Black Screen Crash + Alt Tab Issues (Fix)

[RubyNips]

Alt+Tab issue fix:
If you have an issue to get back in the game after clicking Alt+Tab (the game keep minimazing it self), after it happens, on the bottom right click on the running game icon and choose "close window". Instead of shuting down the application it will throw you back in the game and ask you if you want to quit, just click "no" and you back in the game.

Works on Windows 7 64bit.

Black Screen crash (with Windows sound on back ground) fix:

If you have an issue with a black screen which is followed by a Windows sound, most likely "nvlddmkm" crashed and recovered, which is your video card driver. It happens when the video card voltage can not keep up with the video card load and eventually leads to crash and windows can not recognize the device for a second, but it is too late for the game. Here is a solution:

Download EVGA Precision, here on steam. On the right side turn on Overvoltage and Kboost, on the left side turn on Startup.
The solution above will keep the maximum voltage at all times which prevents black screen crashes in some cases. It helped me, hope it will help you.

Cheers.

p.s. Everything above for Windows 7 only.

[ Gambit ]

THANK YOU OMG That was soooo annoying

[Drothen]

lel works.
good guy Ultraelectric.

[xWeasel]

thaanks mate :D

[RubyNips]

Bump

[thomas.koeberl]

Sadly the Alt-Tab Black Screen Fix doesn't work for me (Win 10). The icon flashes orange but the black screen remains. It's strange since Alt-Tabbing was never a problem at first. If I remember correctly it stopped working when I changed settings via Geforce Experience.

[Rait83]

Useless for me. pc still restarting. cant play. other games dont have this problem.

[Floid]

Nice post OP, thank you.

Out of interest though, doesn't selecting the "Prefer Maximum Performance" setting for Power Management Mode in the Nvidia control panel also do this ?? Please correct me if i'm wrong, as I'm using MSI Afterburner, and hence I don't have Overvoltage and Kboost options in that utility.

[5caryHarry]

Originally posted by thomas.koeberl:

Sadly the Alt-Tab Black Screen Fix doesn't work for me (Win 10). The icon flashes orange but the black screen remains. It's strange since Alt-Tabbing was never a problem at first. If I remember correctly it stopped working when I changed settings via Geforce Experience.

I'm on Win10. After the patch, I had to lower my mild overclock on the GPU and get rid of exclusive full screen. Did both at the same time,. On the first succesful boot of the game, had the "driver recovered," but no issues since.

Had to boot the game from the steam folder as admin to get the option splash screen to opt out of exclusive full screen.

[RubyNips]

Thanks for the feed back guys, i changes my post to Windows 7 only.

[RubyNips]

Originally posted by Rehlem:

Nice post OP, thank you.

Out of interest though, doesn't selecting the "Prefer Maximum Performance" setting for Power Management Mode in the Nvidia control panel also do this ?? Please correct me if i'm wrong, as I'm using MSI Afterburner, and hence I don't have Overvoltage and Kboost options in that utility.

I dont use Afterburner but from what i read there is an option to make your top voltage constant, google it, and if you cant find it, just switch to the app i mention above, there is no major difference, like i have Gigabyte 980 G1 with EVGA software.

[Floid]

Originally posted by UltraElectric:

Originally posted by Rehlem:

Nice post OP, thank you.

Out of interest though, doesn't selecting the "Prefer Maximum Performance" setting for Power Management Mode in the Nvidia control panel also do this ?? Please correct me if i'm wrong, as I'm using MSI Afterburner, and hence I don't have Overvoltage and Kboost options in that utility.

I dont use Afterburner but from what i read there is an option to make your top voltage constant, google it, and if you cant find it, just switch to the app i mention above, there is no major difference, like i have Gigabyte 980 G1 with EVGA software.

Ahh I see, thanks man ! :D In all the time using MSI AB never realized it had such options. But apparently there is a "Force constant voltage" check box on in the settings applet.

Here's a description of it's use:
===========================================
"Force constant voltage": Ticking this checkbox will pump high performance voltage into the GPU core even if the card is in low power mode (while you are not playing, for instance). This option should be disabled for normal usage, though it may help achieving maximum overclock out of your graphics cards. Note that this will not force your card to run at maximum clock speeds at all times, it merely keeps it juiced even under low clocks, which can cause the GPU to unnecessarily draw extra power, and overheat further.
===========================================

Makes sense now. The issue arise's when voltage regulation is insufficient for the core/mem clocks or core load percentage. I guess thats why Prefer Maximum Performance setting doesn't work for some people then ? Because that setting is only forcing max core & mem clocks, but not forcing consistent max voltage to in accordance I guess ? Although that is kinda odd, because surely if the core & mem clocks are pushed to max, and stay at max, then wouldn't the on board bios voltage tables dictate the voltage regulation to match ? or can voltage levels also be affected by core load percentage spikes and dips ?

[RubyNips]

My guess is as good as yours, something causing hardware and software to not to work along. But cheers for figuring it out with Afterburner. Stay in touch regarding the performance. :)

[RubyNips]

oh, make sure the setting apply to everytime you restart your computer.

[Floid]

Originally posted by UltraElectric:

oh, make sure the setting apply to everytime you restart your computer.

I have my MSI AB settings to apply with startup. I assume the "Startup" button on the EVGA Precision app is the same thing ?

Also I have a OC profile on the GPU's, which was stress tested and passed as stable. But I rarely use it if i'm honest, only really use it in the rare situation where I can't break a solid stable 60fps in a high demand AAA game at medium settings. Which is very few games. In fact I don't think i've even fired up the OC profile on the GPU's in about 11 months.

Also after learning more about some of the inherent differences in Maxwell/Kepler (discussed in the link below) it kinda put me off excessive use of the OC profile on my 980 GPU's.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2432430

[RubyNips]

on EVGA its an option to tick to start the app when the PC powers up. But at this moment i think whats most imports is if your PC can run more stable.

Personaly i am not gonna stress about the CPU at this moment, but if you want to know i got i5 4670k, 3.4Ghz stock, overclocked to 4.6Ghz stable.