What issue do these symptoms indicate for a new PC?

[Tony]

Sorry for the second post asking for help so soon after the last. My new PC is not working right. There's lag when I type in Word. When I switch tabs the screen kind of flashed black and resets. Apps just stop and close (like HP Support Assistant or Omen Gaming app thing) but not word or the internet. The steam app will disappear and reload. Also, in steam if I'm in my library when it flash reloads it goes back to the home page.

Every game I tested crashed until Pillars of Eternity. I tested Jagged Alliance 3 from the GoG offline downloader, Starfield and WH40 Darktide from Steam, and FO76 from Window Store. All froze while loading up or while loading a new game or save. Pillars of Eternity actually loaded and was playable.

I did a bunch of tests and component tests with the HP test thing that loads on reset. Nothing is coming up. I'm new to Windows 11 so I'm not sure if that screen reloading thing is a new feature or what. I contacted HP and they want me to reload Windows, but I just reset all my passwords and got things setup and I rather not do that. I also need a 32 GB flash drive which I don't have. I have an external HD though, but even if that words I'd still rather not do that without knowing if it will work or not or finding out from more knowledgeable people if it sounds more like a component issue.

Could it be a moniter issue that only became apparent with a new PC?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Kordanor]

Not a monitor issue if your programs crash. If all your drivers are properly installed, I would probably just redo the OS and install a fresh system.

Maybe its some of the "security features" of windows 11? I am not familiar with them, I am still using Win 10.

 

[bjon045]

If it is an off the shelf (in a box) computer you should be returning it and telling them it is faulty.

If you assembled it yourself I would start with testing the memory with software like memtest86 or testmem 5. I find ram is often the main culprit. Next is the powersupply/power in your house. Specific CPU's and GPU's can be less tolerant to power flucations than others. Then I would try removing as many parts as I could to see if the problem still happens in a minimum configuration i.e. cpu/ram/mb/igpu(or gpu if you don't have an igpu) + only 1 disk drive. If that works then start adding one component at a time. Reinstalling windows is always a good idea as well.

 

[Stingray]

If it is an off the shelf (in a box) computer you should be returning it and telling them it is faulty.

If you assembled it yourself I would start with testing the memory with software like memtest86 or testmem 5. I find ram is often the main culprit. Next is the powersupply/power in your house. Specific CPU's and GPU's can be less tolerant to power flucations than others. Then I would try removing as many parts as I could to see if the problem still happens in a minimum configuration i.e. cpu/ram/mb/igpu(or gpu if you don't have an igpu) + only 1 disk drive. If that works then start adding one component at a time. Reinstalling windows is always a good idea as well.

If the problem was memory, he almost certainly would have seen some OS crashes by now, not just applications.

The symptoms sound to me like the video driver crashing and restarting itself. What card do you have and have you already installed the very latest drivers from NVIDIA or AMD's website? Don't know about AMD because I haven't used it in a long time, but pretty sure that NVIDIA driver crashes/restarts get logged in one of the Windows system logs in event viewer.

 

[Stingray]

Might be worth running a graphics benchmark / stress test program, both before and after updating the drivers (if applicable), see if those crash constantly. I think the popular one nowadays is FurMark: https://geeks3d.com/furmark/

Seriously doubt it's a monitor issue. That could cause the black screens but it wouldn't crash applications. Unless the monitor is doing something that triggers a video driver crash, but I've never seen that.

 

[Stingray]

Also, did the video card come with the computer as a package? If not, maybe the power supply you haven't isn't sufficient for the card you put in, or you don't have the power cables hooked to it in a valid way.

 

[Tony]

If it is an off the shelf (in a box) computer you should be returning it and telling them it is faulty.

Off Amazon. HP Omen 45L with the Ryzen processor. I really can't go any longer without a PC. It works well enough for work stuff, and commuting sucks so bad now that I'm used to remote work.

The symptoms sound to me like the video driver crashing and restarting itself. What card do you have and have you already installed the very latest drivers from NVIDIA or AMD's website? Don't know about AMD because I haven't used it in a long time, but pretty sure that NVIDIA driver crashes/restarts get logged in one of the Windows system logs in event viewer.

All updated. First through windows updater as I updated everything, then through GeForce Experience to the latest after. Could it be a conflict of where windows had the drivers and where GeForce Experience put them? I picked default, and GeForce Experience came loaded with the computer. I'm not sure if they were installed in the same place. When I go to device manager and drivers it shows the latest that was installed through GFE. My card is a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti.

Might be worth running a graphics benchmark / stress test program, both before and after updating the drivers (if applicable), see if those crash constantly.

I will try this. Thank you.

 

[Stingray]

I will try this. Thank you.

I think it's also worth doing a memory test as bjon045 mentioned. Seems unlikely to me though with no OS crashes. The HP diags (that you mentioned you already ran) probably offer the option of a thorough memory test, or might have even already done it.

 

[Tony]

Might be worth running a graphics benchmark / stress test program, both before and after updating the drivers (if applicable), see if those crash constantly. I think the popular one nowadays is FurMark: https://geeks3d.com/furmark/

The program crashes as soon as I run it. I tried like every button and combo, FS checked, AA at different levels. Does this mean its a graphics card issue?

As for the memory test - I did all the component and tests it allowed through the restart HP testing thing. I even tested the fans (and wow there a lot of them). Everything passed.

Update - the two tools in the GPU-Z, GPU SHark, and CPU Burner work.

 

[Stingray]

The program crashes as soon as I run it. I tried like every button and combo, FS checked, AA at different levels. Does this mean its a graphics card issue?

Probably... Try bringing up Windows' Event Viewer (run eventvwr.exe if you can't find it in the start menu), go to both Windows Logs -> Application and Windows Logs -> System and look for any events that are being logged when your problems happen, where the "Source" column either has NVIDIA in it, or a driver name that starts with "nv" (like nvlddmkm). If you see them, check those out, maybe post some screenshots.

 

[Tony]

Try bringing up Windows' Event Viewer (run eventvwr.exe if you can't find it in the start menu), go to both Windows Logs -> Application and Windows Logs -> System and

Awesome. Got it.

Faulting application name: FurMark.exe, version: 1.37.2.0, time stamp: 0x651dd2b5
Faulting module name: nvoglv32.dll, version: 31.0.15.4617, time stamp: 0x654d452d
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x00c543a8
Faulting process id: 0x0x4AF8
Faulting application start time: 0x0x1DA26595100AC9A
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Geeks3D\Benchmarks\FurMark\FurMark.exe
Faulting module path: C:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvhdci.inf_amd64_c71c43e65993949e\nvoglv32.dll
Report Id: 8772648d-57f1-4995-a887-fb2b6ecccbe7
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

 

[Stingray]

Hmm, nvoglv32.dll is part of the NVIDIA OpenGL API I guess, not a driver. Is there nothing logged in there from any NVIDIA drivers, like nvlddmkm.sys or whatever? It would probably be in the System log, not the Applications log like I believe that one would have come from.

 

[Tony]

System log,

There's a ton of warnings and errors in there. Heres the last two (first is an error, next is the warning)

1) Error
The description for Event ID 0 from source nvlddmkm cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.

If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.

The following information was included with the event:

\Device\Video3
Error occurred on GPUID: 600

The message resource is present but the message was not found in the message table

2) Warning
Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered.

Those are the most prominet. A little down are some of these (maybe due to the CPU burner testing I had running with the FurMark?)
The AMDRyzenMasterDriverV22 service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

 

[Stingray]

Yep, as I suspected then. The video driver is crashing and restarting itself. That's what gives you the momentary black screen (while it's restarting), and it's also what crashes applications, as generally code isn't written to handle the case where the GPU crashes in the middle of things. Even MS Word uses GPU hardware acceleration these days for certain things (you used to be able to turn it off but I think they might have removed that option), which is why it would crash. Surprising that PoE would survive, maybe it isn't doing anything to trigger the crashes, or maybe they put code in there to handle a GPU crash gracefully.

The key thing in that log entry is the "Error occurred on GPUID: 600". I think 600 is just the bus ID of your GPU, so not anything useful. I'm not sure how you would get any further information. But it's either an OS/driver problem or a hardware problem. Most likely a hardware problem given that log entry, and being that this is a fairly fresh install, but I would think that you would want to reinstall Windows first just to be sure, and HP would probably require it before they go ahead with anything. You can show them those errors from your system log though, maybe that would get things moving along faster. Maybe they would try just replacing the GPU first?

 

[Tony]

Yep, as I suspected then.

Thank you so much for all your help. It's nice knowing that even if I have to reinstall windows I won't be doing it for no reason.

 

[Stingray]

One last thing, I'd definitely make sure you're getting clean power as bjon045 mentioned, try hooking the computer up in a different room in your house, plug it directly into the wall bypassing any strips/UPSes/etc. See if FurMark still crashes immediately that way.

 

[bjon045]

Sounds like you guys have narrowed it down to the GPU/Driver/something closely related. The last think I would try is purging all the GPU drivers yourself and then a fresh driver install/geforce experience. I would just recommend downloading DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) if you don't know how to do it yourself.

GPU issues are pretty tough to fix, if you are lucky it is a temprature problem normally the result of bad assembly i.e. poor install of the heatsink if you are unlucky it is a unfixable hardware fault. It's possible it could still be a power issue (GPU uses a lot more power once it starts displaying a game or anything that taxes it) but I would be returning it at this point if the drivers don't work.

 

[ChaosTheory]

It could be the GPU driver, but also make sure your power connections to your GPU are fully connected and pushed in all the way and that your GPU is fully seated. They tend to rattle loose during shipping in pre-builts.

Also make sure your PSU has enough headroom for the GPU you're trying to run. Cheap PSUs aren't always efficient enough to deal with power spikes from the GPU, even if they're rated hundreds of watts higher than what is recommended..

Not sure what your hardware is, but that's where I'd start.

As a side note, make sure you are using a quality HDMI cable. I had a similar issue (not quite the same, but similar) with random black screens, etc. Turned out my HDMI cable was older and not rated for 4k. Couldn't handle the faster data speeds.

 

[Stingray]

Cable isn't going to be the issue, it wouldn't cause the video driver / applications to crash. PSU capacity shouldn't be an issue either, on a brand-name computer that was sold with the card.

 

[ChaosTheory]

PSU capacity shouldn't be an issue either, on a brand-name computer that was sold with the card.

It shouldn't, as you stated, but often is. Pre-built computers are a crapshoot-- even ones we consider 'high end', with minimal compatibility testing and QC. There are several YouTube channels where techies buy pre-builts anonymously and test them. You would be amazed at what they find... They'll have high end GPU/other hardware but send it with an off-brand 1000-watt PSU that is effectively supplying 600-700 watts because it's built with substandard, low-end components.

That said, we know nothing about the OP's system, which would be helpful for determining what can/can't be ruled out.

I still believe there may be a power-related issue with your dedicated graphics card. Power issues would lead to a cascade of driver and other failures. Bad/inadequate PSU, or the dedicated GPU is just bad, which is rare but happens. But more likely it's because it's not fully seated in the slot (poorly installed, sagging due to weight, rattled partially loose, etc) or the power connections aren't fully snapped in.