Experienced User with Bizarre Problem

Epicus07

Solid State Member
Messages
11
Bought a new AMD Radeon HD 6850. Worked beautifully for 3 months. All of a sudden the video would cut out and not return until restart. After a while video wouldn't post on restart until a random number of tries. Eventually no amount of restarts would restore the video. I plugged in my old geforce 6800gt into the same PCI E port and it works flawlessly. I RMA'd the Radeon video card twice, finally ending up with a brand new card. Video still won't post.

I don't understand why the Geforce posts and the Radeon doesn't. They use the same port and everything else works flawlessly in my system except the new Radeon which worked initially.

I'm assuming its motherboard but would hate to spend money on it if there are other possibilities.

What do you guys think?
 
Could you have installed a driver update?

A friend of mine had an issue with his GTX 580s after he updated drivers that had the same symptoms you mentioned.

Just thinking out loud.
 
The video won't post on start up. I haven't made any changes to the BIOS and windows drivers have no effect outside of windows.
 
The video won't post on start up. I haven't made any changes to the BIOS and windows drivers have no effect outside of windows.

I know you didnt make any changes to your BIOS but could you reset it to rule it out?
 
So I updated my BIOS and reinstalled the new card.

It posted! Finally after months of frustration I get to use my nice new card.

So I tightened everything down and plugged it back in.

I turn it on.....and it doesn't post. Nothing I can do (reinstalling the card etc) can get it to post again.

I hate computers lol.
 
Sounds like your card is grounding out on your case, possibly your mobo is grounding out to. check your stand offs
 
I'd go all the way and rebuild the whole computer on cardboard. It rules out any grounding issue. If that doesn't work, try a different card (or the same card in a different PC) then RMA it. It should still be under warranty.
 
Definitely agree with the cardboard rebuild. You won't hurt anything short term, and it eliminates any grounding issues, or issues with excessive pressure on the board when it's not standing on those standoffs. I usually use the box that the original motherboard shipped in to build the system on top of, that way the board fits perfectly and I can still install things like the Video card and any add in cards.

Another possibility is that you may want to set your "init display first" option to the slot where the card is installed, instead of "onboard" or "PCI" (depending on board) - I haven't seen this really make a difference, but some boards can be picky.

I'd also reset the event log, and set the BIOS to "clear configuration data" (it's a menu option usually listed on the first two sub menus of most pre-UEFI BIOS screens) - sometimes the BIOS caches config data that is bad, and if you leave it set to "clear" then the BIOS fetches new config data every time it POSTs.

The other thing to consider is power. Your 6800gt sips power compared to the 6850, and while the 6850 isn't a heavy user of power, it does use more than the 6800 will. What kind of power supply do you have feeding the system?

Also, does the system POST at all with the Radeon when the problem starts happening? I know you said it doesn't, but I just want to clarify if the system hangs up entirely, or if it's POSTing in the background, just without video.
 
Hey Guys,

Thanks for all of the great responses. I wasn't expecting this kind of help at all.

So Cardboard rebuild. I haven't ever done my builds that way and I'm curious how it makes a difference. You are suggesting that I disassemble the computer. place the motherboard on cardboard and reinstall the cpu, fan, ram and video card before placing back in my case? I assume that being a few years old I will need to reapply thermal paste between the cpu and fan?

I will attempt those bios changes before the rebuild (as i don't have any cpu paste).

I purchased this power supply almost a year ago for the system.
Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply

Again, this card worked flawlessly for 3 months before the video cut out and slowly got worse. I RMA'd it and when it came back it still didn't work so i sent it out again and they sent me a new card. New Card has been tested in another computer and works perfectly.

I don't know how to distinguish between booting without video and not actually posting. If i had to guess I would suspect that it is posting just without video.
 
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