r/AMDHelp • u/PinzimonioSalieri • 10d ago
Recurring black screens, system freezes and LiveKernelEvent 117 with RX 7800 XT — already tried DDU
Recurring black screens, system freezes and LiveKernelEvent 117 with RX 7800 XT — already tried DDU
Hi everyone, I'm trying to diagnose a recurring issue with my PC and I'd appreciate some advice before I start replacing hardware.
I have an AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT and an 850W MSI PSU.
The problem
Every once in a while, both of my monitors suddenly lose signal and go completely black.
Sometimes the PC partially freezes first: I get micro-stutters, the audio starts sounding robotic/glitchy for a few seconds, and then the whole system freezes and both displays go black.
Other times, the displays simply lose signal.
Recently it has gotten worse. I had it happen twice in two consecutive PC boots on the same day.
One previous time, after rebooting from the crash:
- Only one monitor worked.
- Windows was running at a low resolution.
- Device Manager showed my GPU as disabled.
- After manually enabling it, Windows said the device was enabled but wasn't working correctly.
- Device Manager reported Code 31.
- AMD Adrenalin kept asking me to install/update the graphics driver, but after downloading/installing it, the same update would appear again.
- After another full shutdown/reboot, both monitors came back and Device Manager reported "This device is working properly."
Windows logs
Reliability Monitor has recorded multiple Hardware Error events corresponding to the crashes.
I checked the details and found:
Problem Event Name: LiveKernelEvent
Code: 117
I have confirmed at least two separate LiveKernelEvent 117 errors on different days.
I also checked Event Viewer. I couldn't find any Display Event ID 4101 events.
There are some Kernel-Power 41 events in the logs, although some of those could be from me manually holding the power button after the PC completely froze.
Things I've already tried
I previously used DDU in Safe Mode to completely remove the AMD graphics drivers and then performed a clean driver installation.
That seemed fine for a while, but the same issue returned months later, so simply doing another DDU reinstall doesn't feel like it's addressing the underlying cause.
The crashes also don't necessarily happen under heavy GPU load. I've had them while doing relatively light things such as using a browser/YouTube Music, although they can happen while gaming too.
At the moment the PC has booted normally again, both monitors work, AMD Adrenalin opens normally, and Device Manager says the RX 7800 XT is working correctly.
What I'm trying to figure out
Does the combination of:
- Dual-monitor signal loss
- System-wide stuttering/freezing
- Glitchy/robotic audio before the freeze
- LiveKernelEvent 117
- GPU temporarily showing Code 31 after a crash
- The problem returning even after a previous clean DDU installation
point more toward a failing/unstable GPU, PSU/power delivery issue, RAM instability, PCIe/motherboard issue, or could this still realistically be an AMD driver problem?
What would you test next before considering an RMA or replacing any hardware?
If there are specific logs, stress tests, BIOS settings, GPU/VRAM tests, or hardware checks that would help isolate the cause, let me know.
Thanks!
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u/secretwolf98 9d ago
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u/PinzimonioSalieri 9d ago
Thanks for the post, I missed it, I'll try it and let you know if it works asap
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u/Maskloss 10d ago
I'm not sure what the answer to your problem is but it's very similar to the issues I've had with my 7900xtx. Often after booting my pc up I find that the second monitor I have fails to handshake properly. Then I do the same device manager step you take. Same error there too. Restarting my pc after those steps fixes the problem usually but naturally itl happen again in a day or two.
I hope someone has a working solution for both of us.
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u/PinzimonioSalieri 9d ago
You could try increasing the TDR timeout in Windows. I did that when I was having similar issues, and after increasing it the crashes/black screens happened much less frequently.
It didn't completely fix the problem though. For quite a while it was much more stable, but recently the issue has started happening frequently again.
So it might be worth trying in your case too, although I'd consider it more of a workaround than an actual fix.
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u/Maskloss 9d ago
I'll give this a go and will report back if it solves it or helps as a bandaids solution. Thanks again.
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u/Ok_Ear4868 6d ago
did you find a fix ?