5870 installation issue

[zeuriel]

I originally put this question to Motherboards but I think I may have been wrong in my belief that it was a mobo issue.

I recently bought a XFX Radeon HD 5870. I am upgrading from two 9400 GT's.
I did everything correct to my knowledge, uninstall the Nvidia drivers and install the ATI etc. However, when I install the card physically I get no display and my AMIBIOS debug readout displays a code 2A.

The Manual for the BIOS says that code means this:

“Initializes different device through DIM
See DIM Code Checkpoints section of document for more information”

The DIM Code Checkpoints says:

“Initialize different buses and perform the following functions: Reset, Detect, and Disable (function 0); Static Device Initialization (function 1); Boot Output Device Initialization (function 2). Function 0 disables all device nodes, PCI devices, and PnP ISA cards. It also assigns PCI bus numbers. Function 1 initializes all static devices that include manual configured onboard peripherals, memory and I/O decode windows in PCI-PCI bridges, and noncompliant PCI devices. Static resources are also reserved. Function 2 searches for and initializes any PnP, PCI, or AGP video devices.”

The card draws power and heat up but I don't get any display. XFX told me to send it back, but they tested it and it was fine. They are sending me a new one anyway. Any thoughts of what I should do when it gets here?

I have since put the 9400s back in and they work fine.

Here are my specs. Nothing is OCed I don't have the cooling solutions to handle it at the moment.

Intel i7 860
Foxconn Inferno Katana GTI Mobo
Corsair XS 8GB (4x2GB)
Asus Xonar D2X sound card
WD 1 TB HDD
2x SLI Nvidia 9400 GTs
Athena Power 950watt PSU

 

[darkslash_323]

You could trying using driver sweeper to do a clean uninstall of your old nvidia drivers. Not sure if it would work, but its worth a shot.

http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/

 

[OvrClkr]

Try this, download the drivers for the 5870 (save in a folder).

Uninstall the Nvidia drivers using driver-sweeper to make sure you remove EVERYTHING related to Nvidia. Also make sure the Nvidia Control panel is removed during the process.

http://downloads.guru3d.com/Guru3D---Driver-Sweeper-(Setup)_d1655.html

Remove the 9400's, install the 5870 and boot.

Install the AMD driver and configure.

 

[borisof007]

^^ What he said.

Often people can "uninstall" drivers but they're still hanging around in your system. Guru3d's driversweeper tool is great in that it FULLY removes the drivers, definitively solving the issue of conflicting drivers.

Do this, and you should be OK.

 

[zeuriel]

Thanks a lot all. I'll give this a whirl as soon as the card come in, which should be soon. Hopefully It is something that can be fixed that simply. Thanks again.

 

[zeuriel]

Got the card today and used driversweeper to get rid of the nvidia drivers. Worked like a charm at first but i rebooted and its stuck trying to POST on the same error, or at least i believe that is what it is doing. THe card clearly works but i can't even get the BIOS to come up. I am getting quite frustrated because I feel like this must be simple but I am not sure what to do.

I may be fixating on the error code too much and that may be blinding me I don't know. Any help is still appreciated though.

I have tried installing and unistalling all the related drivers now again and still no good.

 

[OvrClkr]

No need to re-install windows, just run Driversweeper again and check all the options except for any Realtek/audio/chipset, etc..

 

[zeuriel]

Its working like a charm now, only problem is there is something up with how it interacts with my sound card, which I removed for now and will look at the problem later. Currently I am happy to have a new video card in.

Thanks a bunch to all that helped me out.

 

[zeuriel]

Best answer selected by zeuriel.