[SOLVED] Zotac 2080 TI Lighting and OC Scanner Issues

[aerski]

It's been about a year since I got my Zotac 2080 TI Amp Extreme (wish I had waited for the 3090 lol) and it started throwing issues about a week ago. I've searched every Reddit thread, Zotac thread ETC.. for a week now. Firestorm is Zotac's program, which includes a Spectra tab to customize the lighting on the GPU, and an OC scanner as well, which are the main issues here. Before this issue arose, about a month ago, I decided to turn off all the GPU lights in the Spectra tab because I needed to leave my PC on while I slept. I forgot about it and left it dark for about a month, and when I finally wanted my lights on, and went to Firestorm and clicked on the Spectra tab, it was greyed out and I couldn't click on it.

I search up about others having this issue and see a lot of users complaining about the issue, and Zotac releasing a "fix" but only for the 3080s. I try simple things first like restarting my PC, closing other applications that may be interfering with the program, uninstalling all drivers with DDU and reinstalling, taking out the 2080 and putting it back in, uninstalling Firestorm and trying older versions (still can't click on Spectra). Another issue is that when I click on Firestorm's OC Scanner, my monitor goes black for about three seconds, and the Firestorm software blacks out and became unresponsive, then it tells me it failed and to restart it, which doesn't help. So i avert to another program for the OC Scanner, MSI Afterburner, which the scan also leads me to a three-second black screen and an error message saying: Failed to start scanning! No error code or anything - so maybe the OC scanner issue isn't Firestorm's problem, or Firestorm screwed my GPU up. Additionally, whenever I open Firestorm, it prompts me to this weird update saying:

New Firmware Update is Available - Current Version: V (yes, literally just v??), and New Version 1.0.0.7...
so, I try to update it since it prompts me, and then it just says Software Testing... then, The Software Failed to start, please turn off your computer and turn it back on again. which is what I have done and more... at this point I'm so frustrated.

So obviously I seek to get some kind of return or replacement if I can't fix it, (which I highly doubt a replacement would fix my issues, as i'm pretty sure their Firestorm software messed up my GPU) Amazon refers me to Zotac and Zotac never picks up their phone, emailed them, and haven't got a response yet. I'm hoping I find some kind of fix or somehow get a refund exception.. this just happened out of the blue, and so many other users have reported the same thing.
If anyone can offer some kind of help or fix, I'd gladly take it, although I've probably already tried it haha.

For my specs:
GPU: Zotac RTX 2080 TI Amp Extreme
CPU: i9-9900k
MOBO: MSI MEG z390 Godlike
MONITOR: ASUS PG35VQ
PSU: EVGA 850w 80+ GOLD
SSD: 2TB Samsung 860 EVO
RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32GB (4x8) DDR4 3200

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

Does the gpu work other than the lights?

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

Have you tried the gpu in a different pcie slot?

 

[aerski]

Does the gpu work other than the lights?

Yes, the GPU seems to work fine.. I'm going to try putting it in a different slot when I get home and get back to you

 

[aerski]

Have you tried the gpu in a different pcie slot?

Tried it in a different slot (moved from 1st to 2nd) but it would give me a boot device error. I moved my front SSD (i have two , one in the back and one in the front slot but they should both have proper boot media) from slot 3 to 1/4 since the card takes up two slots and to no avail. Went to BIOS and changed the boot order and couldn't find the front SSD any more, only the back one, and it wouldn't boot from the back one.
It would only boot in the current configuration i installed it in. I'm lost..

 

[aerski]

Got a refund from Amazon even after a year, after getting a replacement from Zotac and it still being faulty.. i advise anyone with this issue to press on and do the same, even if the return window is closed.