Cannot boot after overclocking 1080ti's with MSI Afterburner

[Falconovic]

Hey guys! I am new here, but PLEASE HELP I can't figure out what to do here. I'm fairly new to overclocking, but have been or was doing my research before finally deciding to overclock my 1080Ti's. So here's the issue, please bear with me as I will try to be as detailed as possible in order to get the best result for a solution. And also keep in mine that all speeds tested were VERY stable during testing with Valley Benchmark and Heaven Benchmark when using MSI Afterburner.

So, recently (about two days ago), I decided I would try and overclock my Aorus GTX 1080 Ti's with MSI Afterburner. Well everything was going great as I was gradually upping the Mhz. I will list the Mhz tests below, then follow up with what happened when my issue occured.

I was gradually upping the Mhz as I just stated from stock their stock speeds of 1721Mhz:

50Mhz bump = 2088Mhz with 31-33C temp 
100Mhz bump =2126Mhz with 33-36C temp
150Mhz bump = 2037Mhz with 30-32C temp
200Mhz bump =2227 Mhz with 33-39C temp
300Mhz bump = 2037Mhz (lower than previous) with 33-36C temps.

Now here's where the problem came in. When I noticed my 300Mhz overclock was getting a lower speed than the 200Mhz, I decided to exit valley benchmark and drop it back to 200Mhz. Well when I dropped it to 200Mhz and click the "okay" or "check" button the computer froze. Fans ramped up, even though the temperatures remained within the ranges shown, so no overheating on the GPU's or CPU or motherboard. Also, I have never overclocked my CPU and did not bother, this was just overclocking my Graphics Cards.

I had to shut down the computer, holding the power button for 5 seconds. I went to power back on after waiting about 10 seconds, and now it still will not boot. 

When I try and boot the RGB lights come on on the graphics cards, and flash on and off periodically with the color i had selected, and the RAM RGBs light up and power on as well, but the motherboard RGB lights do not come on and will not boot into the bios. The system simply powers on, but zero display, and no the debug codes cycle through random numbers just showing it's initializing each process over and over. I have had this problem previously and simply held the reset button for 10 seconds, released, and the fans slow down and the system would boot, but now it will not, so I give you the following list for what I have done to TRY and fix it. 

What I have done so far to fix the situation:
1st.): Held reset button for 10 seconds, released and no reboot (like it used too work)
2nd.): Tried holding Power and Reset at the same time for same time and still no reboot.
3rd: Tried Resetting CMOS with power off and unplugged. Still same result when powering on.
4th.) Took computer apart (long process having to drain loop and put it back together), and tried one part at a time, still no luck.
5th.) While it was apart took out the battery for the board and even gave it a new one. Still nothing when I put it back together, same result, not booting.
6th.) Tried one RAM stick (I have 4 so I tried each one individually)
7th.) After putting it all back together I tried using the jumper on the CMOS polls to reset the CMOS, still same thing when trying to reboot.

So thats everything I have tried so far, also tried removing my M.2. drive as well. PLEASE PLEASE help, someone, I have spent so much money on this this system. There's just no way it could be bad, especially since the whole computer is on a custom watercooled loop with such low temps. 

Here are my system specs:
Motherboard: Gigabyte Aorus x399 Threadripper Gaming 7 Motherboard 
Processor: AMD Threadripper 1950x
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 
Graphics cards: 2 Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti's Xtreme Waterforce WB 11G Edition (it has the waterblock built on it, no fans) in SLI mode
OS SSD: Samsung 960 EVO M.2 
HDD: WD Black 1TB for storage
Power Supply: Corsair HX1200i

[Enderman]

You know that idle temps are useless right?

You need to look at load temps when overclocking.

Also you need to increase voltage not just clock speed.

 

You probably want to do a bit more research on how overclocking works.

 

[Falconovic]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

You know that idle temps are useless right?

You need to look at load temps when overclocking.

Also you need to increase voltage not just clock speed.

 

You probably want to do a bit more research on how overclocking works.

 

Hi Enderman! 
Yes, I know idle temps are useless, please try to help,
I did just that, Im sorry I should have mentioned it. in fact I followed this tutorial on youtube. 

So my settings were exactly what he used. And using Valley Bench would that not put the GPU's under load? My GPU's even under load never go above 45C. 
I did up the voltage.


 

[plusgin]

You went straight from 200 to 300??? Theres your problem lol

[Falconovic]

Just now, plusgin said:

You went straight from 200 to 300??? Theres your problem lol

It ran perfectly fine at 300 for a while, no issues or anything.  it's when i dropped it from 300Mhz to 200Mhz after the jump realizing it didn't have a better OC. 

So how can the problem be fixed?

[Falconovic]

Guys please read and try to be helpful, not critical, im looking for people who know how to help not point out a problem without providing a solutions, thanks!

[plusgin]

Just now, Falconovic said:

It ran perfectly fine at 300 for a while, no issues or anything.  it's when i dropped it from 300Mhz to 200Mhz after the jump realizing it didn't have a better OC. 

So how can the problem be fixed?

You probably can't, 300 (core clock) is insanely high for a pascal card. Even in the video you linked it looks like he only went up to 225. I'd imagine something blew on the card. Maybe a cap somewhere or one of the vrms. Just because it runs for a bit doesn't mean its ok

[Falconovic]

Well what about the fact that the cards are still turning on and they were not overheated to touch??

[HunterScott]

30 minutes ago, Falconovic said:

Hey guys! I am new here, but PLEASE HELP I can't figure out what to do here. I'm fairly new to overclocking, but have been or was doing my research before finally deciding to overclock my 1080Ti's. So here's the issue, please bear with me as I will try to be as detailed as possible in order to get the best result for a solution. And also keep in mine that all speeds tested were VERY stable during testing with Valley Benchmark and Heaven Benchmark when using MSI Afterburner.

So, recently (about two days ago), I decided I would try and overclock my Aorus GTX 1080 Ti's with MSI Afterburner. Well everything was going great as I was gradually upping the Mhz. I will list the Mhz tests below, then follow up with what happened when my issue occured.

I was gradually upping the Mhz as I just stated from stock their stock speeds of 1721Mhz:

50Mhz bump = 2088Mhz with 31-33C temp 
100Mhz bump =2126Mhz with 33-36C temp
150Mhz bump = 2037Mhz with 30-32C temp
200Mhz bump =2227 Mhz with 33-39C temp
300Mhz bump = 2037Mhz (lower than previous) with 33-36C temps.

Now here's where the problem came in. When I noticed my 300Mhz overclock was getting a lower speed than the 200Mhz, I decided to exit valley benchmark and drop it back to 200Mhz. Well when I dropped it to 200Mhz and click the "okay" or "check" button the computer froze. Fans ramped up, even though the temperatures remained within the ranges shown, so no overheating on the GPU's or CPU or motherboard. Also, I have never overclocked my CPU and did not bother, this was just overclocking my Graphics Cards.

I had to shut down the computer, holding the power button for 5 seconds. I went to power back on after waiting about 10 seconds, and now it still will not boot. 

When I try and boot the RGB lights come on on the graphics cards, and flash on and off periodically with the color i had selected, and the RAM RGBs light up and power on as well, but the motherboard RGB lights do not come on and will not boot into the bios. The system simply powers on, but zero display, and no the debug codes cycle through random numbers just showing it's initializing each process over and over. I have had this problem previously and simply held the reset button for 10 seconds, released, and the fans slow down and the system would boot, but now it will not, so I give you the following list for what I have done to TRY and fix it. 

What I have done so far to fix the situation:
1st.): Held reset button for 10 seconds, released and no reboot (like it used too work)
2nd.): Tried holding Power and Reset at the same time for same time and still no reboot.
3rd: Tried Resetting CMOS with power off and unplugged. Still same result when powering on.
4th.) Took computer apart (long process having to drain loop and put it back together), and tried one part at a time, still no luck.
5th.) While it was apart took out the battery for the board and even gave it a new one. Still nothing when I put it back together, same result, not booting.
6th.) Tried one RAM stick (I have 4 so I tried each one individually)
7th.) After putting it all back together I tried using the jumper on the CMOS polls to reset the CMOS, still same thing when trying to reboot.

So thats everything I have tried so far, also tried removing my M.2. drive as well. PLEASE PLEASE help, someone, I have spent so much money on this this system. There's just no way it could be bad, especially since the whole computer is on a custom watercooled loop with such low temps. 

Here are my system specs:
Motherboard: Gigabyte Aorus x399 Threadripper Gaming 7 Motherboard 
Processor: AMD Threadripper 1950x
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 
Graphics cards: 2 Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti's Xtreme Waterforce WB 11G Edition (it has the waterblock built on it, no fans) in SLI mode
OS SSD: Samsung 960 EVO M.2 
HDD: WD Black 1TB for storage
Power Supply: Corsair HX1200i

Have you tried removing the Graphics card and booting using the CPU integrated graphics?

To me, it sounds as though you've toasted your graphics cards.

[Falconovic]

5 minutes ago, HunterScott said:

Have you tried removing the Graphics card and booting using the CPU integrated graphics?

To me, it sounds as though you've toasted your graphics cards.

Yes I have actually, and I should add that I spoke with gigabyte yesterday morning and the tech support guy told me that it didn't sound like it was the graphics cards, even when I told him I went up to 300Mhz. More like it was the MSI Afterburner saved the settings into the bios and that caused the crash which is why they recommending taking out the GPUs and testing, but even with the GPUS out, it still doesn't boot. Still I need to figure out how to get this thing to boot into the bios. 
 

 

[Falconovic]

25 minutes ago, plusgin said:

You probably can't, 300 (core clock) is insanely high for a pascal card. Even in the video you linked it looks like he only went up to 225. I'd imagine something blew on the card. Maybe a cap somewhere or one of the vrms. Just because it runs for a bit doesn't mean its ok

as I just replied to HunterScott, I actually talked with gigabyte and the support tech didn't sound worried at all that I put the card up to 300Mhz. I asked him to make sure and he said that it likely wasn't the cards, but that something was sent to the bios from the application, which can happen in windows 10? He said the likelihood of them overheating on a custom waterloop would have been very slim. 

[plusgin]

1 hour ago, Falconovic said:

as I just replied to HunterScott, I actually talked with gigabyte and the support tech didn't sound worried at all that I put the card up to 300Mhz. I asked him to make sure and he said that it likely wasn't the cards, but that something was sent to the bios from the application, which can happen in windows 10? He said the likelihood of them overheating on a custom waterloop would have been very slim. 

its not overheating thats the issue. its that the electrical components themselves can pop due to you pushing your OC too high. If none of the above works, i would take your cards out, take off the blocks and check the PCB for burn marks or damaged caps.

[Falconovic]

1 minute ago, plusgin said:

its not overheating thats the issue. its that the electrical components themselves can pop due to you pushing your OC too high. If none of the above works, i would take your cards out, take off the blocks and check the PCB for burn marks or damaged caps.

Okay, Also the fact that they actually turn on when i press the power button... because they have RGB lights on them means nothing? This is the card by the way so you know what i'm working with. I would figure if it was broken this card would not even turn on or the SLi light either (its connected by a bridge with an LED logo). Also, isn't it true that applying more voltage in a program like MSI afterburner won't hurt, because these cards will actually "downshift" automatically so-to-speak, if something is getting dangerous to overheating or killing the card? Thanks for providing the info, Im really hoping it's not the cards, just doesn't seem right. Because I've had this boot issue before and was able to get it to boot after pressing the reset button and releasing, only now that isn't working under the same situation.

GTX 1080 ti WB 11g 

[plusgin]

4 minutes ago, Falconovic said:

Okay, Also the fact that they actually turn on when i press the power button... because they have RGB lights on them means nothing? This is the card by the way so you know what i'm working with. I would figure if it was broken this card would not even turn on or the SLi light either (its connected by a bridge with an LED logo). Also, isn't it true that applying more voltage in a program like MSI afterburner won't hurt, because these cards will actually "downshift" automatically so-to-speak, if something is getting dangerous to overheating or killing the card? Thanks for providing the info, Im really hoping it's not the cards, just doesn't seem right. Because I've had this boot issue before and was able to get it to boot after pressing the reset button and releasing, only now that isn't working under the same situation.

GTX 1080 ti WB 11g 

No, it can still have lights and fans and not have any output. If something on the board did break, it could be almost anywhere and cause many different issues. Graphics cards are incredibly complex electrical devices. Just because one component may or may not have broken, it doesn't mean the entire card gives up and does nothing.

[Falconovic]

1 minute ago, plusgin said:

No, it can still have lights and fans and not have any output. If something on the board did break, it could be almost anywhere and cause many different issues. Graphics cards are incredibly complex electrical devices. Just because one component may or may not have broken, it doesn't mean the entire card gives up and does nothing.

I see what you are saying, i guess the only next step would be to try my old GTX 770 in the place of these two? 
If it does boot, then I have read that you can use that old graphics card to get into windows and reset your OC and the card should be fine? Is this true? Provided the graphics card is not dead of course, this was from someone who said it's actually pretty tough to kill a card or the more modern ones. 

[plusgin]

6 minutes ago, Falconovic said:

I see what you are saying, i guess the only next step would be to try my old GTX 770 in the place of these two? 
If it does boot, then I have read that you can use that old graphics card to get into windows and reset your OC and the card should be fine? Is this true? Provided the graphics card is not dead of course, this was from someone who said it's actually pretty tough to kill a card or the more modern ones. 

If you havent already, I would take out the CMOS battery and power cycle the computer (PSU power switch off, hold on button for a little) and leave it for 30 minutes or so. Then put the CMOS back in and try booting. This should clear your bios. I would also try the cards on different boards if you have any

[Falconovic]

Just now, plusgin said:

If you havent already, I would take out the CMOS battery and power cycle the computer (PSU power switch off, hold on button for a little) and leave it for 30 minutes or so. Then put the CMOS back in and try booting. This should clear your bios. I would also try the cards on different boards if you have any

Okay thanks! I do have another board from my old build (the one I decided to upgrade from) ROG Formula VI board? 
And yes I did that already with the CMOS battery.

[Falconovic]

On 1/27/2018 at 8:14 PM, plusgin said:

If you havent already, I would take out the CMOS battery and power cycle the computer (PSU power switch off, hold on button for a little) and leave it for 30 minutes or so. Then put the CMOS back in and try booting. This should clear your bios. I would also try the cards on different boards if you have any

Okay so update time!

Good news and bad news:
Bad News:
Over the weekend I was able to drain the loops in both computers and replace the graphics card with the 1080 ti's with the GTX770 I had in an old build. 
After replacing the 1080ti's and installing the GTX770 in their place, the Aorus x399 motherboard is still doing the same thing. Not booting.

Goodnews: 
However when I installed the 1080 ti's in my old motherboard (ROG Formula VI) they worked like a dream! So graphics card were not gone! 

Now I just have to figure out why my new motherboard Aorus x399 is still doing the SAME thing with a different card? Just doesn't make sense, I even tried resetting CMOS again on it and reset button, etc with the new graphics card. 

Any guesses as to what might be the cause?

[userzero]

Sounds like the PSU now if the replacement board is having the same issue and you know the GPU cards work.

[Ace McPlane]

1 hour ago, Falconovic said:

Okay so update time!

Good news and bad news:
Bad News:
Over the weekend I was able to drain the loops in both computers and replace the graphics card with the 1080 ti's with the GTX770 I had in an old build. 
After replacing the 1080ti's and installing the GTX770 in their place, the Aorus x399 motherboard is still doing the same thing. Not booting.

Goodnews: 
However when I installed the 1080 ti's in my old motherboard (ROG Formula VI) they worked like a dream! So graphics card were not gone! 

Now I just have to figure out why my new motherboard Aorus x399 is still doing the SAME thing with a different card? Just doesn't make sense, I even tried resetting CMOS again on it and reset button, etc with the new graphics card. 

Any guesses as to what might be the cause?

I think the motherboard is toast myself.

 

For the record, whatever overclocking advice you were following was dead wrong and whoever wrote it deserves s smack upside the head. You should never up the frequency by that much at a time. You have to do these things incrementally and stress test each little change with something like 3dmark. 

like 5mhz at a time not 50!

I mean, I downright think you either misheard the guy or were trolled.

Anyone suggesting that you up the frequency by 50mhz at a time is either a jerk trying to get you to ruin your card or doesn't have a clue about what they're doing.

 

I'm glad to hear your two 1080ti's are still working.

You got lucky.

Don't ever make this mistake again.

Follow more than one overclocking guide next time and don't just copy anyone's settings.

Overclocking is all about doing things tiny bits at a time and testing everything.

 

So, since you have two rigs by the sounds of it, you can use those parts to test each part of your rig that's left to test. Test the PSU and motherboard with different components and use that to figure out which one is dead.

 

Then just contact the manufacturer and RMA the board.

 

Oh, and one simple thing to try would be reinstalling windows or firing in a different hard drive and doing a windows reinstall to make sure it's not just the old MSI afterburner settings in your current windows preventing it from booting properly.

 

[Falconovic]

4 hours ago, userzero said:

Sounds like the PSU now if the replacement board is having the same issue and you know the GPU cards work.

sorry I maybe didn't write that properly, the replacement board I used worked just fine and everything boots up on it. Both PSU's work really well. The new board is still doing the same thing even with a different graphics card installed, so that's why this issue has me so dumbfounded. 

[Falconovic]

3 hours ago, stateofpsychosis said:

I think the motherboard is toast myself.

 

For the record, whatever overclocking advice you were following was dead wrong and whoever wrote it deserves s smack upside the head. You should never up the frequency by that much at a time. You have to do these things incrementally and stress test each little change with something like 3dmark. 

like 5mhz at a time not 50!

I mean, I downright think you either misheard the guy or were trolled.

Anyone suggesting that you up the frequency by 50mhz at a time is either a jerk trying to get you to ruin your card or doesn't have a clue about what they're doing.

 

I'm glad to hear your two 1080ti's are still working.

You got lucky.

Don't ever make this mistake again.

Follow more than one overclocking guide next time and don't just copy anyone's settings.

Overclocking is all about doing things tiny bits at a time and testing everything.

 

So, since you have two rigs by the sounds of it, you can use those parts to test each part of your rig that's left to test. Test the PSU and motherboard with different components and use that to figure out which one is dead.

 

Then just contact the manufacturer and RMA the board.

 

Oh, and one simple thing to try would be reinstalling windows or firing in a different hard drive and doing a windows reinstall to make sure it's not just the old MSI afterburner settings in your current windows preventing it from booting properly.

 

Thanks for your reply, yeah i was incrementally increasing and i thought (beginners mistake) that i could go up more since everything worked fine all the way up to 200Mhz. 

Right now it looks like it is the motherboard, and HOPEFULLY not the CPU. Also, keep in mind that the temperatures never went above 45C on the Motherboard and no more than 38-40 on the CPU. With that in mind what do you think about it still being fried? Yes or no? Thats what makes me wonder if the board is actually messed up or if something else happened. 

And yes I most definitely will not make that sort of jump again in the future. If you know of a good overclocking guide to learn from or read please link it to me so I can learn. I would really appreciate it. 

Just for reference this is the video I was following when overclocking as well as watching some of Jayztwocents (and I KNOW he knows what he's doing.)
 

 

[Ace McPlane]

23 minutes ago, Falconovic said:

Thanks for your reply, yeah i was incrementally increasing and i thought (beginners mistake) that i could go up more since everything worked fine all the way up to 200Mhz. 

Right now it looks like it is the motherboard, and HOPEFULLY not the CPU. Also, keep in mind that the temperatures never went above 45C on the Motherboard and no more than 38-40 on the CPU. With that in mind what do you think about it still being fried? Yes or no? Thats what makes me wonder if the board is actually messed up or if something else happened. 

And yes I most definitely will not make that sort of jump again in the future. If you know of a good overclocking guide to learn from or read please link it to me so I can learn. I would really appreciate it. 

Just for reference this is the video I was following when overclocking as well as watching some of Jayztwocents (and I KNOW he knows what he's doing.)
 

 

Actually, jayztwocents was who I was going to recommend.

He did one on a quick and dirty video card overclock that even a beginner could follow.

 

Can't find it, but this one should do as well:

 

Again though, go with many guides. Watch this shit for a few weeks. Learn it all. Learn some CPU overclocking while you're at it. (You have to be even more careful with that!).