Help - DFI EXPERT no video on boot!

[Dudeygeezer]

Hey guys this is really doing my head in, ive got a new expert board and a 512mb 7800gtx and always when ever i turn on / reboot, the display just goes blank and says no input, now the only way to get round this is to keep on and offing the system hopeing for the video to kick back in, now i read the bit about the led's and yes the video light stays on when the rest goes off, this has always been the case even when the video does work..

 

now the system when the video kicks in works flawlessly, its not actually a problem with the GTX as ive tried it in another mobo and it posts every time, only in this new dfi, it just wants to be annoying

 

it can go from press it on and it does not work, turn off then on again and it does, to having to turn on and off 15-20 times for the video to kick in.. bloomin annoying i can tell you, and not really that good for the sys either..

 

this happens weather i overclock or use the standard settings from clearing cmos

 

Anyone know how to help me?? is there a fix? is this a known problem?

 

and yes i have changed it to display pci express first

 

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease help as i am so annoyed and i really do like this new setup, it rocks playing COD2 all maxed out (when i can get the display to darn kick in)

 

my PSU has the 24 and 8 pin connected, it had them on there so i used em, and the GTX is hooked up via a simple 4 pin molex to 6 pin pci-ex that came with the card, thats plugged into the special vga cables that come with the psu..

 

 

Anyone think the card isnt getting enuff juice or something?? there is a extra floppy connector next to the pci slot i could plug some power in but it says thats only for 2 cards in SLI

 

on this time of turning my pc on (only took 3 times to get video to work), the video light on the mb diagnostic led's went out when it posted, i am now writing away with all lights out (which is what it should be) but i know if i were to reboot or turn off or change a bios setting then i would have the same effort to get it back on again.. HEEELP!

 

EDIT:

 

OK i plugged the pci-x power supply in (the one for sli) it didnt make any difference but i did notice something..

 

if the pc is powered off (shutdown but mains plug is still on and psu switch is still on so mb standby light is still on) when i press power button i get no video, i hold the button in for 4 secs and pc goes off, now if i let it fully wind down all fans stop (say 10 seconds after its gone off) when i turn back on i still get no video, but - if i press the power button for 4 secs and when it turns of i immediatly turn it back on i get video and pc works great... trouble is that doesnt help reboots or bios changes, as i still get no video when i do that..

 

now if the pc is on and just rebooted how could it be a power problem? cos the sys is running and only rebooting but when i have the pc off and switch on again real quick it works.... wierd...

 

looks like im gonna have to completly strip it all down to the bench.... see if that makes any difference... but first ill unplug all my fans, unneeded hdd's etc to see if its anything to do with power..

 

 

my first dfi board and tbh its not goin too well... ill check the grfx card again in my m8's pc just to make sure, but it worked last time and he's only got a standard no frills 420 watt psu..

 

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[Dudeygeezer]

to clarify:

 

the powerstream 470 comes with a 24 pin 8 pin 4 pin, the 24 and 8 pin ones are connected

 

there are two specialised vga cables that are wrapped in some carbon effect wrapping that come with the psu, both of them are plugged into the Y splitter with the 6 pin pci-x bit going into the back of the graphix card

 

there is a floppy type connector near the first pci-x slot (where my gtx is) so i have plugged that in too..

 

When i boot the diagnotics lights go out appart from the vga.. now the only way to get my video to work is to press the off button for 4 secs (thats just how its set in bios) and then immediatly after it starts to wind all the fans down, so without giving it a chance to fully wind down - i have to press the onbutton again and it boots, all lights go out except the vga one BUT the video starts working, once past bios screen and starting to load windows the video diagnostic light then goes out..

 

My stand by light which is situated under my grfx card is always on.. unless i pull the plug from the psu...

 

all my rails have much more to give, in bios (so before boot) they all read 12.09 5.07 and 3.36, when i get into windows smartguardian reports them as 12.07 5.06 abd 3.34.... i ran prime and they didnt budge a bit, well the 12v one went from 12.07 to 12.06 and back a few times..

 

I AM STUCK.. Ditch the psu??

[red930]

I'm going to guess that PSU could be the cause, it's probably straining a bit with the load you have on it now and the GPU might not have enough juice to start. Try swapping it with a different PSU and see what happens. If you need to use an adapter for PCI-E power you should really upgrade anyways.

 

By the way, plug in all power plugs in any DFI board for sure, can make all the difference. (noticed that i didn't in this case, but its always a good move)

[boatasiaus]

To confirm its a lack of PSU power, I would unplug all "extra" (hard drives, CD/DVD, etc) hardware, and then see if the problem still occurs. If it boots ok, add back one item at a time. When it fails, unplug the last pc of hardware to confirm.

 

You may also want to do this out of case to ensure you are not having a minor short,

 

Good Luck

[Dudeygeezer]

To confirm its a lack of PSU power, I would unplug all "extra" (hard drives, CD/DVD, etc) hardware, and then see if the problem still occurs. If it boots ok, add back one item at a time. When it fails, unplug the last pc of hardware to confirm.

 

You may also want to do this out of case to ensure you are not having a minor short,

 

Good Luck

 

 

thanks for the reply, i have actually tried that, stripped it all down and it makes no difference if im just booting with 1 stick of mem video cpu cpu fan keyboard and mouse..

 

i tried the gtx in a freinds pc today and it goes first time.. he does only have a 420w standard one that came with his sys.. maybe i should try another psu but the only one i do have is very outdated..

 

oh i unplugged the 6 pin pci-ex cable that has the 2 4 pin molex plugged in from the grfx card and the floppy type connector near the pci-ex slot and tried to boot

it did exactly the same thing, now that was even more weird to me cos i expected it not to work at all, like the ati cards say your gfx card sower supply is not plugged in, this didnt say anything like that, just behaved exactly the same... no video till i quickly hit on button again and the video poped up.. works fine in windows too with only the pci ex powering it...

 

what could this mean? is there a safe mode that the card uses and thats what im using when it does boot??

[RobW]

I just did a quick search and it looks like your psu has 33A on the 12V line.

 

That won't be the problem!

 

Unfortunately I've no idea - apart from removing the card and reinserting it making sure it's fully engaged.

[Dudeygeezer]

I just did a quick search and it looks like your psu has 33A on the 12V line.

 

That won't be the problem!

 

Unfortunately I've no idea - apart from removing the card and reinserting it making sure it's fully engaged.

 

so what is the minimum for the 12v line?

[RobW]

From Nvidia

 

NVIDIA SLI SYSTEM TYPE MINIMUM RECOMMENDED PCI EXPRESS POWER SUPPLY

High-End: GeForce 7800 GTX or

GeForce 6800 Ultra 500-550W, +12V @ 30A

Mid-Range: GeForce 6800 GT or 6800 420-480W, +12V @ 25A

Entry-Level: GeForce 6600 GT or 6600 350-420W, +12V @ 20A

[RobW]

Just to add that that is required for flat out running in a 3D application

 

I'm sure it would boot on much much less than that - you would just get the annoying nvidia sentinel message about not enough power and the performance has been reduced.

[hmf]

Some other things to try:

Changing vid cable to monitor

Try using another dongle if not using direct dvi connection

[Dudeygeezer]

thanks for the tips guys, i did try changing from one dvi port to the other, i have 2 dvi tft's here so i plugged em both in and tried to boot, its not the monitors or the cables its jsut the mb not detecting the video for some reason..

 

like i said the gfx card worked first time in a freinds pc with alot less power in his supply, i will try to borrow his pci-ex card to put in this dfi board to see if it still does it.. but thats gonna have to be tomorrow..

 

im thinking rma the gfx card and the board or selling it on ebay and buying something else.. what ya recon?

 

either that or buying a mental psu and hoping that thats gonna work... cash isnt really a problem, im quite happy to buy the best psu out there if itll make my damn video initialise..

 

on the side of my 470 ist does say 33A on the 12v line... this should be enough.. it comes with a native 24 pin, and 8 pin, the only thing it doesnt come with is pci express connectors as it has 2 specialised molex connectors on long wires, which i have both of them going into my card anyways.. using the Y splitter that came with the GTX

 

to annoyed right now.. will try again tomorrow, thanks for all your help so far guys.. i really appreciate it

[Dudeygeezer]

bump..

 

Anyone know if i should try a beta bios or just rma the mboard? - i wont go for another one, so do dfi only replace boards?? this is my first dfi board so i dont know the procedure, if anyone has any furher ideas then please feel free to tell me