[SOLVED] Bricked 3090 looking for advice

[Joel_228]

Zotac Trinity 3090
Strict X570-F Mobo
Corsair Vengeance 3600 Ram
AMD 5800x CPU
Thermatake 850w PSU

TL/DR... PC will not boot with 3090 attached under any circumstances...

In preparation for a full water cooling loop I did some research and found there were many people having luck with flashing the zotac 3090 with the KFA2 Rom. I used the newest version of NVFlash. Disabled the driver. I used the protect off command. Then flashed the new ROM. The program hung for an hour. I then closed the command prompt and attempted to flash back to my original ROM because obviously something was wrong. The program hung again. I restarted the computer. The PC would not post. VGA light on. I removed the GPU and installed a GTX 1030. Booted up everything was fine. Shut down the PC and installed the 3090 in the second slot. The PC boots to a black screen with no splash from BIOS. I shut the computer down and changed the order that I had the cards installed on the motherboard. Same thing. I tried the GTX 1030 in both slots and it works fine. Looks like at this point I am left to order a programmer and see if I can get it going. Any advice or other things I should try?

 

[delaro]

I suggest you go here and read then ask your question should you not figure it out.

NVIDIA RTX 3090 Owner's Club

There is no point in starting another rabbit hole when someone else took the time to document everything.

 

[Joel_228]

I suggest you go here and read then ask your question should you not figure it out.

NVIDIA RTX 3090 Owner's Club

There is no point in starting another rabbit hole when someone else took the time to document everything.

That's exactly what I did. I've been around forums long enough to try really hard to find my answer before I ask my question and also to avoid snarky comments. Sometimes I fail at both it seems.

 

[Joel_228]

FIXED!!!
So after enough rabbit holes I was able to get this done. I saved my $1500 GPU. BEFORE I get into it. I followed all the information available on the 3090 Owners Club post. My flash WENT WRONG. The instructions and links there are great. It is all correct. Mine went wrong. This can happen to you and if you aren't prepared to deal with all the trouble in my OP then don't flash your GPU BIOS. I was confident that I would be able to fix whatever happened, or if not, I could afford to replace it. I was prepared/lucky. Please do not attempt to modify anything you can't fix or afford to replace! Tom's Hardware and myself are not responsible for what you do. Maybe somebody will find this helpful. I personally could not find what I needed in the 400+ pages of comments on the 3090 owners thread.

I will check this daily for a while in case I can help someone else.

I ordered a CH341A programmer. I bought this one.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R8S8V4H/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is what I received.
https://ibb.co/bzBK2mW

I found very little help in forums by searching for my issues but this was BY FAR the most helpful thing I found. I watched it at least three times.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y06x1f22B0&list=WL&index=18


I disassembled my 3090. The best information I could find on that was this video. It is my exact GPU. But all in all tearing down electronics is pretty simple. STOP HERE if you disagree with that last statement.

View: https://youtu.be/ScopQTTwYyk


My BIOS chip was on the fan side or main side of the GPU. It read Winbond 25Q16JWNIQ. Note the tiny "hole" in the top of the chip. That hole marks the #1 pin.
https://ibb.co/rf6wVj5

Im not an expert but this is a 25 series chip. Here it is with more context.
https://ibb.co/sRmj5qX

One more...
https://ibb.co/xDbVkbT

Using the chart on the CH341A, it looked like I should have my adapter board mounted here like this... Again watching for the "1" on the main board and adapter. Note that the pins are in the group to the left, NOT the right. The board shows the 25 series uses the left side pins. The lever locks it in. But you knew that from watching the video above.
https://ibb.co/6JQCwBJ

Then I plugged the clip into those eight pins. The red wire marks the #1 position here.
25 series is the 8 holes to the left on the board as shown.
The adapter shows where the number 1 pin lines up on the board.
The red wire marks the #1 pin on the cable.
https://ibb.co/6ysGjH4

The red wire on the clip goes to the #1 pin on your chip.
https://ibb.co/BNtNrzD

The videos and notes above should bring you to this point. Under the hardware tab I selected CH341A. Then I entered the model of the chip. My closest match W25Q16. It took me a couple tries of disconnecting and reconnecting the clip onto the chip. But Once I had the drivers installed and the clip on right I was able to read the Bios. If you cant even read the BIOS you need to stop and see what is wrong.
https://ibb.co/xXkrpKj

I read the Bios. I erased it. I wrote my original BIOS onto the chip. I validated it. All successful. THEN I wrote the new BIOS I was originally trying to flash onto the chip with NVFlash and it works perfect. Again... great instructions, but my flash failed. THIS CAN HAPPEN TO YOU.

 

[norcalsc]

FIXED!!!
So after enough rabbit holes I was able to get this done. I saved my $1500 GPU. BEFORE I get into it. I followed all the information available on the 3090 Owners Club post. My flash WENT WRONG. The instructions and links there are great. It is all correct. Mine went wrong. This can happen to you and if you aren't prepared to deal with all the trouble in my OP then don't flash your GPU BIOS. I was confident that I would be able to fix whatever happened, or if not, I could afford to replace it. I was prepared/lucky. Please do not attempt to modify anything you can't fix or afford to replace! Tom's Hardware and myself are not responsible for what you do. Maybe somebody will find this helpful. I personally could not find what I needed in the 400+ pages of comments on the 3090 owners thread.

I will check this daily for a while in case I can help someone else.

I ordered a CH341A programmer. I bought this one.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R8S8V4H/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is what I received.
https://ibb.co/bzBK2mW

I found very little help in forums by searching for my issues but this was BY FAR the most helpful thing I found. I watched it at least three times.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y06x1f22B0&list=WL&index=18


I disassembled my 3090. The best information I could find on that was this video. It is my exact GPU. But all in all tearing down electronics is pretty simple. STOP HERE if you disagree with that last statement.

View: https://youtu.be/ScopQTTwYyk


My BIOS chip was on the fan side or main side of the GPU. It read Winbond 25Q16JWNIQ. Note the tiny "hole" in the top of the chip. That hole marks the #1 pin.
https://ibb.co/rf6wVj5

Im not an expert but this is a 25 series chip. Here it is with more context.
https://ibb.co/sRmj5qX

One more...
https://ibb.co/xDbVkbT

Using the chart on the CH341A, it looked like I should have my adapter board mounted here like this... Again watching for the "1" on the main board and adapter. Note that the pins are in the group to the left, NOT the right. The board shows the 25 series uses the left side pins. The lever locks it in. But you knew that from watching the video above.
https://ibb.co/6JQCwBJ

Then I plugged the clip into those eight pins. The red wire marks the #1 position here.
25 series is the 8 holes to the left on the board as shown.
The adapter shows where the number 1 pin lines up on the board.
The red wire marks the #1 pin on the cable.
https://ibb.co/6ysGjH4

The red wire on the clip goes to the #1 pin on your chip.
https://ibb.co/BNtNrzD

The videos and notes above should bring you to this point. Under the hardware tab I selected CH341A. Then I entered the model of the chip. My closest match W25Q16. It took me a couple tries of disconnecting and reconnecting the clip onto the chip. But Once I had the drivers installed and the clip on right I was able to read the Bios. If you cant even read the BIOS you need to stop and see what is wrong.
https://ibb.co/xXkrpKj

I read the Bios. I erased it. I wrote my original BIOS onto the chip. I validated it. All successful. THEN I wrote the new BIOS I was originally trying to flash onto the chip with NVFlash and it works perfect. Again... great instructions, but my flash failed. THIS CAN HAPPEN TO YOU.

bad ass!!!!! I was a little worried when I started this thread and I am glad it worked out for you in the end