SOLVED: Ugh - 4080S Issues - Black Screen after BIOS Splash, OS running.

[Narj]

Hi all,

I got a new 4080S and I'm convinced that it has issues so think I am going to return it.

I get the BIOS splash screen via the first HDMI port but nothing after that as windows should be loading. Windows seems to boot and I get the usual sounds if I plug in a USB stick etc.

I've tried:
- Removing all nmve drives and installing a single new one to do a fresh install via USB - black screen after BIOS boot selection and splash, no install wizard
- Checked BIOS is the latest version - I upgraded not long ago
- Checked all power cables are seated properly (12VHPWR is a git to ensure it's in properly) and re-seated both ends anyway - I tested all 3 separate PCI-e cables to my old GPU and they all work fine - I am not daisy-chaining. My PSU is 1000W as per sig and I'm using the decent Corsair included cables.
- Before install, removed the 4000D Cable management bar to ensure it wasn't going to keep the card slightly out of the PCIe slot
- Reset BIOS to optimised defaults/Clear CMOS
- Tried three different monitors
- Tried HDMI and DisplayPort
- Tried different HDMI and DP cables
- Ensured I'm using one monitor at a time
- Checked that the display isn't falling back to onboard (it isn't and the "dual display" option is disabled)
- Checked Secure Boot is off*
- CSM is on*
- Tried a GPU from my other machine and that works fine*

* Edited additions after suggestions/trying.

The machine posts fine and as I say it seems that windows is running with the new GPU. The LEDs on the card come on and the fans are spinning fine. I think the monitor is seeing something because I am not getting no signal, just a black screen.

As soon as I put my old GPU back in, everything is fine. I know my current system is a bit old but wasn't expecting any issues apart from maybe a drop in potential performance.

I see there's an update from nvidia for black screen issues but that doesn't seem to be quite the same problem, and I don't want to risk bricking a new card. I don't have another PC to test in anymore either.

Any ideas as I may have one last crack at it tomorrow? To say today has been frustrating is an understatement...

 

[Narj]

I think the firmware update is run from Windows anyway, so I'm not sure you could use it.

In their post, they say that enabling CSM can get around the problem, but I'm not sure you could enable CSM on an existing install and have it load.

Is secure boot turned off?

Thanks for the reply mate

Hmm Secure Boot says "enabled", however it's actually set to "Other OS" which I believe stops it from working (see the bumf at the bottom of screen). I think I may have done that some time back to disable it when I was running Mint. I'd noted everything down and put it back after reset as I think it won't boot otherwise.

As for CSM:

So apart from that I'm at a loss really.

EDIT: Oh, I also disabled fast boot.

EDIT2: From windows msinfo32:

EDIT3: I'm going to pull the GTX1060 6GB from my HTPC downstairs tomorrow to make sure I can get that working in this rig out of paranoia. I'll see how that goes. Sadly that machine is way too small to test a 4080S in.

 

[Narj]

Just put the GPU from the downstairs (GTX1060 6GB) PC into this machine and that works fine.

Also tested all 3 power cables into it so those are all good into 2 different GPUs.

Don't think I'm totally incompetent

 

[Narj]

Yeah it’s going back.

@Vimes Yes 3004 bios, rebar on. See previous post for details. BIOS splash fine then black screen and OS seems to be running. CSM seems to be suggested for on and if I disable that I think I may have issues booting.

Other PC is in a node 202 so no chance.

I have seen people run 4000 series on this class mobo and CPU as I looked for benchmarks before buying. I will get a new cpu/mobo etc down the line.

USB boot drives never get to installer.

Cheers all. I’m having terrible luck with new purchases lately, this is the third thing I’ve had to send back in a month!!! Makes me want to give up buying anything new!

 

[Narj]

Hopefully this is a silly question but are you using fibre-optic cables? If so are they the right way round? Fibre cables are directional.

Are onboard graphics enabled? If so, what happens if you have one monitor plugged into the onboard graphics and another plugged into the GPU?

No, normal copper cables. Err never heard of fibre DP and HDMI unless that’s some sort of over Ethernet extender setup!

As per first post I checked that video wasn’t failing back to onboard but thanks anyways. It’s on auto I believe so gets disabled when a discrete GPU is installed due to the dual display option being disabled. Been caught out by that setting before.

Anyway, return raised. Had enough.

 

[Narj]

This black screen issue happened to me. I had to plug a HDMI cable directly into the motherboard so I could load into windows, then install drivers & firmware, once I had done this and rebooted (unplug the HDMI from the motherboard) it worked, and hasn't skipped a beat since.

I read somewhere online it was a known issue with 4XXX series and ASUS motherboards.

By firmware do you mean GPU bios update? Interesting.

That would be annoying if needing to do a fresh install and having to use onboard again. If you don’t have an iGPU you can be potentially stuffed as well.

 

[Narj]

Not sure, I downloaded the firmware tool direct from nvidia along with the 4080S drivers, installed both (can't remember in which order as needed one for the other, pretty sure it was driver first, reboot then run the firmware tool, or vice versa).

Yeah it was annoying for me too spent a good couple of hours sorting it out, but since then it's been a beast of a card

Hmmm looking on reddit quite a few people have managed to brick their cards doing this update. Also the page for the fix doesn't mention Super cards although you clearly have one. The thing is, I do see the BIOS OK, where the fix mentioned suggests that there is no output whatsoever until the OS appears. The OS never appears for me at all.

I'm erring towards playing it safe and just doing the return rather than ending up with an expensive paperweight.

 

[Narj]

And to think, only yesterday..

Please, just shoot me.

 

[Narj]

From what I can recall, the issue that the firmware updates address mainly occurs with DP and prior to Windows, whereas yours occurs with HDMI and after the BIOS. That said, I've seen a fair few detection problems generally with 3000/4000 cards, so I don't think there's only one issue.

There are profiles here with people running a 4080 in that board (at least well enough to benchmark it), so I don't think there's a general incompatibility.

Thanks for that. It marries up with the benchmarks I was looking at.

Yeah, I think a fix that doesn't specifically mention my card or the exact situation is not wise to apply. I think having to flash a vBIOS to make a new product work is unacceptable anyway in all honesty. You'd expect the vBIOS on the AIB Supers to be recent anyway. Given my rotten luck it's bound to go wrong, so if the vendor wants to try it in testing then they can fill their boots. Otherwise I'll DSR it and think about what to do, maybe just get something else less bleeding-edge to tide me over until a complete refresh.

At this rate I'm even considering custom build for a refresh so I don't have to deal with this sort of crap.

 

[Narj]

Surely updating the firmware provided by nvidia doesn't void any warranty? It could also be drivers have you tried installing the 4080S drivers with your old card plugged in then swapping over?

Mate I can’t even do a fresh install of an OS to a new nvme from a USB stick via GPU. I attempted that to rule out my windows install and drivers. It seems more fundamental.

I could ask the vendor what they think about the firmware but it seems risky to me. It just seems like way more than I should be expected to do for a brand new card and I don’t want an RMA refused because I bricked the card.

I could try once more with drivers from iGPU but I’m sick of it now tbh.

 

[Narj]

Drivers is worth a shot via the iGPU imo, shouldn't take too long. I know how annoying it is though I've had issues in the past

Problem is if that works and I need to reinstall I have to go through a merry dance via iGPU again to install. I’ll maybe try when I finish work. Appreciate your comments though, thanks

 

[Narj]

What GPU did you get in the end? Hopefully not a Gainward, Gigabyte or Palit!

MSI 4080 Super Gaming X Slim. Seems well built and the support bracket is really good.

Shame about the issues. Both my other MSI cards work fine on this board.

 

[Narj]

Think you've been unlucky with this particular card and got a lemon. Hopefully the replacement works as intended.

Hold fire - I think I might have it working.... more to follow!

 

[Narj]

That's good news! Post back, I'm well curious and hoping you've cracked it!

Right,

Basically I was preparing to have another go, rebooted to Safe mode for DDU and noticed that the display on the GTX1060 I swapped in was glitching a bit, then the entire thing dropped out. Then I found that I couldn't use my iGPU anymore either despite deliberately having the dual display setting enabled as I planned to go into Windows to see if the 4080S was detected. Anyways - black screen issues(!) Tried a boot USB and nada. After several cycles of GPUs and finding none of them working properly anymore, I assumed the motherboard was kaput or something was loose. I honestly thought my PC was busted for good - at one point it wasn't even POSTing.

I pulled absolutely everything out bar the CPU and re-seated it. POSTing but no display. Then I did a full CMOS reset pulling power cord, pulling the battery, holding power button for 10 seconds, shorting the reset pins etc. Finally got it to POST properly and show display again on my old GTX970. I did a restore optimal defaults and didn't restore a single one of the previous settings. Booted OK (seems CSM must be default). Then I put the 4080S in and I had display so did the uninstall and install new drivers.

I thought perhaps XMP profile was an issue with the 4080S but I've just set that back as it was and other stuff seems much the same as before. I'll have to go through it all and see if it was some creeping death setting I've overlooked or a ghost in the machine that was exorcised with the rejigging and purging.

When in doubt, start from scratch, I suppose. Just ran a quick bench and it seems OK but I'll do more tomorrow. The main issue I now have is that my AIO loop is sitting on top of the power adapter due to the case panel, I think I'm going to have to find something to use as an insulating spacer to avoid heat transfer.

Thanks a million for all your input everyone... fingers crossed

EDIT: I keep typing 3080, for some reason my brain won't register that I have a 4080!

EDIT2: The oddness has freaked me out a bit so I'll probably get a new CPU/Mobo/RAM reasonably soon. 90 Degree adapter for the 12VHPWR thing might be an idea too - hopefully won't melt on a 4080S!

EDIT3: Installing the bracket on this card (MSI Gaming X Slim), it's good to have the case on its side and get some electrical tape to hold the blanking plates in place so you can get the screws in without the plates falling in towards the motherboard.

 

[Narj]

Good to hear that your perseverance paid although a little dissapointing (probably) that it seems pretty clear that you need to upgrade m-board,cpu etc.

Just goes to show that it is best to ignore opinions expressed by people like me !!

Keep us informed.

Nah I really appreciate any ideas when I'm knee deep in the doo-doo

I tend to get better at fixing things the more angry I get.

 

[Narj]

Proper pleased for you man, I think it'll be fine and that your theory of some setting the card didn't like being wiped out with the starting from scratch is spot on

Thanks mate, although that glitching with the 970 and 1060 I had makes me think the mobo might be on its way out. Never seen that before. Next payday I’ll get started on a new home and monitor for the GPU.

May as well finish the job.

 

[Narj]

I wonder if it was maybe a bios setting like pci-3 was enabled instead of pci-e gen 4.

This board doesn’t do PCIe 4, 3 max. That was something I looked into. Usually that’s a problem with people using PCIe3 risers and having 4 (or auto) set

 

[Narj]

All well and good, but maybe he's just a plonker

Happy to admit when I've been a complete idiot, in fact it's easy to do stupid things when you're flustered but the very weird behaviour here still has me stumped.

I'm not a guru but I've been building and swearing at systems since P2. I do suspect this motherboard has a lot of juice retention which is quite apparent when you disconnect power and have the track LED feature on. That might have been one factor

I just had a weird issue where having dual monitors attached on boot resulted in no video at all so I disconnected one, booted, reattached the second and it's fine over several reboots now. I think something is going on that will be resolved by a new base setup in all honesty. I get it, it's a Frankenstein's monster setup for modern standards but it is what it is for now

 

[Narj]

Hmm compared initial BIOS settings and the only differences I saw with the exception of XMP profile related changes were:

- Intel Virtualisation Technology -> Disabled
- Vt-d -> Disabled
- SW Guard Extensions -> Software Controlled
- Above 4G Decoding -> Disabled

Just re-enabled Resizable Bar again as it's off by default, which then disabled CSM and enabled Above 4G Decoding. @Vimes good shout on CSM OFF being correct.

The machine still boots (hoped it would due to msinfo32 showing UEFI) and things still seem to be working so yeah... happy but confused.

I've re-enabled virtualisation as I need that for VMWare (don't need nesting right now so left VT-d off). Saved good BIOS settings to profile and USB

Every day is a school day, I learned quite a bit from this at least even if it's given me some more grey hairs.

Cheers again, all. Never give up!

EDIT: On reflection, I had dusted out the PC a few days before receiving the GPU in preparation. I wonder if the glitching and weirdness (or a loose connection) was kicked off by this. Weird how it didn't manifest until a while later after testing other GPUs fine though.