why do gpus randomly need reseating?

[Threepwood]

as long as I have had modern pcs, there have always been seemingly random times that the gpu needed reseating to fix a boot display problem, but why,?
It's not like they are taken out to allow some dust to get in the slot? they are pretty much left there alone, static, working, then boom- reseat me plz!
so, I just don't understand!
yes, I crapped myself a little with a gpu debug white light on yesterday, cba with a broken 4090, I had to wait until my son got back from his twilight shift job to reseat it for me, it took x3 reseats before the white light went off , and I got the sweet green light again
any idea anyone?
EDIT:just to be clear, i'm talking about fixing a sudden no video signal error, or a vga problem debug led

 

[Threepwood]

Same, never needed to reseat a GPU.

I've never needed to reseat a GPU

Never had to reseat any of mine, I've had to a few times at work when people have bought cheap cases and the chassis has bent when they've incorrectly installed the GPU.

funny how it is the first piece of advice given whenever somone is having a vga / gpu signal problem, or if a vga debug led is on

 

[Threepwood]

I'd assume it might be more common with very large/heavy cards, but I've not had to randomly do it.

I've seen all manner of sized cards do it. totally randomly

 

[Threepwood]

All in systems you've owned by any chance? Because like others have said it's never happened to me or something I've ever heard of. I've heard more about GPUs ripping out the PCIe socket in transit than I've heard of it falling out...

my PCs and my kids PCs
I'm not talking about reseating a gpu because it has fallen out of the socket! but to fix it when suddenly there is no video signal coming from the pc
I refuse to believe that I am the only one to know that reseating the gpu, can fix a no signal error

 

[Threepwood]

I've never had to either. Are you moving your PC around or is it getting kicked?

no, I'm not talking about a gpu falling out of it's socket, i'm talking about fixing a no signal error

 

[Threepwood]

You don’t think it’s this guy messing with you?

How does a gpu being "unseated" cause a no signal error on the display?
Normally no signal errors are just crap cables

How does a gpu being "unseated" cause a no signal error on the display?
Normally no signal errors are just crap cables

I have not once said anything about a gpu being unseated, but I can see your confusion, reseated means taken out, and plugged back in!

 

[Threepwood]

So why would it need reseating / why would reseating cure it?

this is what I am confused about! I've seen it many times, where the fix was to reseat the gpu, the most recent being yesterday eve for me

 

[Threepwood]

this is a funny little find, ocuk academy video showing how to reseat a gpu to fix 'issues'
beware watching it, the sound levels are rubbish, making the presenter sound much louder than the music

 

[Threepwood]

You don’t think it’s this guy messing with you?

maybe but, I've killed him enough times to make sure he stays dead now, except maybe not in sea of thieves, I can't play that because of my disability, I'd love to check out the easter eggs there, I'd like to see how Murray is doing too, I presume that it is set after my return to monkey island( great game btw)

 

[Threepwood]

Used to do it with my Sega Master System. Also NES I think

you'd never have to do that with a cartridge

Reminds me of blowing dust out of mega drive cartridges, never had to do it with a pc.

you'd never have to do that with a cartridge that was left in though, would you

 

[Threepwood]

Probably to rule out the cause being that it was not initially inserted correctly by the user. If you have been inserting correctly then perhaps there is some environmental issue as a contributor.

gpu inserted correctly by a Pro computer guy, and working for several months before needing a reseat to fix a no signal error

 

[Threepwood]

Never had to do it and ... Ah
Where can I do a course to learn how to be a pro inserter?

run your own business, employing only yourself for 20 years building, fixing and troubleshooting PCs, memorise all the windows cmds, and have a side hustle, building, maintaining servers for some big business clients, and also survey sites for servers
he's totally Pro, his last personal project was building a console in a gutted playstation one, modded to work with bluetooth controllers, which has all the classic games under the sun on it, whatever your childhood game/s was, it's on there.

He's just pro, you can tell by how nice his tools are, andall the special liquids he carries around for cleaning cpu faces etc, he doesn't just clean them, he primes them after that too, and how efficient he is at what he does too, I think that he is autistic, with some ADHD going on, he is obsessed with computers, and constantly talks his way through a job.

Computers are like his super power, and he is equally obsessed with making a build as neat as humanly possible
he has a usb that will boot into several OSes, linux included, and has a whole host of commonly used programs on a few USBs too, one of which has some naughty programs on it
in less than a hour, my 3k build was completed, my old case had been cleaned inside and out, not a mote of dust to be seen ,all the cable routing was neat AF, my win10 was cracked, and he had fixed an ongoing problem with my pc sometimes not seeing my wired router with some windows commands, he installed basic monitoring tools, and stress testing programs to double check that everything was good then asked for £40, I gave him £50
like my mechanic, you have to book him a few weeks ahead if you want a job like that doing, but if you have a minor problem, he will do his best to come over between jobs, ( he is local, )and maybe will sacrifice a weekend day to fit you in, I don't much like him doing that because he works so hard, and does so much driving that he really deserves his days off,
but it is his choice, I'm not going to day no, because I can't do much with only my right hand/arm to work with.*
That is what you have to be like to be Pro, be like John

*I guess that I can rope my mum, and my son into helping with a few very minor things, but I don't really trust them, not like I trust John, I didn't mind my lad reseating an expensive 4090 for me, because I wanted the PC running again, but anything more than that, I'd be asking John

 

[Threepwood]

Only ever been required during build to correct an error or after moving the tower, and even then it's basically never.

It's suggested as a fix for no display output after checking and reseating all cables, as it's an easy test and one doesn't know the situation of the users machine, so it's good to eliminate before wasting time doing other, more difficult stuff.

I have often had no signal being caused by bad/incorrect cables. The one situation I can think of it working, is if your monitor doesn't have a scaler in it, or a limited one, and your gpu/system has got stuck it outputting a different resolution. Then reseating the gpu resets it, and then it gets displayed correctly again.

Id suggest going forward, trying other steps before reseating the gpu, to eliminate other options, so that in future you might have a quicker fix.
Regardless of anyone's experiences, you *shouldn't* be having to do it with any regularity, especially if the tower isn't moving. No components should spontaneously be breaking/disconnecting "regularly" on a hardware or mechanical level.
Once built, I'd expect maybe one component every 2 to 3 years, if unlucky, not weekly or monthly.

So reseating a gpu is something you do try/advise to try. has it ever worked, for you to be advising that?
MyPc is not moved, nor had the gpu disconnected, my motherboard has a reinforced pcie slot, there isn't even any gpu sag, and the 4090 is pretty heavy, the screws are in the back bracket too of course Nor had I messed around with any resolution setting before this happened.
It was just a simple no signal error which I've seen a bundle of times, and it was fixed by a few reseats!, and failed
this is not a regular thing formy PC But , I've seen no signal error a lot fixed by a gpu reseat usually, when everything else has been tried And failed.
The same has happened for my remote sons, a gpu reseat being the first PC job they ever learnt to do to combat this last ditch manoeuver, after from checking leads, and turning off/on ofc!
One had a titan, and did need his mum's help to do a reseat though!
They did well considering he was only 9, and his mum had zero computer parts knowlage, but I had showed him how to do it on another PC other than his beforehand
one of my sons lives with me now, and is waiting for his pc to be shipped out to here, so I am a little worried about that gpu/ pcie slot but it is only an old amd gpu with not much weight to it, am sure it will be fine.

 

[Threepwood]

Something else is wrong if you need to reseat a GPU constantly… Plug in and forget…

I agree, but his is not constantly, it was random, and the first time for this PC,
the point is that I've seen this happen on other PCs where everything else has been tried but the reseat fixes it,.
So, I was confident that others would have experienced this too, but only two have, many haven't
I'm now wondering if it could be anything to do with the gpu contacts being made of gold, being soft thus being dented by the pcie contacts? then shrinking after being turned off for a while , removing contact tbetween the gpu and the socket contacts? but saying that, my kids always got my old gpus in new motherboards, so i'm clutching at straws here
maybe the two metals of the gpu, and the pcie react to one another over time? but doubtful because gold is pretty inert, and AFAIKpure gold does not tarnish, idk what the socket contacts are made of, nor if the gpu contacts are pure gold..
..it's a mystery to me, that is why I'm asking!

 

[Threepwood]

Absolutely nothing at all to do with it.

I'm sure there's no need to reseat the GPU and it's far more likely unplugging and plugging in the display cable would achieve whatever you think a reseat is doing

well,the reseat fixes it when everything else has failed over multiple computers, fixing the problem, is what I've *seen* it doing, not what I might* think* it is doing! everything else is tried before the reseat, because, ' duh!' the reseat is the last ditch attempt, and it has worked so often, just like a few days ago

 

[Threepwood]

Never needed to do it with any components. The only reason could be it wasn't installed properly to start with.

why would they work perfectly when built then?,
and why would people advise reseating ram, if it only ever happened with things that were not properly installed, but previously working a-okay

 

[Threepwood]

Sorry if you've already stated this but is the mobo on the latest bios (there may have been pcie updates perhaps) and does this happen with different PSUs?

I also see you mention a 4090. How is that connected? Is it a newer PSU with a direct power connection or is it via adapter? I understand some of the adapters are/were a bit janky (hence the whole melting issue over time).

this is not a recurrent problem, and it is fixed now, by reseating!
My PC is running just fine now,
I've just had to reseat a gpu a lot of times on various PCs that I've had, and the kids PCs too, when all else fails, the last option is to reseat the gpu, and that has tended to fix the no signal problem
I'll answer your questions for the fun of it though, yes, I keep my PC on the most recent BIOS
No, I've not tried any other PSUs I cba to wait 3 weeks for my computer guy to come try another psu, and there is no point, because a simple reseat cured the no signal problem!
I mentioned the 4090 because that is my current gpu, it is plugged right into the reinforced pcie socket, and the power cable is the new 16 pin 12VHPWR connector, I wasn't going to spend 3k on a system and then rely the adaptors that would have been daft, this is my long term PC, and I think that 16 pin connector will be around for a long time so I spent the extra and did it right by buying once, with a long term view, rather than having to have my PSU changed in the future, and having to pay for it, and it to be fitted too, when I don't even know if I would have the money then
also, when I mention my 4090, my e-penis gets even bigger
thanks for trying to help though, I appreciate your time trying

 

[Threepwood]

Well I hope it keeps on working.

Me too, my boy and me have a saying now " I hope it's not the 4090," I had a problem once that turned out to be a "faulty " monitor, we'd tried everything except a different monitor,we went to bed saying, I hope it's not the 4090, and that we would try the spare monitor the next day
then my computer guy showed up the next day, to trouble shoot, he checked everything over, and said
" have you tried another monitor."
then we all tried the spare monitor, and boom, it worked!
I ended up sending my 4k 144 hz monitor back to ocuk, and bought another one, fully expecting to get my money back for the original, one week later it gets delivered back with no faults found, so we plugged it in to make sure it was fine after it had been delivered, and been in transit, etc, powered everything up, no signal
That's when I thought screw this and bought a new display cable, capable of doing 8k, since I will move up from 4K to 8K one day next year, this fixed the no signal error on that occasion, and it is still pretty new tbh,, the supplied cable that came with the original monitor must have bit the dust, then I saw a linus video talking about not trusting supplied video cables that come with monitors, thinking back, when we tried the spare monitor we used an hdmi lead, because the sparemonitor does not have a DP, maybe that should have been the givaway

TLDR: once it turned out to be the cable, so no amount of reseating could fix the problem that time
that is all moot now though, pc is working fine, I get 144 fps on my 4KUHD 144 hz monitor in classic wow raids on maxed out settings, very happy!

 

[Threepwood]

got sag?

no sag, sturdy reinforced pcie slot on my motherboard, and screws are in the rear bracket

 

[Threepwood]

No, they’re just insecure.

that is a good one, probably gone over a lot of heads though