I'm sure whether this belongs in Build a PC or the Windows section however I'm going to put it here, if this is the wrong section feel free to move it.
I have been having two problems lately with my PC.
1. Randomly the display will go black, as if it is asleep and it will not wake up forcing me to restart it by holding the power button on the front panel of the case and turning it back on. I'm not sure if it is actually going to sleep or if it is a display problem and the screen is just going black or what. When it goes black if there is music or a video playing in the background the music/video continues to play which makes me think it is a display problem however I'm not sure.
2. The computer will sometimes not wake from sleep, like it will go to sleep from either me putting it to sleep or from inactivity and it will then not wake from sleep via pushing keys on the keyboard or buttons on the mouse, forcing a restart via the power button.
The problems will occur 3-5 times a day.
I assume these two problems are correlated and I expect their to be a single problem causing both however I could be wrong. I haven't seen any noticeable trigger for either of the problems. Like there is no noticeable single or couple of things or actions which cause the problems to occur.
My PC Build is listed below:
https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Cuthroat/saved/Vh2bt6
The only thing that has changed with the above part list is the WLAN card has been removed due to incompatibilities and I have since connected via ethernet cable.
Have you got the display set to turn off after a certain amount of time in windows?
That's not the problem, although I don't think I do I can be in the middle of typing something and have only had my computer on for 10 min and screen will go black randomly.
Make a bootable linux usb or cd. Boot into linux and see if it "forever sleeps". If not, then something's weird in windows. This will help see if the problem is software or hardware related.
Since process keep running when the screen goes black (music keeps playing), I'm thinking it could be GPU related. Are you using and HDMI cable for your display or DVI? Check to make sure the cables are plugged in properly and have no damage. Can even try swapping out with another cable and see if the problem returns.
I was using a dollar-store HDMI cable after I first built my PC and every now and then the screen would go black for a second or two. It wasn't until a friend suggested it could be the cable and I switched it out for a DVI cable that I realized that was the problem. Odd thing is, now that I've been using that same cheap HDMI cable for my secondary display, it hasn't flickered black once.
Dollar store HDMI cables FTW! :P
Anyways yeah, if you check your cables and they're good, then I would do what Some Tech Noob suggested.
Currently I'm going through all of my drivers and trying that. If that doesn't do the trick then I will wait until my new Dual Link DVI cable gets here. I have a high quality Dual Link DVI cable on the way, I currently have the cheap Dual Link DVI cable that was included with my Korean 1440p monitor so hopefully one of those will do the trick.
If not I will try the Linux idea. The only thing I'm worried about is it being the monitor itself, is there a chance that that is the problem given the symptoms? I really hope not because since its a Korean 1440p I will have to ship it back to Korea assuming I can even get in touch with the company and make arrangements for a return.
I'm using the included Dual Link DVI Cable with my Korean 1440p monitor however I ordered a higher quality cable from Amazon Prime so I will have that Friday and we will see if that fixes anything. However do you think the problem could be the monitor itself? As stated above if thats the problem I might be in deep shit considering contacting a company located in South Korea dealing on eBay often proves difficult.
Have you tried different versions of the graphics driver for your 280? I would assume your issue is GPU driver related so that is something to test.
Could very well be the display. I don't know how much experience you have with Linux, but it's pretty easy to make a USB boot drive with Ubuntu or something. If it goes blank while you're in Linux, you'll know it's not software (or driver) related.
No I have not tried different versions, I have only tried the driver that came on the disk in the box. By different versions do you mean like older versions or is it drivers which are not even made by Asus? Just clarifying it is the 280x not just the 280 btw.
You should download the latest catalyst drivers from AMD. They will be newer and better than the drivers that come on the disc.
Just installed them, hopefully that will fix the problem. I will report back if it happens again. I also have a higher quality Dual Link DVI cable coming in tomorrow so maybe that will fix it. Only time will tell.