RX 5500 HP OEM misbehaving?

[dofbeer]

Gonna throw this out there on the off chance someone has had a similar issue.

Have myself an RX 5500 OEM. Sometime back it had a problem with crashing the PC after a driver install, that was sorted with a flash to XT.

Problem I have now is this card will not boot from cold, PC will hang at post and nothing else happens. Now the thing is if I boot straight to the bios screen and leave it 5 minutes when I quit out the card springs to life and works fine?

I've had it running for hours with the dragon/floating boat bench test with no issues at all. Runs at a maximum of 73c and I don't see a cough of fart out of it?

Any thoughts why this is occurring?

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

A hang during boot should show up in CBS.log

(CBS = cold boot sucker! )

 

[Imperator]

Hello
I am not a guru, but reading the signs you described , i would say that you have somewhere on the card a cold joint.
When the card is warmed a bit then it would start normally.
At least this is what i think.
That means you need a visit to a repair shop

 

[Mussels]

PC hanging at POST doesnt have to be the GPU, a PSU can cause this as well as incorrect RAM settings or a flat CMOS battery

 

[dofbeer]

Should've mentioned I also have a HD7850 that runs 100% with no issues.

Cold or dry joint does seem plausible although I'm not sure it would fix itself when warm, I don't have enough experience in circuitry to be sure.

Problem with getting these things repaired is either finding someone legit or the crazy cost involved. Hasn't long been back from a YouTuber who 'fixed' it but obviously didn't test it thoroughly before returning. Guess if there's no simple fix I'm just gonna have to live with it.

Cheers all...

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

Have you tried running it in a different system, to make sure?

If that doesn't work, you could try a reflow. It is not too difficult.

 

[MaMoo]

I had a card with a tinkered BIOS before. I enabled all the low power states to allow the card to sip power when it is idling or in 2D. I even used the power states as they were described in the OEM BIOS of that card (not flashed to OEM, just the power states edited).

It had strange issues where if I OC by just 5 mhz, it would run fine under load, but upon quitting the 3D application, it would sometimes crash. After a decade of using that card, I finally realised that the BIOS edit was likely the problem, because the card's VRM wasn't up to OEM specifications and it could not switch power states from 3D to 2D and idle with enough stability that it sometimes crashed as the voltage changed beyond specifications. When I reversed my edits in BIOS, the card behaved fine. Strange thing was that the card was 100% stable under any sustained 3D load and crashes would only happen upon exiting whatever application.

Some food for thought for you. I'm not sure if the same situation applies, but you mentioned a BIOS swap, so maybe try reversing that and see if it helps? Many cards start up in some strange power state on a cold boot but is in a different power state all together once powered up. If you use a BIOS editor, you can sometimes see that there is a power state reserved for power up.

 

[Shrek]

Problem with getting these things repaired is either finding someone legit or the crazy cost involved. Hasn't long been back from a YouTuber who 'fixed' it but obviously didn't test it thoroughly before returning. Guess if there's no simple fix I'm just gonna have to live with it.

Some people reflow without flux; that isn't going to last long.

 

[eidairaman1]

Try krisfix.de for pcb repairs

 

[Mussels]

Some people reflow without flux; that isn't going to last long.

That was me, i never even knew what flux was

Soldering is a skill that seems to be forgotten in life

 

[cvaldes]

I think the OP needs to consider bringing it to a repair shop.

Soldering isn't really a forgotten skill. Like any craft (cooking, knitting, woodworking, whatever) you do need to practice it regularly to be good at it.

If I went out to buy a sewing machine, it is doubtful that I could sew anything correctly the first time around. I'd be surprised if I could sew two pieces of gauzy fabric together with a straight stitch. Hell, an experienced sewer could probably do this in a minute. It would probably take me an hour just to load up the thread in the machine.

Also today's electronics are more densely packed than what was typical in the Nineties. My soldering iron is from the Nineties but I probably haven't used it more than a couple of times in the past decade. The fact that I have one in my possession doesn't mean that I can fix any of today's consumer electronics.

There's also the diagnostic part. If a component broke off, the location of the repair would be obvious. That's not the case here. If there's a cold joint, it needs to identified first before anyone can do the repair. And there could be several cold joints not just one.

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

It would probably take me an hour just to load up the thread in the machine.

I know a brand of coffee, you can load the thread with the machine running!

@dofbeer Mussels is a bad choice for solder reflow advice, he lit a GPU on fire intentionally. PM lexluthermiester, he seems to know how to do it.

 

[Shrek]

That was me, i never even knew what flux was

Soldering is a skill that seems to be forgotten in life

Well worth learning, read someplace that most Russian households have a soldering iron.

Have successfully reflowed 2 video cards so far; but I don't recommend it
Video Card Reflow | Electronics Repair And Technology News Video Card Reflow (jestineyong.com)

However, did repair some Wi-Fi units with a soldering iron
Securifi Almond 3 Repair (SMD capacitor) | Electronics Repair And Technology News (jestineyong.com)

Replace mouse switches as they wear out
Computer Mouse Repair (switch replacement) | Electronics Repair And Technology News Computer Mouse Repair (switch replacement) (jestineyong.com)

Fixed a 40-year-old smoke alarm
Smoke Alarm Repair | Electronics Repair And Technology News Smoke Alarm Repair (jestineyong.com)

 

[Mussels]

I know a brand of coffee, you can load the thread with the machine running!

@dofbeer Mussels is a bad choice for solder reflow advice, he lit a GPU on fire intentionally. PM lexluthermiester, he seems to know how to do it.

I cackled like an evil witch there

the worst part is i passed an electronics repair course - soldering (or soddering if you're american or japanese i guess) is something that really seems to be forgotten or done poorly, the age of disposable electronics made a lot of people never learn how to do any repairs

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

soddering if you're american

What sacrilege is this?

 

[eidairaman1]

I cackled like an evil witch there

the worst part is i passed an electronics repair course - soldering (or soddering if you're american or japanese i guess) is something that really seems to be forgotten or done poorly, the age of disposable electronics made a lot of people never learn how to do any repairs

Erm it's soldering here (TX)

I cackled like an evil witch there

the worst part is i passed an electronics repair course - soldering (or soddering if you're american or japanese i guess) is something that really seems to be forgotten or done poorly, the age of disposable electronics made a lot of people never learn how to do any repairs

Issue is Through hole vs SMD, SMDs are way more sensitive to thermals.

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

Erm it's soldering here (TX)

Here in my neck of the woods too. Sounds like our Aussie friend is as good with his assumptions as his reflowing.

 

[eidairaman1]

Here in my neck of the woods too. Sounds like our Aussie friend is as good with his assumptions as his reflowing.

Yeah a blanket statement at best.

Sol-der like solvent lol.

I may say ain't, y'all (you all) all y'all (everyone). Warter (Water), But I say oil and not all or earl.

Grits are known as Georgia Icecream (there is the right and wrong way to make Grits)

But when I write a document it is in the professional manner.

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

I tend to go a bit oll myself... and ain't nuthin like a biscuit made proper. Crap, derailed a thread again.

 

[Mussels]

I blame that on my texan friend who says all americans say it sodder

Anyway, back to reflow advice?

 

[Shrek]

My advice would be to send it to a professional to do the reflow.

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

My advice would be to send it to a professional to do the reflow.

OP, Unless you are comfortable baking it in an oven (or lighting it on fire ), I would follow this advice.

 

[Imperator]

My advice would be to send it to a professional to do the reflow.

As @Shrek said earlier, i would ONLY work with a professional repair shop to do it.
What you can achieve by "cooking" it in a oven could or could not lead to make it work.
On the other hand the repair shop knows what to to in all cases.

 

[dofbeer]

Cheers fella's. I think given the cost for repair vs age of card it's looking like I'll have to live with it. Not a huge issue, just F2 to bios for a few minutes.

Someone mentioned Kris Fix. Handy fella no doubt but again it's cost. I'm already down $85 plus postage to Spain from the last "repair" add that to the $140 I paid for the card doesn't really make much sense investing much more money.

Have tried to re-flash it back to stock but there's a mismatch with firmware XT>OEM. Think I'd need to unlock the bios with command line if memory serves and I'm not even sure it'd sort the problem?

Lessons learnt, pick a reputable repair shop!

Cheers all...

 

[Mussels]

At those prices don't even bother repairing, buy a new GPU