I have been experiencing this issue since 2014 winter break, and it still persists today, despite multiple reformatting attempts, and an upgrade from Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 8.1 Pro.
The error is this: I get a grey screen that pops up only when I am doing things like browsing the internet, opening iTunes, opening Microsoft office, etc... but the weird part is that the error does not occur when playing video games, although it manifests itself in a different way during gaming.
It does not happen when I just leave my computer on the home screen, or any other time. It is really weird, and it has survived multiple re-formats and other troubleshooting (even a registry cleaning).
This is a video of the error popping up upon opening the internet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O38MBs1GS50
When this error occurs, the screen goes completely grey, and does not turn off the computer, or produce a blue screen error. I have had a few bluescreen errors like an NTFS bsod and a few others, which can be explained further and shown in my event logs, of which I was able to reconcile and fix. The computer stays on as if it is running, as you can see in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O38MBs1GS50
The hang on the grey screen can only be removed through hard restarting the computer.
The only times I have been able to not get the error while using the computer are when I play Counter-strike: Global Offensive, or any other video game. Although I can still game, the problem does manifest itself in different ways during gaming as you can see here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WytPefbXIS8
and here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP6pl_oBUuM
and here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB1iW5qRS5M
While you may think that this error is hardware related, I can assure you it is not, because I have RMA'd my Monitor, Motherboard, Graphics Card, and SSD, in attempt to reconcile the issue.
I have searched this error (in the title) on Google, and have found someone else with the problem, and have completed what other sites have recommended, but the error still persists, and none of the solutions I found were able to mark the question as [SOLVED]. So yes, I have tried to reconcile this issue on my own, to no avail. I have uninstalled and re-installed the GPU Drivers, Reformatted, cleaned the registry, ran chkdsk (/scan /sportfix and /f /r), and nothing has worked. Please help, and thanks in advance!
OS:
Windows 8.1 Pro
GPU DRIVER VERISON:
AMD CATALYST SOFTWARE SUITE >> 14.501.1003-141120a-178000C
Computer Specs:
Corsair 250D Mini-ITX (Case)
Corsair AIR SP120 (Fans)
CorsairAF140(Fans)
Corsair H100i WaterCooler
Seasonic 660 W (PSUP)
WD OEM 1 TB 3.5 BLK (HDD)
Kingston HyperX 240GB (SSD)
Asrock Z97E-ITX/AC
Inter Core i7-4790K
Sapphire Vapor-X R9 290 4GB GDDR5 (GPU)
Peripherals:
Razer Blackwidow Mechanical Keyboard
Razer DeathAdder Ergo
Astro A40 + MixAmp
BenQ XL2420Z
The error is this: I get a grey screen that pops up only when I am doing things like browsing the internet, opening iTunes, opening Microsoft office, etc... but the weird part is that the error does not occur when playing video games, although it manifests itself in a different way during gaming.
It does not happen when I just leave my computer on the home screen, or any other time. It is really weird, and it has survived multiple re-formats and other troubleshooting (even a registry cleaning).
This is a video of the error popping up upon opening the internet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O38MBs1GS50
When this error occurs, the screen goes completely grey, and does not turn off the computer, or produce a blue screen error. I have had a few bluescreen errors like an NTFS bsod and a few others, which can be explained further and shown in my event logs, of which I was able to reconcile and fix. The computer stays on as if it is running, as you can see in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O38MBs1GS50
The hang on the grey screen can only be removed through hard restarting the computer.
The only times I have been able to not get the error while using the computer are when I play Counter-strike: Global Offensive, or any other video game. Although I can still game, the problem does manifest itself in different ways during gaming as you can see here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WytPefbXIS8
and here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP6pl_oBUuM
and here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB1iW5qRS5M
While you may think that this error is hardware related, I can assure you it is not, because I have RMA'd my Monitor, Motherboard, Graphics Card, and SSD, in attempt to reconcile the issue.
I have searched this error (in the title) on Google, and have found someone else with the problem, and have completed what other sites have recommended, but the error still persists, and none of the solutions I found were able to mark the question as [SOLVED]. So yes, I have tried to reconcile this issue on my own, to no avail. I have uninstalled and re-installed the GPU Drivers, Reformatted, cleaned the registry, ran chkdsk (/scan /sportfix and /f /r), and nothing has worked. Please help, and thanks in advance!
OS:
Windows 8.1 Pro
GPU DRIVER VERISON:
AMD CATALYST SOFTWARE SUITE >> 14.501.1003-141120a-178000C
Computer Specs:
Corsair 250D Mini-ITX (Case)
Corsair AIR SP120 (Fans)
CorsairAF140(Fans)
Corsair H100i WaterCooler
Seasonic 660 W (PSUP)
WD OEM 1 TB 3.5 BLK (HDD)
Kingston HyperX 240GB (SSD)
Asrock Z97E-ITX/AC
Inter Core i7-4790K
Sapphire Vapor-X R9 290 4GB GDDR5 (GPU)
Peripherals:
Razer Blackwidow Mechanical Keyboard
Razer DeathAdder Ergo
Astro A40 + MixAmp
BenQ XL2420Z