Toms_Cat

Commendable
May 20, 2019
15
1
1,515
Hello everyone,

I ran into an unfortunate issue today: When booting my computer, I noticed that my monitor displays "No Signal" (black screen).
After trying to restart a couple of times, unplugging and plugging in the HDMI cable and retrying, the issue persists.

I was able to plug in the HDMI cable into my motherboard and run of the Intel integrated graphics. With Intel HD graphics, I could boot the PC and troubleshoot a bit more. Here, I discovered that my GTX 680 GPU is not recognized in the device manager of windows. In fact, my GPU (display adapter) was hidden. When consulting the properties tab on the GTX680 device, Windows notes the following:

Currently, this hardware device is not connected to the computer. (Code 45)

Upon physical examination, the GPU is correctly installed in the PCIe slot. Power cables are plugged in. When powered on, the GPU lights turn on and the fans spin freely.
In short, everything seems OK with the GPU.

Nothing changed hardware wise vs yesterday when the GPU was still working normally. Also no software updates were installed (driver or windows or other).
I tried to install the latest NVidia driver, but without success.

After trying all sorts of fixes without results, I decided to post here at the Tom's Hardware Forum.

The problem

My old GTX 680 GPU doesn't give an image signal and produces a black screen.

Attempted solutions
  • Unplugging and Replugging the HDMI cable
  • Using a diffrent (DVI) cable
  • Excluding a cable defect (the cable works correctly)
  • Restarting the computer
  • Excluding a monitor defect (the monitor works fine when plugged into a different computer)
  • Checking if Windows or driver updates occurred within the last 10 days (no updates were installed within the last 10 days)
  • Uninstalling the GPU, taking it apart and cleaning all individual components of the GPU. I also applied new thermal paste, reassembled it and reinstalled it in the PC. (Didn't fix anything)
  • Checking that the GPU is correctly installed (it is)
  • Installing the latest Nvidia driver (not possible "no nvidia hardware detected").

Unexplored solutions
  • Resetting or updating the BIOS. I read online that this might help getting the GPU recognized again. I am a bit hesitant to do this, since if it fails this will effectively brick the entire system.

System Specifications
  • Power Supply: 720 Watt Cooler Master Silent Pro MII
  • Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-M Pro (LGA 1155 Socket)
  • CPU: Intel Core i7 3770K (3.5 Ghz, 4 Cores, 8 Threads)
  • GPU: Nvidia GTX680 (2 GB VRAM @ 1Ghz)
  • RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance (DDR3 Memory @ 1.6Ghz)
  • OS: Windows 10 Home 64-Bit

My Question


Are there any other potential troubleshoot steps I can take to fix this issue?
Do you have any advice, ideas or tips that can help?

Or, perhaps my GPU is gone and has effectively died?
The GPU is almost 10 years old (I bought it in 2012) so that wouldn't be super surprising.
In this cases, I guess I will have to buy a new GPU ... Any tips for the current market?

Thank you very much for your help !

With Kind Regards,

Toms Cat
 

Toms_Cat

Commendable
May 20, 2019
15
1
1,515
Since the GPU still lights up and the fans are running, resetting the BIOS seems like a logical next step after everything you already tried.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9hyEPTFR10

HiAkitaLuna,

I tried your proposed solution, and I must say:
You are an absolute legend. It worked!

Thank you so much for your idea and the helpful video!

For reference:
I removed the CMOS battery for 6 minutes and reinstalled it. Then, I simply restarted my machine with the hdmi cable plugged into my video card.
Suddenly, the display came to life again.

I would have not thought of this. Thanks again !

I hope you have a wonderful day,

With Kind Regards,

Toms Cat.