Random Artifacts / Whats the Cause ? Need Help!

Jaymee-Nausica

Gold Level Poster
Hey All, :turned:

I am currently in Safe Mode with Networking in order to make this post. lol :(

I basically need some help troubleshooting / diagnosing a problem that happend to my PC yesterday on the 24th of Sep. I will try my best to explain anything I know or can remember.
2 nights ago, on Sunday the 23rd I was playing games as per usual, bit of Killing Floor 2, Assasins Creed 4, etc. I play games nearly everyday, My Steam Profile is "Jaitreiya" you can look me up.

Then on the 24th, I decided to play Planetside 2 since it had been a while, and for the FIRST TIME eve since oewning this PC, and to my terror, some white fuzzy artifacts appeared on the screen and the game crashed! I sort of panicked and assumed it was just that game, since ive had problems playing that game over time, which is usually a black screen for literally afew seconds (in-game while playing) then it goes back to normal again. On a rare occasion sometimes the all too known pop up of "Display driver not responding but has been recovered" may pop up, and then i just can carry on playing, happy days, I just kinda got used to that over time. Im assuimg that is a Driver issue, a GPU Ram issue, or maybe because my card only has 2GB Ram, its an EVGA GTX 770 SC.

But anyway, I thought let me try another game to be sure, loaded up Killing Floor 2, which i had been playing perfectly fine the night before, and the one before that lol, it got to the games menu screen, everything was fine, then bam, the same white fuzzy artifacts came on the screen and it crashed!

THIS was when i knew it was a bigger problem. I decided that it must of been the new Nvidia Driver update, 4.11 or something i think it was. So i rolled back to the previous driver to 3.99 I think, and did a Custom and Clean install.
But, the same problem was occuring, So I decided to do to system Restore, I did a restore from 1 or 2 days before, where I had noticed i had a new Windows update, so that made me think maybe it was a Windows update that has caused this.

But when the system restore finished i got an error box saying that it couldnt fully complete, or something like that. Abit odd, so i just reverted back to the present date out of confusion.

Then, I noticed, so rapidly, it got worse in a matter of an hour, once i had rebooted my PC, my desktop home screen had artifacts, similar fuzzy whiteness, and my resolution was very large aswell. Its just strange.

Now to today the 25th, I decided to unplug everything and clean out the PC and the card, (which hardly had any dust at all, still looks brand new) I cleaned the cards fans, heatsink best i can since ive never taken the card apart and just everything in my case overall. Case is a CM Storm Trooper, so doesnt get that dusty. Anyway, Booted up the PC, and it wouldnt even work in Normal mode! :( The red Lights on my MOBO checked everything as if is working fine as usual, my Graphics card is on, the fans are spinning, its all working fine. But my PC Monitor kept saying "No signal" then going black screen, which was forcing it to reboot itsself. Its asif my PC now isnt even recognising that there is a Graphics Card. Im not tech savvy, I dont actually know or really understand, im just guessing.

Which brings me to right now typing this, im currently in Safe Mode, but weirdly my screen doesn't actually have any artifacts on the screen at the moment, and its actually in 1920x1080. I tried rebooting a while ago in normal mode thinking maybe the PC has sorted itself out on its own, but it went to blue screen and rebooted again, so now im back here in safe mode. Due to the blue screen ive backed up my stuff on an external, incase I may need to do a Windows re-install.



----- My conclusion, from a non-techy person----

What has caused the artifacts and messed up my PC, its either:

1. The Windows update has caused the issue.
2. The DVI cable has something wrong with it and the signal communication is being interupted. I did notice 1 of the pins looking shorter or something today when i unplugged everything, maybe im being paranoid.
2. Its my Monitor
3. My GPU or its VRAM is just randomly and spontaneously deciding to fail.
4. Nvidia puts crapware in their new drivers to mess things up for people with older cards to create problems because they need money and they want you you buy a new card (conspiracy alert, but wouldnt surpise me lol )

5. Also If anyone is thinking maybe its a temp issue on the GPU, its probably not, my card idles at 30-35 and on MAX loads in games on high / max settings, the highest it reaches is 70, which is Normal as far as i know. I use EVGA Precision X to monitor temps during gameplay. I dont do any overclocking either, I also use a custom fan curve and on high temps i make sure the fans speeds are highest, it doesnt bother me since i use headphones.

6. A few random mentions, In Event Viewer yesterday i saw something called NVLDDMKM that has appeared many times in history. But today In event viewer I cant even find any traces of this, im baffled. i found something about it.
https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Fix-the-Nvlddmkm-Error/

What is Memtest ? Is this something i need to diagnose this, something to do with memory?

Sorry for the longness of this. Thank you for your patience lol. :yes:

--------

Specs of my nearly 6 year old PC. My GPU is 5 years old

ASUS P8Z77-V (LGA1155) MOBO
Intel i5-3570 @ 3.40GHz Ivy Bridge 22nm CPU (not a K version)
8GB Hyper X RAM
120GB Kingston Hyper X SSD (for my OS)
1TB WD Black HD
Iyama 24inch Monitor Prolite E2473HS
EVGA GTX 770 GPU (not overclocked)
Corsair TX850 PSU
CM Storm Trooper Case

----------

What is anyones ideas or suggestions ?

Some one told me to plug my PC into a Smart TV with a HDMI cable or another monitor to remove the option of it being my Monitor. I dont actually have an HDMI cable but im going to order 1. However i do have a very old smaller Dell Monitor i could try out.

Would seating the Graphics card in a different PCI-E slot be a good idea...? It looks like my MOBO has 3 I think, i use the top 1, and my little sound card is seated above my GPU.

Anyone help me please, I wona play games again lol
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Fist off, thank you for a very detailed and useful post! This could serve as a model on how to best report a problem. :)

Your troubleshooting (roll-back the driver, system restore, etc.) and running in Safe Mode as a test is also to be commended. Nice work.

IMO before suspecting hardware it's extremely important to eliminate software as the cause, and even though you've done a lot in that area you still can't eliminate software yet. From everything you say the most likely cause is the graphics driver (nvlddmkm.sys is your graphics driver) and they can be tricky to properly upgrade too, it's not uncommon to find elements of the previous driver still hanging around and causing little niggles.

The first thing to do then is to ensure the graphics driver is properly installed and that nothing of previous versions remains. To do that download a copy of the Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU), you can get it from here.

Then download the latest driver for your graphics card from Nvidia here and save it somewhere.

Then disconnect from the Internet to stop Windows Update installing a graphics driver (though Windows itself will install a basic driver, that's ok).

Then run DDU and uninstall all earlier versions of your graphics driver. Then reboot (remain disconnected from the Internet).

Now install the latest graphics driver you just downloaded and reboot afterwards.

You can now reconnect to the Internet. See whether that solves your artefact issue. If not I would be considering a Windows reinstall before suspecting hardware...
 

Jaymee-Nausica

Gold Level Poster
Ok well now im using my mobile phone to type this which is a pain and awkward, since booting up the PC today completely failed.

Got to windows loading screen with a load of them white artifacts on screen and wouldn't even boot, so couldnt even use safe mode for convenience, luckily I've backed up my stuff prior.

Now I'm thinking it's a system restore and no other options. Went and found my old PCS box with my Windows 7 cd.

I cant even proceed withthe advice given since I an't use the computer now. Lol :(

I've never actually done a fresh install of Windows 7 since I've owned this pc. But im sure it's easy to do. I know some people do clean installs of Windows all the time, although i dont know why. I'm not sure how starting from scratch works or its effects when using your pc again.

I have a Windows 7 home premium edition cd.
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Will it boot the Windows installation DVD without graphics problems? If not I'd suggest removing the graphics card and seeing whether it works ok via the on-chip GPU?

What you describe does sound like hardware failing to me though......
 

Jaymee-Nausica

Gold Level Poster
Hey.....

So it's been afew days I haven't tried sorting my PC out yet.

But just now I unplugged my DVI cable out of the graphics card and back into the motherboard. Hoping that it will use the integrated HD. Just to see if the problem happens. But all I get is a black screen and no signal text on screen.


Do i have to actually remove the whole GPU? Since I noticed the red light on m mobo remained on.

Any idea why this happened?

The reason I did this is because I was getting the artifacts on the windows repair screen so I couldn't actually see or navigate properly.

Btw, is Windows repair where it will ask you to insert windows CD to recover things it might need ?

EDIT

Removed the Graphics card completely. But hasn't changed anything. Windows still won't boot. Safe mode isnt an option it goes staright to start up repair. I have done Windows start up repairs 4 times. It passes all tasks.

However Start up Repair has found "1 root cause". It is saying it's "Unspecified changes to system configuration might have caused the problem"

I'm not sure what this means entirely. I haven't had any recent hardware changes either.

I really feel like this is since the windows update 1 day prior to this happening since it was just so sudden and I was playing games fine the day before. But I honestly don't know yet.

I still need advice !
 
Last edited:

Jaymee-Nausica

Gold Level Poster
Also would some one be able to tell me if I am able to plug my GPU into another alot on the MOBO as a tester? Like the next slot down for eg.

Since it may be a problem with that specific slot you never know...

Mobo is a ASUS P8Z77-V
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
You can indeed try another slot. :)

This mobo is in fact SLI capable so can run 2 GPUs at once using different slots. The next slot down that fits the GPU would be the one to use.
 

Jaymee-Nausica

Gold Level Poster
I'm trying to install Windows 7 via the CD but it says

"The selected disk has an MBT partition table. On EFI systems windows can only be installed on GPT disks.

I mean am I meant to know what that is?

I didn't want to wipe the drive or format I just wanted to try instal windows again. Apparently you get a windows.old folder om completion which saves old files etc.

Now I read something about disabling UEFI in boot on BIOS in order to do this....

This is all too techy if you ask me
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
I didn't want to wipe the drive or format I just wanted to try instal windows again. Apparently you get a windows.old folder om completion which saves old files etc.
I think the more common way to reinstall Windows is to back up data to an external drive, format the drive that currently has Windows on it, and reinstall from scratch.
 

Jaymee-Nausica

Gold Level Poster
Hey. Lol Yeah I backed my data up to my external already.

But i just wanted to see or to try my luck doing this.

I've had this pc since I bought it from here, it's never had windows re installed since I bought it. I'm abit paranoid.

Do I click delete? Format ? I hate touching things I don't fully understand.

I dont even understand if my drives are in MBR or GPT. I'm using my phone to type here. I watched a YouTube video about it but it's alot of Info to absorb when I'm stressed about just fixing this.

I just wona know what options I pick ? .....

Oh and once it's done have I got to install mobo drivers and all that stuff again ?
 

Jaymee-Nausica

Gold Level Poster
I've done a fresh install of Windows 7.

Installed most of my drivers from the ASUS disc.

However I can't connect to the internet. Something about needing a driver.

I ran "devmgmt.msc"

I did a check on my drivers.

I have an Atheros AR9485 network adapter installed.
But on other drives it says Ethernet Controller with a yellow exclamation mark.

I'm not sure why I can't connect.

Am I being dumb here or ?
 

Jaymee-Nausica

Gold Level Poster
The problem was I couldn't even connect via wifi or Ethernet.

Luckily I found my mini Wi-Fi extender. Plugged that In and managed to get the internet!

Ok thanks I will try and find that driver online now I actually got some internet :)

What's the best basic virus protector in your opinion ?

Also.... I don't know but botom right of my screen says "This copy of windows is not genuine"

Even though I'm using my legit copy that I bought ....

Is it going to say that untill it's verified? I need some one to explain this for me....
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Also.... I don't know but botom right of my screen says "This copy of windows is not genuine"

Even though I'm using my legit copy that I bought ....

Is it going to say that untill it's verified? I need some one to explain this for me....
You need to activate Windows, yes.

What's the best basic virus protector in your opinion ?
Avast is fine
 

Jaymee-Nausica

Gold Level Poster
Okay i installed an Ethernet driver. Over at Intel download centre, it was Legacy drivers PROWin64 for Windows 7. It think it covered and whole range of Gigabit Ethernet controllers. Got my Ethernet working Anyway.

Verified my copy of Windows. I installed C cleaner and Malemarebytes and some other littke programs.

So now I've got my pc back. Lol But the real question is. Once I put my GPU back on will the artifacts come back. Lol

Since atm it's not installed in my rig. Lol
 

Jaymee-Nausica

Gold Level Poster
Hey, lol

Not sure if anyone still will watch this thread. But i did a clean Windows install etc, ive had my PC working for about 2 weeks. (At least i can watch Netflix and go on youtube ayy! ) haha Just no games.

Anyway tried the GPU with fresh Windows install, still got all the artifacts, PC rebooting itself etc etc, safe mode, then eventually blue screen, same old pattern. Soon as I remove the G card and start again with the DVI plugged back into the MOBO using intell Integreated graphics, everything works fine.

In other words Its defo gotta be hardware, I think the GPU is F'ed, whichs sucks since my extended 5 year warranty on it ran out 2 weeks before it failed. (Wish i had done a 10 year warrantly lol )

Its annoying because the fans still work fine, like brand new, theres no dust in my card at all, I know my card served me well, like 5 years, but its not the point, it just randomly failed 1 day.

----

Im gona submit a ticket on EVGA on this registerd product, explaining what happened, just to see what they say, if anything. After all its their product they should know what caused it.

Other than that, regarding upgrades, a 1070 8GB would be my ideal choice, not really feeling to get a 1060 if im honest. I just wish the 1070s pricees were slightly lower.
 
Last edited:
Top