What is causing parts of my screen to turn black and my computer to lag?

Understanding and Troubleshooting Screen Blackouts and System Lag on Windows 11 with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti

If you’re experiencing intermittent black screens, mouse disappearance, and system lag on your Windows 11 setup featuring an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and Intel i7-9700K processor, you’re not alone. These symptoms can be unsettling and impact your productivity and gaming experience. Let’s explore potential causes, diagnostic steps, and solutions to address these issues effectively.

Recognizing the Symptoms

Common indicators include:

• Random blackouts of parts of the display.
• Disappearance of the mouse cursor.
• System sluggishness or lag, especially when multiple applications are open.
• Windows becoming unresponsive until window focus is changed.
• Crash events such as Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) with errors like “WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR.”
• Occasional GPU-related errors during intensive tasks like video rendering.

Potential Causes

The issues you’re describing could stem from several underlying factors:

1. Graphics Driver Problems: Outdated, corrupt, or incompatible GPU drivers can cause display artifacts and system instability.
2. Hardware Overheating or Malfunction: Overheating components, especially the GPU, may lead to thermal throttling or crashes.
3. Power Supply Insufficiencies: An inadequate power supply can cause the GPU or CPU to underperform or crash.
4. Driver Conflicts with System or Software: Conflicting drivers or background processes can interfere with GPU operations.
5. Hardware Defects: Faulty GPU hardware or RAM issues might also contribute.

Diagnosing the Problem

Here are steps to help identify the root cause:

1. Update Graphics Drivers:
2. Visit NVIDIA’s official website and download the latest drivers for the RTX 3060 Ti.
3. Use the NVIDIA GeForce Experience app for automatic updates, if installed.

4. Perform a clean installation to eliminate remnants of previous drivers.

5. Check Temperatures and Hardware Health:

6. Use tools like HWMonitor, MSI Afterburner, or GPU-Z to monitor GPU and CPU temperatures.
7. Ensure cooling fans are operational and vents are unobstructed.

8. Look for signs of overheating during crashes or blackouts.

9. Run Hardware Diagnostics:

10. Use built-in Windows Memory Diagnostic or tools like MemTest86 to check RAM integrity.

11. Run hardware diagnostics provided by your PC manufacturer, if available.

12. Test System Stability:
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