Pc video cutting out with static and loud popping noise.

Protitan20xx · 1 Aug 2020 at 19:40

not sure if this is the right place to put this but hey.
so im relatively new to pc building and a year ago built my brother a pc. lately its been randomly having the video cut out with flickering static and black screens sometimes emitting a loud popping noise. ive tried a few things so far. ive given the pc a clean with compressed air, updated the drivers, used a different power cable to make sure that wasnt an issue (dont have another power supply to try) but no dice so far. searching the web has given me next to nothing so far so im turning towards this forum for help. if anyone has any suggestions on things to try please send them my way. bear in mind im extremely new to this and dont have any replacement hardware i could test in it.

full pc specs

empire gaming warfare case

ryzen 5 2600

msi b450 gaming plus

xfx radeon rx 580 gts xxx edition oc 8gb

corsair CX550M/CP-9020102-eu ATX 12v power supply

hyperx ddr4 16gb

sandisk ssd 1tb

Sparx · 1 Aug 2020 at 20:10

Popping sounds is a big concern... that could well be capacitors going bang. The artifacting makes me think it could be faulty GPU. But also potentially a power supply fault.

Have you smelt inside the case? I’d have a good sniff around the power supply and graphics card especially. Does anything smell burnt?

If it’s only a year old the parts should be under warranty for RMA.

Protitan20xx · 1 Aug 2020 at 20:28

Sparx said:
Popping sounds is a big concern... that could well be capacitors going bang. The artifacting makes me think it could be faulty GPU. But also potentially a power supply fault.

Have you smelt inside the case? I’d have a good sniff around the power supply and graphics card especially. Does anything smell burnt?

If it’s only a year old the parts should be under warranty for RMA.

ill have to wait until i can go round his house tomorrow before i can check but at least its somewhere to start. you dont mind if i ask but what is RMA. ive heard the term before but dont know exactly what it means

Protitan20xx · 1 Aug 2020 at 20:42

just spoke to him over the phone. says if its the graphics card he would rather upgrade than deal with sending it to be repaired. so asked me to find out a suitable upgrade just in case

Sparx · 1 Aug 2020 at 20:57

RMA is ‘returns merchandise authorisation’ - basically means logging a return with the retailer or manufacturer under warranty.

Can’t really outright say if it’s GPU or PSU, but I’d be leaning to GPU... but no point wasting money yet until you can be sure what’s faulty.

Can he look inside the case see if any electrical burn/smells specifically anywhere (mainly GPU and PSU)? And give the motherboard a look over to ensure no capacitors popped or showing signs of burn.

RX 580 is still a good idea 1080p GPU be a waste to not get a replacement under warranty if it was faulty lol.

Protitan20xx · 1 Aug 2020 at 21:03

Sparx said:
RMA is ‘returns merchandise authorisation’ - basically means logging a return with the retailer or manufacturer under warranty.

Can’t really outright say if it’s GPU or PSU, but I’d be leaning to GPU... but no point wasting money yet until you can be sure what’s faulty.

Can he look inside the case see if any electrical burn/smells specifically anywhere (mainly GPU and PSU)? And give the motherboard a look over to ensure no capacitors popped or showing signs of burn.

RX 580 is still a good idea 1080p GPU be a waste to not get a replacement under warranty if it was faulty lol.

i did ask him to have a look but he said he wasnt comfortable doing so. so i guess itll have to wait till i get round in the morning.

hominid · 2 Aug 2020 at 12:50

I'd try a new HDMI/DP cable first, I've seen this more than once being the issue.

Do you know where the popping sound is coming from?

Protitan20xx · 2 Aug 2020 at 14:37

Sparx said:
RMA is ‘returns merchandise authorisation’ - basically means logging a return with the retailer or manufacturer under warranty.

Can’t really outright say if it’s GPU or PSU, but I’d be leaning to GPU... but no point wasting money yet until you can be sure what’s faulty.

Can he look inside the case see if any electrical burn/smells specifically anywhere (mainly GPU and PSU)? And give the motherboard a look over to ensure no capacitors popped or showing signs of burn.

RX 580 is still a good idea 1080p GPU be a waste to not get a replacement under warranty if it was faulty lol.

right finally got round to look at it. theres no apparent smell of burning. the capacitors on the motherboard are all fine. anything else i should check. im here until about 8pm

Protitan20xx · 2 Aug 2020 at 14:38

hominid said:
I'd try a new HDMI/DP cable first, I've seen this more than once being the issue.

Do you know where the popping sound is coming from?

been through a few hdmi cables so far. all the same so im sure thats not the issue. the popping noise is coming through the monitors speakers but its not the monitor itself as ive tried a few different ones.

Sparx · 2 Aug 2020 at 14:49

From the speakers? Is the issue only whilst gaming? Never in Windows/browsing? Could be GPU fault as first thought.

Protitan20xx · 2 Aug 2020 at 14:54

Sparx said:
From the speakers? Is the issue only whilst gaming? Never in Windows/browsing? Could be GPU fault as first thought.

its happened at pure random so far. mostly while doing general browsing on the internet. a couple times immediatly after login. sometimes its fine for hours then randomly starts.

Sparx · 2 Aug 2020 at 14:58

Tried uninstalling graphics drivers and reinstalling fresh latest again?

Maybe also try move GPU to another PCIe slot?

If that doesn’t work, could be worth reinstalling Windows fresh to rule out any potential software or driver corruption issues.

If still same after trying all that, can only think GPU fault.

Protitan20xx · 2 Aug 2020 at 15:02

Sparx said:
Tried uninstalling graphics drivers and reinstalling fresh latest again?

Maybe also try move GPU to another PCIe slot?

If that doesn’t work, could be worth reinstalling Windows fresh to rule out any potential software or driver corruption issues.

If still same after trying all that, can only think GPU fault.

ill give the drivers and windows a try and get back to you though ive already checked the other pcie slot. he origonally had an elgato capture card in it so i swapped them arround just to be sure.
Edit: i do have another graphics card coming tomorrow so i can always use it to test once and for all if its the gpu

Sparx · 2 Aug 2020 at 15:09

Yep if got another GPU will of course help rule that out.

Protitan20xx · 9 Aug 2020 at 14:06

Sparx said:
Yep if got another GPU will of course help rule that out.

well im back finally. got a new gpu and placed it in. worked fine till yesterday. then started freezing randomly. then today did the static thing when opening a game. this problem is so hard to troubleshoot because theres no consistant way to test it...it just happens when it wants

FakeM0ondog · 9 Aug 2020 at 15:09

Does he get any blue screens now and again between the static and freezing? After figuring out it's not the GPU or probably even before I'd be running Memtest to rule out issues with memory. Always found those HyperX Fury sticks a bit janky when I used them in a build a few years ago. You'll have to run it for one stick at a time to figure out if one or both of them have errors. Any sticks that do will need to be returned for a replacement. After reading the entire thread and the symptoms of the problem it might be the memory. The only thing that would steer me away are any weird noises coming from the SSD but it doesn't seem like there is if the popping noise is coming from the speakers.

My usual fault finding for something like this would be - check inside case to make sure everything is seated right and cables are all the way connected/have not fallen out - test memory - rule out GPU (switch these around for video artefacts appearing with the above errors) - Rule out PSU failure - test motherboard. With the system being a year old I'd be surprised if it's the last two. I have a feeling memtest will show something.

Free download is here: https://www.memtest86.com/ you'll need to put it on a disc or USB and boot from it