A user identified as u/crystalshower reported that an RTX 5090 GPU installed in an MSI pre-built system failed to operate when first powered on. The card showed no display output despite switching from Linux to Windows and attempting driver removal in Safe Mode. Temperatures remained within normal ranges — between 30°C and 50°C — while running a 4-bit quantized version of Qwen3.8-27B via the Ollama platform. The user initiated an RMA process, during which MSI agreed to import a replacement unit from Taiwan, citing AI software as the cause of the original card’s failure. The company did not specify which software was responsible, and no official response was received when the user requested clarification. While the replacement was provided, the claim that AI workloads damaged the GPU has not been independently verified, and no images or diagnostic data were shared publicly. The incident highlights growing concerns among users about warranty policies and the interaction between high-end GPUs and intensive AI workloads. In contrast to other manufacturers who have denied warranty claims over similar issues, MSI’s decision to provide a replacement without requiring proof of cable or power fault stands out. The case comes amid broader industry scrutiny of RTX 5090 reliability, with some users reporting hardware failures tied to power delivery components such as the 12VHPWR connector. MSI has not issued a public statement confirming the root cause, and the matter remains unresolved from a technical standpoint.