No Display Signal with official drviers - (updated) GPU appears to be faulty

[cptwhite_uk]

Bit of a strange one this, here's the story so far:

Build a PC last week:

ASrock Z87 Pro4 motherboard
i7 4770K
GTX 980
12Gb RAM (I had 16Gb, but believe one of the slots might be faulty on the motherboard). It was all a bit flaky, sometime 2 or 4 stick would register, sometimes 3, sometimes slot A1 wouldn't register RAM sticks which worked in other slots etc etc. Didn't test all combinations, but found 1 stick which wouldn't register in any slot and removed it, leaving me with 3x 4Gb sticks all Corsair 1600. This might be a seperate issue or related, not sure yet.

Anyway I proceeded with the build using a brand new Kingston SSD, brand new PSU (Aerocool Cylon 600W, rated at 552W on the 12V rail, not high end, but decent enough). All went smoothly and I installed GPU drivers and ran Afterburner and Kombustor to check for issues under load. Ran the test no issues for 15 minutes, and GPU was at 67C (it's an MSI Gaming X, so decent cooler). GPU looks to be in excellent condition too.

I turn off the PC satisfied with the build. The person who is buying it subsequently requested an additional 1Tb storage HDD which I added last night, along with a DVD drive to fill in a missing 5.25" faceplate in the case (Fractal Design Arc Midi R2). It's an older style case, but has decent airflow with 2x 140mm front fans and 1x 140mm rear exhaust. CPU is fitted with a Noctua NH-U9B with dual NF-B9 fans in push/pull. At stock under Prime95 the CPU never goes above 66C

On booting the monitor blank screens during Windows load up. This repeats without fail, making me think it's an issue when the GPU drivers are initialised. Works fine in Safe Mode can gets to desktop as normal.

I try formatting and re-installing Windows from scratch in case it's some driver issue (issue repeats when windows auto-installs nvidia drivers from windows update)
I try loading into safe mode and installing latest drivers pre-downloaded and in offline mode. Same again.
I try setting the PCI-E slot to Gen3 mode (from Auto). Same results.
I reset the BIOS. Same result.
I try Displayport and HDMI cables (both known to be working). Issue happens with either cable, and also 2 different monitors.
I update the BIOS to latest version. Same result.
I move the GPU to my main PC to confirm it's working - installs without issue and runs Kombustor for 10 minutes again without issue. It seems the GPU itself is fine.
I move the GPU into the lower PCI-E slot of the system I'm building, the system comes to life as if the drivers installed correctly previously, and runs Kombustor for 5 minutes without issue. I overclock the GPU to +100 core / + 400 mem and it continues to be stable.
I then return to BIOS to try some CPU overclocking. Get to Windows and start running Prime95. System crashes, no problem I'll tweak the clock and try again.
Monitor starts loosing signal again on Windows load screen (BIOS and POST is fine)
I reset the BIOS again, problem persists
I move the GPU to the upper PCI-E slot again, problem persists
I move the GPU to the lower PCI-E slots afain, problem persists
I try one final re-install of Windows, and the problem still persists - crashing once the nVidia drivers are installed (either through Windows update, or manually with latest driver).

At this point I've no idea what left to try. Fortunately I do have a spare ASrock Z97 motherboard I can switch too if all else fails, which I'm hoping will resolve the issue once and for all, but I'd prefer to try and understand why it's doing this and use the Z87 Pro4 if at all possible. Is there anything I can try before I throw in the towel and go for the easy fix of replacing the motherboard?

When it was working and in stock settings, it seems perfectly fine, really stumped me this one....

[Terbinator]

Windows 10 auto updates and Nvidias recent driver released have been crashing certain builds for weeks now.

I would get a stable Game Ready/Studio Driver from pre-Ampere launch and use that as well as avoiding installing the most recent W10 feature update.

[cptwhite_uk]

I'll give it a go a report back.

[virtuo]

Does the 4770k have an igpu, is it disabled? What happens if you plug your monitor in to the on-board HDMI?

Edit: and assuming when you say it black screens the system is still booting/running just no display?

[Zhaoman]

Sounds like a nightmare, I am following this thread with interest because I had a brand new 3060Ti crash on install of drivers but run fine before drivers and in Safe Mode. Funny thing is I ordered another 3060Ti and it installed fine. The fact that it runs fine in safe mode and before drivers suggests it isn't a hardware (card or mobo) issue, am I correct in thinking that...? Best of luck with resolving it.

[cptwhite_uk]

Does the 4770k have an igpu, is it disabled? What happens if you plug your monitor in to the on-board HDMI?

Edit: and assuming when you say it black screens the system is still booting/running just no display?

Yes it does have iGPU, but the BIOS is set to PCI-E as the Primary display output. Can't see a way to disable it, just not have it selected to 'Integrated GPU' or whatever it says.

As far as I can tell, yes it seems to load as normal, although there is a question mark over that, leave it long enough (1 minute or so) and the system will reboot itself, as if it's trying to resolve the issue. Don't know what's going on exactly as there's nothing on the screen

[Jonj1611]

Strangely my system crashed today when installing the latest nvidia drivers for my GTX1080

[virtuo]

Yes it does have iGPU, but the BIOS is set to PCI-E as the Primary display output. Can't see a way to disable it, just not have it selected to 'Integrated GPU' or whatever it says.

As far as I can tell, yes it seems to load as normal, although there is a question mark over that, leave it long enough (1 minute or so) and the system will reboot itself, as if it's trying to resolve the issue. Don't know what's going on exactly as there's nothing on the screen

Apologies, been a while since I've used integrated graphics on a CPU, yes I meant just have it set as the primary, the BIOS should take care of "disabling" it as far as the OS is concerned.

Looking at your list of things you tried, have you tried disconnecting the recently added HD and optical drive, maybe the small bump in wattage is putting that extra bit of demand on your PSU that makes it struggle to power the GPU - unlikely but worth a look.

Only other thing I can suggest with regards to the PSU not giving it enough juice, how is it connected? Are you using 2 seperate PCIE power cables or a single split one?

Have you tried an older build of the drivers? Seems there's been a few issues with the current version

[cptwhite_uk]

I'm hoping to do some more tests later tonight with driver versions. I did try setting the system back to how I'd previously had it (without new HDD and DVD drive), without success, so I suspect they aren't related. As well as the fact the system did work for a brief period before I attempted CPU overclocking with them connected.

[cptwhite_uk]

Okay quick update, given it wasn't working in the system I'm building I felt the need to check again in my main system. This time it reacted the same, crashing on windows boot at the point of GPU drivers being initialised and rebooting until Windows recovery kicks in. It seems the issue is specific to the GPU or drivers. I'm now suspecting the GPU itself is the cause. I plan on stripping it down and baking in the oven, to see if that reflows and fixes the issue.

Edit: Oven reflow method failed.

Looks like I have a dead GTX980 on my hands, shame as it was working for a time, guess it was near it's EOL.

[Solex]

Have you tried older drivers as the latest drivers can crash some PCs. Also try and clean the pci-e contacts with 99% IPA to get rid of any particles in the slot and card.

[Zhaoman]

That's extremely frustrating but you have way more patience than me! Still very strange that it worked fine initially and then stopped working when you installed drivers.

[cptwhite_uk]

It gets wierder, switching between PCI-E slots will see it reach desktop momentarily, I've repeated this 4 times. But loses display signal after 10 seconds or so, and goes into crashing before desktop, and reboot on all subsequent attempts to get to desktop, until I switch PCI-E lanes again...

There's a video of it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w1IDwTdr3g

[AGTDenton]

Is your BIOS version on 2.30?
There is a 2018 beta 2.50 if you dare to try that.


You might also want to check the firmware of the GPU. I think from the 900 series they made them easy to download if they made one for your card.

Also, have a go at disabling 'IGPU Multi-Monitor' from the Chipset Configuration menu within the BIOS