"GPUs light up but nothing comes out"

[cryptobard]

I'm trying to remotely help a friend set up his bitminer. Because I'm so far away and time is limited, I'm trying to send him as many possible solutions to his problem in one fell swoop. If you can contribute, it would be much appreciated. Here are the details:

His rig:
GPU: 5970 x 2
Motherboard: msi 890-fxa-gd70
CPU: AMD Sempron 130
Mem: 2 gb ddr3

He's trying to boot - and hopefully mine - from a usb drive with linuxcoin.

The problem:
Nothing is displayed on the monitor despite the cards running. "They light up but nothing comes out."

He says that "not even BIOS loading shit" comes up. Correspondingly, there is no indication that the BIOS has failed to load hardware. He has tried other PCI slots, booted with only one of the cards, taken off crossfire, and reseated the processor and RAM, etc. It is probable that he has configured everything properly, given his experience with building computers in the past.


If you have any advice, please share so I can relay thus far I haven't determined any incompatibility issues (hardware isn't my forte though) and my thoughts (bogus memory stick, use HD not USB (for... some reason lol)) aren't the most productive.

Thanks guys.

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[Olly_K]

try both cards separately in EVERY slot - whilst doing this, try both DVI ports on each.

Maybe try a CMOS reset ?

Also try another DIMM - and try moving it to each slot

best I can do atm

[cryptobard]

try both cards separately in EVERY slot - whilst doing this, try both DVI ports on each.

Maybe try a CMOS reset ?

Also try another DIMM - and try moving it to each slot

best I can do atm

Thanks for taking the time to respond. A CMOS reset is one of the solutions I came up with, but I will relay the other two.

Any other white knights out there?

[P4man]

Is he getting any beeps? He may need to connect a speaker to hear them.
Other wild guess.. he forgot to connect both 6/8 pin PCI-E connectors.

[cryptobard]

A timely update:

"i cleared cmos,
moved the memory around into each slot,
re-seated the processor (twice),
made sure the board 12-pin and the cpu 4-pin were in
cpu fan spins
and is plugged into the right spot
I know there are no screws loose in the case, or any grounding
the power supply is giving juice accurately to the fans, the board and the gpu, for sure
since they light up correctly
only one i can't verify for certain is the proc, but it is plugged in
it doesn't go through the POST sequence, goes directly to FF
which makes me think that there's something wrong with the proc, memory or board
but the board is correctly throwing the error message
so that makes me think proc or memory"

While this seems to eliminate obvious fixes, maybe it'll steer some helpful soul in the direction of the solution.

Thanks again y'all.

[jjiimm_64]

I had the same issue when I first used the 5970...  you have to plug the monitor into the top vga port of the first card. I have the exact same mother board and cpu

I now have 2 rigs with 4 of these cards each

[cryptobard]

I had the same issue when I first used the 5970...  you have to plug the monitor into the top vga port of the first card. I have the exact same mother board and cpu

I now have 2 rigs with 4 of these cards each

Apparently these only have DVI inputs??

Thanks for the suggestion, though, it has given him hope... he wants to be like you someday.

[cbeast]

I presume the "cpu 4-pin" is the square P4 cable, right? Otherwise yes, it may be the cpu or mem.

[cryptobard]

I presume the "cpu 4-pin" is the square P4 cable, right? Otherwise yes, it may be the cpu or mem.

Yes, that's what he meant.

[DeathAndTaxes]

"it doesn't go through the POST sequence, goes directly to FF"

Try removing both video cards.  Power up system (video card isn't required).  If it doesn't go through post sequence and skips to FF I would RMA the MB first.  This is simply not normal.  Never seen a MB do that.  50 is when the displays come on BTW.  Had enough tense moments in getting first 3x 5970 water cooled system working that I think I have the LED post sequence memorized.