Strange GTX 285 black screen glitch

[Ziggy4]

Recently I installed a BFG GTX 285 OCX which I received as a replacement (my third). Card seems to work OK, temps are good, etc but whenever I play a game I occassionally get a black screen for a few seconds and then the graphics recover. This is odd because the game picks up exactly where it left off and there is no Windows error, CTD, or BSOD. Since installing the card, the computer has not seen any other kind of error at all. This one has me puzzled and wondered if anyone else has seen this or better, knows of a fix, or indeed if this is yet another duff card from BFG? I am running 196.21 drivers and have tried various fan settings, etc but just can't pinpoint the cause. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Rroff]

Try 191.07 drivers.

 

[Ziggy4]

Hi Rroff, thanks for the quick reply. Any info on why those may be a better driver set? Weren't those flagged as potentially hazardous to the hardware? EVGA confirmed issues with them and my original card failed shortly after installing them. Certainly not ruling out co-incidence but I'd be reluctant to try those again. You think this issue is a driver problem then? I've waited 3 months for a (possibly) working replacement from BFG and really hoping I don't have to go through more months of waiting.

 

[Rroff]

I'm not aware of any problems with 191.07 - 196.75 are the ones that have been flagged as potentially hardware killing.

 

[Ziggy4]

I may give those a try then, thanks. I just set the clocks back to stock and made it through a mission in COD5 without any black screen. I also made the same post on the Nvidia forum and someone just suggested doing the same. So it is possible it's an issue with the factory OC. I really need to test this for a longer period of time of course but will have to wait until later. If the problem persists I'll try those drivers as per your suggestion.

 

[Ziggy4]

^ Should have noted that the OC on the card was the BFG factory settings (c702/s1584/m1332) and I hadn't been pushing the card any further.