Dead Men Walking

dMw Chit Chat => The Beer Bar => Technology Section => Topic started by: smilodon on November 13, 2018, 10:08:26 PM

Title: Is she dead?
Post by: smilodon on November 13, 2018, 10:08:26 PM
I'm looking for a little advice and maybe a confirmation that my GPU is on the way out. Thanks

Nvidia GTX 780 powering a main monitor via HDMI and a second via DVI. I've had a couple of black screens on both monitors, usually while playing a game. The only fix was a power cycle.
 
Tonight though I couldn't recover from the latest crash. I did manage to get back into the OS but only my second DVI monitor worked. The main monitor on the HDMI was showing nothing but a standby light. Windows reported the GPU as faulty in the Device manager and disabled. it  I re-enabled it and immediately got another black screen. I did a full W10 PC reset and everything came back and my main monitor running through the HDMI seems to work. SO cables and both monitors would seem to be working OK.

However after a few minutes I got a strange colour corruption effect followed by a black screen. Once back in through a DVI connected monitor the GPU was once more disabled by Windows. It seems that the GPU is causing a problem which kills the graphics. A reboot and Windows disables the GPU allowing me to get back in via the second monitor running on the Windows basic driver (I assume that doesn't support HDMI hence no image on the HDMI monitor).

I've tried a new HDMI cable but no joy. I've cleaned the PC out recently so I assume there's no dust, heat problems. I installed the Nvidia bloaty app which achieved nothing. Can I assume my GPU is failing and needs replacing. Or is there a miracle cure I'm missing that will save me a bundle of cash.

Cheers.
Title: Is she dead?
Post by: OldBloke on November 14, 2018, 08:08:45 AM
Did you clean the GPU fan? Is said fan spinning?
Title: Is she dead?
Post by: smilodon on November 14, 2018, 08:43:06 AM
Yep and all three fans spin up nicely. PC and monitors all work fine using the on board Intel HD 4000 GPU, as soon as I plug in the GTX 780 it all goes south. Sadly due to the layout of my motherboard the 780 will only fit in the first PCI slot (there are three).
So unless the PCI slot is at fault I'm currently working on the assumption that it's the GPU.

Cheers
Title: Is she dead?
Post by: Chaosphere on November 14, 2018, 09:23:58 AM
It does sound like the card, and as both HDMi and DVI alone have caused the issues it's unlikely to be a bad port, unfortunately.

Can you take the system out of the case and make the card fit in another PCI slot then? If not, I think I have an old but working GPU I can send you to test your PCI slot with, if you're willing to wait?

The only other thing is the power supply, as it could be a dodgy rail. I'd wager this is much less likely though, so best to rule out PCI / GPU first.
Title: Is she dead?
Post by: smilodon on November 14, 2018, 04:54:49 PM
I've been running an old Nvidia 760 for few hours and all seems well, so I'm confident it's the 780 that's broke. And if you clever clogs don't think I've missed something obvious a new card will be with me before 12.30 tomorrow. Hurrah for Overclockers!

Thanks
Title: Is she dead?
Post by: Chaosphere on November 14, 2018, 04:59:08 PM
Sounds good.. I just hope you went for a 1080 or 1080Ti, for your wallet's sake!

Enjoy!