Serious Problem with my Msi 970 Gtx 4G

[Sheep500]

Hi guys. Help required. I had a 970 since launch and recently sold it on Ebay. The buyer had it a few days before saying he was getting problems with screen garble.
The card was working great, I tested it - put it into original antistatic bag and packed it as new.
Ebay have refunded the buyer but now I'm left with a card that doesn't work.
In bios and post it's fine. In windows with no driver it's fine but as soon as you install any Nvidia driver it goes haywire.
To get the screen legible I have to disable the card and restart then the screen is readable.

Any ideas what could cause this?
Is the card broken beyond repair?

Any help is much appreciated

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[Dunlop0078]

I have no idea, since it did this on two separate computers I doubt its the driver, but I would still recommend you try an old gpu driver that you are certain worked with that card in the past before you proceed to what I have to say next. I would try to either update the bios or reflash the one that is on there. Here is the link below, I am yet to use MSI's live update utility for a gpu bios so I am not sure how it works you may want to do a bit of research. If you screw up a bios update that gpu will be nothing more than a brick, if it isn't already.

Its quite rare to have a partial hardware failure of a gpu, so im inclined to say software or firmware is causing this issue.

https://us.msi.com/Graphics-card/support/GTX-970-GAMING-4G.html#down-utility&Win10 64

 

[Sheep500]

I have no idea, since it did this on two separate computers I doubt its the driver, but I would still recommend you try an old gpu driver that you are certain worked with that card in the past before you proceed to what I have to say next. I would try to either update the bios or reflash the one that is on there. Here is the link, I am yet to use MSI's live update utility for a gpu bios so I am not sure how it works you may want to do a bit of research. If you screw up a bios update that gpu will be nothing more than a brick, if it isn't already.

Its quite rare to have a partial hardware failure of a gpu, so im inclined to say software or firmware is causing this issue.

Hi there, thanks for the response. I have tried reflashing the bios but nothing. Still the same. As soon as I re-enable it in device manager or after the driver install is messes up.

 

[Dunlop0078]

Any signs the guy who bought it tampered with it? I believe there is a warranty void if removed sticker on the back of that gpu covering one of the screws to take the heatsink off. MY msi gaming 760 and 1060 have it so I would imagine your 970 would. If you have never taken the cooler off yourself that sticker should still be there, and without a phillips head screwdriver hole in it.

 

[Sheep500]

Any signs the guy who bought it tampered with it? I believe there is a warranty void if removed sticker on the back of that gpu covering one of the screws to take the heatsink off. MY msi gaming 760 and 1060 have it so I would imagine your 970 would. If you have never taken the cooler off yourself that sticker should still be there, and without a phillips head screwdriver hole in it.

Hi. The card seems as it was and all the stickers are in the same place with no signs of tampering.
Initially I feared I was going to be the victim of a swap or some dodgy fraud but it seems not.
Really perplexed.
Why is it ok on windows basic driver but as soon as nvidia driver is installed it fails? Is it a vram issue?
I've contacted msi to see what they say warranty wise but trouble is - I can't find the receipt.

 

[Dunlop0078]

Any signs the guy who bought it tampered with it? I believe there is a warranty void if removed sticker on the back of that gpu covering one of the screws to take the heatsink off. MY msi gaming 760 and 1060 have it so I would imagine your 970 would. If you have never taken the cooler off yourself that sticker should still be there, and without a phillips head screwdriver hole in it.

Hi. The card seems as it was and all the stickers are in the same place with no signs of tampering.
Initially I feared I was going to be the victim of a swap or some dodgy fraud but it seems not.
Really perplexed.
Why is it ok on windows basic driver but as soon as nvidia driver is installed it fails? Is it a vram issue?
I've contacted msi to see what they say warranty wise but trouble is - I can't find the receipt.

Thats what I'm wondering I dont think I have ever seen this before. I will try to do a bit of research for you and see what I can find. You have tried different ports right? I would try dvi, hdmi, and display port if you have a cable and see if they all do it, just to rule out the possibility of a bad port.

 

[Sheep500]

Hi, thanks again. I have tried Dvi and Hdmi. I also tried Hdmi to Dvi but all do the same.
Like you say it's a bizarre situation.