A small preface: the reason this blog has been quiet is both that I didn't have much to say in the first
week, and that the thing this blog post is about happened: without a GPU, I can't access my main computer,
where my SSH keys are. Took me a while to get new keys on this server, but I'm back now. Thankfully, nothing
exploded on my time out.
My region is going through some really bad weather, with heavy rains, lightning storms, winds, and all that
entails. Climate change never fails to surprise us. Still, we all hear talk of turning your devices off
during storms, but do we really? Often we depend on them. I'm sorry, but I can't turn off my computer. I
have a surge protector; it should be fine. Well, this time it wasn't fine. A strong lightning strike hit
nearby, and with it, my screen flickered and my headset filled with static. It was scary, but the computer
was fine; I kept playing. Then I turned it off, and it wouldn't turn on again.
What followed was a very lengthy diagnosis process. Try taking this off, putting this on, changing cables,
monitors, etc. I did everything by the book, and the symptoms were: on some occasions, often after heavy
usage (but not during it), the screen would fill with artifacts, the famous confetti, classic GPU (and VRAM
in particular) failure mode. PC would crash and would not boot for a specific period; it hung on the VGA
check on the motherboard. After checking all possibilities, I was pretty confident: I had a failing GPU.
Of course, I don't have a definitive way of explaining what happened, but my best interpretation was a LEMP,
literally, a Lightning ElectroMagnetic Pulse. Current generates magnetic fields, magnetic fields generate
current, essentially. On a stroke of pure bad luck, it hit my monitor, went through the DP cable, and fried
something on the GPU. I suspect one of the VRAM chips is damaged in some way. I could be fully wrong, both
about the damage and the method.
There is no way of knowing how it happened; maybe it was just a power surge that escaped the PSU, so take it
with a grain of salt. The damage will be known soon, because I sent the GPU to a repair shop nearby;
miraculously, there is a repair shop nearby that fixes GPUs, very impressive. I should know soon if there is
a fix or if it's dead for real.
Truth be told, this really bummed me out and ruined the second half of my vacation. I try, but nothing
really feels interesting. At this point, I just want an answer. I have savings (and am trying to get
insurance to cover this); I can repair or buy a new GPU, but this in-between I am in, working with my
laptop, is rapidly draining my energies.
If you are interested, the GPU was a Sapphire Nitro+ 7900 XTX, top of the line from AMD of the past
generation, so it's a pretty expensive hit. If it comes to it, it will be replaced by an ASUS Prime 9070 XT.
No, it's not as good, but without AMD, the 24GB of VRAM space just died, and I don't have the guts to trust
a used one. It will have to make do.
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