Graphics card troubleshooting

[Neto]

I wasn't able to complete all of my testing procedures before I returned home for lunch, but I suspect that it doesn't work with motherboards that don't have the 8 wire ATX 12v power connectors. Seems odd, and as I said, I didn't complete all testing procedures. (It could also be the BIOS version, as previously suggested.)

But at any rate, the GPU is not bad. It works OK on an MSI B460M Pro-VDH MB. The odd part, however, is that while I had it connected to the monitor via HDMI (digital), the only driver installation choice that came up was for VGA.

[Neto]

I have one more motherboard I can test with that has the 2x4 ATX 12v connectors.

re: BIOS update:
I installed the latest BIOS version on an MSI H97M-G43 board, and it doesn't get as far as the BIOS, and the Number Lock key never lights up. There are no troubleshooting LED "signals", either. After I had installed the drivers on the MSI B460M Pro-VDH board, I connected the same HDD to the H97M board, and it acts exactly the same - as if the monitor cable is not connected at all. (I had thought that might be a way around it, if it would open after it was all installed.) This GPU is not a really recent model, either. They are just so terribly scarce right now that this was all I could get. (And at a very high price, compared to it's suggested retail.)

As I understand it, I thought that the 2nd 4 ATX 12v connectors were more of a backup, or safety measure. Is it possible that this is the reason for what I am seeing here?

[Haystack]

I have one more motherboard I can test with that has the 2x4 ATX 12v connectors.

re: BIOS update:
I installed the latest BIOS version on an MSI H97M-G43 board, and it doesn't get as far as the BIOS, and the Number Lock key never lights up. There are no troubleshooting LED "signals", either. After I had installed the drivers on the MSI B460M Pro-VDH board, I connected the same HDD to the H97M board, and it acts exactly the same - as if the monitor cable is not connected at all. (I had thought that might be a way around it, if it would open after it was all installed.) This GPU is not a really recent model, either. They are just so terribly scarce right now that this was all I could get. (And at a very high price, compared to it's suggested retail.)

As I understand it, I thought that the 2nd 4 ATX 12v connectors were more of a backup, or safety measure. Is it possible that this is the reason for what I am seeing here?

Here's the requirements from the GTX 1070 user guide. Does the system have at least 8gb of ram?

Minimum System Requirements
> Motherboard
PCI Express® or PCI Express 3.0-compliant motherboard with one dualwidth x16 graphics slot.
> System Power Supply
Minimum 500 W or greater system power supply with one 8-pin PCI Express
supplementary power connectors.
> Operating System
• Microsoft Windows 10, 32-bit or 64-bit
• Microsoft Windows 8.1, 32-bit or 64-bit
• Microsoft Windows 7, 32-bit or 64-bit
• Linux, 32-bit or 64-bit
• FreeBSD x86
> System Memory
8 GB system memory (16 GB recommended)
> Internet connection for driver installation
> 350 MB of available hard disk space

[Neto]

I have one more motherboard I can test with that has the 2x4 ATX 12v connectors.

re: BIOS update:
I installed the latest BIOS version on an MSI H97M-G43 board, and it doesn't get as far as the BIOS, and the Number Lock key never lights up. There are no troubleshooting LED "signals", either. After I had installed the drivers on the MSI B460M Pro-VDH board, I connected the same HDD to the H97M board, and it acts exactly the same - as if the monitor cable is not connected at all. (I had thought that might be a way around it, if it would open after it was all installed.) This GPU is not a really recent model, either. They are just so terribly scarce right now that this was all I could get. (And at a very high price, compared to it's suggested retail.)

As I understand it, I thought that the 2nd 4 ATX 12v connectors were more of a backup, or safety measure. Is it possible that this is the reason for what I am seeing here?

Here's the requirements from the GTX 1070 user guide. Does the system have at least 8gb of ram?

Minimum System Requirements
> Motherboard
PCI Express® or PCI Express 3.0-compliant motherboard with one dualwidth x16 graphics slot.
> System Power Supply
Minimum 500 W or greater system power supply with one 8-pin PCI Express
supplementary power connectors.
> Operating System
• Microsoft Windows 10, 32-bit or 64-bit
• Microsoft Windows 8.1, 32-bit or 64-bit
• Microsoft Windows 7, 32-bit or 64-bit
• Linux, 32-bit or 64-bit
• FreeBSD x86
> System Memory
8 GB system memory (16 GB recommended)
> Internet connection for driver installation
> 350 MB of available hard disk space

Yes. All of that, but not the 2x4 ATX 12v power connectors (only a single 1x4).

I tested earlier today on an MSI B250M Pro-VDH, which has the second 12v ATX power terminal. It works on there. I know that it isn't in the list, and it doesn't really make sense to me, but what can I say - it works on that one, and that is the only difference I can see between this board (and also the MSI B460M Pro-VDH) and the other boards where it didn't work. (I do also have a Gigabyte H97M G43 - I think I got that last part correct - that I could test on as well, but I would have to pull a CPU off of another system in order to do that, as it's just a bare board.)

So that should be added to the minimum requirements, I guess.

Thanks for all of the suggestions and ideas, & to everyone else who chimed in. Much appreciated.

[Pelerin]

Something that occurred to me: when I was looking at building a system, I discovered that on some motherboards, not all the PCIe slots are usable at once. The manufacturer might double up the input/output lanes so you can use the PCIe slot OR another component. The processor also might have limited lanes available. I think it was that I couldn’t use an M.2 slot and one of the PCIe slots together, if I remember. It would have been a cheaper, compact motherboard.

It’s been a little while and I didn’t end up going in that direction, so I don’t know how that actually “looks” in practice and my memory of the details is fuzzy, but it might be something to check out.

[Neto]

Something that occurred to me: when I was looking at building a system, I discovered that on some motherboards, not all the PCIe slots are usable at once. The manufacturer might double up the input/output lanes so you can use the PCIe slot OR another component. The processor also might have limited lanes available. I think it was that I couldn’t use an M.2 slot and one of the PCIe slots together, if I remember. It would have been a cheaper, compact motherboard.

It’s been a little while and I didn’t end up going in that direction, so I don’t know how that actually “looks” in practice and my memory of the details is fuzzy, but it might be something to check out.

I haven't tested this, but there is a note about something like that with the board I am currently using for the systems I build. It is the MSI B460M Pro-VDH wifi, and it has two M.2 slots. The note says that the wifi is in or on (I cannot recall the exact language) one of the M.2 slots. But it is physically empty. So it is probably a deal similar to what you mentioned, that if the wifi is on, it doesn't allow us of that M.2 slot. But these boards I've been testing with have nothing in any of the expansion slots. And the board the customer has, where I needed to install this graphics card, only has a single PCI-E 3.0 slot.

That board is an LGA 1150 CPU socket, and I think I can get an MSI B250M Pro-VDH used from Ebay that will allow all of the other components to be swapped onto the B250. (It would cost more to pay the restocking fee from the graphics card supplier. I think I would have to pay, because there is nothing wrong with the GPU.)

[Haystack]

Which CPU is in the system for the client? Looking at the specs of the MSI B150M ECO I can see why the GTX 1070 wasn't motivated to work. While the 1070 might be considered old now, it's still a very high tier graphics card. That motherboard is meant for very simple tasks such as basic web browsing/email while being very eco efficient. What is the clients needs for the computer? It might be advised to look into a newer mid to high range cpu/motherboard to avoid bottlenecks.

[Neto]

Which CPU is in the system for the client? Looking at the specs of the MSI B150M ECO I can see why the GTX 1070 wasn't motivated to work. While the 1070 might be considered old now, it's still a very high tier graphics card. That motherboard is meant for very simple tasks such as basic web browsing/email while being very eco efficient. What is the clients needs for the computer? It might be advised to look into a newer mid to high range cpu/motherboard to avoid bottlenecks.

When I built the system for them, it was to be used mainly for accounting (QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 2016), and 2D drawing (QCAD). Since then the company purchased a 5-axis router, and this employee does most of the drawing. (They build parts for staircases.) The CAD program is out of France or Italy, called Rhino. I suggested that they swap some systems around, to give him one of their newer, faster ones, but they don't want to do that, for other valid reasons.
These are 'word processors' I build, and because of the requirements for "a unique non-computer appearance", they are housed in a case I designed myself, and because of the very modest computing power needs at that time (over 10 years ago), I chose to use the Micro-ATX boards. So the really high-end stuff won't fit in the word processor case. The CPU is an i3 3.6 or 3.7 GHz dual core, 4 thread. They do have a couple of i7 systems, but like I said, they didn't go for my idea to swap them around.
We'll see how it performs once the card is installed. (I did purchase a used MSI B250M Pro-VDH board to swap w/ the B150 that's in there now. So there is no necessity to replace the CPU & RAM at this time. And I cannot get parts in for my current model, a 400 series chipset LGA 1200 socket system because of the chip shortage. And when the suppliers DO have parts available, they limit each customer to only 2, or even just 1. Components I used to buy by the case. That's the only reason I bought this older GPU - because my normal options were all 'out of stock'. And even then it ran around twice it's manufacturer suggested retail.)

[Haystack]

Any uypdates Neto?