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AMD6950 just returned from RMA, the PC stops in the boot screen..

autior

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Hi, some months ago (6 months... not the fastest RMA service actually) I sent my VGA (MSI 6950 2GB Twin Frozr III Oc Edition) to my reseller because I was having problem with it, and after being repaired today I just got it again, but looks like I can't boot the PC when the VGA is inside. This is what happen:
  • If I connect the monitor to the VGA, the monitor stay black without even reching the "Press F2 to setup" screen". The motherboard (Asrock Extreme 4 Gen3 Z68) show me the state b2, which is identified in the manual with: "Legacy Option ROM Initialization".
  • If I connect the monitor to the motherboard's VGA while the 6950 IS still connected, I got the same problem as before: screen stay black and state b2 on the motherboard.
  • If I connect the monitor to the motherboard's VGA while the 6950 ISN'T connected in the PCI-E, the PC runs as always did until now.
What should I do? I double checked the two 6-pin connectors on the VGA, looks everything ok to me, now I'll try to update the BIOS..

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks. :)
 
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Might not need to update the BIOS so much as just reset the CMOS. Should be a jumped on the motherboard, or if you can get to the battery, just pull that, make sure the PC is actually unplugged if you do that. Can get some goofy happenings if you leave it plugged in.
 

autior

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Video Card(s) MSI 6950 2GB Twin Frozr 3 OC Edition
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Might not need to update the BIOS so much as just reset the CMOS. Should be a jumped on the motherboard, or if you can get to the battery, just pull that, make sure the PC is actually unplugged if you do that. Can get some goofy happenings if you leave it plugged in.

I have a "Reset CMOS" button on my PC, I pushed it but nothing different happened (the only thing I noticed was I had to set again the HDD from IDE to AHCI to make Windows 7 boot. Anyway I just flashed the latest BIOS, but the problem is still there.
 
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Benchmark Scores Faster than yours... I'd bet on it. :)
Try the card on another PC. If it doesnt work then, ask for a refund on the card. The repair failed likely.
 

autior

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Display(s) Philips 17"
Case Corsair 650D
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Power Supply Thermaltake Toughpower XT 775W
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Try the card on another PC. If it doesnt work then, ask for a refund on the card. The repair failed likely.

I can't try it on another PC unfortunately, but until now I tried to update the BIOS, use the 2nd PCI-e slot and reset the CMOS, but nothing have worked.

It's possible to receive a not working VGA after the RMA procedure?
 
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do what you can on getting to try that card on another pc, because it will be hard to diagnose the problem. at least if it doesn't work get a refund and buy a better card.
 
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You don't need a bios update for a graphics card.

  • Try another slot.
  • Make sure the proper slot is selected in bios
 

autior

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Video Card(s) MSI 6950 2GB Twin Frozr 3 OC Edition
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Display(s) Philips 17"
Case Corsair 650D
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Power Supply Thermaltake Toughpower XT 775W
Software Windows 7 x64 Home Edition
I just tried to use different cables to connect the VGA to the PSU, and to remove all the other connectors and reinserting them again, but yeah, still nothing...

do what you can on getting to try that card on another pc, because it will be hard to diagnose the problem. at least if it doesn't work get a refund and buy a better card.

I'll try, but all my friends have old desktop rig, so I should take my PSU with me anyway.

You don't need a bios update for a graphics card.

  • Try another slot.
  • Make sure the proper slot is selected in bios

I tried to use another slot with no success, and I can't reach the BIOS when the 6950 is connected to the PC (even if the monitor is connected to the internal VGA, it doesn't reache the BIOS, the screen stay black).

EDIT: initially, when I installed the card I forget to connect the power connectors and started the PC two times for 15sec each before seeing the disconnected power connectors on the VGA. Could this have damaged the VGA?
 
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remove the card, boot with only on board vga, go to bios and check if display option is set to PCI-E or something similar and make sure its set to PCI-E slot 1. Save bios if changed, shutdown PC, add the 6950, connect monitor and boot. See if this works.
 

ueutyi

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remove the card, try to start using onboard VGA,

if its still not working, try to reset BIOS, just pull the onboard battery out for 1 min, ur BIOS will be reset automaticlly
then try to connect the card
 

autior

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remove the card, boot with only on board vga, go to bios and check if display option is set to PCI-E or something similar and make sure its set to PCI-E slot 1. Save bios if changed, shutdown PC, add the 6950, connect monitor and boot. See if this works.

I just tried this, but looks like the BIOS was already set in that way.



remove the card, try to start using onboard VGA,

if its still not working, try to reset BIOS, just pull the onboard battery out for 1 min, ur BIOS will be reset automaticlly
then try to connect the card

With the onboard VGA and without the 6950 connected the PC run well, the problem come when I insert the 6950 in the PCI-e port: the PC starts, the fans of the VGA spins, but the screen remain just black, I doesn't even reach the BIOS screen (and it's not like that I can't see images on screen but the PC is booting the system, because tha state of the VGA stops to b2 very early, in a couple of seconds). And I tried to update BIOS and reset CMOS with no results.

Anyway I was thinking a thing but I don't if I can explain it well with my english, follow me: can I power the VGA with a PSU and run the motherboard and the rest of the rig that is mounting the VGA with another PSU? Like, setting two PC (PC1 and PC2) one near the other, connecting the VGA to PC2 but powering it with the PSU of PC1, then starting the two PC simultaneously. In this way I can use PC2 to test the VGA, even if it have a low power PSU. Can it work?

Because I have another PC with a poor PSU, and removing the PSU of my actual PC to mount it on the old one to test the VGA would require a BUNCH of time cause all the cables are well hidden and tied behind the backplate of the case. I'll need another bunch of time to put everything back as before, and in these days I haven't all this time to spare...
 
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Not sure if you can do use multiple power supply and power one board/machine.

Can you do the following:

Your screen goes blank, but does your hdd still spin/seek or does the hdd light keep blinking?

connect your vga start it up, let the hdd blinking stop wait for a minute or 2.

then power off the pc, remove the vga and use only onboard. boot into windows and go to event viewer and check what happened during the time your vga was used to boot.

my doubt is your vga is dead but windows might be booting up you are not seeing it.

also if you have another PCI-E slot try in that too.

Beware too many times you boot like this and shut off with out powering off properly will end up in a corrupted windows. Make sure you backup everything.

Any chance you are using PCI-E 6 pin converter plugs?

I think at this point you might have to check on another machine to rule out the possibility that your vga is dead.
 
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Unplug the pc remove its motherboard battery for half am hour not less and retry worked for me a few times I think because of corrupted bios settings.
 

autior

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Unplug the pc remove its motherboard battery for half am hour not less and retry worked for me a few times I think because of corrupted bios settings.

I already tried to reset the CMOS but nothing changed.

Not sure if you can do use multiple power supply and power one board/machine.

Can you do the following:

Your screen goes blank, but does your hdd still spin/seek or does the hdd light keep blinking?

connect your vga start it up, let the hdd blinking stop wait for a minute or 2.

then power off the pc, remove the vga and use only onboard. boot into windows and go to event viewer and check what happened during the time your vga was used to boot.

my doubt is your vga is dead but windows might be booting up you are not seeing it.

also if you have another PCI-E slot try in that too.

Beware too many times you boot like this and shut off with out powering off properly will end up in a corrupted windows. Make sure you backup everything.

Any chance you are using PCI-E 6 pin converter plugs?

I think at this point you might have to check on another machine to rule out the possibility that your vga is dead.

I tried that, run the PC for 2 minutes while there was the 6950 connected, then I removed the VGA and used the onboard to check Windows event viewer, but there are no reports referring the time I booted the PC with the 6950 inside. Anyway the stucked state of the motherboard and the fact that the HDD doesn't work (the light doesn't blink) are other 2 proofs that the PC just don't even reach the BIOS.

I'm not using PCI-e converter plugs (actually, I don't even know what they are, but I'm sure my 6-pin plugs are standard plugs - both of them that I tried).

This is a list of what I tried until now with no luck:
  • Tried to reset the CMOS (from what I know is the same thing that removing the battery).
  • Tried to update the BIOS to the latest version.
  • Tried to switch the BIOS on the VGA (is a dual BIOS card).
  • Tried either DVI connector behind the VGA.
  • Tried to connect the VGA on another PCI-e slot but nothing changed (also, I tried an old ATI x1650 on my motherboard to make sure it wasn't a PCI-e port problem, and the VGA boot to Windows with no problem).
  • Tried to change the cables that connects the VGA to the PSU.
  • Make sure that PCI-e was set as primary graphic adapter inside the BIOS.

Some other ideas? Only thinking about sending the VGA to RMA again make me feel bad. :)

(anyway thanks for the help until now, really appreciated)

EDIT: Anyway, yesterday the shop guy called me (FINALLY I CAN TALK TO THEM) and I explained him the problem, so he said that they should test the VGA, and if they found that is faulty they'll refund me.

Then, just after the call, I decided to test the VGA one last time before preparing the package, and what happen: the PC starts with the card inside. I was like :bang: so I toke a glass of water tring to think what could have happened (just nothing! I changed nothing!) and after a couple of minutes I saw many artifact on the login screen.. I changed the PCI-e slot, the VGA started again and artifact appeared. I did another test with the same PCI-e and this time the PC didn't arrived to boot screen (as it did until now with the VGA connected). I find out that now sometimes the VGA give me the problem I explained to you, and some other times the artifact thing... Anyway the courier has come today to take the VGA, let's see what will happen...

EDIT2: I finally got a full refund, the VGA was faulty. Thanks everyone for the help and support, we can close this.
 
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