I was gaming when my PC suddenly crashed, forcing me to shut it down. After I turned it back on, I noticed that my GPU isn't spinning when connected to my monitor. However, when I turn on the PC without the monitor, the GPU fans do spin. The RGB lights are on, suggesting it has power, and there's no indication that the power connection is failing. I've had this setup running smoothly since at least July. Does anyone have any idea what might be going on? Could it just be a driver issue?
1 Answer
It sounds like you might be dealing with a power delivery issue or maybe a handshake problem during the PCIe initialization. The fans spinning without a monitor indicates that the GPU powers on but might fail the self-test when it tries to draw more power. The RGB lights confirm some power is getting through, but it doesn't guarantee that all the necessary power levels are stable.
To troubleshoot, try reseating the GPU and the power cables. Pull the card out of the PCIe slot and put it back in, and do the same for the 8-pin power cables. If your motherboard has another PCIe slot, test the GPU there to see if the primary slot is faulty. Also, check the monitor and cables; sometimes a faulty DisplayPort or HDMI cable can also stop the GPU from initializing correctly. If it doesn’t work after reseating, the VRMs on the card could have been damaged during the crash.
Are the VRMs on the GPU itself, or could it also be an issue with the motherboard?