Sapphire HD 4870 X2 problems - switching off after boot up

[daw123]

My Sapphire HD 4870 X2 is switching off (to "No Input Detected") after about 15 secs after boot up (i.e. by the the time I get into BIOS).

The details for my new PC are as follows:

Case: Coolmaster Praetorian 731 fully aluminium case with 2x front 80mm dia (air intakes), 1x top 80mm dia (exhaust) and 2x rear 80mm dia fans (exhaust)
PSU: Antec TruePower Quattro 1000W
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6
CPU: Intel Quad Core Extreme QX9770; 12Mb Cache, 1600MHz FSB and (8 x 400MHz) 3.2Ghz stock
HSF: Thermaltake Big Typhoon 120VX with Thermalright bolt-thru-bracket
RAM: OCZ Gold Edition DDR3 1333Mhz 2x 1Gb DIMMS
Graphics: Sapphire ATI HD4870 X2 2Gb

The fan is spinning on the card and I have checked that it is correctly seated and the cooling fan is spinning. There is also a red light (the middle of 5 so it appears) on the back of the card in the top right hand corner (looking into the case) - does this mean anything?

Could this be a power or cooling problem?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[thilanliyan]

The lights do stand for something. Unfortunately I'm not sure which ones are supposed to be lit up. Google it.

 

[daw123]

No luck finding anything on Google regarding which LEDs stand for what on the card.

It can't be a cooling problem because the card isn't on long enough to get hot.

I checked:
That the DIMMs are seated correctly
The card is seated properly.
Both PCI-E (6 pin and 8 pin) power connectors are connected.
I already know that the HSF and CPU are well seated with adequate thermal paste between them (I removed HSF and CPU so many times during the build to know).

I can't think of anything else to check that would affect it.

BTW Sapphire User Manual is a waste of time.

Anybody have any ideas?

 

[daw123]

Any help, please???

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: daw123
No luck finding anything on Google regarding which LEDs stand for what on the card.

Comeon...5 seconds on google turned up this:

"HD4870 LEDs

D1601 - Red LED On, shows critical temperature fault

D1602 - Red LED On, shows External power connector A was removed

D1603 - Red LED On, shows External power connector B was removed

D601 - Red LED On, shows critical Core power fault

At BOOT/POST, the card's fan will spin @ 100% for a short while and 3 of the 4 LEDs will light up for a brief period and then go out ( D601 should remain unlit ). This is NORMAL behaviour as the card is performing it's own type of POST test."

This is for a Sapphire 4870 but it should be similiar.

 

[thilanliyan]

Also try updating the BIOS on your motherboard.

 

[daw123]

Thanks for the help.

I probably didn't find the info your did on the LEDs because I searched specifically for the HD4870 X2.

 

[thilanliyan]

See what happens and post back. If you haven't already do the BIOS update on the motherboard. Some other threads I saw with similiar problems to yours were fixed with the BIOS update.

 

[daw123]

Um, how do I do the BIOS update if the screen switches off after about 15 secs?

I apologise for my ignorance if its a simple procedure, but I have never updated a BIOS before. Please also remember that my new PC doesn't have the OS installed yet. That was what I trying to do tonight before the issues with the graphics card.

Just out of interest could this be a PSU problem: I know I used the 6 pin and 8 pin PCI-E connectors (and they were labelled as such on the connectors) from the main loom of the PSU, although I am pretty sure that it has additional (modular) PCI-E connectors.

If it is a PSU issue then I will be incredibly p*ssed off because I deliberately bought a PSU which was certified by ATI for this graphics card and it should be capable of running not only one card but cross-fire as well.

I'm just thinking that maybe the main loom is on one 12V rail (I may be wrong) of four at 18A each, and perhaps if each PCI-E connector is served from a different rail instead of one, then it will obviously increase the overall current (and power) available to the card.

I'm using my old PC for Internet access, which is bare bones at the moment because I've scavenged some of the components for the new PC, e.g. optical drives and hard drive. I will install the other hard drive from this PC once the new one is up and running and has been stress tested as being stable.

P.S. I'm having problems registering with the Sapphire forum because the anti-spam software doesn't seem to recognise the letters / digits I enter from the image (I have tried at least 8 times; I know, perhaps persistence will pay ).

 

[Tempered81]

I would install your os using an older card. It's probably an issue with motherboard bios, x2 bios, PSU modular connections, or PSU Rail, and/or last but not least, the card itself.

 

[daw123]

I thought about using the graphics card from my old computer to test the main components of the build (except the HD 4870 X2), then I remembered it has built in graphics on the MB (I think it is ATI X600 from what I remember of looking at the chip).

Damn it, I didn't think it would be that easy.

I may have to borrow some components from my dads PC tomorrow as a test (fingers crossed that it doesn't have onboard graphics as well).

Sorry if I'm waffling, but I'm trying to think of tests which I can conduct to rule out any other issues / components, which may have affected the graphics card, since it is a new build (and un-tested) after all.

I suppose the one saving grace is that it POSTs to begin with.

Hey, another thought my house mate (an IT networking guy) may know what the problem is, although he is more SW than HW. At the very least he or another of my house mates may have a graphics card I can borrow. I will have to delay going to my parents house

POST EDIT: In case you didn't know this is the specifics of my PSU.
Output Voltage; (Load - Min & Max); Reg; Ripple & Noise.
+5V; 0.2A - 30.0A; ±3%; 50
+12V1; 0.1A - 18.0A; ±3%; 120
+12V2; 0.5A - 18.0A; ±3%; 120
+12V3; 0A - 18.0A; ±3%; 120
+12V4; 0A - 18.0A; ±3%; 120
-12V; 0A - 0.5A; ±5%; 120
+5VSB; 0A - 3.0A; ±5%; 50
+3.3V; 0.1A - 25.0A; ±3%; 50

Total Power: 1000W continuous output @ 50C
+5V and +3.3V combined max. output: 200W
+12V outputs combined max. output: 840W(70A)

I've also opened a tickewt with Sapphire techincal support.

It's just frustrating that I have a very expensive paperweight on my desk (I've spent about $2,600.00 on components so far and I want to overclock the CPU to 4.2 Ghz with water cooling - add another $450.00 to the bill)

 

[thilanliyan]

You can't even get into the BIOS for any amount of time? Does it switch off at the same point every time?

If it doesn't switch off at the same time every time then it could be some sort of overheating issue (not necessarily with the card).

Your PSU specs seem fine but try to use one of the other PCI-e power connectors to see if it's a rail problem. You could also try the card in another PCI-e slot on your motherboard.

Try also booting with the minimum of components (ie. no HDDs or DVD drives, no sound cards, ONE stick of ram, etc.) If none of those work I think you should somehow get another card so you can flash the BIOS on the motherboard

 

[daw123]

Yes, pretty much. Although the main PC is still running, despite the graphics card.

 

[daw123]

As an additional note I think it could be a duff graphics card because of the following: (let me know what you think of my somewhat limited reasoning / deductions):
1. The PC posts and although the graphics card may turn off, nothing else does.
2. The graphics card is under minimal load during POST (its not exactly GPU intensive although self test errors may cause it to fail).
3. Power supply is not under high load.

Please let me know what you think.

Sorry, just saw the specifics of your post whilst I was typing this: I will try different PCI-E connectors and try the card in a different slot. I hope that the MB isn't knackered - I do not fancy having to build the PC again pretty much from scratch. It was a pain the first time.

 

[thilanliyan]

Well, it could be the case but I wouldn't jump to that conclusion yet without trying out some of the troubleshoots.

EDIT:
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com...eo-card-review-22.html

That one's for DFI boards but it may be a x38/x48 issue that requires a BIOS update of the motherboard.

EDIT2
http://www.houseofhelp.com/for...showthread.php?t=71948

Abit board with similiar problem (further down in the thread) which was fixed with a BIOS update.

 

[daw123]

I've tried it with the side panel off the case removed and it makes no difference.

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: daw123
I've tried it with the side panel of the case removed and it makes no difference.

Keep trying with the other suggestions too. I know it's a pain in the ass to troubleshoot every component like this but at least you'll know for next time what to do.

 

[daw123]

If I'm unable to obtain a graphics card then I will buy a cheap one from my dad's local PC shop:

Novatech GeForce 7100GS 128MB DDR2 Native Supporting 512MB PCI-E VGA/DVI

It costs about $20.00. Probably about the same as the postage and packaging for the RMA.

Will this surfice for flash BIOS updates and testing of the core components?

 

[daw123]

Or do I say, hey get this up and running at stock speeds. They build computers after all and also sell the HD4870 X2.

 

[thilanliyan]

Well, if you know someone there/are friendly enough maybe they'll help you out for free (since it's a small shop they might do it)...but try to buy some parts from them at some point in the future

 

[daw123]

I bought the cheap graphics card and lo and behold it works.

Definitely a knackered graphics card, although I will try it one last time before RMAing.

 

[thilanliyan]

Did you try updating the BIOS motherboard? Now that you have the extra card you can do it easily. Actually it's pretty easy with Gigabyte motherboards...just put the BIOS file on a USB stick and update from Qflash I think it's called, which you access through the BIOS.

EDIT:
Can you tell me which BIOS you have on your system? It should say something like BIOS F12 or F5 when you're booting up during/just before the POST. The newest one for your motherboard is F5 so if you have that then that's not the problem.

 

[daw123]

The BIOS version is F4, although I'm not sure I want to update it to F5 because there have been numerous instances on other forums where the F5 version killed the MB.

 

[lfcmob]

The HD4870x2 has a problem with X48 chipsets from Intel, i have an ABIT IX48 GT3 and exactly the same problem no display on boot up with this card. I contacted ABIt and they are working on a new BIOS update DFI and ASUS motherboards are the same. I put the ATI card in my old P35 mobo and it works a treat likewise I get a display on boot with a HD4850 in the ABIT mobo.

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: lfcmob
The HD4870x2 has a problem with X48 chipsets from Intel, i have an ABIT IX48 GT3 and exactly the same problem no display on boot up with this card. I contacted ABIt and they are working on a new BIOS update DFI and ASUS motherboards are the same. I put the ATI card in my old P35 mobo and it works a treat likewise I get a display on boot with a HD4850 in the ABIT mobo.

THere ya go daw123...finally some 1st hand experience to help you out. I think you should try the BIOS update...doesn't the DualBIOS feature help out with any bad BIOS flashes?

From the thread at Xtremesystems, the F5 BIOS on the gigabyte site should be OK as they've updated it.

EDIT: THere's some beta BIOSes you could try over here:
http://www.station-drivers.com...gabyte/ga-x48t-dq6.htm

I know...it's a bit of a risk...I've tried them on my previous DS3 board and they were fine, and even fixed some problems.

EDIT: Here's an apparently fixed F5 BIOS from Gigayte itself:
http://forum.giga-byte.nl/upload/files/x48tdq6-F5.rar

However, form the xtremesystems thread, they're saying to not use Qflash, and instead use the floppy disk method.