New 7870, PC not posting

[Strife622]

Hey all,


I am having trouble posting. The PC will boot up fine without the video card. It will also boot up ( takes a long time ) with the card in the PCIe slot withOUT the two 6 pin connectors plugged in. And won't boot up at all with the card in the slot AND the two 6 pin connectors plugged in.


This is my setup


CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5800+
Cooler: Hyper 212 EVO
GPU: HIS 7870 ICEQ ( Arrivied today )
MOBO: XFX MIA78S8209 AM2+/AM2
HDD : Western Digital 160GB 5400RPM
RAM: 4GB Gskill DDR2-800
Power Supply: Ultra LS Series 600W
Case: NZXT Guardian

I've removed ram and other components, switched power cables, and reset the bios a bunch of times but my comp doesn't post. No bios screen, it turns on for a 20 seconds and then turns off. I tried looking up these 3 error codes my LED display gives me but they don't make sense. They are D5, 03, and 2A. In that order, then it stops on 2A and turns off maybe 10 seconds later.

So it might just be my motherboard can't handle the card. The bios version is 1.3.

OR the power supply. Picture of it's specs below.
I also had to buy a molex to 6 pin wire because my PS only came with one 6 pin connector. Not sure if that changes anything but yea.

Any help would be great. Thanks guys.

 

[Termie]

Those Nvidia-based AM2 chipsets simply don't support video cards newer than the Radeon HD4000 series. Has to do with the PCIe revision.

I'm pretty sure you're out of luck. Truth is, though, that you'd use about 25% of the speed of that video card with your CPU anyway, so this is probably the right time for a system upgrade if you're looking to game on the 7870.

 

[Strife622]

Damn. Makes sense because I upgraded from a 4850 that worked. Yea I was planning on getting a 960t to get a little more life out of the am2+ but now that my card might not be supported...I'll have to upgrade everything.

 

[Deders]

I don't suppose you could post a photo of your molex to 6 pin adapter? I had one that was wired wrong that stopped me from booting up.

 

[Strife622]

Sure thing.

And a link to where I bought it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-106-_-Product

 

[Strife622]

It's just bizarre because it will turn on and boot to desktop with the card in. But the moment I try to give the card power through the two 6 pin plugs. Nothing. I've also tried putting the 2 molex connectors to different lines from my PS and still nothing.

As far as drivers go I have uninstalled previous drivers and used driver/registry reviver to remove any left behind drivers for my HD 4850 that I had before the 7870. Have also tried installing, removing then reinstalling AMD catalyst driver suite for my new card.

BTW thanks for your help so far Deders

 

[Spjut]

Various users on different forums reported that their HD 7000 cards and later didn't work correctly, sometimes not even booting, before their motherboards received a new BIOS update.

 

[Strife622]

Various users on different forums reported that their HD 7000 cards and later didn't work correctly, sometimes not even booting, before their motherboards received a new BIOS update.

Interesting. I'll have to try to get a BIOS update for it and see if that helps. Only problem is, when I looked yesterday online I could not find a thing. The bios is an AMI bios.

 

[Deders]

Just looking one that I have, it only has 2 yellow (+12v) wires that go to the outside holes, but the one I had that gave me trouble had 3 like yours. I had to snip the middle yellow wire (and tape the ends up) before I could get it to boot.

Try removing the molex to 6 pin adapter altogether and see if it boots, whilst keeping the 6 pin from the PSU plugged in.

 

[Strife622]

Just looking one that I have, it only has 2 yellow (+12v) wires that go to the outside holes, but the one I had that gave me trouble had 3 like yours. I had to snip the middle yellow wire (and tape the ends up) before I could get it to boot.

I'm gonna try to update the bios and see if that helps any. If not hey at least it's updated. And then as a last resort I'll cut that wire.

Which yellow do you mean? If you click on the link, go to the middle picture and zoom in. In looks like there are 2 yellow wires that share the same pin.

 

[Strife622]

A review from newegg

Pros: After rewiring the adapter worked fine.

Cons: As shipped with both of the 4 wire connectors connected the plug shorts the 5Volt line to the 12 Volt line. You might be able to use it by only connecting one of the 4 pin connectors. I fired up my 7650 card that way for about an hour and it worked fine. Then I rewired the cable to use both.

Other Thoughts: To rewire it basically make sure the colors match when you plug the 4 pin connectors together. As shipped one cable on mine connected the red wire on the 4 pin connector to a yellow wire on the adapter cable. I removed the pins on the adapter cable and moved them to the other end of the connector and it worked fine.
Specifications for the PCI Power Plug are:
_____
| |
-----------------------
| GRND | GRND | GRND |
-----------------------
| 12V | | 12V |
------------------------

 

[MeldarthX]

sounds almost like a bad molex cable.....you can also check xfx's website if there is a newer bios; can I can't confirm or deny Termie's statement.

 

[Deders]

When I say the middle wire, I mean the middle yellow one on the 6 pin plug attached to your card.

 

[Strife622]

When I say the middle wire, I mean the middle yellow one on the 6 pin plug attached to your card.

Just want to make sure, there are 3 on the bottom and then one middle wire on the top. Do you mean the top middle or bottom middle?

 

[Deders]

Just want to make sure, there are 3 on the bottom and then one middle wire on the top. Do you mean the top middle or bottom middle?

I mean the yellow wire between the other 2 yellow wires.

Is there a yellow wire in between 2 black wires? they should all be black. That would actually be more of a concern.

 

[Deders]

All the wires I have used that work are configured like this:

-----------------------
| Black | Black | Black |
-----------------------
|Yellow |Empty|Yellow|
------------------------

 

[Strife622]

My bad, I'm pretty sure my setup is


Black Black Black
Yellow Yellow Yellow

[/IMG]

 

[Deders]

What happens if you remove the molex to 6-pin entirely (unplugged from all 3 ends) leaving just the PSU plug in?

Does it boot as if you had both 6 pins removed?

 

[Strife622]

Ah, excellent troublshooting idea. I won't be home until later today at 1730, but will try it when I get home.

 

[Strife622]

Ok, So with only one 6 pin in, it turns on. I used both 6 pins by them selves and the result is the same. For some reason when both are in, that's when i get the error code and it doesn't post. I still think it might be a bios update issue. So im going to try doing that now. I found a link to version 1.8.

http://xfxstorage.com/Support/BIOS/Motherboard/730a-8200/Floppy/

 

[Deders]

Do you mean when either are in?

 

[Strife622]

Yes

 

[Strife622]

Ok, so slight progress. I updated the bios via the AMI windows flash utility. It is offically version 1.8. So i plugged both power connectors in and plugged in an HDMI cable to the card. Nothing for a second and then it was just this blinking dash in the top left corner. It didn't and does not turn off anymore though, so i guess that's a plus. Though after that first time when it was a blinking dash, i haven't been able to get that. Now there is no display and an additonal C1 error along with D5, 03, and 2A. Any ideas?

 

[Deders]

What does your motherboard manual say about the error codes? I presume that's where they come from?

 

[Strife622]

The manual doesn't say anything about the codes. A Google search brought up a list but one translated to a keyboard issue and the other 3 are non existent