Computer stopped booting up when gpu is connected.

krayzie · Mar 19, 2014

I figured I'd ask for some advice before I sent in my Sapphire HD 7970 OC for a RMA. I built my computer two years ago and it worked fine until recently. The monitor occasionally would give me dvi signal loss errors while in the middle of games / idling. I would have to do a hard shutdown and restart it to get the display to work again. Then about 2 or 3 weeks ago the signal loss came up and a hard shutdown no longer fixed the issue. I would turn on the computer, the fans would spin and the computer would shut down on its own and turn back on a few seconds later. Nothing ever came up on the monitor. It would repeat this process until I did a hard shutdown. I tried laying the computer on its side and I still had the same issue. It ended up booting once on its side but it loss the signal a few seconds after getting to my desktop. If I take the gpu out, the computer works perfectly fine. I’ve been using the system without a gpu for a week or so now.

I decided to try my gpu again yesterday to see if it would work and it worked perfectly fine while the system was laying on its side. When I moved the system back to its standing position, the system shut down. I put it back on its side and it worked again… I am not sure if I should just rma the card. It seems odd that the gpu is working again now when I couldn't get it to work a week ago. Thanks!

I ended up sending the card in and recieved my rma replacement yesterday. So far everything is working fine!

Gee Bee · Mar 19, 2014

How are the power connectors rigged from psu and are the plugs in good shape.

Shaun o · Mar 19, 2014

1.The card is not centered or lined up with the pci-e slot it is sat in.
The weight of the card is causing a make or break of the finger board of the card to the gold plated pins each side of the internal pins of the Pci-e slot.
The card needs to be anchored or re screwed to the case more level to the slot.

2. Use a rubber or eraser, and run it over the gold finger contacts of the grapgics card on both sides to eliminate any grease build up or foreign liquid or contacts building up on them that may cause a connection problem from the finger board to the pci-e slot of the mobo.

3. The power supply since it is two years old may be the culprit, failing with age on power distribution.

papablista · Mar 19, 2014

First I would try the card in another PC maybe a friend or family, if it works there I would check the PSU if it checks out good and If it works on it side check for a bad pci-e slot, when on it's side the weight of the card may be getting a connection then standing up it gets sag breaking connection, What MB are you using does it have 1 or 2 pci-e slots.

krayzie · Mar 19, 2014

Gee Bee :

What do you mean? I have 2 plugs from the psu going to my gpu. One plug has both the 6 pin and 2 pin plugged in. The other plug only has the 6 pin plugged in. I tried new plugs as well and that didn't do anything.

krayzie · Mar 19, 2014

Shaun o :

Do you think I need to get an anchor before I do the RMA? I had the card screwed in on one end but it is a pretty heavy card.

Gee Bee · Mar 19, 2014

ok, just checking, sounds good.

krayzie · Mar 19, 2014

papablista :

I have a GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3. It has 2 pci e slots. I tried both when I did the test last week and neither worked. For whatever reason it's working now. The problem with trying it on another pc is I haven't found one with a sufficient psu. Will a 350W psu work with an hd 7970?

I don't understand is why the side test didn't work last week but it's working this week? I will try the side thing again when I get home. Maybe I can tie the end of my card with some fishing string to support it..

Gee Bee · Mar 19, 2014

Hmm..gets interesting now.loi

papablista · Mar 19, 2014

That card needs at min. a 500 watt PSU, can you test a different card in your PC?

papablista · Mar 19, 2014

If your card is reacting the same in both slots then it has to be the card or the PSU, there is little chance that both slots are damaged,You could try and use a molex to pci-e adapter(s) and see if it is the power lines coming from your psu.

Gee Bee · Mar 19, 2014

yes, if the wires/connectors were faulty that is. Everything else including the 4 pin molex are on the same 12v rail as the gpu connectors.

krayzie · Mar 19, 2014

papablista :

I can test a really crappy pci-e card which won't really test my psu.

krayzie · Mar 19, 2014

papablista :

I have tried different power cords / outlets on the psu. So basically it sounds like I need to find another computer with a decent psu to test my card before I send it in.

papablista · Mar 19, 2014

Does the crappy card have a power hook up or does it run off the pci-e slot. You may be able to unplug anything not needed , extra hard drives, optical drive, card reader, memory just reduce the load as much as possible, but thats iffy, it would be nicest if you could just find a PC to run your card in.You may be able to quickly test it on a 350 watt psu if you reduce the load on said PC. ! 500 watt is "recommended"

krayzie · Mar 19, 2014

I don't remember about the crappy card. I will have to look in that computer again. I don't recall it having a power plug as it was the size of one of those old ethernet PCI cards.

I ended up sending it in for rma and got my replacement today. So far everything is fine!

Thanks for the help!

papablista · Mar 19, 2014

probably wont be worth your effort then !

Computer stopped booting up when gpu is connected.

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