Nvidia Release 4090/4080 Firmware Update to Fix Booting Black Screens

Although predominantly identified as a mostly isolated issue, earlier this month Nvidia confirmed that a number of 4090 graphics cards would only display a black screen when a system was booting up. Well, more accurately, nothing was getting displayed until the operating system had completely loaded. – An issue which, incidentally, has also seemingly crept its way on the newly released 4080.

The biggest problem this creates, of course, is the fact that with no actual display output during the boot, although you could still access the BIOS, you wouldn’t be able to see anything.

Well, presuming that you are lucky enough to have a 4090 or 4080, pay attention as Nvidia has formally released an update which should, all going well, solve the problem entirely. – The only moderate downside is that this is firmware based!

Nvidia Release Firmware Update for 4090 & 4080 GPUs

As part of the official update notes, Nvidia has said:

To ensure compatibility with certain UEFI SBIOSes, an update to the NVIDIA GPU firmware may be required. Without the update, graphics cards in certain motherboards that are in UEFI mode could experience blank screens on boot until the OS loads. This update should only be applied if blank screens are occurring on boot.

The NVIDIA GPU Firmware Update Tool will detect whether the firmware update is needed, and if needed, will give the user the option to update it.

If you are currently experiencing a blank screen, please try one of the following workarounds in order to run the tool:

Ensure you are using the latest SBIOS from your motherboard vendor
Change boot mode from UEFI to Legacy/CSM
Boot using an alternate graphics source (secondary card or integrated graphics)

Once you have the tool downloaded, please run the tool and follow the on-screen instructions. Ensure all apps are closed before running the tool and make sure no OS updates are pending in the background. This tool can be used with Founders Edition as well as partner cards.

Applicable Products
GeForce RTX 4090, GeForce RTX 4080

Where Can I Learn More?

Admittedly, given that this is a firmware update, although we’re entirely certain that this should be applied without any notable difficulties or issues, this is still a relatively scary process for the more inexperienced owner. – If you do, therefore, want to learn more about this, you can check out the official Nvidia blog post on the subject via the link here!

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!