gtx470 and Asus P5K-E Wifi/AP mobo - crash & no post

[DeeZaster]

Hi,

I recently posted this on GURU3D but nobody was able to answer or help.  Here is my problem:

I've been having some problems getting my Gigabyte GTX 470 1280mb video card working on my currently installed Asus P5K-E Wifi mobo. So when I first installed the video card, everything seemed fine until 12 hours later, while surfing the web, my system just locks up. I rebooted and thought it was maybe my OC on CPU so I adjusted it down a bit and when I exited the Bios the system rebooted and no video at all. I tried to reboot a bunch of times but no video, and I get the normal single beep (sounds a bit different though) each time. I started to check each ram stick, using only one but it didn't help. So at that time I put back my evga 8800 GTS 640mb and it showed up on the monitor instantly.

A few days later I though it might be my hdd causing the crashes as it was acting up before hand (its been rma'd and new one is in machine now) so I took it out and tried the 470 again and I had video once again. I got as far as the windows 7 boot screen and it locks up again, rebooted, again video is gone and isn't coming back on when I turn system off and on again. I left the pc off until morning and tried to turn it back on and again I have video, crashes while booting, I reboot, no more video (monitor's ember light turns on as well, instead of the blue power one, meaning no video connection) once again.

Now my question is, because I haven't come into this problem before. Can this Gigabyte GTX 470 1280mb video card run properly on this Asus P5K-E Wifi mobo that only has a PCI-E v1.1 slot? I read somewhere else that some mobos with v1.0/v1.1 PCI-E slots act up a bit with v2.0 cards (even though they should all be backwards compatible). I have a 1000 watt psu from Silverstone and two dedicated 6 pin wires connected from the psu to the video card. I didn't split one cable into two, I have two seperate direct leads to the psu's PCI-E molex connectors so power should not be an issue.

Now what I also found out that was weird, usually when you don't hook up those extra 6pin power connectings to the video card, the mobo will make a loud screeching sound and it doesn't do that at all with the 470, it does do it with my 8800 GTS.

Any help is appreciated, some comments from any users with the same hardware I have mentioned would be ideal. I do have a EVGA 780i mobo that is still new and does support v2.0 PCI-E so if this is indeed the problem, I will then swap out mobos. I don't want to swap mobos right away if thats not what the problem is.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte UK Forum.
Very good choice of user name

I thought I had it all sussed out until you said you had that 1000W Silverstone PSU. It would have been a perfect example of the GPU being underpowered. So assuming that PSU is up to scratch we will have to look for an alternative culprit.

We have had a lot of 4xx series cards having problems with the drivers recently so that is one possibility. Of course it is also possible that the card is faulty.

Are you running the latest BIOS version on your motherboard?

[DeeZaster]

Hi,

Yes I have the latest bios update installed which is verrsion 1305.  I can rule out it being the drivers as what I did was I installed the card another time and left it sitting in the bios at the hardware monitor page (shows voltages, fan speeds etc...).  I left it for 5 mins and it looked like it was still going so I hit ESC to go back a menu and as soon as I touched that key, it froze up and I had to press the reset button, no video again when it should post.

Another odd thing is that with my 8800 GTS, if I don't plug in the extra 6 pin connector from the powersupplyand turn on my pc, it will make a super loud screeching sound, all my previous cards have been similar.  With the GTX 470, when I turn it on with out the 2 - 6pin connectors connected to the video card, it doesn't make any such sound.  Should these cards do that?

So I still figure its either the PCI-E 1.1 slot not supplying enough power, or its the card itself and it needs to be rma'd but I do have the EVGA 780i mobo I recieved back from when my 680i died a couple years ago.  EVGA sent me the 780i which does have PCI-E 2.0 slots.  I just don't want to do a swap yet (saving it for when I get a Lanboy blue case next month).

Does any of that help?  The powersupply isn't old at all, I went and bought a large one, more than I needed because I was going through a psu every couple years, most likely using it to near its limits so they died sooner.   The 1000watt isn't stressed at all, which is a good thing.

[Dark Mantis]

I don't know why your cards have produced a screaching sound when not plugged into the PSU properly in the past as it is not something I have come across before. Normally I would just expect the POST beeps the same as if the card was missing.

The PSU is fine I'm sure. It does make sense to get a bigger one than you currently need as they do deteriorate with time and usage. The mains capacitors suffer from droop and the general output drops by at least 10% as you have found even within the first year or two. Not only that but the optimum power/performance levels are at around 50- 60%.

What you are saying about the slot compatibility is possible as I have heard of this before but it shouldn't be an issue as they are made to be backwards compatible.

Is it possible to try the card in another computer to see if it works?

[DeeZaster]

Well my last 3 cards I've owned have all produced this sound, the pc speaker is making the sound I'm sure, I could record a little vid if you'd like to hear it, its quite loud.

The first thing I would have done would be to put the video card into another machine but thats the problem, I don't have anything else besides the EVGA 780i mobo here.  I dont know anyone else with a similar setup where I could test it either.  This is why I was hoping someone with the same mobo and video card had attempted and either had success or failures like I have had.  I have also know that PCI-E is backward compatible but I've ready many posts on some manufacture's mobos don't play nice with 2.0 in their 1.1 slots and can cause certain issues (which none were actually stated).

So I guess my only option atm is to use the EVGA mobo and see how it works.  If it doesn't, then rma.

[Dark Mantis]

The noise it should be making if there is no graphics card or it isn't powered sufficiently should be continuous long beeps.

If you really don't want to set up your EVGA board yet there is nothing stopping you from taking the GPU back and seeing what the retailer has to say when they check it.

[DeeZaster]

The noise it should be making if there is no graphics card or it isn't powered sufficiently should be continuous long beeps.

If you really don't want to set up your EVGA board yet there is nothing stopping you from taking the GPU back and seeing what the retailer has to say when they check it.

I'll take a recordiing of it later, its not a beep (I know the beep your talking about for normal post) but a very loud wine/screeching almost (again this happened with my last 3 pci-e cards).  The main reason I don't want to do the EVGA mobo swap is because I'm not supposed to lift anything heavy atm, waiting to get surgery.  The store I bought it at are not helpfull at all because its over the 30 days they give you from purchase date.  I didn't install the card right away as I want to pickup a lanboy tower case next month, originally I planned to get the case before when I bought the GTX470,  but had to wait for some extra $$$.

I'll let you guys know and I'll try and post the video tomorrow.

Thanks.

[pcb-plus]

hi

the noise you are trying to describe is the graphics card telling you the power leads are not connected two of my nvidia's do it as well as a 4870
it does seem strange to get no warning that the power is not connected

before returning the 470 i would suggest trying your other motherboard as the p5k-e is not old but is getting to the age where we start to  see more faliures I have had a few of the returned recently all either dead or intermitent booting issues