SOLVED - Please help! First Time builder, worked first time ... then I rebooted and no video

[geoffreypalmer]

Hi there all. Many thanks in advance for your help.

There is lots of great advice on this forum, but couldn't find anything quite like my situation.

I tried everything in the "PERFORM THESE STEPS before..." thread.

I built a new computer, my first time building. I was really happy it all worked first time I turned it on. I don't remember when I looked through the BIOS config the first time if it said anything about my graphics card.

I installed windows, everything seemed to be working great. I rebooted. The monitor never came on, on the reboot, though the systems sounded like it was powering up. The orange light in the power button is on, same as if the computer was off and the monitor on.

I tried a few different things before opening up the case and removing the graphics card. System boots fine then, though I have to use safe mode because I get an unsupported resolution error. (on a side note, I can't figure out now how to reset the resolution permanently, everytime I boot normally, I get that error, even when I save settings in safe mode.)

I reset the BIOS, but I still can't get video with the card mounted on the motherboard. (I've tried both pcie slots.)

I tried installing the drivers in safe mode, but since the card wasn't in the machine at the time, it failed the autodetect, and then hung.

I don't know anybody where I can test the card on another mother board.

Any ideas on how I trouble shoot this?

Specs:
asrock z77 extreme 4
i5 3750k
gigabyte HD 7850 2
2*4GB Ram

I'm assuming since safe mode with no graphics card works fine, I know it's not the CPU, but I'm totally stumped.

Any help or comments or ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance,
Geoffrey

UPDATE: I fixed my resolution issue, so I can now boot windows normally. I also set the BIOS to default video to mobo's onboard. I can now boot the machine with card mounted on mobo, so I don't think it's short. The BIOS recognizes the card, and once I got windows to load normally I installed the drivers (they previously failed to install in safe mode) and the autodetect seem to work, it sew and identify the card.

UPDATE 2: Updated all the drivers and installed all the utilities. Now when I set the BIOS to default to the PCI I get a signal, but not until windows starts, so some progress. But in windows I'm still not using the graphics card, and I'm getting an error from catalyst (the driver/tool suite that came with the graphics card) saying there is an compatibility issue, and I need to set my default graphics to the the graphics card in display manager. I don't have that option in display manager. Also, when I boot into bios, I still don't have a video signal, so to get into bios now I have to remove the graphics card.

If my machine can see the card, any ideas about what I can use to trouble shoot it?
Thanks again.

 

[geoffreypalmer]

Solved. Thank Zeus for smart brothers.

Like lots of these this was simply a total newb error.

Get this - nobody told me you had to plug the monitor into the graphics card. I know right? Doesn't say that in the install guide for the card...I thought the card was like a booster for graphics.

Anyway this is solved, and I feel like a complete twat.