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I'm getting onscreen glitches whenever I am not playing a game. On Facebook I get black squares on the chat section and whenever I reply here on SDN. This has happened with this video card (Radeon 7850) and the previous card (Radeon 7550.). I've updated the video card drivers and it made no difference (I am updating it again at this moment, hoping to fix it).

These kind of glitches only happen when I am not playing a game. Originally it was worse. Months ago the screen would freeze then go back to normal at least once a day with Win8 saying that the video drivers crapped out but is now restored. That no longer happens except for the black squares.


I do not know if it is related but whenever I am not using the computer for more than 10min Win8 goes into sleep mode. Occasionally, when I get back and move the mouse, the monitor light changes color from sleep mode to normal but the screen stays black. I know it isn't the monitor because when I hard boot the computer goes back to normal. Is that a Win8 (8.1) issue or video driver issue?

Clear the cache and see if it happens again, just to rule out a browser glitch.

Okay, some of the basic info is missing. OS, hardware (laptop or desktop).

So the order of things to do:
* clear cache (use Ccleaner to clear out all the crap)
* update Flash Player and Java (if you have it installed)
* update graphics drivers
* update system BIOS
* reboot

If that doesn't solve it, your graphics card may have a hardware problem.

Edi wrote:Okay, some of the basic info is missing. OS, hardware (laptop or desktop).

So the order of things to do:
* clear cache (use Ccleaner to clear out all the crap)
* update Flash Player and Java (if you have it installed)
* update graphics drivers
* update system BIOS
* reboot

If that doesn't solve it, your graphics card may have a hardware problem.

Win8(then later 8.1)
Custom desktop
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz, 3301 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
8GB of RAM (2x4GB)
Radeon 7850 HD 2GB
1TB HDD

Flash and Java are up to date
Video drivers are up to date
Cache is clear

Yet the issue persists.

I haven't updated the BIOS in a while but the problem was there before and after the last update. (I should update it again.)

It used to be worse. I used to have the video drivers crash on me with Win8 immediately reloading those drivers. Now it is just annoying glitches like black squares in Firefox. No issues with gaming at all.

Can't be hardware issue as this has happened with both video cards (7550 and 7850).

As for the sleep mode issue. It looks like it is the monitor. It has its own sleep mode function and I can't turn it off. I can only delay it (as in have it go to sleep after 2 hours of inactivity.).

The BIOS update may help then, but if the problem appeared on more than one video card, the problem is in the monitor and you may even need to buy a new one if you want permanently rid of it. If it only appears after the monitor has gone to sleep, turning it entirely off when you are away for longer periods may be a viable workaround.

What video card did you have before the old Radeon 7550?

Have you tried to remove the video card drivers completely (set them to standard vga drivers) before updating?

There is a programm called display driver uninstaller that removes everything regarding the video drivers.

Remove the driver totally, let windows install its factory standard driver for Radeon, then update it to the most up-to-date version.

Doing that helped me when I changed from a Radeon to Geforce.

Hope that helps.

tezunegari wrote:What video card did you have before the old Radeon 7550?

Have you tried to remove the video card drivers completely (set them to standard vga drivers) before updating?

There is a programm called display driver uninstaller that removes everything regarding the video drivers.

Remove the driver totally, let windows install its factory standard driver for Radeon, then update it to the most up-to-date version.

Doing that helped me when I changed from a Radeon to Geforce.

Hope that helps.

I had the 7550 when I built the computer last year, so no other card before it.

Edi wrote:The BIOS update may help then, but if the problem appeared on more than one video card, the problem is in the monitor and you may even need to buy a new one if you want permanently rid of it. If it only appears after the monitor has gone to sleep, turning it entirely off when you are away for longer periods may be a viable workaround.

I'll update the BIOS when I get the chance but yeah, I believe it is the monitor. If it is screwing up with sleep mode, who knows what else the monitor is failing at? But if it is the monitor, I'll replace it when something really serious happens (like if it dies completely. ).