Need help with likely video card problem

[woolfe9999]

So I got a new MSI 5850 delivered today. I removed the old card (8800 GTS 320), and seat the new card properly. I connect the two six pin supplemental power cables to the card. I start the computer up. It is really slow to even bring up a cursor but finally does. I am on a dual boot with 2 HD's, XP on one and Vista on the other. I specify Vista. It looks like it is starting to load, but then the screen goes blank, indefintely. No error message. I reboot, specify XP, same thing. It starts to show the windows progress bar, then the screen goes blank indefinitely. I go into the BIOS and set the DVD as the boot disk and pop in the Vista disk. It shows the "windows files loading" progress bar, then the screen goes blank. In all cases, I waited up to 10 minutes with the screen blank before trying something else.

So I swap out the video card and put in the old one, and it's fine. I can boot into either OS, or the Vista disk.

I have narrowed this down to 2 possibilities. I have this generic (CompUSA brand) PSU that is 400w, 3 years old. I am thinking maybe this isn't enough juice to run the card. It seems to cut out to a blank screen right where it would be showing a full screen of graphics. I am running with an e6750 (dual), 2 HD's, and a DVD drive. Not enough juice?

It's either that, or the card is a doorstop and I need to RMA it back to the Egg. Or some third possibility I haven't considered.

Thoughts?

- wolf

 

[Meghan54]

Did you bother to sweep out the old nvidia drivers before putting in your ATi card? Doesn't sound like it and that may be the root of your problems.

 

[woolfe9999]

Did you bother to sweep out the old nvidia drivers before putting in your ATi card? Doesn't sound like it and that may be the root of your problems.

No I did not. It hadn't occured to me that drivers would be an issue when I can't boot directly into the Vista DVD without getting the blank screen. If I'm having a problem and I'm not even loading an OS, how can drivers be the issue?

- wolf

 

[faxon]

replace the PSU, tbh thats probably more likely to be the problem since that card can draw a fair bit of power. cant possibly be drivers if its also happening using the windows install disk

 

[Modelworks]

Try starting windows in safe mode with F8 on boot. Will it boot into that ?

 

[ScorcherDarkly]

PSU would be my first guess, drivers second. You're going to want to upgrade the PSU for any 5850 even if you have to RMA that one, so replacing it won't be a waste even if it ends up not being the problem.

 

[Qbah]

If your Vista install DVD is behaving the same way, it's not drivers. A 400W no-name PSU is the most likely reason. Also, I'm sure a 400W does not have 2 6-pin PCI-e power connectors. How did you run the cables in the converters? You would have to use 4 separate molex cables to properly power 2 6-pin plugs. Makes sure each converter plug goes to a separate molex plug.

 

[lavaheadache]

what motherboard do you have cause some of them don't like pci-e 2.0 cards although i agree your psu is likely the culprit

 

[woolfe9999]

The mainboard is an MSI P6N. It's an Nvidia chipset. 650i rings a bell. I hope it isn't the mainboard. That would be the suckiest outcome.

Qbah, yes, I am using 2 6 pin power cables that came in the box with the 5850. Each has 2 standard plugs. I have plugged them into four existing molex cables. I also already had one 6-pin before that I was using for the 8800 GTS 320.

Looks like I am heading to Fryes this afternoon to grab a new PSU. I was going to buy a new one relatively soon anyway. Sucks paying brick and mortar prices, but I don't want to wait for a new one to come from the Egg.

Incidentally, this board barely fit into my Antec P182 case. I had to move both my HD's to different drive cages and even then it barely fit. I don't buy a video card for 3 years and now they're all monstrosities. I get the feeling that the next time I buy a video card in three years I'll need a case large enough to pitch a hammock in.

- wolf

 

[Campy]

Hehe i have to agree with you on the card size. I had a GTX460 from gainward and it was so small. AND it's got the power connectors on the side instead of on the end.
I wonder who at ATI thought it was a good idea to put the connectors on the end, they could have saved people from a lot of grief just by changing that.

 

[woolfe9999]

Update. Went to Frys, picked up a 700W PSU. Removed the old one, and discovered I was wrong about its specs. The 400W must have been the PSU I owned before I built this rig in 2007. It's actually 550W. Anyway, I installed the new PSU, and it won't power the mainboard. Everything plugged in right, no power. Old PSU back in, it powers up.

I refuse to believe that a 550W PSU would not power the 5850 plus an e6750 and 1 HD plugged in. So it has to be a bad 5850 or else an issue of incompatibility between the 5850 and the mainboard.

And I'm starting to get this creepy feeling that there is a ghost in the machine. It doesn't want to be upgraded. It will only run with its current parts. It's silly, but this is just too much bad luck.

I guess I'm going to return the PSU to Frys, return the 5850 to the Egg, and wait until I can rebuild the whole machine.

Thanks for everyone's feedback.

- wolf

 

[FalseChristian]

That's too bad. I'm sorry you're having these problems. Why not just build yourself a new system from the ground up?

 

[Mem]

Update. Went to Frys, picked up a 700W PSU. Removed the old one, and discovered I was wrong about its specs. The 400W must have been the PSU I owned before I built this rig in 2007. It's actually 550W. Anyway, I installed the new PSU, and it won't power the mainboard. Everything plugged in right, no power. Old PSU back in, it powers up.

I refuse to believe that a 550W PSU would not power the 5850 plus an e6750 and 1 HD plugged in. So it has to be a bad 5850 or else an issue of incompatibility between the 5850 and the mainboard.

And I'm starting to get this creepy feeling that there is a ghost in the machine. It doesn't want to be upgraded. It will only run with its current parts. It's silly, but this is just too much bad luck.

I guess I'm going to return the PSU to Frys, return the 5850 to the Egg, and wait until I can rebuild the whole machine.

Thanks for everyone's feedback.

- wolf

Easy way to find out if its a bad video card is to try it in another PC(or friends) if possible,normally its either PSU (which you ruled out)or faulty video card.

Btw do bear in mind even brand new PSU can be DOA or faulty so make sure you have ruled out the new PSU is in good working order.

 

[Madcatatlas]

Hehe i have to agree with you on the card size. I had a GTX460 from gainward and it was so small. AND it's got the power connectors on the side instead of on the end.
I wonder who at ATI thought it was a good idea to put the connectors on the end, they could have saved people from a lot of grief just by changing that.

What happened to your GTX460? im using a Gainward one and its great, which is why im wondering

 

[Campy]

It stopped working after 3 days, I don't know why. I powered on the machine one day and it started acting up. It was great while it lasted though, it overclocks so well.
Anyway, this 5850 is really nice too. 61C load temps in furmark. Don't know how that compares to other 5850 cards but the temp is definitely low for GPUs in general