PNY GTX285 won't work

I decided last month to build a computer. My motherboard is an Intel DP45SG. It has 8gb's of Corsair DDR3 memory. I bought a PNY GTX285 and can't get it to work. After that, I bought a XFX4850 and can't get it to work either. I have an Antec Earthwatts 750 so I don't think power is the issue. I've tried both cards in both of the slots. I went and picked up a card that doesn't need extra power in addition to the rail that it's hooked in to (VisionTek HD2600) and it works fine. The other two cards have similar issues. They both will have video so that I can see video for the Bios and for the loading screen of Windows screen and then it either just says no signal after that or I get a flash of a BSOD that's so fast that I can't read it and then reboots on it's own and goes through the cycle over and over until I turn it off.

Please help. I want to use it for gaming and want my nice video cards to work. I've had them for too long to return them so I just need to get them working. I can't believe that both cards are broken and I know both slots work since the HD2600 works fine.


I forgot to mention that I have a 24" View Sonic screen and I have a Core 2 Quad Q8200 CPU. I want to make it clear that I've had both booted in to Windows at times but I can't get either to boot consistently.

If the lessor card that needs no power connect works, Id check my power cables to the gpu from the psu

Im not familiar with your psu, but if those 6 and 8 pins are modular, reseat them at the psu also

Now that I think about it, the GTX285 worked until I installed the drivers off the website. Does that make any sense?

You are all so helpful. Thanks.

I used the 12V4 plug and was able to get the XFX4850 to get in to Windows. I'm having a hard time getting any drivers installed though. The disc won't let me install drivers. It says I have to get them online. When I go online to their website, it says the card is already registered and won't let me download the drivers.

The mobo needs a 4 pin power connector for the cpu. It also has a 4 pin molex connector that gives added power to the pcie slots. As I recall, that needs psu power also.

Without a driver, vga cards will operate in basic display mode so you can get into bios etc... At the desktop, 2d mode requires much less power than when it enters 3d mode as games take off. This would explain how the card operated before drivers were installed.

I remember on a previous intel board I had that you needed to plug in a psu molex lead into the mobo near the pcie slot. It was needed to give the extra power to the slot that a high powered vga card might require. A GTX285 is a very high powered card.

I couldn't get the drivers installed for the XFX4850 so I decided to take it out and try the GFX285. I didn't get a signal at all with that one so I decided to put the 4850 back in. The 4850 was in Windows but just didn't have the drivers installed and wouldn't have the proper resolution. Now that I put the 4850 back in, it won't get past the Windows loading screen. The bar goes across and then I hear the Windows sound but the screen goes blank. Is this a driver issue? How do I fix whatever is going on? Can I go in to Windows using the 2600 and fix the issue somehow?

Also, I have the 4 pin molex that's near the PCI-E slot plugged in now. The 285 won't even show the BIOS. I'm not able to get any video out of that one right now. The 4850 will show the bar going across the screen and then I hear the Windows sound but the screen goes blank. The 2600 works fine.

I'd much rather use the GTX285 and it worked when I had first installed Windows so I decided to start over. I'm in the process of installing Windows. I'm using the HD2600 to reinstall Windows and I have the GTX285 in the second slot. I'm not sure that it will do any good to have the 285 in the second slot but I figured I'd do it anyways. I'll finish my installation and then update on here how everything is going.

k. I'll stick with the GTX285. Thanks to everyone for helping me through this. I'll update once the install is complete.

The install is complete but I still get nothing out of the GTX285. I guess it's possible that it broke but that seems a little hard to believe.

I'm able to get in with the XFX4850 so I guess I'll have to just stick with that card. Bummer. I really wanted to other to work. I guess I should be able to do most things I want to do with the 4850.

Why did you not justhave the 285 installed when you reformated? Could you not see the bios or post? If you only have a 4 pin into the motherboard you will need the molex to the pcie slot in most cases. You should also have 2 6 pins comming out of the psu going into the gtx 285.

I went in to safe mode to try to fix it and there seems to be no way to uninstall the ATI Catalyst. In the remove software it only has repair as an option and when I tried to remove a driver program, I got an error that said you can't install anything in safe mode.

I think it's his PSU that's the problem.