AM3+ MOBO with FX Bulldozer Not Displaying on Moniter

sam1122922226737

Distinguished
Jan 14, 2012
5
0
18,510
Hello all. Just finished up a new build with the Gigabyte-990FXA-UD3 MOBO (AM3+ compatible CPU slot) and the AMD FX 8150. PC boots up, all the fans run etc, but the monitor displays nothing (Asus VH236H, both HDMI and DVI tried, verified HDMI works with laptop). The CPU seems to be functioning, as the heatsink warms up when I remove the fan. The motherboard, despite having an internal speaker, doesn't give out any beep codes, so no help there. I have tried removing everything but one stick of RAM, the CPU and the video card, but no dice. The video card (Sapphire Radeon HD 6850) fan spins, but I haven't tested it beyond that. I have cleared the BIOS to no avail, and have pretty much run out of ideas. Could one of you try to give me more advice to make my new build function? I would be much obliged.
 

tlmck

Distinguished
See if the BIOS is set to boot the PCIe slot first. I do not know what BIOS you have and some are a little different in their terminology. The BIOS section of your manual should help. Also try pulling out and reseating the card. On my new build it took three of these to get it to work. The card was older and worked fine in the old motherboard on the first try.

If this still does not fix it, you may have a bad vid card or even motherboard slot(less likely).
 

r0aringdrag0n

Distinguished
Are you sure you have enough power for your computer? What is the power supply you're using?
Also, if you have another monitor, try connecting the card to that monitor to see if it works. Otherwise, it could be a faulty video card
 
No short beep on the internal speaker means that your system is not booting.

Checked G'bye site: FX CPU's are supported, so that's not it.

When you are asking for help, always start off with all of the system specifications.

Work systematically through our standard checklist and troubleshooting thread:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-read-posting-boot-problems
I mean work through, not just read over it. We spent a lot of time on this. It should find most of the problems.

If not, continue.
The following is an expansion of my troubleshooting tips in the breadboarding link in the "Cannot boot" thread.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-read-posting-boot-problems

I have tested the following beep patterns on Gigabyte, eVGA, and ECS motherboards. Other BIOS' may be different, but they all use a single short beep for a successful POST.

Breadboard - that will help isolate any kind of case problem you might have.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/262730-31-breadboarding

Breadboard with just motherboard, CPU & HSF, case speaker, and PSU. Breadboard with just motherboard, CPU & HSF, case speaker, and PSU. At this point, if you do not have a system (internal case) speaker, you really need one.


Make sure you plug the CPU power cable in. The system will not boot without it.

I always breadboard a new build. It takes only a few minutes, and you know you are putting good parts in the case once you are finished.

You can turn on the PC by momentarily shorting the two pins that the case power switch goes to. You should hear a series of long, single beeps indicating memory problems. Silence indicates a problem with (in most likely order) the PSU, motherboard, or CPU. Remember, at this time, you do not have a graphics card installed so the load on your PSU will be reduced.

If no beeps, LED's, or fan activity:

Check for line power at the PSU input. Extension cords, power strips, and power cords do fail.

If you have power and no beeps, suspect components in likely order are PSU, motherboard, and CPU.

Running fans and drives and motherboard LED's do not necessarily indicate a good PSU. In the absence of a single short beep, they also do not indicate that the system is booting.

At this point, you can sort of check the PSU. Try to borrow a known good PSU of around 550 - 600 watts. That will power just about any system with a single GPU. If you cannot do that, use a DMM to measure the voltages. Measure between the colored wires and either chassis ground or the black wires. Yellow wires should be 12 volts. Red wires: +5 volts, orange wires: +3.3 volts, blue wire : -12 volts, violet wire: 5 volts always on. Tolerances are +/- 5% except for the -12 volts which is +/- 10%.

The gray wire is really important. It should go from 0 to +5 volts when you turn the PSU on with the case switch. CPU needs this signal to boot.

You can turn on the PSU by completely disconnecting the PSU and using a paperclip or jumper wire to short the green wire to one of the neighboring black wires.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4&feature=youtube_gdata

A way that might be easier is to use the main power plug. Working from the back of the plug where the wires come out, use a bare paperclip to short between the green wire and one of the neighboring black wires. That will do the same thing with an installed PSU. It is also an easy way to bypass a questionable case power switch.

This checks the PSU under no load conditions, so it is not completely reliable. But if it can not pass this, it is dead. Then repeat the checks with the PSU plugged into the computer to put a load on the PSU.

If the system beeps:
If it looks like the PSU is good, install a memory stick. Boot. Beep pattern should change to one long and several short beeps indicating a missing graphics card.

Silence, long single beeps, or series of short beeps indicate a problem with the memory. If you get short beeps verify that the memory is in the appropriate motherboard slots.

Insert the video card and connect any necessary PCIe power connectors. Boot. At this point, the system should POST successfully (a single short beep). Notice that you do not need keyboard, mouse, monitor, or drives to successfully POST.
At this point, if the system doesn't work, it's either the video card or an inadequate PSU. Or rarely - the motherboard's PCIe interface.

Now start connecting the rest of the devices starting with the monitor, then keyboard and mouse, then the rest of the devices, testing after each step. It's possible that you can pass the POST with a defective video card. The POST routines can only check the video interface. It cannot check the internal parts of the video card.
 
Hey man, i can confirm its the BIOS. It happened to me to when i first set up my FX. I had to get a old AM3 CPU to go in and update bios i reccomend 0813 version. I have read some issues on the latest one. Once you have updated it you will be good. just mkae sure you go back into bios and set your Primary boot again
 

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
I looked at the link, thats what I don't understand. The biggest advantage to getting a 9xx chipset board over an 8xx chipset board was that the 9xx board was SUPPOSED to support BD out of the board. Many 8xx boards would be able to do so with a bios update, but the point of buying a 9xx board was that you wouldn't have to worry about compatibility.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/990fx-sli-am3,2953.html

According to AMD, it’s incrementing the platform name to clarify compatibility with Bulldozer-based processors. When you see a board that centers on 990FX, the company wants you to know that its upcoming AM3+ CPUs are drop-in-compatible

I guess I always assumed they meant even the first bios's loaded into the board would support those B0 stepping BD CPUs mentioned in that link...
 

12pak

Distinguished
Nov 7, 2011
131
9
18,695
I have the exact same board and an 8150. It worked fine even prior to updating the bios, which i had to do because some Steam games wouldnt launch on an AM3+ board without it. If your board is new, RMA it while you have time. You got a lemon bro. These boards will work with any Bulldozer without the bios update, but not optimally. If it aint posting, just RMA it. If your replacement doesnt post, then your cpu is the lemon. I dont think its your PSU, or your fans wouldnt fire.
 

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
I can. Your statement is the same as saying you can't imagine needing a bios update to use a S775 CPU on a S775 motherboard. But you would if you want to use a C2D on a 945 chipset board. Anytime the CPU comes after the board this can/will be the case.
 



That's not even close to the same thing.

Were talking about a board that came out specifically for AM3+ FX processors.

Your talking about a board that came out for P4's and needing a bios update for C2D's that came along a couple years later.

It's not the same.
 

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
Mostly, though I do see geeks point as well.

I think the "proof" is in that link to Gigabyte's site. You need the F3 bios for the BD CPUs, and if they shipped them with F1 you might have issues. I still think F1 should get you enough support to boot but might not support the more advanced features but I don't know enough about it to say one way or another. I do also feel that the PSU should be looked into as well.
 

sam1122922226737

Distinguished
Jan 14, 2012
5
0
18,510
I have been trying out the ideas in this thread... no dice. To expand my previous specs, I have a Corsair TX850, so plenty of power at full functionality. Plenty of RAM too, Corsair 4*4GB XSM3, coolermaster heatsink and fan (made for AM3, but fits just fine). I have breadboarded it, no change. I worked through the thread that was posted, no change. The only thing I tried that might have some promise is the PSU testing. It fired and everything, as well as the voltages within tolerances, but the CPU firing pin (grey) didn't read anything. Could this be it? I should also note that the CPU fan doesn't work when plugged into the CPU_FAN header, but works fine when in a generic fan port. As before, the heatsink heats up significantly when I turn the computer on, so either the mobo is giving off a lot of heat, or the CPU is actually working. I would really like to try to boot it with an AM3 CPU, but I don't have one. All the spare PSU's I have are 4 pin ATX, which won't prove anything. From your experience, is it the PSU? Should I buy another one for testing purposes?