[SOLVED] Gigabyte 2080ti will only boot up randomly (cant figure out what makes it boot vs not)

Umar M

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Below is how I first was troubleshooting. But eventually found out that when hdmi is not connected the card spins up, as soon as it does I can connect the hdmi back. But if the hdmi is plugged in from a cold boot the 2080ti won't spin up. I am connecting to a TV if that matters, never had issues with this before until this gigabyte card.

Has anyone seen this before?

Edit: Now it only works when i unplug/unseat the graphics card and reconnect it...then it powers up.

im really not sure whats wrong here. Ive not had issues with a previous 2080ti, and ive reflashed the latest 3 bios'.
 
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Good point about the fans, i didn't twig. my 1080Ti does the same.

Im wondering. When i turn my comp on after my monitor i do sometimes get no display until i force restart. It's always done that since the day i got it. Using Displayport monitor. Never bothered to find out why, turning on monitor a few seconds later always works so i just made that a habit.

Pascal is pretty touchy about voltage inputs and needs a solid 12V to start, which is an issue especially on systems with many components which have a high power-on current (HDDs , pumps, and similar stuff)... the way you describe it, it seems as if it has a handshake problem but the real reason would be power-up sequence.

To verify, take a separate PSU, hook it up to the...

boju

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Seen this the other day


Appears similar, it's a weird one.
 

Umar M

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Seen this the other day


Appears similar, it's a weird one.
Seems similar.
But now i dont know whats wrong. even removing the hdmi doesnt start the GPU.

What works is unplugging, unseating, then reconnecting it....then it works one time
 

boju

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Maybe connecting Hdmi was just a coincidence. I could never imagine a display cable could ever influence a system like that, even the link i posted, it's just silly imo.

What's the rest of your system specs?

What works is unplugging, unseating, then reconnecting it....then it works one time

This sounds more likely a psu cable or pcie slot contact issue.
 
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Umar M

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Yeah I really don't know what is causing it, and I feel terrible because my son spent a year trying to save up for this card.

I have a Gigabyte z390 Aorus Pro, i7 9700K, 32GB of DDR4, Corsair H110i.

Previously I had a PNY 2080 ti and from installation up to a couple years i have ZERO issues with it. Now with this Gigabyte 2080 ti Turbo its acting so weird.

I just got it going again (unseat/unplug and reseat) and ran 3dMark Time Spy Extreme 3 times and got exactly as expected results. So the card is working great (albeit soooo loud, is this normal? plan on surprising my son with an Arctic Accelero IV..if we sort this out.)

If I turn off the computer now when i try power on the card wont run, dont get any errors on the board and when i remove the hdmi and put it in the onboard connector i get video. If i disable the onboard video at this point to force the graphics card I get 4 loud beeps and GPU error light (which ive googled a lot and not really got much out of...there is a post about it being an issue with being connected to a TV and problems with HDR or something)


Maybe connecting Hdmi was just a coincidence. I could never imagine a display cable could ever influence a system like that, even the link i posted, it's just silly imo.

What's the rest of your system specs?



This sounds more likely a psu cable or pcie slot contact issue.
 

boju

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Is that the blower type reference version cooler? Yes these are loud, one fan, much to suck so they do go crazy. Not like open coolers with more fans and less heat to deal with.

The card's behaviour isn't normal, consider exchanging it. What happened to the PNY card?
 

Umar M

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Might be compatibility between the TV and the card. Try a regular monitor instead and see if the issue stays.
No change, same issues. I think I've made some progress.

When I shut off the switch on the PSU for a minutes then turn it back on the gpu boots. Tried it 4 times in a row now.

I'll shut down the computer via windows, then turn it back on. If the gpu fan doesn't spin I'll turn off the power for a min then back on and voila....the gpu fan starts spinning and I get signal.
 

Umar M

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Is that the blower type reference version cooler? Yes these are loud, one fan, much to suck so they do go crazy. Not like open coolers with more fans and less heat to deal with.

The card's behaviour isn't normal, consider exchanging it. What happened to the PNY card?

I've come to another step in troubleshooting please see message above. But power cycling for a min allows the gpu to boot - what could cause this? I can now consistently get it to boot up using the power cycle method. Is this a PSU issue? Or MB?

Note I'm getting no error beeps or lights at all. And when it is working through the workaround I can run 3dmark and boot up and play games.

Yeah i honestly can't believe it's that loud....puts my to 380x to shame. The pny was sold due to not being really used....but change of heart I suppose.
 

Umar M

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Seems to be PSU issue, switching it off with a switch resets it from protection mode..

That could be a possibility...but how could i run prime 95 and intel burn test for an hour each with an o/c without issues? Or 3dmark time spy (gpu and cpu) multiple runs without issues? ..well whenever the card does boot up.
 
That could be a possibility...but how could i run prime 95 and intel burn test for an hour each with an o/c without issues? Or 3dmark time spy (gpu and cpu) multiple runs without issues? ..well whenever the card does boot up.
Try to stick with the facts. If it goes into protection and needs to be reset every time you boot, it might be the PSU (might also have issues with motherboard VRM but PSU is easier to cross out).
 

Umar M

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Try to stick with the facts. If it goes into protection and needs to be reset every time you boot, it might be the PSU (might also have issues with motherboard VRM but PSU is easier to cross out).

Seems to have gotten worse as well, harder to get it going...now it won't start on every power cycle. And yes, good point lots of reasons why it could have worked. But facts are pointing to PSU right now.
I've ordered a replacement, Corsair txm gold 750 which should arrive tomorrow. Will try again then. Thank you very much for pointing the PSU out...i wasnt really thinking in that direction as it seemed everything else was wrong lol
 
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Umar M

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Try to stick with the facts. If it goes into protection and needs to be reset every time you boot, it might be the PSU (might also have issues with motherboard VRM but PSU is easier to cross out).
So tried with a brand new.power supply today and same issue. Card not spinning up on boot. The fan jerks but then nothing. Same in the PCI x8 slot.

A few times after reseating the card I managed to get it to boot....but looks like the PSU is not the issue. When it boots it runs perfectly, just as before I can play games etc....

Any other thoughts?
 

Karadjgne

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Back in the day we had 15pin dsub vga. It was technically 15 pin, but realistically it was 14 actual pins and the cable hooked to a monitor was missing the #9 pin.

That #9 pin carries a 5v signal that was detrimental to monitors, however, you needed a slightly different cable with the full 15 pins in order to hook to a TV because the TV used that 5v signal for handshake purposes and to send resolution information back to the gpu. If using the 14pin cable, you got no signal because the gpu had no idea what resolution to render at as the TV couldn't supply it.

So it'd be my guess that there's either a cable issue with the TV, or maybe ARC isn't on or a different setting is not allowing the handshake that hdmi-dp requires and is showing up as a dead short where there shouldn't be one which is read by the gpu and it refuses to power up.
 

Umar M

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Would the system boot normally without the card (empty slot and CPU on-die video)?
Yes - need to diagnose the card.
No - Motherboard issue

Yes the system boots up regardless of whether the card is in the slot or not.

But if the GPU doensnt power up on boot I can switch the HDMI into the onboard connecter and I immediately get display signal.

the RAM, CPU, GPU, BOOT lights on the motherboard dont give me an error either. Even when the GPU doesnt boot, I assume this is because its using the internal GPU from the CPU?

SOOOO I tried to disable the onboard GPU again, it gives me 4 quick beeps and the GPU light turns on (going by the internet it could be a bunch of things, not just what the manual says apparently).

I also tried to switch the GPU to the x8 PCIe slot and it doesnt boot/no fan on startup. I can tell its working when I press the power button and the fan immediately starts spinning vs just jumping a bit but not fully spinning.

Back in the day we had 15pin dsub vga. It was technically 15 pin, but realistically it was 14 actual pins and the cable hooked to a monitor was missing the #9 pin.

That #9 pin carries a 5v signal that was detrimental to monitors, however, you needed a slightly different cable with the full 15 pins in order to hook to a TV because the TV used that 5v signal for handshake purposes and to send resolution information back to the gpu. If using the 14pin cable, you got no signal because the gpu had no idea what resolution to render at as the TV couldn't supply it.

So it'd be my guess that there's either a cable issue with the TV, or maybe ARC isn't on or a different setting is not allowing the handshake that hdmi-dp requires and is showing up as a dead short where there shouldn't be one which is read by the gpu and it refuses to power up.

So I've gone through a few troubleshooting steps, and I've tried it with a regular monitor and still doesnt work. Also whether the HDMI or a DP is connected or not I still get the same issues with the card booting up whenever it decides to....sometimes after its been disconnected for a bit I can plug it back in and it will work. It then will work for a boot or two then just go back to completely not working. When i does boot it functions perfectly (including running benchmarks/gaming)
 

Umar M

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Can call them too i guess. Would be easier linking online support to here so you wouldn't have to explain what you've tried and they also save time not resuggesting troubleshooting steps.
Thanks, good suggestion. I've also sent them an email with a link to the post. Hopefully no issues with warranty, i've been told with gigabyte its all by serial number
 

Umar M

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You've swapped PSUs which would have been my first move.

Has the GPU been tried in another system ? This may be a motherboard defect or BIOS compatibility issue.
I will go to a family members house this afternoon and try it in their system....im really hoping its a motherboard compatibility issue and not the GPU. Its just so weird as for over a year the previous PNY 2080ti that was in there had zero issues from the first time I installed it.
 

Umar M

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Would the system boot normally without the card (empty slot and CPU on-die video)?
Yes - need to diagnose the card.
No - Motherboard issue
You've swapped PSUs which would have been my first move.

Has the GPU been tried in another system ? This may be a motherboard defect or BIOS compatibility issue.

Tried it in two other systems and same thing, couldnt get the GPU to start. Guess its an issue with the card then. Is it a possibility that it could be the fan needs replacing?