Guild Wars 2

I recently upgraded my old GPU to a new one. Now I’m getting the blackscreen issue.

Old GPU: EVGA GTX 460 768MB
New GPU: PowerColor HD 7850

I never got this when I was using my EVGA card.

My drivers are also updated (Catalyst v12.10 as of now).

I’ve also followed the instructions found here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/Black-Screen-Issue-AMD-ATI/first#post38195

Is this the sign of a bad card? Or is this still related to GW2’s issue?

On a side note: I’m also getting flickering/glitchy graphics in Skyrim

If you’re also getting issues in Skyrim it’s almost definitely a graphics card issue.

I would delete your drivers and use a cleaner to completely remove them (including any found remnants of NVIDIA drivers), then install the latest from AMD (completely remove old settings).

Make sure your card is getting sufficient power and is not overheating, use GPU-Z or similar to check GPU temperatures while under load.

If all this fails, I would return the card (fresh Windows install / put the card in a different PC optional extra troubleshooting).

I have already done a complete uninstall of NVIDIA Drivers and a clean install of AMD Drivers. I have infact installed versions 12.2, 12.10 and 12.11 (beta) in which the problem persists across all versions.

And I’ve reinstalled v12.10 twice, both clean. I’ve run Furmark stress tests (30mins) on this card and it seems to be stable in both temps and power load.

In any case, I have RMA-ed the card today and got a new one.

I’ll post any updates here. Thanks for the reply Ranguvar!

No luck. Still getting black screen even with the new card.

Still getting the issue.

I’ve replaced my card with a new one 3days ago. I’ve followed tech support instructions and have clean installed my drivers using Driver Fusion.

This wasn’t happening in my EVGA GTX460 before so I doubt it has anything to do with Windows Update, GW2 Client repair, etc.

Anyone who’s encountered this? I still have a few weeks left to get a replacement model, probably and equivalent NVIDIA card instead but I don’t know if that would help it.

I would advise you leave 3dmark11 on a loop for several hours to try and reproduce the instability. Furmark is power/fps throttled these days so isn’t reliable enough.

About how long? I can leave it benchmarking while I sleep so that’s a good 8hours. And what should I look out for? Is this like EVGA Precision where it detects artifacts/visual glitches and keeps them in track while benchmarking?

This GPUs (7840, 7870) are known for having issues like this, try a clean install of ur OS (dualboot) and test it there. Sometimes specially with AMD hardware this upgrades come along with incompatibilities and driver problems.

Wintermute.7529:

About how long? I can leave it benchmarking while I sleep so that’s a good 8hours. And what should I look out for? Is this like EVGA Precision where it detects artifacts/visual glitches and keeps them in track while benchmarking?

That would be fine, mainly testing stability of the overall system/power so it will either be running when you come back or will have crashed/rebooted. I think it’s very unlikely it is the card (artifacting etc) being the second one.

Could you further explain the actual BS problem, can you close out of the application when this occurs or do you have to reboot? Does the monitor lose signal?

Thanks for the replies.

No the monitor doesn’t lose signal. I can close the application fine and it comes back to desktop, I just relaunch GW2 again.

There’s no message/error display most of the time. About 1/10 times there’s a crash though.

Okay I’ll do a clean install of my OS today as well.

Hmm that’s harder to narrow down then, could indeed be a software issue. If it continues after a fresh install I would do the 3dmark stress test and you could also try removing the hdmi audio drivers as these have conflicted and caused this issue for some people.

For the record this is my 2nd brand new card. I’ve sent the first one to RMA thinking that it might be a hardware issue. But it’s still prevalent with the 2nd card.

Now this is surprising. I’ve done a clean install of my OS and i’ve installed the latest drivers and installed guild wars 2 and it’s STILL happening.

The only variable left that I can think of is that I’ve recently changed ISPs to a 3G wireless broadband since my main line, a wired DSL got cutoff and I’m waiting for a new application. I’ve read a forum post somewhere in guildwars2guru that configuring his router fixed the black screen problem.

Thoughts anyone?

SPI feature of router is known to cause black screens (see Part 7.3)

kirito.4138:

SPI feature of router is known to cause black screens (see Part 7.3)

Thanks a lot!

I did testing today at my friend’s house here’s my reply to the support ticket if anyone is interested.

“I’ve gone ahead and tested my own case. As I previously mentioned, “I’ve also changed ISP’s from a wired DSL to a wireless 3G USB Dongle as I’m waiting for another wired DSL service provider to process my application at the same time I upgraded my card from a GTX460 to a HD 7850.”

I’ve bought my PC today to my friend’s house nearby who has the same ISP as I previously had. Here are the results of a 2 hour testing.

My PC using the 3G wireless broadband – Blackscreen in Lion’s Arch under 5minutes
My PC using the wired DSL – Didn’t encounter blackscreen in Lion’s Arch and World vs World after playing for 1hour.
My friend’s PC using the 3G wireless broadband – Blackscreen in World vs World under 30minutes.
My friend’s PC using the wired DSL – Didn’t encouter blackscreen after playing for 1 hour.

Note that my friend’s PC NEVER had a blackscreen issue even once and he can testament to this ever since playing at the start of November. "

I guess I’ll just wait for my new ISP to come in for this to be fixed. Might be good info to the other users there.

If it is your ISP, you can try using some VPN service to tunnel through. You can test out WTFast or Battleping for 20min free. They are gaming VPN services.