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Question

Nvidia GTX 1070 Randomly doesn't dislpay

Aug 26, 2017 3:49AM PDT

All worked fine for 1 year
Running dual boot win 8.1 and ubuntu 16.
With
Nvidia GTX 1070 connected via DP
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-X99-UD4P

I moved my tower (long ride, vibrations, no shock)

Now
Grub Menu Displays (Initial Display output is on PCIe slot)
I choose the boot option, got to purple preloading screen

Then,
~4/5 times no signal detected by the screen.
Though instance is running, GC fans are spinning, everything looks fine.
Have to force shut down
~1/5 times signal get detected,
potentially need to reboot via win8.1 suggestion according to the fact I forced shut down.
Eventually got a running computer.

Extra tips:
when OS is waked up from sleep, no display;
when display wakes up form sleep, display ok.
when removing the GTX and booting while vga connected to motherboard, all fine

What I did:
Hardware --> take GC out, blow out potential dust from connectors and PCIe slot.
Software --> Made sure Drivers are up to date.

I'm pretty annoyed that I need to force shut down PC ~4 times for it to finally run, as it damages it and takes me time.

Any help on this matter will be highly appreciated, I remain available for any further needed information.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Display
Aug 26, 2017 6:52AM PDT

Reseat all the parts and connectors.
Leave the cpu alone but do inspect the mounting of the hsf.

Try a different gpu in your machine or your gpu in a different machine.

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Next reboot
Aug 26, 2017 10:18AM PDT

I'll check hsf mounting and disconnect, blow of the dust, reconnect all on next reboot.
I wish I could try gpu/machine swap but I have no friend with compatible hardware...
I'll come back to you as soon as I resat all the hardware.

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Speccy
Aug 26, 2017 5:01PM PDT

After you get your power issue sorted look at the speccy and note how full your C drive is.
That's not a good thing to do with a ssd, it will effect perf.

Partitions 3+4 seem to be unused, perhaps you can merge those into the C partition and give the OS a little wiggle room.
It might give things a small bump.

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Answer
Power supply?
Aug 26, 2017 8:51AM PDT
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PSu specs and Speccy Report
Aug 26, 2017 10:14AM PDT

PSu:
Be Quiet BQT F1 500 W
http://www.bequiet.com/en/powersupply/240

Operating System
Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i7 6700K @ 4.00GHz 31 °C
Skylake 14nm Technology
RAM
16.0GB Single-Channel Unknown @ 1199MHz (16-16-16-39)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. Z170-HD3P-CF (U3E1) 33 °C
Graphics
W1943 (1360x768@60Hz)
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Gigabyte) 47 °C
Storage
465GB Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB (SSD) 28 °C
111GB KINGSTON SUV400S37120G (SSD) 30 °C
298GB SAMSUNG HD321KJ (SATA) 28 °C
Optical Drives
No optical disk drives detected
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

I doubt of your PSu theory, considering it ran smoothly for one year...

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Answer
That PSU is barely there.
Aug 26, 2017 10:35AM PDT

From the specs we read "
+12V1 (A) 18
+12V2 (A) 18"

This means there is at most 216W available to what's on each rail.
The 1070 TDP is 161W ( http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1070-review,8.html )
so this is over the usual advice to not design your rig to use more than 50% of a rail for one device.

But there is no Web Speccy so I can't go looking for the other details. The CPU has graphics so to test if it's some load issue with the PSU, remove the GPU and re-test using the Intel Graphics.

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I get your point
Aug 26, 2017 10:47AM PDT
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Then it's looking like a just barely there PSU.
Aug 26, 2017 10:58AM PDT

It can confuse folk "why now?" but the short version is PSUs use parts that age with time and load. Electrolytic capacitors being the most common part that ages the fastest. It's not a digital 1 or 0 as to the failure and since electrolytic capacitors tend to like warmth you find it may be fine after it starts but hard starting.

All this might be avoided if the PSU was a single rail of same wattage because your total Watts on a single rail would not push the PSU as hard. This is a recurring piece of advice about PSU selection. If you are down with Watts, Amperes and specs you can get into multiple rails but most just want an easy system so the nod every time is to the single +12V design.

As to your test without the GPU, to me this nails it.

Just some notes.
1. There's an odd memory choice here. It looks like a gaming rig but instead of 2 by 8GB sticks a single was used. This limits the machine in odd ways. GPU and other performance can be down by about 10%.
2. https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z170-HD3P-rev-10#support-dl notes a much newer BIOS with notes that would have me change HOWEVER as the PSU is suspect (and is the problem in my opinion) I'd put this off till the machine is repaired.

LAST DITCH IDEA. If you can connect the GPU power connection to another +12V rail, that might let you squeak by till you replace that PSU. I do not advise this as pushing a PSU is not advised.

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Thanks !
Aug 26, 2017 11:58AM PDT

Thank you for your time and your detailed answer.
I'll go for a new PSU as soon as money comes back in. You convinced me when refering to the "diesel" behavior which I noticed was a trend.

'bout your notes:
1. Thx, I'll go for a second 16Go then. I wondered when making this choice but didn't dig deep enough and eventually went wrong.
2. tx for notifying

I'll give a shot to your last idea, it might be interesting to see if any difference appears and would be great to have a "more working" setup while waiting for my new PSu.

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Update on PSU
Nov 8, 2017 1:41PM PST

Hi R. Proffitt,

I finally did upgrade my PSU to this one.
I also ordered a new stick of RAM.
Bad news tho, the problem isn't fixed and appears to have got worst: I had to turn it on and off ~10 times untill it finally boot.
Any clue / idea ?

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I wish folk would buy single rail models.
Nov 8, 2017 1:49PM PST

While it did get the spec up from 18 to 30A, it's still an iffy model I wouldn't lean or choose.

Does it boot up if you reduce the load? Remove GPU and use the I7 graphics.

That PSU is not rated very high. And we are still open to issues with a low end PSU.
Wish folk would ask before buying.

Watts are OK, split rail, not OK.