Question GPU suddenly artifacted and froze, now after a restart the PC won't boot if the GPU is plugged in ?

[fordcliff]

SPECS:
i7 3770
Q77-H2AM (motherboard)
XFX RX 470 4GB
1600mhz RAM 16 GB (4 sticks)
Corsair CV550 (550W PSU)

So I was running Photoshop on my pc when suddenly it froze/not responding and the display artifacted at the same time. So I turned my pc off and when I tried to boot it again the monitor would just show "no signal detected" but the GPU lights turns on and fan spin for 5-7 seconds then stop. My guess is that the GPU is the culprit so I tried booting with the integrated graphics without the GPU and my PC successfully booted. I disassembled my GPU and visually checked if there are burns in the PCB that could be signs of a short circuit but I found none, I haven't tried manually checking the GPU's PCB with a multi-tester yet since I don't have one at the moment.

I had previously undervolted my GPU that same day when the problem occured but that was not the first time I did it, I just reset it back to what I set it previously because I have been running this card undervolted for about 3 months and earlier that day settings was restored to its default due to an unexpected power outage and after a few hours this happened. Can undervolting the GPU possibly cause this ? If so, what are the possible affected components and how can I fix it?

and please do note that I have recently repasted the GPU with thermal grizzly kryonaut and undervolted it, the temps were very good idling at 35c and 68c - 70c when under heavy load (gaming) and when the incident happened I am not even heavily using the graphics card since I only did editing in Photoshop which I know heavily relies on CPU.

 

[Cyberat_88]

OC is always the cause for Artifacts and Early death of HW devices. What made you think you can do that safely ?
Set your Bios back to normal and try it again, if it won't come up, it's goodbye GPU.

 

[fordcliff]

OC is always the cause for Artifacts and Early death of HW devices. What made you think you can do that safely ?
Set your Bios back to normal and try it again, if it won't come up, it's goodbye GPU.

@Cyberat_88 I didn't Overclocked the GPU, I just undervolted it to a point where it can still attain its normal speed but in lower voltage in order to decrease operating temps and actually it did for a couple of months though until this happened. Normally when I undervolted it, if the gpu is unstable it would artifact but will return normal and default state after a restart which according to many articles about undervolting says normal and non destructive but this time it didn't, which led me to think that maybe it is badly affecting my gpu all this time.

 

[Cyberat_88]

OC stands for manipulating the standard settings the Bios assigns to hardware, yes to include setting voltage below specs..
Want to decrease GPU temps. ? Use the fans, set 100% at 55C. Non destructive and simple.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

Under voltage is overclocking. Most likely you fried your GPU

 

[KyaraM]

Under voltage is overclocking. Most likely you fried your GPU

It's not... you just lock the GPU to a lower max voltage than the manufacturer, there is absolutely no OC involved and it won't damage the GPU. The closest equivalent you get is underclocking. There is no harm in that.

 

[fordcliff]

It's not... you just lock the GPU to a lower max voltage than the manufacturer, there is absolutely no OC involved and it won't damage the GPU. The closest equivalent you get is underclocking. There is no harm in that.

@KyaraM Yeah right ? I wonder why them people call undervolting an Overclocking/OC when the term itself doesn't have to do anything with clocks/clocking , anyways do you have any idea what could have happen that relates as to why my GPU died? It really didn't show any symptoms prior to the incident.

 

[KyaraM]

@KyaraM Yeah right ? I wonder why them people call undervolting an Overclocking/OC when the term itself doesn't have to do anything with clocks/clocking , anyways do you have any idea what could have happen that relates as to why my GPU died? It really didn't show any symptoms prior to the incident.

I mean, everything dies, it might just have been its time. However, in this case, you said you changed thermal paste and pads shortly before, correct? This is just a guess, but it is possible that you didn't tighten a screw enough when putting it back together and there was a heat pocket, or the pads were wrong. It's really hard to say without the relevant sensors such as VRAM, which your card doesn't have. But it is possible that the VRAM temperature got to high unnoticed while core temperature seemed alright. However, you also mentioned there was a power outage before that, correct? How old is your PSU? Might have gone bad and taken the GPU with it, too. Also, I think I just spotted it in the D-tier of the tier list of this site, which means it's not really a good unit.

However, all of this is just a guess from my side. We might never know.

 

[fordcliff]

@KyaraM Yeah right ? I wonder why them people call undervolting an Overclocking/OC when the term itself doesn't have to do anything with clocks/clocking , anyways do you have any idea what could have happen that relates as to why my GPU died? It really didn't show any symptoms prior to the incident.

I mean, everything dies, it might just have been its time. However, in this case, you said you changed thermal paste and pads shortly before, correct? This is just a guess, but it is possible that you didn't tighten a screw enough when putting it back together and there was a heat pocket, or the pads were wrong. It's really hard to say without the relevant sensors such as VRAM, which your card doesn't have. But it is possible that the VRAM temperature got to high unnoticed while core temperature seemed alright. However, you also mentioned there was a power outage before that, correct? How old is your PSU? Might have gone bad and taken the GPU with it, too. Also, I think I just spotted it in the D-tier of the tier list of this site, which means it's not really a good unit.

However, all of this is just a guess from my side. We might never know.

I changed thermal paste when I decided to undervolt the GPU and that was like 3 months prior to the incident, I also made sure to tighten the screw enough. My PSU on the otherhand, was corsair and bronze tier True Rated 550 watts, and it seems to have no problem because as of now I am still running my pc with my CPU's iGPU with the same components as before just without the GPU.

I think the card just died on its own, I bought that card online already used 6 months ago. It could have been used in mining to die that early because as to what the previous owner said , the card is just 2 years old or maybe 3 now.

Well, my best hope to revive this card now is to solder reflow the VRAM chips. I'll gave an update soon. Anyways, Thanks for the reply bro @KyaraM .

 

[KyaraM]

I changed thermal paste when I decided to undervolt the GPU and that was like 3 months prior to the incident, I also made sure to tighten the screw enough. My PSU on the otherhand, was corsair and bronze tier True Rated 550 watts, and it seems to have no problem because as of now I am still running my pc with my CPU's iGPU with the same components as before just without the GPU.

I think the card just died on its own, I bought that card online already used 6 months ago. It could have been used in mining to die that early because as to what the previous owner said , the card is just 2 years old or maybe 3 now.

Well, my best hope to revive this card now is to solder reflow the VRAM chips. I'll gave an update soon. Anyways, Thanks for the reply bro @KyaraM .

Oh, yeah, that would also make sense. Especially with the artifacting right before, lots of reports of dying memory on those mining cards. Unfortunately, they aren't always marked as such, so it can be hard to spot it and buying used cards can be a gamble. That's super unlucky, I'm really sorry. Unfortunately, I'm not quite knowledgeable enough to say if there is anything you can do, but I suspect there is nothing.

 

[fordcliff]

Oh, yeah, that would also make sense. Especially with the artifacting right before, lots of reports of dying memory on those mining cards. Unfortunately, they aren't always marked as such, so it can be hard to spot it and buying used cards can be a gamble. That's super unlucky, I'm really sorry. Unfortunately, I'm not quite knowledgeable enough to say if there is anything you can do, but I suspect there is nothing.

Yeah, Thanks man your comment has been helpful for me. I appreciate it man keep sharing knowledge. 👍

 

[YVS123]

SPECS:
i7 3770
Q77-H2AM (motherboard)
XFX RX 470 4GB
1600mhz RAM 16 GB (4 sticks)
Corsair CV550 (550W PSU)

So I was running Photoshop on my pc when suddenly it froze/not responding and the display artifacted at the same time. So I turned my pc off and when I tried to boot it again the monitor would just show "no signal detected" but the GPU lights turns on and fan spin for 5-7 seconds then stop. My guess is that the GPU is the culprit so I tried booting with the integrated graphics without the GPU and my PC successfully booted. I disassembled my GPU and visually checked if there are burns in the PCB that could be signs of a short circuit but I found none, I haven't tried manually checking the GPU's PCB with a multi-tester yet since I don't have one at the moment.

I had previously undervolted my GPU that same day when the problem occured but that was not the first time I did it, I just reset it back to what I set it previously because I have been running this card undervolted for about 3 months and earlier that day settings was restored to its default due to an unexpected power outage and after a few hours this happened. Can undervolting the GPU possibly cause this ? If so, what are the possible affected components and how can I fix it?

and please do note that I have recently repasted the GPU with thermal grizzly kryonaut and undervolted it, the temps were very good idling at 35c and 68c - 70c when under heavy load (gaming) and when the incident happened I am not even heavily using the graphics card since I only did editing in Photoshop which I know heavily relies on CPU.

I have the same problem as you my friend, I have bought a new motherboard and CPU to test out if my GPU works with that. I searched on the internet about this problem and many said that it was the system not detecting the GPU. If my GPU works with the other motherboard then it is most likely that the motherboard is the culprit to MY problem. If it's not then it's probably the GPU( not sure if it's the same as you but I think it might help you narrow down your problem)

will update you if it works

UPDATE: It worked!!!! It seems that my motherboard was not compatible with my cpu anymore. I dont know if this is the same as you but I hope it helps