1080p blackSOD during games but not for 720p

[CmdrJeffSinclair]

==========================================
THE PROBLEM-----
My laptop BlackSOD's when gaming at 1080p regardless of graphical settings. It happens only during gaming at 1080p.

SOLUTION:
The issue is fully resolved for all 45 of my games when I'm gaming at 720p regardless of graphical settings.

REASON FOR THIS POST:
This post is about trying to figure out why 1080p is causing a BlackSOD

QUESTION: Why would gaming at 720p result in no BlackSODs with graphical settings that are reducing my FPS to 10-15, yet when my laptop is achieving a steady 80+ FPS in games at 1080p the BlackSOD still occurs over and over and over? Forced power down is required.
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QUIRK: My games range from 1998 to 2014

QUIRK: Watching Movies, stress testing and video editing at 1080p does not cause a BlackSOD. Prime95 and OCCT 4.1 CPU/GPU stress testing at 1080p does not cause BlackSOD.

QUIRK: All games at 1080p are running creamy-smooth with few-to-no FPS dips/spikes often achieving steady 80 FPS still BlackSOD.

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TROUBLESHOOTING:
==================
--My GPU supports 1080p and beyond, as well as 120Hz and 144Hz refresh rates, which was the first thing I wondered about with the strange crashing only at 1080p.

--External displays at 720p do not cause the BlackSOD. All monitors I've used at 1080p cause a BlackSOD.
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-Updating all system drivers has no effect (CPU, chipset, DRAM controllers, etc...).
-Used special driver cleaners for AMD graphics uninstallation without effect.
-Rolled back many drivers without effect.
-Updated games without effect.
-HDD reformat multiple times followed by fresh install of Windows 7 without updates had no effect.
-HDD reformat multiple times followed by fresh install of Windows 7 SP1 with no effect.
--Dissected drivers in AMD CCC followed by manual installation with no effect.
--Disabling Windows firewall and adjusting Norton firewall had no effect
--Cleaned HDMI port with alcohol, no effect on the issue
--HDMI "handshake" solutions have no effect with multiple cables and monitors
===================================
HARDWARE TESTING DONE
===================================

--TEMPS:
All normal.
-GPU under 85⁰C (90⁰C is normal for stock ATI/AMD)
-CPU under 75⁰C during Prime95 and much less under normal conditions.
-Protective shutdown from overheating would not occur til over 100⁰C for both GPUs and the CPU.
-I used Multiple hardware monitors including CPUID's HWMonitor are showing normal temps for my CPU, GPU's, Motherboard, RAM, and HDD.
--Tested for CPU throttling (none found) that may result it sudden lockup during games

--ERROR TESTING:
the CPU/GPUs/RAM/HDD had no errors/corruptions, no bad sectors or corruptions for HDD

--MEMORY TESTING:
I ran multiple memory tests for CPU, RAM and GPU including OCCT 4.1, Windows 7 Memory Diagnostic and AIDA64 with zero errors



WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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My laptop specs
Alienware Area-51 M17-R1 Specifications
=================================
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 2.8GHz
-------Details: Codename "Penryn," FSB 1066 (Socket P/ PM45/ SLB 478)
RAM: 8GB Corsair DDR3 Dual Channel 1333MHz
-------Timings: 7-7-7-20 at 1066MHz
HDD#1: 750GB Seagate Momentus XT HYBRID 7200RPM SATA III 32MB cache 8MB SSD Cache
HDD#2: 160GB Seagate Momentus 7200RPM SATA III 16MB Buffer as backup
GPU: Dual 512MB (1GB) AMD 3870x2 in Crossfire X
-------TECH SPECS: 256bits wide, 800MHz, Shader Model 4.1, GDDR3, Direct X 10.1
-------W841 Crossfire cable, Master/slave config., x8/x16 links

BIOS B13, latest. Previous B10 BIOS

OPTICAL: Panasonic UJ-230 Slim Blu-ray player/reader w/ 6MB Cache & DVD Burner
-------READ: 24x CD / 8x DVD / 4x BD
-------WRITE: 24x CD / 8x DVD±R / 4x DVD±R DL
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit SP1
MONITOR: 17" 720p (1440x900; WXGA+)
EXTERNAL DISPLAY #1: Optoma HD141X 1080p Full 3D Projector
EXTERNAL DISPLAY #2: LG 42" LN520-UA 1080p LCD

 

[APassingMe]

HDMI... enough said, yes I'm biased but it's probably the truth. HDMI comes packaged with DHCP... something about the games you're running is setting the DHCP off (I really want to type HDMI is EVIL infinitely.... but it's really the DHCP that they insist on bundling so....)

Granted it could be something else...

 

[APassingMe]

I looked over your symptoms and if everything there is correct then it should be hdmi acting up... you could try a fresh install to see if a driver or software install is causing it but if you're not having any overheating issues and it only occurs while playing games.... I guess you could have a power issue or a dying gpu but that's it and I don't know how you would go about troubleshooting/fixing that.

 

[CmdrJeffSinclair]

I looked over your symptoms and if everything there is correct then it should be hdmi acting up... you could try a fresh install to see if a driver or software install is causing it but if you're not having any overheating issues and it only occurs while playing games.... I guess you could have a power issue or a dying gpu but that's it and I don't know how you would go about troubleshooting/fixing that.

Well I already listed how I reinstalled Windows plus wiped my drive (etc)

It's not an HDMI issue clearly since I am connected via HDMI 12 hours a day and the issue only occurs at 1080p gaming. I have a high bandwidth cable as well, well above what's necessary for 1080p gaming.

I tested for the HDMI issue to be safe and nothing worked. Used multiple cables and monitors all connecting/reconnecting in a dozen different ways in case it was a "handshake issue," and the issue persists. If it were an HDMI issue it would not make sense for it to work all day doing anything and then crap out at 1080p only for games but work fine at 1080p for everything else.

An HDMI issue could not lock up my laptop as a genuine BlackSOD either since it's only for signal communications and doesn't interact with the OS environment itself, drivers do that and simply use the cable as a relay. An HDMI error would just lose signal and force me to reconnect the HDMI to resync.

I appreciate your responses, but the solution will probably be more related to a driver failure in the OS>Hardware communications layers and protocols. This was why I wondered if a firewall was to blame for blocking communications between devices and drivers, but that is also incorrect. I'm genuinely at a loss.

If my GPU specs did not say that it supports 1920x1080p, I'd have been certain that it was a resolution conflict, hence the crashing at 1080p regardless of graphics setting I use

 

[APassingMe]

I tested for the HDMI issue to be safe and nothing worked. Used multiple cables and monitors all connecting/reconnecting in a dozen different ways in case it was a "handshake issue," and the issue persists. If it were an HDMI issue it would not make sense for it to work all day doing anything and then crap out at 1080p only for games but work fine at 1080p for everything else.

I agree that is wouldn't make sense but when hdmi goes crazy for whatever reason, it rarely makes sense. That said it's the drivers choice on when to disconnect so it would still be a driver issue to some degree, although it really does seem that you've already eliminated this possibility as best you can so that doesn't really give you anything else to run on.

But considering what you've done to this point, yeah I think you're out of things to test. Sorry about that and good luck with your machine.

 

[CmdrJeffSinclair]

I tested for the HDMI issue to be safe and nothing worked. Used multiple cables and monitors all connecting/reconnecting in a dozen different ways in case it was a "handshake issue," and the issue persists. If it were an HDMI issue it would not make sense for it to work all day doing anything and then crap out at 1080p only for games but work fine at 1080p for everything else.

I agree that is wouldn't make sense but when hdmi goes crazy for whatever reason, it rarely makes sense. That said it's the drivers choice on when to disconnect so it would still be a driver issue to some degree, although it really does seem that you've already eliminated this possibility as best you can so that doesn't really give you anything else to run on.

But considering what you've done to this point, yeah I think you're out of things to test. Sorry about that and good luck with your machine.

Thanks fpr all you help. I figured out that the issue was the HDMI port. The entire plug suddenly failed today. When I moved the HDMI plug inside the port it worked again, went purple, flashed green, and all sorts of voodoo nonsense. Looks like the HDMI port itself on my mobo has worn out. The BlackSODs happened because it was my mobo skizzing out from the connection failure. I need a new computer for sure. This laptop is just dying one piece at a time