GTX 980 Ti not being detected

[john889]

Hey all,

Looking for some help here as really stumped!

I've been running an ASUS Strix GTX 980Ti and a Palit GTX 960 in the same machine for almost a year without problem.

The 960 powers the monitors, and the 980 does the heavy work. (I do a lot of 3d Modelling for games, content creation etc using programs like Blender and DAZ Studio - the 980 is used for rendering)

The PC was using quite an old setup - AMD Phenom II X6 1090T processor on an ASUS M4N98TD-EVO Mobo...

The other day, mid-render, the PC crashed to a blue screen with a 🙁 icon on it. Since then, I cannot get the 980 to be detected at all.

The 960 was plugged into the uppermost PCI/E slot, with the 980 in the lower one. Due to the confines of my case, the 980 will not fit into the upper slot (too long - hits hdd casing!)

I tried to troubleshoot the issue by removing the both cards and putting the 960 into the lower slot - no signal.

I was advised by my local computer store that the MoBo was probably at fault (broken PCI/E slot) and now £500 later I have a new MoBo and Chip.

The new specs are:
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Six-core Processor
MoBo: Aorus AX370-Gaming K5
RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengence DDR4

With the new setup, the 980 is still not detected. (I am still unable to try it in the upper slot due to the case being the same one!

The 960 works in both slots.

The 980 has all power lights and fans working when installed.

Last thing - the 980 worked fine on the test rig in the store!

Any help greatly appreciated as I'm out of options.


Cheers!

Forgot to add - PSU is a Cooler Master 750W unit

 

[mbilal2]

Lol u spent 500$ without proper troubleshooting? You could have removed the mobo and installed the 980Ti in the top slot. But I bet u'll love the Ryzen for the work u specified. Anyways the drivers are at fault here not the graphics card. If you installed a new software before the issue showed up, it's conflicting with your graphics driver. I suggest you uninstall that software. I am guessing you used the same hard drive throughout?

If yes, keep both ur graphics card plugged in. 960 in the top one and 980 in the lower one with your monitor plugged into the 960. Go to device manager and under the view tab click "show hidden devices". Your GTX 980 should be there. Uninstall it. Go to NVidia (or MSI, ASUS, etc)'s website and install the driver. If your card isn't listed as a hidden device, simply install the driver for 980. If that still doesn't work, go into the BIOS and make sure all PCI slots are enabled.

PS I wasn't aware that SLI between card of different models (980Ti/960) was possible. But apparently it works. I will still not recommend it. Your system will run at the speed of the slower card, ie the 960.

 

[androbourne]

I'm just going to throw this out there... but PSU. What model?

And yes. Should have properly troubleshooted before just going out and spending 500$ on random stuff to fix the issue... just an FYI for the future. Althought, it wasn't a bad idea that you did since looking at the old CPU. It was due time for a change. So not a complete loss.

 

[mbilal2]

I'm just going to throw this out there... but PSU. What model?

And yes. Should have properly troubleshooted before just going out and spending 500$ on random stuff to fix the issue... just an FYI for the future. Althought, it wasn't a bad idea that you did since looking at the old CPU. It was due time for a change. So not a complete loss.

I thought it was the PSU but he mentioned

The 980 has all power lights and fans working when installed.

so thought it couldn't be. Still worth a shot.

 

[androbourne]

Right but that doesn't mean it is getting enough power to project the image.

It may just be getting enough power to turn on the lights and fans. It is still worth looking at.

 

[mbilal2]

Right but that doesn't mean it is getting enough power to project the image.

It may just be getting enough power to turn on the lights and fans. It is still worth looking at.

Forgot to add - PSU is a Cooler Master 750W unit

More than enough for the two.

 

[androbourne]

In terms of wattage sure. That doesn't rule out a PSU related issue...

 

[mbilal2]

In terms of wattage sure. That doesn't rule out a PSU related issue...

Yeah. Try installing the 980Ti alone and swapping the 960's connector with it.

 

[androbourne]

Agreed.

 

[john889]

Lol u spent 500$ without proper troubleshooting?

Haha yeah, I know. The store did test the 980 as I said so we were pretty certain it was the PCI/E slot on the old board. To be perfectly honest I didn't need much persuading to pay for a big upgrade as the system was really starting to show it's age. So it was kinda on the cards anyway - the 980 failing was the catalyst to get me to flash the cash.

Anyways, an update. I threw some more cash at it and the pc is now fitted with a "COOLERMASTER 1000W V-series Full Modular 80PLUS Gold" PSU.

I was told by the store that this is a bit of a beast and should be able to handle the 980 and 960 together - but more importantly will allow me to replace the 960 with another 980 TI at some point again with no issues.

Just to also make sure it wasn't the ancient Seagate HDD, I treat myself to a brand new 240GB Toshiba SSD. So, to sum things up, it's pretty much a brand new PC in an old case with 2 existing GPU's 😛

But, still no signal from the 980 at all - via DVI, HDMI or DVI. This is even though it worked in the store's test rig (not right up to windows, but there was a POST screen displayed)

So right now i'm either the unluckiest guy in the world to have bought a brand new MoBo with the exact same fault as the one it replaced, or my 980 is borked in my system but not in other systems....

I'm really scratching my head on this one!

 

[john889]

Yeah. Try installing the 980Ti alone and swapping the 960's connector with it.
[/quotemsg]

I tried this, I still got no signal.

 

[john889]

One other thing I noticed is with the new PSU installed, the STRIX lighting on the 980 stays on permanently and is bright like it used to be (I thought the lights had just faded over time). On the old PSU they pulsed and had become very dim.

Also the fans on the case seem to run much faster/better now!


edit: my crappy typing and spelling mistakes rectified 😛

 

[john889]

I'm just going to throw this out there... but PSU. What model?

And yes. Should have properly troubleshooted before just going out and spending 500$ on random stuff to fix the issue... just an FYI for the future. Althought, it wasn't a bad idea that you did since looking at the old CPU. It was due time for a change. So not a complete loss.

Yeah exactly my thinking. Like I said in a previous response, I really didn't take much persuading in paying for a big upgrade!

 

[mbilal2]

Alright well the mobo has one x16 slot. That's the fastest one (compared to x8 and x4) and should be where the 980Ti should be. Take the mobo out of the case and install the 980 in the top one alone. See if it works. It should still work on x8 slot (second PCI slot) with minimal performance hit but will work poorly in the x4 slot. If you still don't get display, it's the card.

In short the top one should be filled first, then the middle one and then the last one.

 

[john889]

Hey all,

Just a quick update and to get some more advice please...

The store have now admitted that the 980Ti card is faulty, and have taken it in under warranty to send back to Asus for repair or replacement. I asked about what it would be replaced with, should it come to that. They said this would be a GTX 1070.

I've done a little research and from what I can tell the GTX 980Ti seems to score better in most areas over the 1070. I have to admit this is not my field of expertise but I did use this link for reference:

[ http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-980-Ti-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1070/3439vs3609 ]

What are your thoughts? Is this a better or worse card than what I had already?

Thanks in advance

 

[androbourne]

I would not advise going backwards in technology standards. Typically newer technologies has better cooling, faster chips, better utilization etc...

You are also comparing founder edition aka stock cards. You'll see that if you compared it to a MSI 1070 that is factory stock OC'ed to 2000mhz. You'd get different results.

And it actually a more accurate comparison because the TI version is basically an OC version of the stock 980.

They are both great cards. I run a MSI 1070 and it pretty much owns everything I throw at it in 1080p gaming on a 144hert monitor.

 

[mbilal2]

Definitely go for the 1070. Nvidia changed their whole architecture in the 10 series cards so as mentioned, better cooling and (hence) better performance. The 1070 is being sold at 700$ on Amazon right now due to cryptomining compared to 450$ for the 980Ti. You are getting money for your 980Ti back (not literally) and a GTX 1070.. If they replace it that is.

You should also complain to the store that they made you spend 500$ on something that had nothing wrong with it. See how it goes.

 

[androbourne]

That's crazy it's so expensive. I bought my MSI 1070 for like $400 not more then 6 months ago and the $700 was the cost of a stock 1080 back then.

 

[mbilal2]

That's crazy it's so expensive. I bought my MSI 1070 for like $400 not more then 6 months ago and the $700 was the cost of a stock 1080 back then.

Yeah it's insane. Sucks for us, huge profits for crypto-miners. There's no sense in going for a 1070 right now if you're building a new PC. Pay a bit more and you'll get the GTX 1080 or as I am recommending everyone, wait for Vega and see how the market shifts.

 

[androbourne]

Yeah with those prices for sure. If it was simply down to specs. Running a 1070 on a 1080p gaming rig works great. Sucks you can't save that $300 anymore.

Changes the game for sure.