GPU woes........ gutted

[Naaktgeboren]

Tis the season to be jolly. Have managed a mighty 16 days off of work and the plan was to kick back, relax and catch up with some gaming... well that was the plan. I have been having minor PC issues for a week and have been trying to get to the bottom of them. It has not been too bad, just tdr crashes, after the crash I have been able to use the system all day without a single problem.

Yesterday, I put on a movie and noticed that my amp was flashing on and off as it was picking up the digital sound signal. I tried lots of other videos and it was the same for all of them. I then tried to play some music through windows media player, the player would not even attempt to play the track Rebooted the system and went into Steam, tried some games but they were all crashing within 10 seconds of me opening them, think it was the exe has stopped responsing message in every case.

Decided to bite the bullet and do a fresh reinstall. I have also replaced all HDMI leads from my system to the amp. I know the amp is not faulty as my Sky box also runs to it, the Sky box works without a single issue.

Completed the install last night but have exactly the same issues. This morning when I was playing around with things, this happend.

After 2-3 minutes it returns back to the normal desktop colour, then alternates, gradually getting worse.

So, is this card dying a horrible silicon style death?

Teach me to arrange a gaming holiday

 

[Deadringers]

hmm I had something weird happen with my 580.

weird colours, artefacts etc.

in the end i powered down my pc, left it for 15 minutes and then left it unplugged for a few hours - not connected to anything not eve power.

Then I came back turned it all on and it was fine!?

been fine ever since.

Good luck with it mate.

 

[Razor]

If you are getting tdr errors, have you tried reseating the gpu and clearing the CMOS?

 

[eiren]

Sounds like a damaged HDMI connector on the GPU. Have you tried the DVI connection to eliminate that?

 

[Divide by zero]

Yep, like Razor said.

I would:

1) Remove GPU, blow it out, reseat it, checking power cables.

2) Try a new cable.

3) Failing that, remove any OCs you may have on your system and try a reset of your CMOS.

 

[Grangey.]

Sounds like a damaged HDMI connector on the GPU. Have you tried the DVI connection to eliminate that?

This

Try other connections before ruling out on all hope- appreciate this may mean you loose your current audio capabilities but surely better than forking out on a new card!

 

[wolvers]

If it's gradually getting worse then it could well sound like hardware dying.

Is it Nvidia? TDR is a driver issue;

NVIDIA is aware that some GeForce customers have reported Windows TDRs (timeout detection and recovery) while browsing the web with Release 280 and later drivers. NVIDIA is actively working with customers to address this issue. In the few cases where NVIDIA has been able to reproduce this issue (both on-site and working directly with customers), a complete manual uninstall of the driver and subsequent clean installation of the latest Release 285 drivers using the exact directions below has fixed the issue. We will actively pursue any issues experienced by customers after following the clean installation steps below.

NVIDIA Display Driver Clean Installation Steps:

1) Click on the Windows Start Button.

2) Select Control Panel.

3) Select Uninstall a program under Programs or select Programs and Features depending on the control panel view.

4) Double-click on NVIDIA Graphics Driver in the program list and follow the uninstall instructions. Click Restart Now when prompted.

5) After restart, if you have any remaining display drivers stored in your Windows directory, Windows may start to install a different graphics driver. If so, allow it to install the driver and then restart again when prompted.

6) Repeat steps 1 through 5 until the NVIDIA Graphics Driver version is 275.XX or earlier OR until there is no NVIDIA Graphics Driver reported under Programs.

7) Download GeForce 285.62 WHQL driver from:

Drivers - GeForce

8) Although not required, you may disable any system monitoring tools or anti-virus software running in the background as they may sometimes prevent driver files or registry keys from being written correctly during the installation process. After a driver installation has completed, you can re-enable your system monitoring or anti-virus software. To begin the driver installation process, Right-click on the NVIDIA display driver package and select "Run as administrator".

9) Continue to the Install Options page. Select Custom install.

10) On the Custom install page, select the checkbox for Perform clean install. Click next.

11) During the clean installation the driver, follow any requests to restart your PC.

12) After the installation is complete, restart your PC one final time.

Note: These steps are only recommended for this issue and are not required for standard driver updates.

If you have performed these steps and continue to experience TDRs, please provide your system information, driver version(s) and instructions on how to reproduce the TDR.

That's from early Nov, here;

NVIDIA TDR Troubleshooting - NVIDIA Forums

Our next December driver update will include one fix which has resolved TDRs in some of the end users boards. But at this point, we do not believe we will fix all of the symptoms until the January driver.

 

[MikeKay1976]

IF you cant get it running again......look on the bright side..... you have been having issues with it for a week or so now, but at least now it has gone fully you know what the problem is & can send it back and get replaced under warranty?

(unless it is out of warranty, but even then, assuming it is inside of 3 years old the SOG act is on your side)

ps I feel your pain, my £110 quid gaming headset decided to pack up on me last night just in time for me to get some online gaming on the go before xmas with some mates I have not chatted with in ages. Not so much fun with no working mic. Luckily its under warranty

 

[Naaktgeboren]

Sounds like a damaged HDMI connector on the GPU. Have you tried the DVI connection to eliminate that?

You were 100% spot on with that opinion so thanks very much for that mate Inspected the card earlier and the HDMI connecter is definaltly loose (compared to the connecter on my sons system) Hooked up a DVI lead and everything worked perfectly. Luckily, my amp also supports toslink so I have not lost any functionality whatsoever.

Not 100% sure what to do now, the card is still under warranty, the HDMI lead has never once been removed and my rig is position in a manner where accidental damage is impossible so I have absolutly no idea how this could have occured. I dont believe for one minute that if I RMI the card, it will work out in my favour, simply due to the part that is damaged On the other hand, I know that I have not caused the damage so I dont see why I should settle for a 'limited' gfx card.

Anyone had any experience of returning a card with such a fault?

 

[eiren]

You were 100% spot on with that opinion so thanks very much for that mate Inspected the card earlier and the HDMI connecter is definaltly loose (compared to the connecter on my sons system) Hooked up a DVI lead and everything worked perfectly. Luckily, my amp also supports toslink so I have not lost any functionality whatsoever.

Not 100% sure what to do now, the card is still under warranty, the HDMI lead has never once been removed and my rig is position in a manner where accidental damage is impossible so I have absolutly no idea how this could have occured. I dont believe for one minute that if I RMI the card, it will work out in my favour, simply due to the part that is damaged On the other hand, I know that I have not caused the damage so I dont see why I should settle for a 'limited' gfx card.

Anyone had any experience of returning a card with such a fault?

Damn I am good again!

Glad you got to the bottom of it mate.

What brand is the card? The RMA process is different for each brand. If it's EVGA you are laughing and will get a new card replacement with no issues.

 

[Naaktgeboren]

Its an MSI Twin Frozr card.

 

[wolvers]

HDMI is a rubbish connector, very poor design. Is it possible that the plug was pushed to one side at some point, possible when the PC is pushed back into position? I had this happen to an AV amp a few years ago and it damaged one of the pins in the socket. That would never happen with DVI or D-sub, they're much better connectors. Luckily you can get board mount HDMI sockets from maplin for a few squids and one of the electronics dudes at work replaced it for me.

I wonder why the colours go all weird on a poor HDMI connection? My amp problem caused something similar.

 

[Deadringers]

if you really wanted to persue it mate I would ask for an exchange based on the fact that the hdmi port has come lose from normal operation.

if they do not buy that then argue it was not fit for purpose when sold to you...which it obviously was not as it broke!

Good luck.

 

[eiren]

Yeah just state it came lose when you were connecting the HDMI cable as per normal. As Wolvers says, everyone knows HDMI connectors are really poor.

 

[Naaktgeboren]

Ok, an update. Thanks to Sniper Ash and a friend of his in the business, I got the card RMA'd, only just got it back this morning. Installed it once again, fired it up and I am greeted with this


You might want to turn your speaker up a little to hear the noise it is making. This noise starts at 55% fan and gets (a lot worse)

I am absolutely gutted, to be honest I don't know where to go from here feel like selling the lot at this moment (minus the squeeky card ) Very ****** off that MSI did not test this card prior to sending it off to me, there is no way a problem like this could happen in transit.

Anyone care to guess what is causing this new problem, I have inspected the card and there is nothing obvious.

 

[MGRayd]

Sounds like one of the fans is touching the guard when spinning. Obviously this will weaken the fan and it can explode into tiny bits! Take card out and have a look at the guard and see if the fans wobble which will cause it to touch, also see if the guard is bent.

 

[Andyh4324]

This seems like a nightmare by the sounds of it. I'd just send it back. I'd email with a link to that video to demonstrate the problem. If you take it apart it will void the warranty. Then you'd be stuck with it!

Hope it gets fixed soon.

 

[eiren]

Sounds (no pun intended Jonney!) like a good excuse to go buy yourself a nice silent aftermarket cooler to go on it.

 

[Naaktgeboren]

Taken the card out again and looked at the fans. One of them moves freely and the other is a little stuck, looked further and it is shody workmanship by the looks of things.

This fan works fine, note the clearance after the end of each fan blade ensuring that the blade does not touch the cooler surround

This is the faulty side, if you look at the clearance at this side of the fan, its almost double that of the other side.

As a result, the fan is not fitted correctly and as you can see, the opposite blades are actually touching the cooler surround.

 

[Sniper Ash6]

Ok, an update. Thanks to Sniper Ash and a friend of his in the business, I got the card RMA'd, only just got it back this morning. Installed it once again, fired it up and I am greeted with this

Grx470 - YouTube

You might want to turn your speaker up a little to hear the noise it is making. This noise starts at 55% fan and gets (a lot worse)

I am absolutely gutted, to be honest I don't know where to go from here feel like selling the lot at this moment (minus the squeeky card ) Very ****** off that MSI did not test this card prior to sending it off to me, there is no way a problem like this could happen in transit.

Anyone care to guess what is causing this new problem, I have inspected the card and there is nothing obvious.

No problem mate, sorry to hear of the problems you're having now. Hopefully they sort it out rather sharpish!

 

[Naaktgeboren]

Keeping this thread updated as I have given the link to Overclockers when I complained this evening. I have inspected the card properly this evening and the card is actually bent

Beyond belief that this has been passed as ok to send, very disappointed with MSI. I received the card in a white MSI box, the box shows no sign of any damage so it was obviously sent in this state.

Hoping to hear back from Overclockers tomorrow. I am not prepared to go through another RMI, I want a swap out.

 

[wolvers]

The card is bent as in the circuit board? Looks to me like it's the cowling over the fans that is bent? If that is the case I'd just tweak it back into shape.

 

[Naaktgeboren]

The card is bent as in the circuit board? Looks to me like it's the cowling over the fans that is bent? If that is the case I'd just tweak it back into shape.

The circuit board is not damaged it is just the cooling device attached, it is bent out of shape, if you look along the length of the card it is very obvious. I could bend it back into shape but, if you consider the fact that I paid a little over £200 for the card 9-10 months ago, I shouldn't really have to. Apart from the original problem with the HDMI connection, the card I returned was immaculate, I even shipped it with all of the original plastic port protectors (MSI did not even bother doing this when sending it back to me)

I am planning on upgrading when the new 6 series cards are released, when this happens I will sell my 470 to put some money towards it. This card I have received is in terrible condition and nobody in their right mind would want to buy this.

Disappointed that Overclockers have not even acknowledged my complaint

 

[=adrian=]

Oh boy, Overclockers... I had some bad experince with them before. I like their store website as it's easy to navigate, but I don't think I'll use them again.

Anyway, all the best. I hope the issue will be sorted in no time

 

[Theydon Bois]

Keeping this thread updated as I have given the link to Overclockers when I complained this evening. I have inspected the card properly this evening and the card is actually bent

Tidied the thread to keep it on track if you are using it for purposes of returns/RMA.