Graphic Cards PC won't boot with the GPU plugged in

[Slayer88]

Hi all,

Was playing FarCry 6 today and my PC turned off randomly. Post that it would not start. Did all the troubleshooting steps but nothing works.

I turn on the mains and whether i press the case power button or not the RGB on the RAM light up after 10 secs. No fans, no Debug LEDs nothing.

The minute i remove the GPU i get fans, and the Debug LEDs glow and stop at VGA (obviously, as no GPU is in and the CPU has no igpu)

I don't think it could be the PSU as the the Mobo debug LEDs would glow if it was not getting any power, right? I don't think it;s the Mobo as if that was dead it would not post and cycle through the debug LEDs once the GPU was removed.

I've tried the GPU 2nd PCIE slot and it displays the exact same behaviour. Sadly, I do not have spare GPU or CPU to test.. my 1 friend is has bought a gaming laptop for portability reasons.

Specs:
Ryzen 7 5800x | Aorus X570 Pro WiFi | Gigabyte GTX 1080Ti | 32GB HyperX Fury RGB 3200Mz | 500 GB Samsung 970 Evo Plus & 1TB Crucial MX500 | NZXT x53 240mm AIO | 850W Antec HCG Gold | Lancool K62


Any ideas? Thoughts?

TIA

 

[RadarHz]

Do the LEDs (if applicable) next to the power connectors on the GPU also light up when PSU is plugged in and working?

 

[Slayer88]

Do the LEDs (if applicable) next to the power connectors on the GPU also light up when PSU is plugged in and working?

That's actually a good point, they usually flash/turn on if the GPU is plugged in to the PCIe slot but power cables to the GPU are not. Right now, if I plug in the GPU but do not plug in the 6 and 8 pin power connectors, the PC debug lights and fans etc turn on. But the LEDs on the GPU, just above the power connector, do nothing. Thanks for your reply.

 

[princeoo7]

Hi all,

Was playing FarCry 6 today and my PC turned off randomly. Post that it would not start. Did all the troubleshooting steps but nothing works.

I turn on the mains and whether i press the case power button or not the RGB on the RAM light up after 10 secs. No fans, no Debug LEDs nothing.

The minute i remove the GPU i get fans, and the Debug LEDs glow and stop at VGA (obviously, as no GPU is in and the CPU has no igpu)

I don't think it could be the PSU as the the Mobo debug LEDs would glow if it was not getting any power, right? I don't think it;s the Mobo as if that was dead it would not post and cycle through the debug LEDs once the GPU was removed.

I've tried the GPU 2nd PCIE slot and it displays the exact same behaviour. Sadly, I do not have spare GPU or CPU to test.. my 1 friend is has bought a gaming laptop for portability reasons.

Specs:
Ryzen 7 5800x | Aorus X570 Pro WiFi | Gigabyte GTX 1080Ti | 32GB HyperX Fury RGB 3200Mz | 500 GB Samsung 970 Evo Plus & 1TB Crucial MX500 | NZXT x53 240mm AIO | 850W Antec HCG Gold | Lancool K62


Any ideas? Thoughts?

TIA

if your gpu and boot led are on, just reset the cmos. worked for me last week itself

 

[Slayer88]

if your gpu and boot led are on, just reset the cmos. worked for me last week itself

Debug lights are not on, the min a remove the GPU or it's power cables they come on.

 

[nRiTeCh]

That's actually a good point, they usually flash/turn on if the GPU is plugged in to the PCIe slot but power cables to the GPU are not. Right now, if I plug in the GPU but do not plug in the 6 and 8 pin power connectors, the PC debug lights and fans etc turn on. But the LEDs on the GPU, just above the power connector, do nothing. Thanks for your reply.

If any gpu is powered without plugging in any power cables a message is displayed on the monitor to plugin the power cables.

Dismantle everything. Remove the cmos battery and dont insert it back, short cmos jumper too. And just try to power-on with a single ram, mobo,proccy and your gpu in either slot and check.

Also, try a spare monitor or if your monitor had dual hdmi or dvi ports try those too along with various hdmi/dvi ports on back of your gpu.

 

[Slayer88]

Dismantle everything. Remove the cmos battery and dont insert it back, short cmos jumper too. And just try to power-on with a single ram, mobo,proccy and your gpu in either slot and check.

Did this ^ bro. Nothing works

Also, try a spare monitor or if your monitor had dual hdmi or dvi ports try those too along with various hdmi/dvi ports on back of your gpu.

Let me give a TLDR version as its a very unique. weird and tricky issue;

Below are 2 scenarios;

1) GPU installed with power cables to the GPU plugged in- PC does not respond to the power button press, there are no debug LEDs or no Fans moving, nothing. RGB on Ram will automatically turn on 10 seconds after power cord is attached to the PSU , this happens even if i do not press the power button on the PC

2) GPU removed or GPU installed BUT the power cables to the GPU unplugged - PC responds to the power button, debug LEDs turn on and cycle as expected, Fans start spinning. RGB on RAM does not automatically turn on, it only turns on when the power button on the PC is pressed.

In #2 - Eveything is working but boot does not complete as there is no GPU installed and my CPU does not have an iGPU. This is normal.

Also, including some of my neighbors @tech.monk and @fullysharpened here who live close by or any kind soul near Malad. If possible may I request your support in any of the 2 ways mentioned below you feel comfortable; (or any recommendation of your choice) Please DM to let me know if something is possible.

a) If available, lend me a spare PSU or GPU to test for a day.
b) Spare me 30 mins on the weekend to come to your place with my GPU and PSU to test in your system.

 

[tech.monk]

Did this ^ bro. Nothing works


Let me give a TLDR version as its a very unique. weird and tricky issue;

Below are 2 scenarios;

1) GPU installed with power cables to the GPU plugged in- PC does not respond to the power button press, there are no debug LEDs or no Fans moving, nothing. RGB on Ram will automatically turn on 10 seconds after power cord is attached to the PSU , this happens even if i do not press the power button on the PC

2) GPU removed or GPU installed BUT the power cables to the GPU unplugged - PC responds to the power button, debug LEDs turn on and cycle as expected, Fans start spinning. RGB on RAM does not automatically turn on, it only turns on when the power button on the PC is pressed.

In #2 - Eveything is working but boot does not complete as there is no GPU installed and my CPU does not have an iGPU. This is normal.

Also, including some of my neighbors @tech.monk and @fullysharpened here who live close by or any kind soul near Malad. If possible may I request your support in any of the 2 ways mentioned below you feel comfortable; (or any recommendation of your choice) Please DM to let me know if something is possible.

a) If available, lend me a spare PSU or GPU to test for a day.
b) Spare me 30 mins on the weekend to come to your place with my GPU and PSU to test in your system.

check you PM buddy

 

[nRiTeCh]

I also stay in Malad but work in Pune and my entire gaming system is in Pune. If you would have been here would had helped right away!

 

[Slayer88]

check you PM buddy

TYSM Bro!!

I also stay in Malad but work in Pune and my entire gaming system is in Pune. If you would have been here would had helped right away!

Yea buddy i recall you mentioned your in Mumbai and are in Pune hence did not request your help. Thanks a lot for the willingness to help but !!

 

[enthusiast29]

Sounds like a short on GPU 12V rail, can't be 100% sure. I'm saying this because your PSU is detecting this and isn't letting you turn on when everything's connected.

 

[Slayer88]

Sounds like a short on GPU 12V rail, can't be 100% sure. I'm saying this because your PSU is detecting this and isn't letting you turn on when everything's connected.

Exactly what i feel too. It's going into protection mode and preventing a full startup due to a short on the GPU side. If this is the case, who'd be able to fix the GPU? My 1080Ti is working great for my 1080p needs so don't wanna replace it (apart from having to blow up cash in doing so!)

 

[fullysharpened]

Did this ^ bro. Nothing works


Let me give a TLDR version as its a very unique. weird and tricky issue;

Below are 2 scenarios;

1) GPU installed with power cables to the GPU plugged in- PC does not respond to the power button press, there are no debug LEDs or no Fans moving, nothing. RGB on Ram will automatically turn on 10 seconds after power cord is attached to the PSU , this happens even if i do not press the power button on the PC

2) GPU removed or GPU installed BUT the power cables to the GPU unplugged - PC responds to the power button, debug LEDs turn on and cycle as expected, Fans start spinning. RGB on RAM does not automatically turn on, it only turns on when the power button on the PC is pressed.

In #2 - Eveything is working but boot does not complete as there is no GPU installed and my CPU does not have an iGPU. This is normal.

Also, including some of my neighbors @tech.monk and @fullysharpened here who live close by or any kind soul near Malad. If possible may I request your support in any of the 2 ways mentioned below you feel comfortable; (or any recommendation of your choice) Please DM to let me know if something is possible.

a) If available, lend me a spare PSU or GPU to test for a day.
b) Spare me 30 mins on the weekend to come to your place with my GPU and PSU to test in your system.

That's unfortunate! I'd be more than willing to help but my place is undergoing renovation and all of my possessions are in sealed cardboard boxes. Sorry and good luck!

 

[enthusiast29]

who'd be able to fix the GPU? My 1080Ti is working great for my 1080p needs so don't wanna replace it (apart from having to blow up cash in doing so!)

That's hard to say, usually repair shops are not that good in India and if there are any hidden gems I'm not aware of them.
Sometimes we gotta let things go. I know how you feel when something is good enough and doesn't need a change but now the situation demands it that you have no other option but to do it.

On a separate note, how often did you cleaned it? Like blow dust or clean with isopropyl alcohol and repaste?

 

[Slayer88]

That's unfortunate! I'd be more than willing to help but my place is undergoing renovation and all of my possessions are in sealed cardboard boxes. Sorry and good luck!

NP, TechMonk has been kind enough to offer his help. Thanks for the willingness to help though.

That's hard to say, usually repair shops are not that good in India and if there are any hidden gems I'm not aware of them.
Sometimes we gotta let things go. I know how you feel when something is good enough and doesn't need a change but now the situation demands it that you have no other option but to do it.

On a separate note, how often did you cleaned it? Like blow dust or clean with isopropyl alcohol and repaste?

Have never re-pasted. Temps were always good so never needed to. I Got the card in 2019 but till the pandemic i gamed just an hour or 2 a week. In the pandemic this has gone got 3-8 hours a week. The PC is only used for gaming, have an NUC for media consumption. The top of the card (exposed PCB) i would brush with a baby hair brush that has long and very soft bristles, way softer than a toothbrush, would do this once in 2 months. And the heatsink i would blow clean with a hand pump, the heatsink rarely got dusty, the top PCB used to get dusty so would dust it. As for cleaning with IPA, i just did that yesterday to see if it would fix the issue, never before (perhaps once before), in hind sight i feel i should have more often.

Anyway lets see what my testing reveals. Will report back.

 

[nRiTeCh]

I'm only thinking as to
All of a sudden what happened to PC turned off randomly.
Was it a load on gpu rails or the entire wattage requirement shot up.
Given that its an antec gold 850w psu which can easily handle 1080ti along with entire system OC this incident comes as a surprise but also its electronics eod and things can go wrong anytime...

Things to check are mobo, psu and gpu (I know this has been repeated many times above)
Theres a psu tester available on amazon if you wish to buy and test psu rails it can rule out the issues. Gpu can be tested at anyone's place. And if both of these seem fine then its mobo rma time.

 

[Slayer88]

I'm only thinking as to
All of a sudden what happened to PC turned off randomly.
Was it a load on gpu rails or the entire wattage requirement shot up.
Given that its an antec gold 850w psu which can easily handle 1080ti along with entire system OC this incident comes as a surprise but also its electronics eod and things can go wrong anytime...

Things to check are mobo, psu and gpu (I know this has been repeated many times above)
Theres a psu tester available on amazon if you wish to buy and test psu rails it can rule out the issues. Gpu can be tested at anyone's place. And if both of these seem fine then its mobo rma time.

Yup if its not the GPU or PSU, has to be the motherboard.

 

[enthusiast29]

Was it a load on gpu rails or the entire wattage requirement shot up.
Given that its an antec gold 850w psu which can easily handle 1080ti along with entire system OC this incident comes as a surprise but also its electronics eod and things can go wrong anytime...

The full power draw on the aging GPU can overwhelm the VRMs on it and probably one of the MOSFET went bad causing a short on the 12V rail thereby triggering the protection on the PSU due to which the system shut off immediately.

 

[Slayer88]

The full power draw on the aging GPU can overwhelm the VRMs on it and probably one of the MOSFET went bad causing a short on the 12V rail thereby triggering the protection on the PSU due to which the system shut off immediately.

Yea as mentioned I too have this assumption but what baffles me is why and how does the ram rgb auto turn on if the PSU isn't turning on? Perhaps it's the 5v or/and 3.3v lines are active and just the 12v rail is being suspended?


Update: 15:56 8th June

PC boots fine with a GT 710
PC does not boot with the 1080Ti even with another known good PSU. There are 0 signs of power. Still no fans, debug LEDs or anything. Just the RGB on the RAM that auto turns itself on without any input on from me.


Using a spare 6pin PCIE power cable with open wires, I checked the +12v and ground lead on the card with a multimeter, set to continuity mode, and it shows 100% continuity (it beeped), indicating there is a short. Seems obvious that the yellow and black should not show 100% continuity, right? Adding @rsaeon who is also an expert here on PSUs and can help confirm the previous statement.

Special thanks to TechMonk

 

[nRiTeCh]

Yea as mentioned I too have this assumption but what baffles me is why and how does the ram rgb auto turn on if the PSU isn't turning on? Perhaps it's the 5v or/and 3.3v lines are active and just the 12v rail is being suspended?


Update: 15:56 8th June

PC boots fine with a GT 710
PC does not boot with the 1080Ti even with another known good PSU. There are 0 signs of power. Still no fans, debug LEDs or anything. Just the RGB on the RAM that auto turns itself on without any input on from me.


Using a spare 6pin PCIE power cable with open wires, I checked the +12v and ground lead on the card with a multimeter, set to continuity mode, and it shows 100% continuity (it beeped), indicating there is a short. Seems obvious that the yellow and black should not show 100% continuity, right? Adding @rsaeon who is also an expert here on PSUs and can help confirm the previous statement.

View attachment 136108

Special thanks to TechMonk

Glad that you got something to test and that the gpu seems at fault here per your tests and observations.
Was it a recent bios update or something which is resulting in Ram leds to turn on without even powering on the system?

In your case I highly suspect that after a bios reset or auto-bios reset due to the failure, the stock factory settings might have kicked in resulting in the ram leds to turn on idling. Google for more or better ask this specific behavior on reddit or someone here who owns Aorus with keen interest in rgb stuff (like me)

This behavior is common in fact normal on Asus rog mobos. I own one and the moment I just turn on the mains the mobo leds/ logo etc. all light up though in bios there's an option to toggle such feature (3-4 options to chose from)

So if thats the case then your mobo seems perfectly fine here. But again its under warranty so you can get it rmaed if somethings wrong.

You got the multimeter so you can google for certain mobo chip level bus tests which might give you better insights as to whats kicking in ram leds. But I would highly press you to dig inside bios as my 7th sense says some setting might be toggling them on..

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/k5aly1

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/gd5tfu