Black screen yesterday, WTF?

gillmanjr

Member
My current rig is below in my signature FYI. So normally I leave my system running 24/7, its what I've always done. I don't even put it to sleep, only the monitor shuts off, the system is always running. However, when I go away for business, which I do occasionally, I will shut it down. That's what I did Saturday morning when I left for a short trip, it was a normal shutdown with no issues. I've had no problems with my computer in the year its been running.

So when I got back yesterday afternoon I turned it back on and got a black screen. The computer turned on, I had all RGBs and fans running (all Corsair and they turned on to their default rainbow settings which is what they do during startup) but nothing on the screen. First thing I did was power back down and pull the CMOS battery. STILL NOTHING. At that point I got nervous because in my past experience a BIOS reset always fixed a black screen, ALWAYS. I thought my 2080 was shot so the next thing I did was move the DP cable from my RTX 2080 output to the MOBO onboard graphics, but STILL NOTHING. Now I'm pissed. For shits and giggles I try unplugging all of the USB peripherals. I run my mouse through my monitor USB ports so I just unplugged everything and restarted again. That fixed it! I got the Windows startup screen. Then I just plugged all the USBs back in the same spots they were and voila. No more problems. Can someone please explain to me WTF that was all about...
 
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johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
My guess would be a hardware issue starting to appear possibly in a usb device if thats what actually caused the screen to come back on. Did you notice if the hard drive activity light was working like it was actually booting up when you had the black screen?
 

gillmanjr

Member
My guess would be a hardware issue starting to appear possibly in a usb device if thats what actually caused the screen to come back on. Did you notice if the hard drive activity light was working like it was actually booting up when you had the black screen?

No it wasn't booting up. The monitor was working fine, as was my DP cable and graphics card. The PC just wasn't doing anything, I wasn't even getting the ASRock screen to get into the BIOS.

And BTW, the only USB devices I have are my keyboard (which is two separate USB plugs), my mouse (which is plugged into the back of my monitor and then the monitor is plugged into the PC), and my UPS. Thats it.

change ports and check vga cable

Obviously you didn't read my post. The problem is fixed, I was just hoping someone might know WTF caused it.
 

Okedokey

Well-Known Member
The problem hasn't been fixed, just bypassed. The blackscreen issue is well know in nvidia world. Unplug displayport, count to 5, plug back in (on GPU side).
 

OmniDyne

Active Member
No it wasn't booting up. The monitor was working fine, as was my DP cable and graphics card. The PC just wasn't doing anything, I wasn't even getting the ASRock screen to get into the BIOS.

And BTW, the only USB devices I have are my keyboard (which is two separate USB plugs), my mouse (which is plugged into the back of my monitor and then the monitor is plugged into the PC), and my UPS. Thats it.



Obviously you didn't read my post. The problem is fixed, I was just hoping someone might know WTF caused it.

Could be nothing; could be everything. Is there a particular reason why you run your computer constantly and don't allow it to go to sleep?
 

gillmanjr

Member
Is there a particular reason why you run your computer constantly and don't allow it to go to sleep?

Yes there is a reason, I find that hardware lasts longer when you just leave it running. Its not the heat that causes breakdown, its cycling between hot and cold constantly. Leaving it running 24/7 is less stressful on the hardware than shutting it down every night (or letting it go to sleep). Argue if you'd like but one of my previous PCs I had and used for 11 years and it ran 24/7 just like this one, no problems to speak of and there still weren't any problems when I built my new one.

The only time I ever have problems with my PCs is when I turn the damn things off. Heres a perfect example.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Yes there is a reason, I find that hardware lasts longer when you just leave it running. Its not the heat that causes breakdown, its cycling between hot and cold constantly. Leaving it running 24/7 is less stressful on the hardware than shutting it down every night (or letting it go to sleep). Argue if you'd like but one of my previous PCs I had and used for 11 years and it ran 24/7 just like this one, no problems to speak of and there still weren't any problems when I built my new one.

The only time I ever have problems with my PCs is when I turn the damn things off. Heres a perfect example.
I run my machine 24/7 but this is pretty terrible reasoning in terms of shutting it down causing problems. If anything you're likely causing yourself some issues but not restarting/updating on at least a scheduled basis.

Hardware longevity isn't really much of a concern though anymore, I'll agree.
 

Okedokey

Well-Known Member
The whole shut down and thermal cycling has been reviewed extensively in the energy managemetn world. Better to shut down in terms of overall cost of ownership. If it is not working properly, that is not acceptable imho, but i have had machines like this. I often find overclocking, RF shielding, earthing and power quality causes most issues like this.
 

OmniDyne

Active Member
Its not the heat that causes breakdown

Heat absolutely causes breakdown. In everything. Always.

Leaving it running 24/7 is less stressful

Nope.

Argue if you'd like but one of my previous PCs I had and used for 11 years and it ran 24/7

I have a Compaq Presario from 2005 that still runs and it was shut down every day at least 3 times a day. So what? Anecdotal evidence isn't fact. Every computer I own is shut down every night and I don't get "black screens".

The only time I ever have problems with my PCs is when I turn the damn things off. Heres a perfect example.

Coincidence. All you're doing is running up your electricity bill.

Anyways, PC's will have errors. I'm sure yours just needed a restart.
 
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