Graphics card troubleshooting

[Neto]

I purchased a MSI GeForce GTX 1070 8GB GDDR5 GPU for a customer, and attempted to install it for them this morning. (Motherboard: MSI B150M ECO)

The CPU fan spins up, then stops. The monitor never loads anything. After I returned to my shop, I tested it on an MSI H97M G43 board. It does the same, then spins up the CPU fan a 2nd time and sits there spinning, but it never gets as far as the BIOS (at least the Number Lock LED never lights, and nothing appears on the screen at all.

Any ideas? Is the Graphics card bad? (Finding a GPU that meets the program requirements is like hunting for hens teeth, and this one now cost twice what it used to.)

All ideas appreciated. I don't want to be that guy who returns something that is working as it should, but I did the same as I usually do - install the card, connect the monitor to the card, then start up. Usually the next thing is to install the drivers, but obviously the system has to start in order to do that. I also attempted to install the drivers w/o the card installed, but it fails to find it, so it won't proceed.

[Ken]

No good ideas. If you had a graphics card from another computer that you could swap out that might help you with the troubleshooting.

[Pelerin]

If you got the same (or similar) results with two different motherboards, I’d say it’s probably the graphics card. I would try plugging the monitor into the integrated graphics port and see if there might be some kind of prompt you can’t see, but that’s a long (but easy) shot.

[Neto]

If you got the same (or similar) results with two different motherboards, I’d say it’s probably the graphics card. I would try plugging the monitor into the integrated graphics port and see if there might be some kind of prompt you can’t see, but that’s a long (but easy) shot.

My understanding (from both experience & from what I've read) is that when a graphics card is plugged in, it automatically shuts off the integrated (on board) graphics. Unless there is a way to turn this off in the BIOS. But with the GPU plugged in, I don't even get as far as BIOS.

(Unfortunately I do not have another GPU to test this - to verify one way or the other.)

[Haystack]

What's the wattage on the power supply?

[Neto]

What's the wattage on the power supply?

650. I upgraded their system from an Antec 380 watt PSU to the Antec VP650 Plus. (But my later test in my own shop was done with a 380 Antec, as I do not have another 650 in stock. But I did receive an order of the Antec NeoEco NE550 Plus 550w this evening, and could try again with that tomorrow. I also have an old GPU my son said was acting up for him, an EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX. But that only has 512 MB RAM. The one I am testing has 8 GB RAM. But the old one is at least a PCI-E slot GPU - the other older ones he loaned me are even more ancient.)

[Haystack]

What's the wattage on the power supply?

650. I upgraded their system from an Antec 380 watt PSU to the Antec VP650 Plus. (But my later test in my own shop was done with a 380 Antec, as I do not have another 650 in stock. But I did receive an order of the Antec NeoEco NE550 Plus 550w this evening, and could try again with that tomorrow. I also have an old GPU my son said was acting up for him, an EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX. But that only has 512 MB RAM. The one I am testing has 8 GB RAM. But the old one is at least a PCI-E slot GPU - the other older ones he loaned me are even more ancient.)

I would try resetting the cmos and see if that does anything. Did this system have a graphics card before or was it using onboard graphics? Is the video cable plugged into the card and not the motherboard? What debug lights flash on the motherboard? Are the bios updated? Just throwing out everything I can think of at the moment.

[Neto]

What's the wattage on the power supply?

650. I upgraded their system from an Antec 380 watt PSU to the Antec VP650 Plus. (But my later test in my own shop was done with a 380 Antec, as I do not have another 650 in stock. But I did receive an order of the Antec NeoEco NE550 Plus 550w this evening, and could try again with that tomorrow. I also have an old GPU my son said was acting up for him, an EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX. But that only has 512 MB RAM. The one I am testing has 8 GB RAM. But the old one is at least a PCI-E slot GPU - the other older ones he loaned me are even more ancient.)

I would try resetting the cmos and see if that does anything. Did this system have a graphics card before or was it using onboard graphics? Is the video cable plugged into the card and not the motherboard? What debug lights flash on the motherboard? Are the bios updated? Just throwing out everything I can think of at the moment.

It was using the on-board graphics. HDMI cable plugged into the graphics card during testing.
Had it closed back up, so didn't see the debug lights. (This is a word processor, and the way it is designed the LEDs aren't easily visible even with it open.)
I forgot to check the BIOS version, but it is not the latest. I later looked through the notes on the different BIOS updates, and I didn't see anything that looked especially like it was about this issue. I will download the latest, but maybe will do that on my shop test system first. Then if that fails, then I will assume it is something else. Sound like a good plan?

[ken_sylvania]

Power cable from PSU to graphics card is connected?

[Neto]

Power cable from PSU to graphics card is connected?

Yes. This is part of the reason (other than wattage) I felt it necessary to upgrade the PSU from 380 to 650 - the Antec 380 PSU doesn't have the full 8 connectors on the auxiliary PCI-E power cable. Of course I cannot say that the fact that the GPU fan spins up is an indication that this connection is coming through, because it probably also gets power through the PCI-E slot on the MB. And the PSU was new, so I cannot guarantee that it is itself fully functional. (I hadn't thought of that before, but the 2nd test of the GPU on a different MB and a different PSU would seem to indicate that this is not the issue. However, I did the 2nd test in my shop with an Antec 380 PSU, as I did not have another 650 in stock.)