[Fire] URGENT Rig shutdown just now with a flame, how to find fault ?

[heretolearn]

Shutdown this time after 12  hours and did not restart .. now will try without a 280x and see if it shutsdown .. wish there was a better way to diagnose .. this is getting too risky now .. since I do not know even which card it is.

If you too happen to find a solution let me know .. still desperately looking for a solution .. dont want my Mobo to get fried.

[dgross0818]

The sparks / fires are usually caused by ripple capacitors for the VRAM exploding on startup :] I've had 2 Gigabyte 7950's do this so far, however, they both still work fine.

It's always the same... the rig shuts down without warning, then when you turn it back on... BOOM...

The good news is I never had an issue (so far) with rigs exploding while running.

I've had it happen on both powered and unpowered risers... usually the issue is just poor PCB layout in that not enough cooling air gets to this part of the board.

I've also destroyed 1 Mobo when this occurred and the other Mobo lost a PCI-E slot so be careful...

[heretolearn]

The sparks / fires are usually caused by ripple capacitors for the VRAM exploding on startup :] I've had 2 Gigabyte 7950's do this so far, however, they both still work fine.

It's always the same... the rig shuts down without warning, then when you turn it back on... BOOM...

The good news is I never had an issue (so far) with rigs exploding while running.

I've had it happen on both powered and unpowered risers... usually the issue is just poor PCB layout in that not enough cooling air gets to this part of the board.

I've also destroyed 1 Mobo when this occurred and the other Mobo lost a PCI-E slot so be careful...

Ok one more spark and now I can see that a 280x has a capacitor blown .. I can see the carbon !!

Now the problem is that the other 2 cards (one 7950 and one 280x are plugged in ) .. both are showing in GPU-z :
GPU Core Clock : 300 MHz
GPU Memory Clock : 150 MHz

This is clearly not what it was earlier. However the sapphiretrixx shows proper clocks for memory and core clock readings that had come with the cards.

Are the cards dead ? Should I still try to mine with the cards ? Why the discrepancy between GPU-z and sapphiretrix ? Or is the PCI-e slot gone ?

Now I'm really scared about the cards , don't have the courage to even try mining with the remaining 2 cards .. what should I do ? All cards and mobo are under warranty.


Please Please Please help !!

[heretolearn]

Ok so since I am almost going crazy as to what is happening .. I tried to see if the 7950 card works with mining .. turns out that the "sensors" tab in GPU-z was showing a lesser reading when not mining for GPU core and GPU memory clocks ... when I started mining with the 7950 it showed proper reading of 925 MHz and 1250 Mhz which is default and now after stopping mining it still shows the same.

Is this normal ?

TLDR : Is GPU-z "sensors" value for GPU core and GPU memory same as that specified for the card when the computer starts compared to when its mining ? cause mine is way different

[toddlat]

Did you ever get to the bottom of this @heretolearn ? I have the same problem but I'm running 3x Sapphire 280x. I believe the advice about VBE7 is the best - cards with older BIOS installed don't seem to have the same problems, as they run around 10C cooler than the same hardware with newer BIOS installed. Basically, any undervolt needs to come from the BIOS and not an application like trixx, or the cards throw a fit.

The other possibility is that the motherboard isn't delivering the right amount of power to the cards all of the time, MSI is not an expensive brand, they are a relatively young company in terms of their competition. I have been having the same issue as you, and my Asrock board is definitely a possible factor.

Does this ring true with anyone else lurking here?

[C892]

Did you ever get to the bottom of this @heretolearn ? I have the same problem but I'm running 3x Sapphire 280x. I believe the advice about VBE7 is the best - cards with older BIOS installed don't seem to have the same problems, as they run around 10C cooler than the same hardware with newer BIOS installed. Basically, any undervolt needs to come from the BIOS and not an application like trixx, or the cards throw a fit.

The other possibility is that the motherboard isn't delivering the right amount of power to the cards all of the time, MSI is not an expensive brand, they are a relatively young company in terms of their competition. I have been having the same issue as you, and my Asrock board is definitely a possible factor.

Does this ring true with anyone else lurking here?

I am. I also had an spark coming out from one GPU. The riser burned. Righ now I'm planning to change all the powered risers, since the molex once in a while disconnects by itself.
I tried to direct connect he molex but the rig continues to shutdown. I believe that is the molex that isn't passing any power.

About the GPU despite the spark nothing changes. Everything seems to be working ok.
Running 4x Sapphire 280x @ 1090mhz engine, 1.175v bios