My 980ti will not output picture!

C

Captain Mullett

New member
Hi guys, I've had this problem for a while now and despite trying what I think is everything I cannot get any picture to output from GTX980Ti.

System specs are as follows:
CPU: Intel 4770K not overclocked currently running on the original intel cooler. (Don't judge me)
Mobo: Asus ROG Maximus VII Formula
Ram: 16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR3 (4x4gb)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro 250GB SSD
GPU: Asus GTX980Ti Poseidon
OS: Windows 10 Pro

I bought the card 4-6 months ago and have gamed on it during that time but honestly not for that long. Proper usage on the card has actually been quit low. I have been building up my first water cooled build and having to get parts in on the fly so it took me a while to actually finish the build off. Once I got everything built up and then set up I had a window of about a week were everything worked fine.

Then things got real. So I went through a phase of a few days were the PC would not boot and then I would have to push the restart button for it to boot up. Sometimes it would boot first time, other times I would need to push it once or twice for the PC to boot properly. I should say at this point that the actual water-cooling was a dream, had no problems with leaks and all the tests I ran blitzed any kind of performance i'd had in a PC prior to this. I have also checked the mobo and the GPU for any kind of damage like shorting or black spots on the PCB. While I have not taken the GPU apart there are no signs of any sort of damage.

Eventually the PC would just not boot at all. It's only when I completely remove the GPU from the system and plug my Display Port lead into the mobo instead that the PC boots. It does this now without fail. The only time the PC fails to boot is when the GPU is plugged in and hooked up.

At finding this I sent it back to Overclockers UK on a RMA with a 'No Post' error. They have tested the card and sent it back to me with 'No Fault Found'. Today I have done a clean install of Windows 10 onto my SSD and am still having the same issue.

I honestly do not know now what to do. I feel like i'm stuck looking at a £600.00 brick that's still in warranty!

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance, your friendly neighbourhood Mullett.
 
If the card is tested and no fault is found, and the motherboard works flawlessly using the iGPU, surely the PCIe slot itself is the culprit? That's the part I would of returned initially in all fairness, motherboards ASUS included tend to be far more temperamental than GPU's.

JR
 
Cheers for replying. I thought this myself so tried the card in the second slot below the main slot instead. However I get the same problem. It's highly unlikely that both slots would be faulty unless there is a problem with the board which I can't detect manually. Is there anyway to test these slots out and make sure they are carrying data? The card definitely has power as to look at it everything seems to be working fine. Fans spin and the ROG LED's work fine. So it could be that there is a problem with the PCIe slots but I don't know how I could test that out. Any ideas?

Thanks
 
Hi, I have tried the card in the first and second slots, I believe the top slot on the Maximus is a X16 slot and the one below is a X8 slot. I know that using a X8 slot for gaming doesn't really have any major effect on performance so if it worked in that slot I would have been happy to carry on 'as is'. However I get the exact same problem in the second PCIe slot as I do the main one. There is no difference in operation between the two slots. I get the exact same no output problem.

I should say at this point that while I get no actual output from the card the mobo does do the standard Q-Code readout process as it would do when it boots up on the iGPU. The Q-Code numbers work up until they stop as they would when I boot up on the iGPU and stop as they would when in Windows. The Q-Code readout process is the same despite having no output from the GPU. I do however get a red light on the side of the board indicating a VGA error.

Hope this helps
 
If your GPU has been confirmed as fully working then you have done all that you really can do to test the slot(s). Check with another card, flash the latest BIOS, reseat and inspect the CPU socket. If both slots cause the same issues that doesn't necessarily mean its the card, it might just be an issue on the board which effects all slots.

All of the symptoms you describe are coherent with something temperamental during PCIe initialization. I had the same issues using a damaged PCIe riser cable recently, easy to post but difficult to boot, it would nearly always boot after the CMOS had been cleared and when it did finally boot the GPU functioned perfectly. It was hard to diagnose but now with a different riser it's fine.

Forcing the PCIe mode to Gen2 in the BIOS may help to an extent, see if it has any effect.

JR
 
There would be little point in testing in a different PC given that it has been tested by a qualified technician (hopefully means they know what they are doing).

Im thinking the PSU too though. OP is the card getting power? Fan spinning up etc?

Could be faulty power cable. Possibly the psu itself.


The most important thing I want to ask is whether or not you have tried HDMI? What monitor are you using?

Please try HDMI if you havent already done so. Turn off all fastboot features and as advised before update to the latest stable bios.
 
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Im more leaning towards the DP issue TBH. I remember I think a short while back quite a few clients if mine had problems similar to this. In the end it was a conflict between the DP and monitor. Issue shoild have been more or less resolved by now though.
 
Hi guys, thanks for coming back to me on this. I'm currently at work but will try out your suggestions and report back when i get in tonight.

Cheers
Mullett
 
Ok guys, on the power issue I am using a Corsair RM1000i. It's fairly new, I bought it back in December. I chose the 1000i as I was thinking at the time of running a 980ti sli system but due to cost/usage decided against it. When the card is in the system and all plugged in both the white LED's are lit up to tell me that the power is connected correctly. The fans are spinning and the ROG light on top of the card is in breathing mode. As far as I can tell the card is getting all the power it should be. Also the system is running fine without the card. No kind of strange shut downs or anything like that which might indicate a general problem with the PSU.

The only thing I did think of is there any way for me to test the actual power output of the PSU. This might be a total noob thing to ask but is there anyway of testing the actual outputs on the PSU? Like with an ammeter or something similar? This way I could test how much actual power the card is receiving.

My monitor is a LG 34UM65-P. It's one of the first line of Ultra Wide's that LG bought out. It's the one I shouldn't have bought and instead waited for an Ultra Wide with G-Sync to come out instead. I was originally going to use two 980ti's on it but with the cost of them and with the monitor only being a 60hz screen I did not really see the point of going to the expense of a second one when I was already hitting 60fps on most everything I played on it.

Without the card plugged in I can use the Display Port cable I have fine off of the mobo out put. So the cable itself is definitely ok. The port on the monitor is ok as I am using it now as I sit and type this. I've tried using Hdmi in different ports on the card already and I get exactly the same type of error. For the sake of fault finding though I will try it again now and report back.

Cheers
Mullett
 
Ok so I have tried all the different ports on the card and no dice. I get the same error on all ports. Couple of things to note though:

When I changed from Display Port to Hdmi I forgot to change input on the monitor. Thing is the monitor recognised that the Hdmi was plugged in and notified me to switch inputs. It never had any effect on the GPU actually booting but the monitor did recognise that the card was connected. I don't know if this important in any way or not.

Also even if the card has nothing connected up to any of any of its outputs (DP or Hdmi) and I have the DP plugged into the mobo instead it still won't boot up. It just runs through the Q-Codes up to AO and I get the red VGA warning light on the side of the board.

I'm beginning to think this is a mobo issue. I have updated the bios to the latest one (3003 I think from memory) using the Asus EZ update software. I literary have no experience in this kind of fault finding so all thoughts are welcome.

I'll order myself a PSU tester off of Amazon tonight to try so I can double check the power issue.

Any other ideas please don't hesitate to post.

Cheers
Mullett
 
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Have you got an old GPU you can try? Or a mates that you can borrow?

If you have access to another rig you can use a process of elimination to see if the issue is the GPU/PSU/Mobo

What motherboard are you using?
 
Morning all, unfortunately I do not have another the I can try in the system. The one I have though has gone back under RMA to Overclockers UK and been tested by them for a 'No Post' error. They could not find a fault with the card itself.

I'm going to test the PSU output tonight when I get in from work with an ammeter. I run a shop and we sell them in there. Always thought I should learn how they worked so this is the perfect opportunity to do that.

I'm using an Asus ROG Maximus VII Formula motherboard with an updated bios. I updated the bios myself using the Asus EZ Update software.

Does anyone know how to factory reset the mobo? Is this even possible? I'd like to get the mobo back to factory stock operation so I can rule out any error's that might have occurred with me updating the bios.

Cheers as always
Mullett
 
Morning all. So just to update this thread with how i am getting on.

I tested the PSU last night with a PSU tester i bought off of Amazon. The PSU flew through the test without any problems. All voltages were well within limits. I didn't think this was the problem anyway but having now tested it at least this now confirms it.

I have also re-flashed the motherboard to the latest bios again using the Asus EZ-Update software. This seems to have gone fine so as far as i can see the boards firmware is running as it should.

As far as i can tell i'm left with two scenarios. Either there is a physical problem with all the pcie ports on the board which seems unlikely. Or i'm having an issue with the firmware where by the ports are de-activated somehow or are not engaging? I don't know if this is even possible.

The board is now over one year old. However i have checked on Asus website and it comes with a manufacturers 3 year warranty. I'm going get in touch with the seller this morning (Scan) and see what they say. Failing that i'll get in touch with Asus direct and see what they say.

Is there any guidelines i should be following when dealing with the retailers on this kind of issue? Also can anyone think of anything i should be trying with regards to the bios which might help me to fix this issue?

Cheers in advance

Mullett
 
Have you tried resetting the CMOS with the jumper on motherboard? Resetting from within BIOS is not always effective.
 
Yeh, i'm having trouble resetting the bios. It really does not want to be reset. The bios reset button is not working. Its still sitting at the latest 3003 bios i downloaded using Asus EZ-Update.

Whats the best fail safe way to reset the board? Its the Asus Maximus VII Formula. Do i need to dismantle the system, take off the board cover and remove the button battery for a few minutes?

Cheers
Mullett
 
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