Motherboard only detects certain video cards?

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ba831

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Oct 2, 2013
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Hello all, I am having an unusual problem with my new build. I have two new video cards i want to setup sli with.
System components:
Motherboard - Asrock z77 Extreme 4
Cpu - Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz
HS - Cooler Master Hyper 212Plus
SSD - Samsung 840 250gb
Hdd - Seagate 1tb 7200rpm 64mb
Gpu - 2x Evga Geoforce Gtx660sc
Ram - 8gb(2x4) Corsair Vengeance Lp DDR3 1600
Case - CM Storm Scout 2 Advanced
Psu - Ocz Fatality 750w 80Plus Bronze Modular
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium

The problem is both cards wont show up in the bios and windows won't recognize either. With either card inserted and the pci 6pin power connected from psu, the fan on the card just spins at full power, nothing else. No detection of the card anywhere.

This is a clean install of windows 7 so there are no previous drivers to cause conflict. Trouble shooting i have done so far:
-I have tried both cards separately in each of the pcie slots with the same result.
-Tried pre-installing graphics drivers but install detects no matching hardware and exits.
-Placed cards in old working system with same results.
-Made sure pcie was set to primary display in bios.
-Tried all available pcie power plugs available on my power supply.
-Cleared cmos with no cards inserted and re-seated.

-One interesting result, I tried the old Radeon Hd3870 512mb from my other system and it was recognized in both slots..

So now i'm wondering how bad my luck is, if it is both the GPU's or the PS that is faulty..?

Any input would be greatly appreciated! I am out of solutions on determining the problem. Thank you
 
Solution
rolli59
Well it might have been a problem with the power circuitry on the original board's PCIe lanes shorting out the cards. The cards still receive 75 watts of power through the slot. PSU turning on for a split second indicates that its short protection kicked in so yes most likely the board killed the cards.

Back to your posting it is important when problem solving that we get as much info as possible. Your last post draws up accurate picture of what was going on, the first post all we see is a new build and the unbelievable happens 2 cards both bad in the same shipment.
You would have gotten better feedback if the problem had been properly laid down in the first post, thanks for correcting it.
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ba831

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Oct 2, 2013
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Thanks for the response, I have verified that the bios version is the most current available P2.90 I have also tried both cards in my older system with the same result, no detection only fans spin. The old system has an antec 500w psu.
 
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ba831

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Oct 2, 2013
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Thank you, I will look into this. Would voltages problems allow a card with less power draw(the radeon hd3870) to work but a newer card(evga gtx660) to not work?
 
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lonewolf7

lonewolf7

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May 6, 2013
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Yes its a bit strange that both the cards are faulty, I also agree with "rolli59", contact vendor. And sometime a BIOS tweak can make wonder. But I don't know what to suggest you. Some MB's have a "Quick load BIOS" option or something like that, some people had success with turning that feature off. You can try that. Good luck.
 
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ba831

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Oct 2, 2013
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Thanks, I did contact the vendor and after trouble shooting they said as far as they can tell the psu must have shorted at some point and fried the cards. They are shipping replacements. I will update once they arrive.
I'm worried about the same thing happening to the new cards. Any ideas on how it could've happened the first time? Are there any methods to test the psu that members would recommend over others? The pc runs fine and all other components are continuing to run correctly, aside from the possible issues with the gpu's.
 
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rolli59

rolli59

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Oct 27, 2007
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Why are they blaming it on the PSU? It works with the HD3870 no problem, if it shorted it would have toasted it as well. On top of that the PSU has internal protection so it should shut down in case of a short.
 
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ba831

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Oct 2, 2013
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Looking back over the thread I just realized i didn't properly explain the situation. The entire build was working fine for about 3 weeks initially. It was when I bought the new card to setup sli when I started experiencing problems.

When i installed the new card in the second pcie slot windows would not detect it. I then took out the known working card in the first slot and tried the new card in its place. When i booted up windows recognized it and booted fine. At this point both cards are working so I suspected the 2nd pcie slot is bad.

I tried one last time to boot with both cards installed and at this point the pc wont power on for more than a split second at a time. There were no pops or smoke so i didn't think anything could have shorted. So I remove both cards and same result, power on for a split second then off. I breadboarded the mobo and couldn't get a post with just the cpu, hsf and/or ram so I assumed the board had died somehow. All caps still seemed flat and I couldn't see scorching anywhere.

I rma'd the board and this thread is where I currently am. Setup and windows install went fine but when it came time to install the first card the current problems began. Hopefully this info may help determine the issue.

I'm wondering if when the last mobo failed it took the gpu's with it..somehow? Or if there is indeed some problem with the psu. Maybe the HD3870 doesn't draw enough power to cause the issue with the psu?
 
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rolli59

rolli59

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Oct 27, 2007
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Well it might have been a problem with the power circuitry on the original board's PCIe lanes shorting out the cards. The cards still receive 75 watts of power through the slot. PSU turning on for a split second indicates that its short protection kicked in so yes most likely the board killed the cards.

Back to your posting it is important when problem solving that we get as much info as possible. Your last post draws up accurate picture of what was going on, the first post all we see is a new build and the unbelievable happens 2 cards both bad in the same shipment.
You would have gotten better feedback if the problem had been properly laid down in the first post, thanks for correcting it.
 
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Solution
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ba831

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Oct 2, 2013
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Thank you, and I agree. Unfortunately at the time of the original post my brain was fried from searching and troubleshooting for hours and I didn't think of the initial problems I had with the first board. My first four builds went off without a hitch, other than a bad set of ram modules, so the problems with my new one had me a bit flustered.

I think at this point it's safe to name the first board as the culprit for the dead cards. Fingers crossed the new cards install without any further complications.
 
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ba831

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Oct 2, 2013
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So, the replacement cards arrived today. Both installed without any problems and the rig is running great! Good results in game and with synthetic tests running the sli. Turns out it was the original board that was the culprit. Thanks all for the helpful input
 
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