Video Card or PCIe slot problem

[mxlplx00]

I put together a budget system with an old motherboard for my son to use for gaming and schoolwork in college. We had it running fine down here for a year with no problems. Then last month I shipped it up to him in the original box that the tower (case) came in with the styrofoam pads and all. When he got it, it wouldn't POST. No video or BIOS. I don't remember if he said that he was getting diagnostics beeps at that time. But he checked the RAM one stick at a time, wiggled cables and removed, re-inserted power plugs and such.


So I sent him an old Radeon VT 4350 PCIE 512MB video card that I had. And it booted off of this card. This is a very small cheap card with no extra VGA power ports from the PSU. The card that he was running was a Radeon 6950, that needs the VGA power from the PSU. So I bought him an XFX Radeon RX 580 from Amazon. He plugged this in and again no POST. At this time he is familiar with the beep codes and is getting one long beep indicating "no video card".


He noted that there is a red LED on the new GPU that comes on when plugged into the PCIe slot and a blue LED that is on when the VGA connector is plugged into the card. I sent him a cheap PSU tester that said it looked good but I don't know if it reads all three +12 volt power pin-outs on the VGA cable from the PSU. So I have sent him a multi-meter so he can read all the VGA pin-outs under load and see if it looks funny. He'll get this Monday.


Here are the current Specs:

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2GHz AM3

PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G1, 80+ GOLD 650W

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperNOVA-Modular-Warranty-120-G1-0650-XR/dp/B00K85X2AW

GPU: XFX AMD Radeon HD 6950

RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB)

OS: Window 10/64


So, if the multi-meter read good on the GVA cable under load then it has to be the motherboard, right?

 

[Ranulf]

First, I would recommend that if he hasn't already during first check you mentioned, re-seat the 6950 in the mobo. Maybe try a different pci-e/vga power cable. Shipping can do odd things. It could have broken the 6950 in shipping, might check the contact points or other surface damage on the card.


As for the rx 580 (and maybe old 6950), this might be similar or the same problem I have had with a gigabyte 970A-UD3 for 5 years now. Basically, the mobo hates newer AMD video cards that pull too much power from the pci-e bus, regardless of pci-e power cables. It was most noticeable on the RX480s as they ran out of spec at release for many people and reviewers caught it. But I've had graphical bios/boot screen corruption on an R9 290, rx 480, rx 570 (which is mostly stable...mostly). Nvidia cards I've tested (gtx 960/970) don't have bios screen corruption at start up, nor did older amd 7870, 5850 or ati 5450.

So that said, an amd 6950 causing problems after working is a new data point for me. You said it was working at home, what display type connector was it using at home and is that different than on your son's monitor at college (or just same monitor)?

Honestly, if the power looks good via the testers and you don't want to rebuild, I'd try an nvidia card in the system to see if it boots with video. From what I've seen online, this power draw issue hits gigabyte motherboards especially from roughly 2011-13, AMD or Intel based chipsets. Probably gigabte being lazy or not able to update older boards to deal with UEFI video cards. My MSI R9 290 actually had a switch on it to swap between bios and uefi bios. Didn't help much in the 970A board, it just meant both of the fans spun instead of one.

Hope this helps.


Link to AMD video card forums discussing this issue in 2018:

Sign In to AMD Community - AMD Community

community.amd.com

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

This would be a good thing for your son to figure out.

 

[mxlplx00]

Thanks Ranulf,
1) I am leery that he may not be seating the cards or cables correctly and have pointed this out to him. And I'm really wondering if it's something silly we are missing. I'm sending him another PCIe/VGA power cable. He has another DVI to DVI cable. And I didn't think to inspect the contacts on the 6950 but will do.

I had him loosen the bracket screws on the GPU, lift it slightly and screw it down in case it is sagging from shipping. Had him inspect the PCIe slot for cracks or anything and move the card down to the lower PCIe X16 slot. These didn't help.

2 )Your experience with the 970A-UD3 and GPUs are of great value. I have a Radeon 5870 currently running in my PC but I would be without video if I sent him that. The monitor is the same one we were running it on here. Nothing has changed in shipping that I can think of.

I'm starting to suspect the PSU. The Amazon reviews give it 4.5 stars from 5,391 reviews but when I read through there are some scathing bad ones (569 in fact). But if he reads the power from the back of the pins of the PCIe/VGA connector plugged in and powered on (under load) with a multi-meter and it looks good I'm hoping that I can rule out the PSU.

3) That brings us to the motherboard. This is something I am strongly tempted to upgrade anyways. It was a total PITA to pre-load the SATA/AHCI drivers through a floppy drive to get this thing to see a SATA hard drive since IDE cables were still king at the time of release. That being said after buying him a new GPU, getting a new MB, CPU, RAM set and finding it's the PSU will be bad for me LOL. But your experience with the 970A-UD3 makes me more confident that it's the MB in spite of it looking like a PSU problem.

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So I'm thinking:
Motherboard: MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC - $150

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F85YKLJ?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 1200 - $60

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0741DN383?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1

And some RAM: G.Skill Flare X 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 - $80

G.Skill Flare X (for AMD) 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 3200MHz PC4-25600 Desktop Memory Model F4-3200C16D-16GFX at Amazon.com

Buy G.Skill Flare X (for AMD) 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 3200MHz PC4-25600 Desktop Memory Model F4-3200C16D-16GFX: Memory - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

$300, and if there is a chance that I can send the RX 580 back to Amazon and save $200, I'd be happy.


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To MagnusTheBrewe,

Good point, he is doing a lot of the brainstorming here but doesn't have my experience and he needs his cash for school. Also he has a heavy load this semester with 2nd year physics (they try to make you quite here) and chemistry so I can help a little. He did change the alternator and brakes last summer in the 2003 Honda Odyssey that his mom makes him drive so I think he's doing fine with tools and stuff.

Thanks
Marc

 

[Ranulf]

Yeah, it could be the PSU. Thats what I thought with mine but I've never swapped out the seasonic 550w in the system to be sure.

Might ask around on JonnyGuru's site forums. Review for your PSU:

EVGA NEX650G (SuperNOVA 650 G1) Power Supply – Page 6 – JonnyGURU.com

www.jonnyguru.com

Good luck to you guys on the testing. On a new build I might go with a lower end 450 mobo and up the cpu to a 2600 though.

 

[VirtualLarry]

That brings us to the motherboard. This is something I am strongly tempted to upgrade anyways. It was a total PITA to pre-load the SATA/AHCI drivers through a floppy drive to get this thing to see a SATA hard drive since IDE cables were still king at the time of release.

Err, you're not still running XP on there, are you? That's the last MS OS that didn't have AHCI support baked into the OS installer.

OS: Window 10/64

OK, whew. Why would you need to load drivers from a floppy for Win10? Are you using RAID?

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm sending him another PCIe/VGA power cable.

Question - On the dangers of modular power supplies and mixing cables - or "fire in the hold"!

I know that this has been mentioned, but for those of you who haven't heard yet, DO NOT MIX MODULAR PSU MODULAR CABLES BETWEEN BRANDS OR DIFFERENT OEM MFGS OF THE SAME BRAND! Therein lies peril. As in, actual sparks, fire, flames, etc. This happened to a friend of mine recently. He came to me...

forums.anandtech.com

 

[hdfxst]

That video card won't work with that motherboard,i went through the same thing when i put an rx570 in an older msi 870 board.Like Ranulf pointed out it has to do with the card being UEFI

 

[Spjut]

It's a known issue, but mostly for older/hybrid UEFI motherboards that were released before GPUs started using UEFI. There are various revisions of that motherboard, the 3.x revisions are hybrid UEFI.Try updating the BIOS.

Others have said disabling features like Expressgate and other that aren't part of the normal POST have solved their issues. If these are options in the BIOS, try disabling secure boot, force Legacy OPROM.

 

[mxlplx00]

Thanks everybody for the great help here!!

So he's tested the PSU as thoroughly as I can think of. With a cheap PSU tester and a multi-meter. He's getting 12.25v across the VGA/PCIe pins connected to the video card with the powered on (under load) and the same disconnected from the card on all 3 power pins.

So I'm thinking:
Ryzen 5 2600 - $118

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B41WS48?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1

MSI X470 GAMING PLUS - $120

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CF31C1Q?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1

G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) - $70

G.Skill 16GB (2 x 8GB) Ripjaws V Series DDR4 PC4-25600 3200MHz Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory F4-3200C16D-16GVRB at Amazon.com

Buy G.Skill 16GB (2 x 8GB) Ripjaws V Series DDR4 PC4-25600 3200MHz Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory F4-3200C16D-16GVRB: Memory - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

For a total of $308

What do you think?

 

[Ranulf]

Looks good to me. I don't know much about the mobo, might search/ask on the motherboard subsection to see thoughts there.

 

[mxlplx00]

I have another question, would a UEFI conflict between the 870A-UD3 Riv 2.0 and the RX 580 cause the PC not to POST? As this is what we are experiencing

And to Spjut:
It's a Revision 2.0 Motherboard
GA-=870A-UD3 REV 2.0

Thanks again
Marc

 

[mxlplx00]

OK, you guys were right. We bought new motherboard, CPU and RAM. He put it together and fired it up last night and everything is great!

So my budget reworked $500 build has now turned into a all new $1000 build but at least I got to spend the money over time. I guess the GA-870A-UD3 is overdue for the grave yard.

Thanks you guys for your great experience and resource.

I have another question, I have a Sapphire R9 390x ( from my other kid's gaming rig) that I bought November 2015 that started causing black screen crashes. I looked it up and it seems to be fairly common. So it's sitting on my work bench until I figure out if I can fix it. I have a little experience with a multi-meter but it's looking like it's smoked beyond what I can do.

Does anyone have any insight on this.

Thanks

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Also here are the new specs for the new build:

Motherboard:

MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX AM4 AMD B450

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WF6ZQST/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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CPU:

Ryzen 5 2600

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B41WS48/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

**********************************
RAM:

G.Skill 16GB (2 x 8GB) Ripjaws V Series DDR4 PC4-25600 3200MHz Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory F4-3200C16D-16GVRB

G.Skill 16GB (2 x 8GB) Ripjaws V Series DDR4 PC4-25600 3200MHz Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory F4-3200C16D-16GVRB at Amazon.com

Buy G.Skill 16GB (2 x 8GB) Ripjaws V Series DDR4 PC4-25600 3200MHz Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory F4-3200C16D-16GVRB: Memory - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

smile.amazon.com

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PSU:

06/12/2018

EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G1 120-G1-0650-XR 80+ GOLD 650W Fully Modular Includes FREE Power On Self Tester Power Supply

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com

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Case:

06/12/2018

COUGAR Solution Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with 12cm COUGAR TURBINE HYPER-SPIN Bearing Silent Fan and USB 3.0

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com

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SSD Hard Drive:

Order placed
June 12, 2018

Crucial MX500 250GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD - CT250MX500SSD1(Z)

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0764WCXCV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Platter Hard Drive:

Order placed
August 8, 2018

WD Blue 3TB PC Hard Drive - 5400 RPM

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B013HNYV42/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Optical Drive:

Order placed
June 30, 2018

Asus 24x DVD-RW Serial-ATA Internal OEM Optical Drive DRW-24B1S

Amazon.com: Asus 24x DVD-RW Serial-ATA Internal OEM Optical Drive DRW-24B1ST Black(user guide is included): Electronics

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smile.amazon.com

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WiFi PCI Card:

Ordered on August 27, 2016

Esky Express Pci-e 11n 802.11b/g/n 300mbps 300m Wifi Wireless Card Adapter

Amazon.com: Esky Express Pci-e 11n 802.11b/g/n 300mbps 300m Wifi Wireless Card Adapter: Computers & Accessories

Buy Esky Express Pci-e 11n 802.11b/g/n 300mbps 300m Wifi Wireless Card Adapter: Electronics - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

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Drivers: ??

(Window 10 might include better drivers)

Ralink 802.11n Wireless LAN Card for Windows - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download

Download Ralink 802.11n Wireless LAN Card for Windows to . Ralink 802.11n Wireless LAN Card has had 4 updates.

download.cnet.com

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Order placed
August 15, 2018

Anker® Uspeed PCI-E to USB 3.0 2 Port Express Card

Amazon.com: Anker® Uspeed PCI-E to USB 3.0 2 Port Express Card, with 1 USB 3.0 20-pin Connector and 5V 4 Pin Male Power Connector: Computers & Accessories

Buy Anker® Uspeed PCI-E to USB 3.0 2 Port Express Card, with 1 USB 3.0 20-pin Connector and 5V 4 Pin Male Power Connector: USB Port Cards - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

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