1080 Ti repair help, a really odd fault. *Probably dead gpu, so I'm done*

[William_K]

Hello everyone!

Got a used Zotak 1080 Ti blower from my friend who bought another one since this one didn't work anymore and he didn't have a clue to what had happened with it and neither do I but at least he doesn't do overclock as to my knowledge and it wasn't watercooled.

Its a really strange fault: the fan works and blows slowly as I guess is expected on these cards, all the voltages are surprisingly within spec, and fex the 0.9 Vcore goes down to 0.7 after some seconds as expected. My computer has 4 leds and the computer stop when its comes to the the graphic card LED and just hangs there. The screen cycles between inputs without finding the card and the screen doesn't show anything at all.

However, after around 30 seconds or so the graphic card LED goes out, a green led is lit, a single short beeb is heard and the computer actually boots!! What the..

There is nothing on the screen though but the screen has detected the card since you can see that the screen is activated if you know what I mean.

The GPU chip gets really hot and a thermal camera also shows all the memory is very slightly heating up a little when the computer beeps.


I have also tested the card on an little older another MB (not with a screen though) and its pretty much the same thing; a led at the graphic card is red and stays so for around 20 - 30 seconds after it goes out and a short beeps is heard and a LED for boot_device lights up.

I'm totally lost!

Does anyone perhaps have an idea or even a loose theory to this or any tip to what to look after?

Regards William

[Labrat101]

Welcome to the forum

It's more likely  that the HDMI port has got damaged . One of the pins has got pulled off the board.
caused by the weight of the cable .
Try one of the display ports .
You have 1 HDMI & 3 Display ports

[William_K]

Thanks!

Ok yea that is of course something to check up on, I will take a look there. Although surprised and a little scared of the abnormal long pause though that the gpu should be dead.

[TiN]

Sounds like dead memory/bad BGA connection on PCB or some other physical damage. Check if any components are cracked/missing on PCB.

[William_K]

Ok, will check more carefully under a microscope.

Can the possibillity of a fubr GPU be ruled out or the is still a possibility? Since that is pretty much a dealbreaker.

The HDMI and connections looked fine but I have planned to buy a Displayport - HDMI adapter just to be sure since my old screen only have HDMI, and well VGA as well, yes its old.

[Labrat101]

Question ?
First I assume you have first checked the obvious things first .
1. Make sure the edge strip has not been damage . including gold pins scraped etc.
2. Make sure that the bridging edge is clean and not damaged .
3. The 12v auxiliary socket has 12v and the correct 6 or 8 pin connector sits firm .
     And the pins have not become damaged or the solder connections are good on the board.
If the 12v to the card is missing due to fuse or other this will also cause about the same problems
even though the card does have 12 volts from the mother board without the aux power it will stay
in safe mode .
These card are normally pretty hardy but of coarse they can fail .  The memory can go bad .
I only ask as we can't see what you have . Also I hope it has not been dropped .
Check to see that the heat sink & pipes are not damaged ..
If it has been dropped the PCB may be cracked  . I hope not for you .

 

[William_K]

1. They all look fine
2. Look fine
3. All ok.
ALL voltages are within spec.

Heatpipes and so on are fine.

I will try MATS one day and see what that say. And if that is ok I'm plum out of ideas, I will put this card aside since I have got my hands on another card in a little better condition but not perfect, but I start another thread on that one that you could take a look on instead perhaps.

This this will be an ongoing saga later on one day.

Thanks for the help guys!

[Labrat101]

If all voltages check out OK and I guess you tried the display ports as well .
Then you probably got a RIP card   

[William_K]

Yea I tried the displayports with a displayport - HDMI adapter as well, no go, dammit.

Ok, well here is the other card and thread then if any might be interested:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/1080-ti-kf-galaxy-kinda-common-artifacts-but-dont-match-up-to-what-i-see/

[testpoint1]

Yea I tried the displayports with a displayport - HDMI adapter as well, no go, dammit.

Ok, well here is the other card and thread then if any might be interested:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/1080-ti-kf-galaxy-kinda-common-artifacts-but-dont-match-up-to-what-i-see/

you must use the Mats, from your description, it is one VRAM chip problem.

[LateLesley]

I have two things to pitch to you.

The first, is to test the video card ram. There is a tool to do this. https://www.programming4beginners.com/gpumemtest

The second, and not for the faint hearted, is to reflash the GPU VBIOS. If you do go down this route, double check EVERYTHING, to make use you have a BIOS that will work with your card. Bricking is possible. Make sure to first back up what is installed in the card, even if it may be bad.
It could just be the flash has flipped some bits, causing the card not to boot properly, and re-writing it may fix it up. After that, it's back to hardware faults.
https://www.techpowerup.com/download/nvidia-nvflash/
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/?architecture=&manufacturer=Zotac&model=GTX+1080+Ti&interface=&memType=&memSize=&since=

[William_K]

Thanks for the reply!

I put it in my computer as a secondary and booted it with another working card but windows don't even recognize it what so ever, which surprise me a little. but I can feel that the gpu dont even get warm, hmm.

I have the necessary equipment to flash the bios, so I might go on that one but I have doubts that it would work and there is something else but you can only hope.

[DavidAlfa]

Yeah, make a backup first, then try some vbios.
Some mobos don't like secondary GPUs. Try resetting the BIOS, it's not the first time they mess things up.
Mine suddenly corrupted for no reason, one day the computer began to show blue screens, tried everything, removed and cleaned every part, resetted the bios 100 times... nothing, in the end the system stopped botting showing a RAM error code in the diagnostic leds.
Then I switched to the 2nd bios (dual bios is a lifesaver) and worked instantly. Switched the BIOS again...error.
Copied the BIOS from the good one, done.

Also ensure some idiot didn't put liquid metal thermal paste and spreaded everywhere...

[William_K]

That's messed up. Its a modern MB; ROG Strix X570-F GAMING. No, no liquid metal thermal paste thankfully.