the problem is "on reboot, the GPU does no post". which conforms my earlier ruling out of it being a windows or driver related issue. Now unfortunately I can't RDP to the bios screen (Ilo is a bit much to ask....) but it looks like for some reason, under certain reboot circumstances the PCI-E slot isn't being enabled, - or the GPU is not firing up. as its done it on multiple GPUs I'd suggest it's not that... as it does it at specific reboot instances, I'd also suggest it is not the physical connection / seating etc. so looks like it's motherboard or bios related.

I hadn't made any bios changes (from memory...) when the issue first appeared. I have just gone though it to see if there are any settings related to the internal / i9 GPU (Which I don't have as its an i9-9900KF but I can't see any... (Running 2603)…

Anyone had this r had any ideas?
Anything from Asus?

[28BeersLater]

Anyone? Does Asus even look at these forums?