Blackscreen randomly flashes then computer restarts

I recently put in a new graphics card during the holidays and for the last few weeks my computer keeps randomly getting a "flashing" blackscreen which happens a few times then the computer restarts asking to boot into safe mode.

The computer isn't noisy or anything like that when it happens which makes it seem more random to me at least. But this past time when it did it during the restart, windows just stayed on a blackscreen, then I restarted manually and my computer went into repair mode and failed to do whatever it needed to do until it did an actual restore to "fix it".

I'm assuming this is a graphics card issue since I did not have this error with my previous graphics card but replaced it because of a bad fan (and cheap upgrade). The problem is I'm not sure what the problem actually is and I'm not sure how to fix it.

My computer is,
-HP Pavilion Elite HPE
-Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
-AMD Phenom II X4
-ATI Radeon HD7750 graphics card
-Old card was ATI Radeon HD4350

Before I bought the card I read that the new card didn't need an additional power supply, but maybe that's the issue and it does need it? Not sure.

Another potential issue is because my old graphics card seemed to have a fan issue I downloaded a program to try and fix settings and I may have messed something up there. I can't remember which program it was, but now I have MSI Afterburner, so if I need to change anything I can do it there but I'll need to know what the proper stuff would be.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Sadly, you did not tell us what you have for a power supply now - so no way for us to know if you have enough power, or not.

I note the HD7750 has a minimum power supply requirement of 400W. So I think you should start looking there.

 

This more than likely seems to be the issue then. I checked and the power supply doesn't seem to be enough after all. Looks like I gotta buy a new one.

 

Here's my canned text on sizing and selecting a good PSU.

Use the eXtreme PSU Calculator Lite to determine your minimum and recommended power supply unit (PSU) requirements. Plan ahead and plug in all the hardware you think you might have in 2 or 3 years (extra drives, bigger or 2nd video card, more RAM, etc.). Be sure to read and heed the notes at the bottom of the calculator page. I recommend setting Capacitor Aging to 10% and setting both TDP and system load to 100%. These steps ensure the recommended supply has adequate head room for stress free (and perhaps quieter) operation, as well as future hardware demands. Setting Capacitor Aging to 30% will provide an even nicer amount of headroom. And remember, the computer’s components will only draw what they need, not what the PSU is capable of delivering. And the PSU will only draw from the wall what the computer demands, plus another 15 - 30% due to PSU inefficiencies. Buying way too big hurts only the budget.

Make sure you buy a supply from a reputable maker and that it is 80 PLUS certified. I prefer Corsair and Antec PSUs. ​

 

I'm updating this because I have replaced the power supply with a new one that is 600w and the problem still persisted.

Is there any program I can run to output information that someone else could look at it and be able to say "well there's your problem"?

At this point I honestly have no idea what the cause could be. It's getting really annoying not knowing what's wrong.

 

And you did not have this problem with the old graphics card? I might try that again and see if the problem goes away. If still there with the old card now, then I would be afraid something happened during the upgrade.

You did unplug the computer from the wall, and discharged your body of static before upgrade the card (and PSU), right?

 

Correct, this problem did not happen with the old card. The problem with the old card was that occasionally when I would start my computer the fan would make a horrible noise and persist unless I turned off the computer. That same problem also occasionally happens even with this new graphics card and I have no idea why and kinda defeats the whole purpose of why I got a new one.

I'll try the old graphics card and see if this black screen/restarting problems goes away at least.

And yea I unplugged everything.

 

Maybe you could replace the fan on your old graphics card [which was ?](I have no idea how difficult this might be).

What is the exact model of your PC ? HP sell/have sold dozens of Pavilion Elite HPE's with different specs. Does yours have integrated graphics ?

Dumb_Question
21.January.2014

 

Initially I didn't think it'd be worth it to just replace the fan on the old one and figured a new upgraded one would just be better anyway, but besides that it was a fairly inexpensive Christmas gift so I didn't spend actual money on the new one.

The old graphics card is ATI Radeon HD4350 like I mentioned in the original post.

The computer is HP Pavilion Elite HPE-112y if that helps.

I put in the old graphics card, so we'll see if it does it still. Usually it would happen maybe 1-3 times a day, so if it doesn't do it by the time I go to sleep I'll just leave it on and see if it does it overnight.

 

Generally speaking, fans aren't expensive, but looking at most video cards I think replacement might be difficult. Looking at a small picture of the HD4350 the fan seems accessible; looks as if four screws are all that need removing.

Apologies for not reading your OP thoroughly; the model number lead me to specs on the HP website which confirms that model of graphics card was an HD4350. It also says "Integrated video is not available if a graphics card is installed". but whether this means it absent or just supplanted by the PCI card I am unsure.

FYI http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...n_c-001_title_r0001&lc=en&product=4120194#N57

Could you borrow a video card to try ?

Dumb_Question
21.January.2014

 

That sure would suggest the noise was NOT coming from the original fan. I suspect it was the CPU fan (or fan scraping wire) or a case fan. Next time, VERY CAREFULLY touch the center hub of the spinning fan with your extended finger for just a second, being CAREFUL to zoom straight in to the hub.

If that fan is making the noise, simply touching the center hub for a second will change the RPM and "pitch" of the fan noise where it will be easy to tell if that fan is the offending fan.

 

Digerati is right, how do you know it's the fan on the graphics card ? I overlooked what you said about the noise being present with both graphics cards.
As an alternative suggestion to Digerati's, especially if you don't want your fingers inside a working machine, the fan speed may controlled (reduced) by installing and running a program Speedfan, just to quickly reduce or turn off any other fans individually. On my (ancient) motherboard it facilitates control of both of the fans in my case.

Dumb_Question
22.January.2014

 

I'm almost positive it was the graphics card's fan. Also the sound was very different when the new graphics card was installed when it happened to become noisy as well, leading me to believe it was the graphics card fans making the noise. If it was the same fan in both cases it should have sounded the same.

As for an update on the topic itself and the problem, with the old graphics card installed, I left the computer on all night and had it on for a good part of yesterday and it never did mess up and restart like it was doing with the new graphics card installed.

I had Speedfan downloaded when I was trying to figure out the "problem" with the old graphics card but that program is beyond my knowledge base on what I should or shouldn't be messing with and recognizing what is what.

 

Speedfan is a nice program but I would not waste the time because you can only control fan speeds with Speedfan with fans AND motherboards that support fan speed control. Many, if not most, don't. And for sure, fans powered directly by the PSU cannot be controlled (or monitored) by Speedfan.

Also, does Speedfan even allow for speed control for graphics card fans? I don't think so.

Fans make [abnormal] sounds for just 2 reasons, (1) bad bearings or (2) blades are scraping something. Now it is possible the bearings in your old graphics card and your new graphics card are bad, but that would be some pretty bad luck on your part.

So I again would look at your other fans to make sure their bearings are good and the fans can spin freely.