Flashing 5770 Bios...low fps

[nocturnalg]

First issue I have is with the Bus Interface. It seems like my graphics card is only running at partial capacity.

Second when trying to update the bios from a01 to a09. It updates and flashes to 100%. I reboot and it's as if the update never occured as I'm still in a01.

I'm using a dell computer and pretty confused as to what I should do.

I'm getting low fps which what sparked me to investigate.

[erocker]

Everything looks normal in GPU-Z. It very well could not be your graphics card that is causing the issue.

[nocturnalg]

I will investigate further and beyond the GPU but I suspected the card runing at PCI-Express x1 v2.0 would be a problem.

Thanks for the speedy response, erocker

[erocker]

Oh! Well that I didn't notice. Has it always been this way? Did you have a previous card in there that read more lanes?

[nocturnalg]

I just purchased this computer yesterday. So yes it's always been this way. The ATI 5770 is the only graphics card that's ever been in there.

[unclewebb]

I had a board that used to randomly do this and when the PCI-E link width drops down to x1, the frames per second will go down the toilet.

Try rebooting it a few times and see if it snaps back to x16.

[nocturnalg]

Sadly rebooting about 20 times throughout the day, uninstalling & reinstalling drives and various updates have done nothing to change this

[brandonwh64]

I would take the computer back to were you got it and build a decent one for the same price.

[ctrain]

see if you have multiple pci-e slots. if you do, move the card to the other one.

my old dfi board would only run in 2x if you didn't use the top most one.

[slyfox2151]

remove the card out of the slot, blow off any dust and dirt.

reinstall the card firmly into the slot and bootup. should be fixed.

[nocturnalg]

Originally Posted by brandonwh64

I would take the computer back to were you got it and build a decent one for the same price.

While I'm sure I'm capable of reading up and learning how to build a decent computer. The 12 month no interest deal I received on this desktop is the reason I purchased it. I couldn't afford to pay each part upfront or with interest. It's cheaper in the long run but for me I can't afford it in the short run without making a more affordable but weaker system.



As far as the problem........

I reinstalled the gigabyte mobo drivers and reset the bios (immediately afterfailing to over clock the PCI Express by 15mhz)

This brought me to PCI-E x 8...where I'm currently at.

My FPS problems have disappeared and I'm fine with x8.


Though if I can find a way to get up to x16 i'll certainly do so.
I proceeded to clean for dust and reseat but it didn't change.


Reading the inside I see:
"P16 & 17 connectors are not active on systems using 525w psu"
^I assume since I'm using 525w psu, this means x8 is the best I can hope for unless I'm mistaken


anyway +1thanks to those who replied

[animal007uk]

If pc is running win7 (might be same for vista) go into windows power options/advanced settings and see if PCI-E link state power managment is enabled, If it is try to disable it.

[unclewebb]

If it's a Gigabyte motherboard have you checked the Gigabyte website for an updated bios version. Usually problems like this can be sorted out with updated bios versions. x8 isn't bad but x16 is better. Sometimes overclocking the PCIE by a smaller amount like 1 to 5 MHz can help fix this issue too.

[nocturnalg]

After a restart the issue returned and I'm back to 1.0. What bullshit.

Overclocking by 3 mhz as unclewebb suggested above, fixed it. No clue whether restarting a few more times will cause it to return.


Edit: yep a restart again brought it back again.

[Laurijan]

So your bios has no option for changing the PCI-E bandwidth? What mobo do you have?

[Timonthy]

Whats your complete specs?

Check the 6-pin?

Could be a BIOS setting, run "load optimized settings" and see if it makes a difference.

[nocturnalg]

System Specification---7/20/2010 7:52:05 PM


Windows Microsoft Windows 7 Home Edition, Version 6.1.7600

Internet Explorer 8.0.7600.16385

Memory (RAM) 4024 MB

CPU Info Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 650 @ 3.20GHz

CPU Speed 3207.7 MHz

Sound Card Speakers (Realtek High Definiti

Display Adapters ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series | ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series | ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series | RDPDD Chained DD | RDP Encoder Mirror Driver | RDP Reflector Display Driver

Monitors 1x; Generic PnP Monitor |

Screen Resolution 1280 X 1024 - 32 bit

Network Network Present

Network Adapters Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller

CD / DVD Drives D: PLDS DVD+-RW DH-24AAS

COM Ports NOT Present

LPT Ports NOT Present

Mouse 7 Button Wheel Mouse Present

Hard Disks C: 457.5GB

Hard Disks - Free C: 384.5GB

USB Controllers 2 host controllers.

Firewire (1394) 1 host controllers.

PCMCIA (Laptops) Not Installed

Manufacturer Alienware

Product Make Aurora-R2

AC Power Status OnLine

BIOS Info AT/AT COMPATIBLE | 03/12/10 | ALWARE - 20100312
DMI BIOS
vendor Alienware
version A01
date 03/12/2010

DMI System Information
manufacturer Alienware
product Aurora-R2
version 00
serial 1YMRLM1
UUID 44454C4C-5900104D-8052B1C0-4F4C4D31

DMI Baseboard
vendor Alienware
model 0RV30W
revision A00
serial ..CN697020421963.

DMI System Enclosure
manufacturer Alienware
chassis type Desktop
chassis serial 1YMRLM1

DMI Processor
manufacturer Intel
model Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 650 @ 3.20GHz
clock speed 3200.0 MHz
FSB speed 133.0 MHz
multiplier 24.0x

DMI Extension Slot
designation PCIE1
type A5
populated yes

DMI Extension Slot
designation PCIE2
type A5
populated no

DMI Extension Slot
designation PCIE3
type A5
populated no

DMI Extension Slot
designation PCIE4
type A5
populated no

DMI OEM Strings
string[0] www.dell.com

DMI Physical Memory Array
location Motherboard
usage System Memory
correction None
max capacity 16384 MBytes
max# of devices 4

DMI Memory Device
designation DIMM0
format DIMM
type unknown
total width 64 bits
data width 64 bits
size 2048 MBytes

DMI Memory Device
designation DIMM1
format DIMM
type unknown

DMI Memory Device
designation DIMM2
format DIMM
type unknown
total width 64 bits
data width 64 bits
size 2048 MBytes

DMI Memory Device
designation DIMM3
format DIMM
type unknown


Time Zone Eastern Standard Time

Battery No Battery

Motherboard Alienware 0RV30W

Modem Not detected


System Spec
http://www.alexnolan.net

Originally Posted by Laurijan

So your bios has no option for changing the PCI-E bandwidth? What mobo do you have?

Originally Posted by Timonthy

Whats your complete specs?

Check the 6-pin?

Could be a BIOS setting, run "load optimized settings" and see if it makes a difference.

No option for either of those things. Closest thing to it is load defaults (which it claims is optimized) but the problem is there 100% of the time under default.

[Timonthy]

Thats no Dell, thats an Alienware. XD

You should have 2 PCIe X16 and 2 PCeX1 slots slots, which one is it in?
If its not, move it to the top slot and take out all other expansion cards.

BTW, why cant you check the 6-pin? By 5-pin I mean the PCIe power connector for the card.

[nocturnalg]

Originally Posted by Timonthy

You should have 2 PCIe X16 and 2 PCeX1 slots slots, which one is it in?
If its not, move it to the top slot and take out all other expansion cards.

BTW, why cant you check the 6-pin? By 5-pin I mean the PCIe power connector for the card.

It is in the top slot the bottom two are empty.

Thats no Dell, thats an Alienware. XD

Well I did buy it through dell, since they now own Alienware.....however this is where the problem lies. I kept trying to update through Dell's driver and support. Their online program insisted my computer model (based on the serial number on the back) needed to download their bios update version a09.

However it wasn't compatible with my processor and wouldn't update even after it claimed the flash successful @100% & reboot. Ultimately after looking through the specs I posted, I managed to find a bios driver, different from the one dell wanted me to install.


It was AO3 designed for i5 655k and after downloading it and installing it, I was greeted with a new boot screen and was successfully able to update the bios. And what do you know...



After multiple restarts it seems stable at x16 2.0 with default bios settings no OC. I checked for updates again and dell is still insistent that I should download the aforementioned driver. But I no longer trust their judgment so I'm fine with this.

[Timonthy]

So it was a BIOS error after all.
A09 might be it was designed for X58 boards, and somehow got messed up.

But if everything is working fine now, congrats.