GA-M68M-S2P: PCIe video not working

[Dark Mantis]

Don't knock the timescale, that is good by normal standards.

[semc]

I got the reply back from Gigabyte.  They have no suggestions and say to RMA the board back to the vendor for testing.

[semc]

While I waiting on the vendor for a RMA number I decided to take one last look at this.

Could this be a PCIe socket power issue?  My old motherboard had a PCIe v2 slot.  The Gigabyte motherboard is PCIe v1.  As I understand it PCIe 16x v1 supplies 75W.  I remember hearing a long while ago v2.0 would be 150w but I don't know that for a fact.  PCIe cards are supposed to be backwards compatible.  The video card specs says:
PCI Express or PCI Express 2.0-compliant system motherboard with one vacant PCI Express x16 slot

The standard 9800GT is supposed to draw 105w peak.  According to the specs I have read the Eco 9800GT is supposed to draw 30% less power which comes out to 73.5w.  So this puts it under the PCIe v1.0 spec of 75w.  To me the answer is clear cut but I thought I'd bring it up anyway.

Arggg.  If I just had another PCIe card with a power connector I could have tested this and been done with it.  Damn changing technology.

[semc]

I got the RMA test results back and they say the motherboard is good. So at this point I'm guessing the video card just isn't compatible. If I can't return it then I'll probably just sell it. My old Asus motherboard was accepted by Asus and is being repaired. I emailed Gigabyte about compatibility and I am waiting on a response. But as of a week ago they didn't know of any issues, at least the person I was dealing with didn't.

This is regarding your RMA
Item: [GIGABYTE GA-M68M-S2P Socket AM2+/ GeForce 7025/ A&V&GbE/ MATX Motherboard]
Part#: [MB-M68M-2P]

Our technicians have tested the Mother Board to be NOT defective. Our technicians have tested your motherboard with 2 different CPUs, video cards, and no trouble was found. The report was tested with 1. Asus EN9600GT PCI-E video card + AMD Athlon Dual Core X4400 CPU, and 2. On-board video + AM3 Phenom II X4 810 CPU. Please see attached file.

Our technicians have not seen any compatibility issues regarding your video card (BFG 9800GT EcoIntelligence) with the motherboard. They also said that 650W is plenty of power to run the card.

At this point we will return the original item back to you. If you have any questions, please contact us.

[semc]

I got a reply from Gigabyte tonight.  They offered to do further testing on the board if I want to send it to them.  Unfortunately I can not afford to keep throwing money a this problem.  The board only costs $50 (USD) and I have already spent $32 (USD) in shipping fees.  I'll just resell it at this point.

[Dark Mantis]

Well that is a shame but reality bites and there is a limit to the amount of money you want to waste trying to get something working.