Vid Card Problem

[penguin010]

Alright, so Ive received all of my parts for my new rig from newegg, an Im currently putting it together. However, there seems to be a problem with either my mobo or my video card. The socket on my mobo has the long connection first, then the shorter one.

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Like that. But my vid card has the short connection first, then the long.

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Like that. What the hell could the problem be?

Mobo

Vid Card

Nevermid, a friend helped me figure it out. I thought the four normal PCI slots were the ones I should use, and the PCIx16 slot was for the sound card. I misread the manual. This is why you learn how to read kids!

 

[penguin010]

Alright, Ive got another problem, and it still has to do with the video card. Ive got everything connected, and when I turn the PC on, the fans spin and such. However, the LEDs are telling me that there is Vid Card problem, and when I plug it into a monitor, there is no signal. There seems to be a place on the top of the video card for something to plug into it, but I cant find anything that would fit. Suggestions?

 

[Lord Evermore]

The gold slot connector on the other edge is for an SLI bridge, to connect to another video card. Not having it wouldn't prevent bootup. However it does appear that that card has a PCI-Express power socket, the black 6-pin socket near the back edge. If you don't have anything plugged into that, then the card doesn't get enough power and won't boot.

If your power supply does not have one of those connectors already, you can get an adapter. I think you'd want to plug the 4-pin molex connectors from two different cables into the adapter, not just two molex plugs on a single cable.

What power supply do you have? Make sure it's actually got enough power to be running with such high-power components. A cheap "400 watt" power supply may be nearly useless with a modern computer, as it may not supply enough current on the 12V rail. If there's only one +12V rail, then you should probably have in the range of 16 to 20A.

 

[penguin010]

But there doesnt appear to be any 6-pin sockets on the back edge of the card, even in that picture of the mobo. I think thats the problem, but I cant find any sockets to plug in my PSU. My PSU is more than sufficient however, a nice FSP 450watt. It also has the 6-pin connector that youre talking about, so if I could find anywhere on the card to plug it into, Id be golden.

 

[chango]

looks like a rma.

 

[Lord Evermore]

I was mistaken, it kind of looked like the video card had an auxiliary power connector (the 6-pin PCIe connector) on it. It's just a power regulation component with printing that looked like a clip in that image.

Mainboards do not have that particular connector. Some of them do have a 4-pin molex (hard drive style) connector to supply extra PCIe power, but not yours.

The extra power for the PCIe slot is provided through the extra pins on newer power supplies and mainboards. If your power supply actually has the 24 pin ATX plug, as well as the 12V 4-pin connector (behind the PS/2 ports) then you should have all the power you need, provided the power supply is able to supply enough Amperage on the 12V rail. If the power supply has at least maybe 16A on 12V, and even better if it has dual 12V, then it should be okay.

If you had a cheap PCI video card around you could at least test whether the system will actually boot if you took out the PCIe card.

It's possible the video card or mainboard has been damaged. Static can produce odd problems, and you don't have to feel a static discharge for it to be able to damage electronics. I have to presume you didn't actually try to put the PCIe card into any of the PCI slots when you were trying to figure that part out.

 

[penguin010]

Actually, I did attempt to put the card into one of the PCI slots, but I didnt force it since it obviouly wouldnt fit. The only thing I could think that could be wrong with it is either the PCIe slot or video card itself is broken. Problem is, I dont have any spare PCIe cards lying around to test it out.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Unfortunately without spare parts, it's impossible to determine which component is actually the cause of the problems, under normal circumstances (i.e., not back at the factory refurbishing center).

The cheapest PCIe x16 card on Newegg is $38 shipped. Nobody cheaper on Pricewatch. TigerDirect has a GF6500 for slightly more after rebate. Always good to have spares, though it does hurt to have to spend 40 bucks for something you'll never use again.

There's a chance it's the power supply at fault, if it's just not feeding enough 12V power to the particular lines being sent to the PCIe slot.