3090 Strix OC White Mobo Light on Cold Start (even though it runs fine)

[martine-dee]

Hey, folks.

I've got one of the very first 3090s (Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 OC Edition).

At some point, my mobo at the time (a M12E) started showing persistent white light on first starts (after the system was off for a few hours). Besides the white light (video card issue) persisting, the PC was able to run normally. Restarting the system would make the white light go away.

I thought that it was perhaps a motherboard issue.

Then my M12E was fried, and I got a TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4. And you might have guessed it... the white light issue didn't go away. Thus, I believe it is something with the graphics card, or some its setting. I am hoping that someone here could tell me how I can debug this further or what this is about (e.g., if the motherboard could also tell *what* is wrong instead just showing the white light). Maybe even how to fix it.

The card has had its latest BIOS installed ever since sometime in May 2021. And, true, I haven't attempted to run it with its other VBIOS, but might just do it if no other ideas come up. I've worked with resizable BAR on and off, Gen 3 and Gen 4, with and without a riser cable, and different sets of power cables.

Thank you!

[ahfoo]

Hey, folks.

I've got one of the very first 3090s (Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 OC Edition).

At some point, my mobo at the time (a M12E) started showing persistent white light on first starts (after the system was off for a few hours). Besides the white light (video card issue) persisting, the PC was able to run normally. Restarting the system would make the white light go away.

I thought that it was perhaps a motherboard issue.

Then my M12E was fried, and I got a TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4. And you might have guessed it... the white light issue didn't go away. Thus, I believe it is something with the graphics card, or some its setting. I am hoping that someone here could tell me how I can debug this further or what this is about (e.g., if the motherboard could also tell *what* is wrong instead just showing the white light). Maybe even how to fix it.

The card has had its latest BIOS installed ever since sometime in May 2021. And, true, I haven't attempted to run it with its other VBIOS, but might just do it if no other ideas come up. I've worked with resizable BAR on and off, Gen 3 and Gen 4, with and without a riser cable, and different sets of power cables.

Thank you!

Try switching
different HDMI connector or cable and if you happened to have a DP cable, try change it too to determine cable connection issue.

[martine-dee]

Try switching
different HDMI connector or cable and if you happened to have a DP cable, try change it too to determine cable connection issue.

Well, I am glad that someone chimed in. That moved me to do further testing.

Tried:
- Different extender that works around too short connector head space for my PG259QN
- No extender (poor DP cable)
- Different DP cable
- No cable at all attached to an output
- Different position of the VBIOS switch (the quiet instead of performance), both with the cable and with no cable
- The other DP connector on the graphics card

The result is the same. Especially the "no cable" + vbios swap test that still gives the white light stuck lit up on cold boot seems to point to the card itself, not what is attached to it.

Any further suggestions? For example, something that tells exactly why the motherboard had lit the white light on would help.
To make sure I mentioned this: the system boots up and operates all the same, but the white light on the motherboard stays on until a reboot. The behavior persisted across two motherboards, and regardless of whether I have DP in or not.

A wild shoot in the dark is that something expects/demands HDMI connection on cold boot across both motherboards. I've got a matching HDMI cable with PG259QN, and might try that once I found where it is laying around here.

[ahfoo]

Would you try to move BIOS mode swtich on the GPU to quite mode instead of the performanc modem see if it still happend.

[martine-dee]

Would you try to move BIOS mode swtich on the GPU to quite mode instead of the performanc modem see if it still happend.

Yes, I did that (I mention it above):

> - Different position of the VBIOS switch (the quiet instead of performance), both with the cable and with no cable

It didn't change the behavior. Also tried it with no cable in vs. DP cable in.

[Ribellu]

Yes, I did that (I mention it above):

> - Different position of the VBIOS switch (the quiet instead of performance), both with the cable and with no cable

It didn't change the behavior. Also tried it with no cable in vs. DP cable in.

Out of curiosity because I have already experienced a similar problem with my 3080Ti ASUS Strix OC,

when you start your PC have you the POST BIOS page (the Asus logo) ? this is when you can access the BIOS using the key DEL

[ahfoo]

In that case I would think it the GPU card hardware issue. Please get it RMA.

[Nate152]

Hi martine-dee

Do you have any other pcie slots populated? I came across a thread where if the gpu is running at x8 it will light up white on the motherboard.

You can check this in the bios.

[martine-dee]

Everyone, I first want to thank you for your interest in this thread!

Out of curiosity because I have already experienced a similar problem with my 3080Ti ASUS Strix OC,

when you start your PC have you the POST BIOS page (the Asus logo) ? this is when you can access the BIOS using the key DEL

Yes, all is normal. I get the TUF logo now (on M12E that was that red ROG thing, wasn't it? It was something), and if I mash Del it gives me the BIOS menus.

Hi martine-dee

Do you have any other pcie slots populated? I came across a thread where if the gpu is running at x8 it will light up white on the motherboard.

You can check this in the bios.

Hi. A nice question. I also have a Creative AE-9 (meant for PCIe x1 3.0). On M12E, it was slotted into the PCIEX4, which has separate lanes (shared with SATA drives), which allowed the 3090 to run at PCIe x16 3.0, also identified so with GPU-Z. On the TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi D4, indeed the AE-9 is in PCIEX16(G3), where the other GPU would be. My play is that PCIEX16(G5) has its own lanes and nothing can take them away. What GPU-Z shows for the 3090 is PCIe x16 4.0. The BIOS shows that it's stuck at x16 (I think that is per design), and it's 'Gen4' set explicitly. For that matter, GPU-Z's first tab is identical with and without the white light lit on.

Especially because there is no difference to GPU-Z, HWiNFO64 or to me save for the white led on, I am inclined to not RMA the 3090. Waiting times are long, and given frequently reported issues with the high-end 30-series, I might get a card with same or even more issues. As long as I don't experience further issues, I am in the favor of keeping it. Fwiw, the RMA for this card is possible until February 2024 or so. It has plenty of time to actually fail until then.

In that case I would think it the GPU card hardware issue. Please get it RMA.

Please, see the paragraph above. ^

[Ribellu]

Ok because on my PC I had a problem, I was getting this white led when I tried to put the re size BAR in bios, I disabled the CSM module in the BIOS and every time I had this problem of led, with an update of the Vbios this has been resolved, but it does not seem to be your case here.


EDIT: however you can see if a Vbios is newer than yours here : https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/

Or ASUS: https://rog.asus.com/fr/graphics-car.../helpdesk_bios