Fix for GTX970/980 Fans Randomly Turning On issue

[flobelix]

The much discussed issue with fans of GTX 970 GAMING 4G randomly starting to run in idle (https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=184333.50) seems to be fixed with a vbios update. To point this out: These are official MSI files and no vbios mods

A very big thanks goes out to the German MSI forum and their moderator wiesel201 who pointed me to >>his thread<< and the files on the German forum.

To get started you first need to identify the correct vbios for your card. Therefor you need to check the card's S/N.

Example of a GTX 970 GAMING 4G's S/N: 602-V316-03SB1409025XXX

The number code marked red representing the card's batch is relevant for identifying the correct vbios. The table below shows which vbios applies to which batch number.

If you are unsure which one to use always ask one of the moderators or admins instead of hoping for the best!

09S / 03S / 010 NV316MH.182 -> to download NV316MH_182.rar

10S / 04S / 020 NV316MH.191 -> to download NV316MH_191.rar

11S / 05S / 030 NV316MH.1A1 -> to download NV316MH_1A1.rar

For our example card with the S/N 602-V316-03SB1409025XXX NV316MH.182 is the correct vbios so NV316MH_182.rar needs to be downloaded.

After downloading the matching archive first uninstall the Nvidia driver (!) then simply decompress the archive and then execute the included batch file (182.bat in case of NV316MH.182's archive) in Windows by double clicking or via command prompt (must be run as administrator)

Same like above now also applies to the GTX980 Gaming series:

03s / 13s  NV317MH.112 -> to download NV317MH_112.rar
06s / 14s  NV317MH.131 -> to download NV317MH_131.rar
11s / 15s  NV317MH.143 -> to download NV317MH_143.rar
12s / 16s  NV317MH.153 -> to download NV317MH_153.rar

Thanks again wiesel201!




*Please note that this just covers the issue with the fans randomly starting and not the problem of one fan not starting at all on earlier cards which is a defect that requires rma.*





 

 

[Zorder]

If u flashed already the new bios and still have the problem, hmmmm

Like I mentioned on the post above the fans no longer do this, I imagine they were like that because it was on the 59C-60C mark.

My concern now is those Core clock and memory clock spikes.

 

[pjuppi]

Actually the fan was like that while I was browsing but I figured somethings was wrong because on MSI Gaming App and Afterburner the Core Clock and Memory Clock were "stuck" as you can see on the screenshot I posted above. I then used the Cool Down function from the MSI Gaming App and after the temperature dropped to around 50-55 the fans stopped.

The thing I'm worried about is that I'm getting these spikes on the Core Clock and Memory Clock on Afterburner and they go up to 1114Mhz according to MSI Gaming App. (check pic below)

oooh i see. the gpu/memory clock goes up and down depending on what you're doing and if the card needs the extra clock for doing stuff. if this is when you're doing absolutely nothing, not even have a web browser up, then i suppose we have a problem. but for example, when you surf the web, many stuff can get the clock to go higher (flash player, advertisement that use flash and such).
just as i was writing this, my gpu clock went up to 1100Mhz and memory clock to 1500 Mhz a few times

so yea, try closing everything except msi afterburner, and see?

 

[Zorder]

oooh i see. the gpu/memory clock goes up and down depending on what you're doing and if the card needs the extra clock for doing stuff. if this is when you're doing absolutely nothing, not even have a web browser up, then i suppose we have a problem. but for example, when you surf the web, many stuff can get the clock to go higher (flash player, advertisement that use flash and such).
just as i was writing this, my gpu clock went up to 1100Mhz and memory clock to 1500 Mhz a few times

so yea, try closing everything except msi afterburner, and see?

Oh! In that case I'm more relieved. If I just sit and stare at the monitor those values go way down. I just didn't knew they were supposed to do that. This is my first custom built PC so I'm just kind of worried that something will break because I did something wrong lol.

I'm kind of desapointed with the performance I'm getting with the card though. The framerate drops below 60 alot of times on Shadow Warrior and in Battlefield 4 the game runs from 60-80 on average with everything maxed out but I ocasionally get drops until 40 fps. My hopes are that this is due to early drivers from Nvidia and that performance will eventually be increased. Thanks for the help pjuppi!

 

[pjuppi]

Oh! In that case I'm more relieved. If I just sit and stare at the monitor those values go way down. I just didn't knew they were supposed to do that. This is my first custom built PC so I'm just kind of worried that something will break because I did something wrong lol.

I'm kind of desapointed with the performance I'm getting with the card though. The framerate drops below 60 alot of times on Shadow Warrior and in Battlefield 4 the game runs from 60-80 on average with everything maxed out but I ocasionally get drops until 40 fps. My hopes are that this is due to early drivers from Nvidia and that performance will eventually be increased. Thanks for the help pjuppi!

hehe, glad to help ^^ i dunno about the shadow warrior, but seems good at what you get in bf4? bf4 is a rather demanding game
and your drops to 40 fps could in some cases be due to your cpu too, if very much is happening at the same time etc

but i'm curious, if you let the card idle for a while, what temp do you get then?


(test from sweclockers: http://www.sweclockers.com/image/diagram/8461?k=d6d8685e3c0c699b19e2fe0a3a02ebf3 )

 

[Zorder]

hehe, glad to help ^^ i dunno about the shadow warrior, but seems good at what you get in bf4? bf4 is a rather demanding game
and your drops to 40 fps could in some cases be due to your cpu too, if very much is happening at the same time etc

but i'm curious, if you let the card idle for a while, what temp do you get then?


(test from sweclockers: http://www.sweclockers.com/image/diagram/8461?k=d6d8685e3c0c699b19e2fe0a3a02ebf3 )

Well, if I had a 1080 monitor I'd actually say they were good but since I have a 720p monitor (1366x768), shouldn't I get a few extra frames? But then again, you're probably right, it might be my cpu struggling in intense particle effects situations.

As for the temps of idle I usually get from 30ish to 40ish degrees Celsius. By idle I assume you're talking when I'm away from the computer and then come back... if not, when I'm doing other stuff other than playing games it varies alot, I've had it at 30ish, 40ish and 50ish. Usually it stays above 50C after playing games and if I check it before playing any games after booting the computer it overs around 40C. The longer it has been since I've played a game the more the temperature decreases.

 

[pjuppi]

Well, if I had a 1080 monitor I'd actually say they were good but since I have a 720p monitor (1366x768), shouldn't I get a few extra frames? But then again, you're probably right, it might be my cpu struggling in intense particle effects situations.

As for the temps of idle I usually get from 30ish to 40ish degrees Celsius. By idle I assume you're talking when I'm away from the computer and then come back... if not, when I'm doing other stuff other than playing games it varies alot, I've had it at 30ish, 40ish and 50ish. Usually it stays above 50C after playing games and if I check it before playing any games after booting the computer it overs around 40C. The longer it has been since I've played a game the more the temperature decreases.

ah yea, then all is good, i have pretty much the same temps.

 

[CalinTM]

Like I mentioned on the post above the fans no longer do this, I imagine they were like that because it was on the 59C-60C mark.

My concern now is those Core clock and memory clock spikes.

The drivers are too young. Wait a couple of months until the drivers get mature.

 

[Lizard_of_bodom]

Well, if I had a 1080 monitor I'd actually say they were good but since I have a 720p monitor (1366x768), shouldn't I get a few extra frames? But then again, you're probably right, it might be my cpu struggling in intense particle effects situations.

For 720P your fps in BF4 is indeed pretty low... Did you try to OC your CPU? You have huge reserve of power on it and you can easily go over 4Ghz efrfortlessly, maybe its bottlenecking your GPU at the moment?

 

[kosmasgr]

Hello. I have just received on live update the new VBIOS and succesfully installed it. Fan issue completely fixed on idle and load mode

 

[Zorder]

For 720P your fps in BF4 is indeed pretty low... Did you try to OC your CPU? You have huge reserve of power on it and you can easily go over 4Ghz efrfortlessly, maybe its bottlenecking your GPU at the moment?

I've never considered doing that mainly because I have no idea how to do it without breaking things. Also, how can one know if the CPU is bottlenecking the GPU? I'm not sure but, I believe that my CPU usage doesn't get near 100% usage while I'm playing games.

 

[pjuppi]

For 720P your fps in BF4 is indeed pretty low... Did you try to OC your CPU? You have huge reserve of power on it and you can easily go over 4Ghz efrfortlessly, maybe its bottlenecking your GPU at the moment?

I've never considered doing that mainly because I have no idea how to do it without breaking things. Also, how can one know if the CPU is bottlenecking the GPU? I'm not sure but, I believe that my CPU usage doesn't get near 100% usage while I'm playing games.

can't OC i5-4460 the multiplier is locked on that cpu.
Intel nowadays specifies their cpu with unlocked multiplier with adding a "k" at the end of the name (i5-2500k, i5-3570k, i7-4790k to mention a few)

edit: you can look at your cpu/gpu usage, if your cpu is 100% load and your gpu is say 50% load, then it is possible the cpu bottlenecks, or as in my example in gw2, the cpu is constant at 80-90% cpu, but when i get lower fps (lots of enemies/players) i see that my gpu load goes down, mainly because the cpu can't handle everything .

 

[Zorder]

you can look at your cpu/gpu usage, if your cpu is 100% load and your gpu is say 50% load, then it is possible the cpu bottlenecks, or as in my example in gw2, the cpu is constant at 80-90% cpu, but when i get lower fps (lots of enemies/players) i see that my gpu load goes down, mainly because the cpu can't handle everything .

In that case I believe that my CPU is not bottlenecking the GPU. I just tested on Far Cry 3 with everything maxed out and the GPU usage stayed at 99% most of the time and the CPU usage average was between 50% and 60%, ocasionally it went up to 80% for a few seconds and go back down.

 

[Ceremony]

I cant flash my card. nvflash crashes for me. --list --check or --save also crashes. running nvflash without any lag or file doesnt crash

 

[johnnyw]

Seems like the vbios update has been pulled off from liveupdate, what is the reason for it? I have the fan spin/stop issues with my MSI 980 Gaming & would like to get it sorted, but then again im not too happy about bios updates because of some bricked devices at past because of those. Want to make sure the current "fix bios" is working correctly before going for it, definately dont want to do it again after while if there is some issue.

 

[flobelix]

The vbios versions above are working fine like it has been verified by users in this thread too. Note that you MUST uninstall the nvidia driver in order to use nvwinflash to flash the card else it won't work. Also .bat must be run in administrator mode.

 

[johnnyw]

The vbios versions above are working fine like it has been verified by users in this thread too. Note that you MUST uninstall the nvidia driver in order to use nvwinflash to flash the card else it won't work. Also .bat must be run in administrator mode.

Ok.

So do i actually need to run the bat as administrator by right click -> run as administrator, or just double click it & then press ok to that windows popup that always appears when launching programs?

Also as my card S/N is 602 - V317 - 03SB14090xxxxx can you verify that the prober file to download is NV317MH_112.rar?

 

[Nichrome]

Ok.

So do i actually need to run the bat as administrator by right click -> run as administrator, or just double click it & then press ok to that windows popup that always appears when launching programs?

Better to do right click->Run as admin. 100% sure it will do it properly.

Also as my card S/N is 602 - V317 - 03SB14090xxxxx can you verify that the prober file to download is NV317MH_112.rar?

[quote author=flobelix]09S / 03S / 010  NV316MH.182 -> to download NV316MH_182.rar[/quote]
See RED font.

 

[johnnyw]

Better to do right click->Run as admin. 100% sure it will do it properly.
See RED font.

Well i have 980,not 970. So i assume the NV317MH_112 is the correct one if the opening post is not wrong.

 

[Nichrome]

Sorry misread it completely. Yes you are right

 

[batangel1986]

Hi i have 2 MSI gtx 980 gaming and i have the same problem with second fan randomly spining , after bios update  the second card is fine but the 1st one have the problem and the black fan spins randomy and its on 53% ( and more the sound is realy loud)+ when the temp is under 50c , i tryed swaping the cards but again the card that is in the 1st slot have the problem.... i was with bios 111 and acording to id i swiched to 112  , i used the 112 file for update , the NVFlash file was doing nothing like on the picture....