More Motherboard Woes

[guncrasher]

forget the bios update.  what you are interested are in the drivers.  yours is different than mine.  but it appears that you need the mobo drivers (chipset, raid, audio, etc.).  see if they have a utility that will automatically d/l the drivers and install them.  for example my mobo has the live update 5 utility that I run then select the drivers need and it will d/l and install.  you can also just d/l them and install them manually.


semp

[Easyscor]

...

What do I need to do in BIOS to get the PCI-E slot to read?

Okay, put the PCI card back in without the PCIe card, then install the driver for your PCIe card. You'll have to decide which driver you want to use, the original from CD, one you saved to disk (right lol) or the latest download from the mfg. Be sure to get the driver from nVidia or ATI whichever, not the third party mfg.

Once you've installed the driver, swap out the PCI card for the PCIe card.

Edit:
Boot back into the BIOS and select the PCIe card again in case Windows didn't do it for you when it installed the video card driver.

[Easyscor]

Don't touch your BIOS until you have the video card issue solved. If you need to RMA the MB it'd be best not to tinker with the BIOS and once you confirm you have a way to use the video card, you can start the process over again at any time, and probably will several times before you're satisfied you have the system running at it's peak.

Before you update the bios, make sure you have the current one backed up to removable media. Including the flash utility. I love the new USB method but it's probably not available for you MB. I hope it's not 3.5" floppy required unless that's what you have.

If things go the crap trying to update it, then so long as the flash utility is good, you'll be able to reinstall the original. That's what you should have been able to do with the original MB.

Once you have a stable system, only then try the BIOS update. And by stable system, I mean the minimum hardware needed to run windows. No third party cards other then the video card if you can help it.

[Easyscor]

Oh, and to make sure we're not getting ahead of ourselves...

When you told the BIOS to use the PCIe card, and rebooted, you should have heard a single short beep. That says the video card was recognized and everything including the power connection to the card is working. If not, then you still have problem, unless you told the BIOS to boot silently, which I can't recommend.

[Raptor]

Here is where I am:

BIOS updated to 1406
New CPU installed and working

Still having Video Card issues.

I installed the latest drivers for my PCI-E card.
Checked the BIOS and it has PCI-E selected as primary display source.

When I boot with PCI card, I get 1 short beep that means all is ok and I can see what would normally display in the screen (although resolution in windows not correct because I have not installed drivers for this card)

When I boot with PCI-E card, the video card's fan turns on, but screen remains blank and I get beep code indicating an error with my video card.

Not sure if there is a port or something in the BIOS I need to open for my PCI-E card to work or not.

[Easyscor]

Ouch. The rest of this you've probably already thought of...

Okay at this point it's a guess but it's clearly the video card or Power Supply. Either the card isn't getting the power it needs, or the card has gone bad. It happens, my venerable old 9800 Pro bit the dust a few weeks ago, probably caused when the old power supply went bad. Do you have access to a working rig you can test it in? A friendly computer shop willing to test it cheap or free, maybe where you've been buying parts recently? Did you flash the video card rom? Can you RMA the PCIe card? If you paid too much for that PCI card, maybe exchange it while buying/upgrading to a new PCIe card? I still recommend purchase of a cheap $10 to $15 PCI video card to have on hand when things like this happen. All a PCI card needs is VGA port and perhaps a dongle for your monitor.

At least you have that rig back among the living with pretty clear evidence where to go from here.

[Raptor]

Ouch. The rest of this you've probably already thought of...

Okay at this point it's a guess but it's clearly the video card or Power Supply. Either the card isn't getting the power it needs, or the card has gone bad. It happens, my venerable old 9800 Pro bit the dust a few weeks ago, probably caused when the old power supply went bad. Do you have access to a working rig you can test it in? A friendly computer shop willing to test it cheap or free, maybe where you've been buying parts recently? Did you flash the video card rom? Can you RMA the PCIe card? If you paid too much for that PCI card, maybe exchange it while buying/upgrading to a new PCIe card? I still recommend purchase of a cheap $10 to $15 PCI video card to have on hand when things like this happen. All a PCI card needs is VGA port and perhaps a dongle for your monitor.

At least you have that rig back among the living with pretty clear evidence where to go from here.

How can I test my PSU? I don't have a spare to test with. Currently everything is running fine EXCEPT the PCI-E video card. I went and got another PCI-E card to test and it still did not work.

I think it is either:
a BIOS setting
my primary PCI-E slot
my PSU

[Easyscor]

That's hard to diagnose.

A bad power supply could cause both PCIe video cards to come up bad but the MB would report it in the boot beeps.

If the BIOS setting isn't holding for PCIe video, that would explain both PCIe cards not working, and a clear single short boot beep.

As you suggest, if the MB's PCIe slot is bad, though unlikely, both cards would malfunction, but I'd expect the boot beeps to report it.

I learned a long time ago that what a user reports isn't always what's really coming up on his end. That said, going on what you've said, I'd have to go with a missing or bad setting in the BIOS. If you have the manual, start there, if not, download the current manual for your current MB. Look for a setting to enable the PCIe x ## and another one to direct the MB to enable PCIe video. Beyond that, I don't know how I can be more helpful in the forum venue. There might be tech support or an ASUS forum for your board specific board somewhere.

[Raptor]

Thanks for the help

The PSU is still good so it is either a BIOS setting or a dead PCI-E slot

Going to see what I can come up with... Tired of messing with this.

[Easyscor]

I bet.

Good luck with it

[Bizman]

Did you get another PSU somewhere? Or do you just suppose your PSU is still good just because you can boot with the PCI video card?

It sounds weird, that you have changed your mobo, memory and vidcard and still can't boot the combination. It doesn't seem likely that both of your mobos have the same fault, or that both of the GPU's are defective from the box.

So far I have never seen a motherboard that doesn't boot to POST with default BIOS settings as long as all components are good. Playing with the settings comes after a succesful boot, not before. Otherwise building computers would be too time consuming to be profitable for the builders.

There is no cheap way to test a PSU. The cheap testers are merely telling the voltages and warning if they are too far from defaults. What they don't tell is, how much load the PSU can handle. Thus the easiest and cheapest way to test a PSU is to change it. For testing purposes anything with a suitable adapter or plug for the GPU will do. For a boot test only the GPU and motherboard plugs are needed.

[Raptor]

A new mobo (second mobo purchased in a month) and all my problems are gone. PC running better than ever. Was hoping it was something else but I am glad to be done with that ordeal.

[Easyscor]

I'm very glad to hear that. I did not suspect a brand new MB to be your problem. It's rare to have a DOA MB but it does happen.

[Copprhed]

Have you plugged the power in to the video card securely? It sounds to me as if there might be a problem with the new mobo's PCI-e slot. It's NOT a driver issue, IMHO, as drivers don't cause post issues.

[Copprhed]

D'uh...figures that I'm a day late and a dollar short