New Geforce 9800GTX+ stuck at PCI-Express 1x :(

[Fox5]

Hey all, I got a Geforce 9800GTX+ about 2 months ago, and it's had horrible performance ever since. I kind of ignored it, figuring a driver update would fix it.
Well, I checked the nvidia control panel, and it's only operating at 1x speed (cpu-z confirms this.)

Apparently on a cold boot, it will attempt 16x speed, but it crashes everytime in vista, and suffers massive display corruption in ubuntu. It appears to be a hardware problem.

I'm running a Gigabyte 965p-s3 rev. 1 with the latest bios.
Geforce 9800GTX+
Windows Vista 32bit
4GB of ram
650W Antec Earthwatts

I've tried going back to stock settings, clearing the bios, playing around with voltage settings pci express bus speeds, and nothing's worked so far. It's incredibly annoying, since it makes the video card basically unusable (surprisingly, linux gets much better performance running the same apps under wine, but still not at where it should be, maybe opengl requires less communication between cpu and graphics card) and my previous card (ATi X1950XT) did not have this problem.

 

[BFG10K]

For Windows (and I guess Linux too) have you installed the latest chipset drivers for your system?

 

[ViRGE]

I'm assuming you're on the latest BIOS for your motherboard?

BTW, you're certainly not alone

 

[Keysplayr]

There are a few things that have worked for some, but not for others. So, it's touch 'n go. But here is what I have found:

In BIOS, set PCI-e speed from "Auto" to 100MHz. If that does not work, and you are able to, try to increase the speed of PCI-e in 1MHz increments. And do not exceed 110MHz in your trials.

The other common issue is with Antec PSU's that have a timing issue when delivering power after receiving signals. Example:

Quoted from another source: "This person was having problems with his Antec psu and Antec say they have arranged the problem and have revised units."Okay a little more info... apparently it is a timing issue, when your computer first turns on the PSU sends power down each line and then backs off waiting for the computer to start the boot process. With the G92 cards they are expecting to see this at a different time than when they are actually getting the signal and it causes them to think they are underpowered so they clock themselves back"

Whether this is true or not, I don't know. You might wish to contact Antec about it if all else fails.

This seems prominent issue on Intel 965 thru P35 boards with G92 cards.

 

[Mr Burns]

I had a gigabyte 965p-ds3 rev 3 motherboard and it did exactly the same. Used a 7900 gtx, no problems. Changed to a 8800 gtx, it would go to 1X after 2-3 minutes. The same with a gtx 280. I could never figure out what the problem was and replaced it with something else. No more problems.

 

[Fox5]

Heh, well I'd hope to avoid buying a new motherboard to fix my problems.

Anyhow, I've tried adjusting PCI-E speed, though not in one mhz increments.
I've tried several different bios versions, including the latest official and beta.
I'm currently waiting on tech support from Gigabyte and nvidia to get back to me. I guess I'll try Antec as well. If not, I guess I'll replace the mobo. I was thinking of just going with an nvidia chipset, but they're a little on the pricey side, and don't come with integrated graphics (I feel it gives a bit more longevity to a PC to have integrated graphics to fall back on when it's time to be retired). Integrated graphics isn't require though, but what's the cheapest chipset I could go with that wouldn't suffer from this problem? Assuming it can't be fixed.

Also, playing around with bios settings caused windows to trigger it's activation thing, so if I'm going to replace the mobo, I'd rather wait to activate until afterward.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Fox5
Also, playing around with bios settings caused windows to trigger it's activation thing, so if I'm going to replace the mobo, I'd rather wait to activate until afterward.

WTF? That sucks.

 

[bob8701]

same board, same problem, it always happened when I oc my cpu, the solution is set to 105 MHZ, if Iset up to 109 MHZ, one of my samsung hard drive can't be detectd by my motherboard. hope this solution fixed your problem.

 

[Fox5]

For me it happens even when the cpu isn't overclocked.

 

[Mr Burns]

It must be something with that series of motherboards and new cards. Overclock, no overclock, nothing worked. Good luck, if you ever find out what it is post it up.

Originally posted by: Fox5
Heh, well I'd hope to avoid buying a new motherboard to fix my problems.

Anyhow, I've tried adjusting PCI-E speed, though not in one mhz increments.
I've tried several different bios versions, including the latest official and beta.
I'm currently waiting on tech support from Gigabyte and nvidia to get back to me. I guess I'll try Antec as well. If not, I guess I'll replace the mobo. I was thinking of just going with an nvidia chipset, but they're a little on the pricey side, and don't come with integrated graphics (I feel it gives a bit more longevity to a PC to have integrated graphics to fall back on when it's time to be retired). Integrated graphics isn't require though, but what's the cheapest chipset I could go with that wouldn't suffer from this problem? Assuming it can't be fixed.

Also, playing around with bios settings caused windows to trigger it's activation thing, so if I'm going to replace the mobo, I'd rather wait to activate until afterward.

 

[tcsenter]

Check BIOS for "PEG Force X1" and confirm it is disabled.

 

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: tcsenter
Check BIOS for "PEG Force X1" and confirm it is disabled.

Couldn't find any such option. Also, my previous video card, an X1950XT, worked just fine. In fact, I'm pretty sure the computer cold boots with 16x enabled, but the display driver crashes as soon as it loads, the computer reboots, and then it goes down to 1x speed.

 

[SolMiester]

Did you go into advance BIOS?...ALT & F1 I think?

 

[Fox5]

Ctrl f1 brings up some additional options, but I didn't see anything that said PEG Force X1.
Also, I'm pretty sure the motherboard doesn't switch to X1 until it attempts to boot up with X16 once, crashes, and then reboots with X1.

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Sorry to thread-rez, but this is happening to me too. I have a GA-965P-DS3 rev 1.3 mobo and a 9800 GT that was recently sent to me by EVGA as a replacement for a busted 8800 GTS 320. I'm getting blue screens related to display driver timeouts and on subsequent boot I'm stuck at 1x link width. Did you ever figure this out? I can't tell if the mobo or the card is at fault at this point; I just know I didn't have these problems with my old card.