Black, all I see is black... something is very wrong with my rig

[SimenReynolds]

Hey, new user here shamelessly trying to fish out a solution for my probably self inflicted problem. I built myself a computer a while ago, with what was at the time a not very good graphics card, something like a Radeon 6670 or something. Now, I've finally gotten around to getting a new card, getting myself a Gigabyte Radeon R9 280 with 3 gigs of ram.

So far so good, but alas it ends in tragedy.

I opened up my case, removed my old card and put in the new one. (Yes the power was disconnected.) That was of course my first mistake, as I should have just left the card in there and put the new one in a different slot. Anyway, I plug it into my PCI 16 pin, and attach power and try to turn it on. Ofc. Nothing happens, seeing as I forgot the power cables. I realize this, plug in the power cables and try again. Still nothing. No fans turning.

And this is where it gets truly horrifying. .. I replace my old card again thinking maybe I should update bios or install some drivers or something, but now my old trusted card won't give me an image either. I also try installing my card in the second socket I have, and nothing works there either...


So. TLDR: I need to find out what in the world I did to my poor baby.

 

[Zardnok]

What Power Supply and motherboard are you running?

My first thought was worst case scenario you burned the PCI socket on your board when the card tried to draw too much power, but I seriously doubt that occurred.

Second thought was it is some sort of power delivery issue. Does your board POST? Meaning does it beep when you first turn it on? If it does not POST then the problem is likely in the power supply or motherboard. If your PSU is a modular design, make sure the molex plugs are all plugged in securely. Also make sure all connections on the board are secure, in fact unplug and plug them back in just to make sure. Also check the back of the power supply and make sure there is not a switch that got turned off or perhaps a voltage select that got bumped.

If it powers up and you just have no image, try swapping the video output over to the IGP if your motherboard has a graphics output. It could be that your computer defaulted to the internal graphics when it did not have sufficient power to spool up the 280. You may even be able to adjust this setting in the bios if you can get it to show you the bios.

Regardless, take a few deep breaths. We will help you solve the problem. There is very little "real damage" you can do just from swapping a few parts.

 

[SimenReynolds]

Deep breaths. Thanks, I needed that
As for specs I have:
Chieftec 650w PSU,
ASUS M5A97
The old card is a fan less Radeon sapphire HD 6570 1gb
The new one is a Gigabyte Radeon r9 280 3Gb

My motherboard has no integrated graphics solution,
I have two PCIE ports, and neither of them seem to work.
I get no signal on my monitor, from my old card or the new one.
The fans on the R9 do not start spinning.
The computer boots, I can't hear any beeping, but the cpu, HD, PSU and chassis fans all seem to be working.

 

[96Firebird]

Seems like an obvious thing, but make sure you are seating your card ALL the way into the PCI-E slot. Sometimes it takes a little effort.

 

[SimenReynolds]

Done both once and twice tried re fastening both cards several times.

 

[KaRLiToS]

Can you take a picture of your rig and post it here.

 

[SimenReynolds]

Sure, but it's not that pretty
How do you attach images from a phone?

 

[SimenReynolds]

I just realised another thing, there doesn't seem to be any power going to the keyboard from the use slot.

 

[spat55]

I'm going to make and guess and say I think it is the PSU, might of been fine with the old card but putting in the new one might have overpowered it. Probably can't power either card.

 

[BrightCandle]

Sure sounds like the PSU has let out the smoke and has made its trip to the afterlife.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

Gpu's don't draw that much power during startup, seems unlikely that would kill a 650W psu, even if it is a chieftek.

Do the fans start spinning when you start it up?

 

[SimenReynolds]

All fans and hard drives still start spinning when I start the computer, but there is no signal from the graphics card, and the fans on the card do not start spinning.

The Radeon 6570 used to work fine, but I don't understand what could possibly have changed.

 

[piasabird]

I suggest you plug in the old video card and test it. While doing this make sure you did not mistakenly disconnect the CPU FAN HEADER. If it works set all the graphics setting on you computer to the default lowest setting. Maybe try to change the video card driver for the Microsoft generic pcie video card. Another option is change the setting to the new video card if Microsoft has drivers for it or just install the new drivers and just shut down the computer instead of rebooting and then unplug and put the new card in.

Might need to plug in a PCIE power plug from the power supply to the card. This seems obvious but I have to say it.

There could be some issues with the old video drivers not working with the new video card. There could also be differences in the type of PCIE Slot. i.e. PCIE 2.0 & a PCIE 3.0 video card. This could cause some problems.

There is also a trick like remove all video cards from your OS and then try to auto detect new hardware with both video cards plugged in if your computer supports multiple video cards.

When you replace stuff sometimes something will ground out onto the side of the case or under the motherboard with a loose screw or the Ram will become unseated or the SATA connector to drives will become loose so check every connection. If all else fails take the computer apart and start from scratch.

 

[BrightCandle]

Anti static discharge perhaps into the motherboard? Something sounds fried but its hard to determine precisely what. Doesn't sound like its both GPUs, if the fans are spinning its not the PSU, ergo it must be the motherboard. Static discharge, some sort of overloaded, damage from an incorrect seating it doesn't really matter what this sort of problem is symptomatic of a catastrophic failure in my experience.

 

[MeldarthX]

piasabird; sound advice; but he's plugged in the old card and doesn't get a boot.

Its a video issue; one are you plugging your psu into the new video card? as its its a r9 280; it should be one 6 pin and one 8 pin....but its possible it could be two 6 pin.....without that the video card will not boot.

same thing for your old card if there was a plug in for it....you simply won't boot; won't get any beeps.....

If still won't boot; possible the psu itsn't up to scratch to run the new card......but; one other is bios; if bios got scrambled for some reason...it will do this......no beep; no boot....

if that's happened; goto ebay; find your bios chip for like 12 dollars and by a new one you won't need to replace the MB.....you can just pull the old bios chip and replace it with new one

 

[SimenReynolds]

Ok, so, to clarify, I have two PCIE slots, and two graphics cards. At least one of each were working before I started mucking about in there.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

Yeah, damaged motherboard seems most likely if the fans start spinning but no picture with either gpu.

Unless you forgot to turn your monitor on , or are using a vga monitor in a dvi-d port.

 

[SimenReynolds]

Never had a beep before either, and I can't really know if I am getting a boot since everything else seems to be working.
The new card has an 8 pin and a 6 pin power plug, the old one has none.

 

[SimenReynolds]

Ok, I found some other people experiencin similar problems:

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/installed-new-video-card-and-now-no-signal.190767/

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/339152-33-blank-screen-video-card-upgrade-card

One of them even replaced the mobo and the PSU, and there still seems to be no response.

 

[EightySix Four]

I opened up my case, removed my old card and put in the new one. (Yes the power was disconnected.) That was of course my first mistake, as I should have just left the card in there and put the new one in a different slot.

Just a quick note, that's not really true. Removing the old card and adding the new on is the correct procedure.

Have you tried to just reset the BIOS yet?

 

[SlitheryDee]

Have you tried to just reset the BIOS yet?

This was going to be my suggestion. So many times I've had a computer act weird after a change that I thought shouldn't mess with the bios at all yet somehow cleared up after I reset the bios. If using the CMOS jumper doesn't do it you may have to remove the motherboard battery for 30 seconds or so in addition to using the jumper.

 

[SimenReynolds]

I've reset BIOS a bunch of times now, at least, I think I have... hard time telling without a screen. I used the jumper, and the jumper + removing the battery, and removing the battery and holding the on button. Didn't seem to do much. I still have no power to my usb keyboard and the screen still says that it is disconnected. I really have no idea what to do at this point. Considering making a pentagram with cables and trying to summon some creature to possess my computer. Is it worth my soul I wonder. ..

 

[SlitheryDee]

Hmm. I suppose before I went out to buy anything I would remove everything plugged into to PC except for what is absolutely necessary to boot and try it. That means everything but the graphics card (I'd use the old one since it was proven to work once), processor, and one stick of RAM. I would also try each stick of RAM individually in each RAM slot just in case one or more stick or slot was damaged by whatever happened to your PC. It would be nice if you had another working PC you could test all of these parts in as well if you can't get it to POST after all that.

The "no power to the usb port" issue says motherboard problems to me, but you want to be as sure as you can before you go out and buy stuff. I've blown a decent amount of money on unnecessary parts trying to diagnose PC problems.

 

[SimenReynolds]

PROBLEM SOLVED:

When I was taking everything apart for the third time I noticed that one of the wires from the 6 PIN atx was loose. Turns out it was just being held in the plug by the force of the others. After a little work with some tweezers it sat snugly again.

Never thought watching a progress bar on a screen could be this relieving.

Thank you all for excellent help and emotional support.

 

[Zardnok]

EXCELLENT! I am glad you were able to get it up and running again. Enjoy your new card.