Windows 11 — Intermittent Black Screen While System Continues Running, Persists After Fresh Windows Installation

I am experiencing an intermittent black-screen issue on my Windows 11 computer. The display suddenly goes completely black, but the computer itself appears to remain operational in the background.​

This is an extremely infrequent issue, occurring approximately once every 15 weeks. It is not a constant problem, and I am trying to identify the underlying cause rather than assume that the graphics card is failing.

The issue originally began on my previous Windows installation and has continued through a fresh Windows installation.

I have already performed a clean Windows installation, installed drivers, and continued troubleshooting. However, I am still seeing unusual system behavior and want to determine whether this is related to Windows, graphics drivers, GPU hardware, or another component.

System Specifications​

• Operating System: Windows 11 Pro
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (16 Cores / 32 Threads)
• Motherboard: MSI MAG X570S TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
• Architecture: x64

Symptoms​

When the issue occurs:

• The entire display suddenly goes black.
• The monitor loses the displayed image.
• The computer appears to continue operating.
• Windows seems to remain active in the background.
• Audio and other system activity appear to continue.
• I have not confirmed whether the GPU driver actually crashes or resets.
• No consistent workload or application has been identified as the trigger.

The issue is extremely rare, approximately once every 15 weeks or so, making it difficult to reproduce through conventional testing.

I have not observed a consistent pattern of graphical artifacts, screen tearing, or other visual corruption before the incident.

Windows Installation History​

This issue originally appeared on my previous Windows installation, before performing a fresh installation of Windows 11.

Subsequently performed a clean Windows installation to eliminate the possibility of corrupted Windows system files, previous driver installations, or software conflicts.

I have already reinstalled Windows, but I am unsure whether this warning is related to the original issue or is an unrelated software compatibility problem.

I would like to determine whether there is a common underlying cause rather than treating every symptom as a separate problem.

Event Viewer Findings​

I examined Windows Event Viewer under:

Windows Logs → System

I checked the following event IDs:

WHEA Hardware Error Checks​

I ran the following PowerShell query to inspect hardware-related events from the previous seven days:

Get-WinEvent -FilterHashtable @{
LogName='System'
ProviderName='Microsoft-Windows-WHEA-Logger'
StartTime=(Get-Date).AddDays(-7)
} | Select-Object TimeCreated, Id, LevelDisplayName, Message |
Format-List
The query returned no matching events.

Troubleshooting Already Performed​

• Performed a fresh Windows 11 installation.
• Reinstalled Windows drivers.
• Checked Windows Event Viewer for unexpected shutdowns.
• Checked Kernel-Power 41 and EventLog 6008.
• Checked for BugCheck 1001 entries.
• Investigated a process-initiated restart recorded under Event ID 1074.
• Checked WHEA-Logger hardware events using PowerShell.
• Investigated the Bonjour mdnsNSP.dll Local Security Authority warning.

This is also where it all started at.

In the Search box,type in ---reliability ---and see if there are any entries coinciding with the problem.

Graphics Card(s) Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070

Appears there are known issues with this card.

Search results -

Common Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 issues include black screen crashes, driver timeouts (nvlddmkm), and VRAM limitations in modern games. [1, 2]

Frequent Problems

• Black Screen & Game Crashes: The screen goes black, fans spin up to maximum, or the game crashes to desktop during high-load or DirectX 12 gameplay. This often happens when the core clock spikes too high or drivers time out. [1, 2]
• nvlddmkm Error: Windows logs show display driver stopped responding and successfully recovered. [1]
• 8GB VRAM Bottleneck: Modern titles at high or ultra settings can exceed 8GB of VRAM, causing stuttering or frame drops as assets swap to system RAM. [1]
• Power Supply (PSU) Spikes: Transient power spikes can trip lower-wattage or lower-quality power supplies, causing sudden system reboots. [1]

Troubleshooting and Fixes

• Clean Install Drivers: Use Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) in Safe Mode to completely wipe old Nvidia drivers before installing the latest version. [1]
• Undervolt / Underclock: Open MSI Afterburner and lower the core clock by -150 MHz to -200 MHz to stop instability when the boost clock peaks. [1, 2]
• Check Power Cables: Ensure your power supply uses separate, dedicated PCIe cables rather than a single daisy-chained cable for power connections. [1]
• PCIe Gen Setting: If using a PCIe riser cable or experiencing no-signal boots, go into your motherboard BIOS and force the PCIe slot speed from "Auto" to "Gen 3". [1]

@Kuroo

I've had intermittent black screens caused by loose RAM or dust in the RAM slots.
It's rare, but I've seen it happen before.