Big issue installing new graphics card GTX 970

Mark A · 29 Jul 2016 at 20:10

I have lent him my old 750 watt corsair psu to try, so fingers crossed the mobo is ok.

His motherboard is AM3 and I am on Intel, so unfortunately I cant test the motherboard. I can test the gfx cards though to make sure they're ok.

BuToNz · 29 Jul 2016 at 21:21

Ouch - hard lesson to learn about PSU modular cables. As stated above it's likely you've done some damage using that cable.

Hope it works out for you OP.

Borealis · 29 Jul 2016 at 21:30

Hopefully if it has done damage, it's either crisped just the PSU or the GPUs. If it's damaged the motherboard then there could be a bigger issue. The AM3+ boards like the GA-990FX-UD3 are the only AMD boards with no onboard unfortunately.

Dantay · 30 Jul 2016 at 14:18

Just tried it with the other psu and I was exactly the same, powered on but no signal to monitor

mark is going to test the cards for me but it's not looking good

Just to clarify, if the cards work, does that mean I have damaged my motherboard by using the other cable?

Borealis · 30 Jul 2016 at 14:33

Potentially you could have damaged the motherboard. If the cards test as OK then it doesn't look good I'm afraid.

jigger · 30 Jul 2016 at 19:51

Jump the CMOS maybe.

Mark A · 30 Jul 2016 at 22:44

Just tested the cards and both are fine, so at least the brand new 970 isnt dead.

How would we test the old psu with a multimeter? Could it be that his psu is ok and its just the motherboard thats gone?

It seems very strange to me that putting the wrong lead in would damage the motherboard and not the gfx card..

A2BDriver · 31 Jul 2016 at 02:06

Paperclip Test maybe, but am not saying do that as psu's can kill ya lol

paradigm · 31 Jul 2016 at 08:48

Not on the DC side they won't kill you. If you go opening them up and messing with the caps then yes they "could" kill you.

Paperclip test to power it on and then test for the right voltages on the atx connector and the ancillaries. You'll be able to find a wiring diagram for the connectors online.

As for why plugging the wrong lead in might have killed the motherboard (or CPU) is that the card might have shorted a 12v rail on the wrongly installed cable, which in turn could then have sent 12v where it shouldn't have been (VRM -ve side, a CPU gnd pin, that kind of thing).

freddie64 · 31 Jul 2016 at 09:37

Could try a molex to pcie adapter maybe. Not ideal but only cost a few £ to buy.

If it was me though, i would just buy another psu seeing as the pcie cables are missing anyway.

If you did plug the silverstone cable in back to front, did the blue connector fit the 970 properly?

golfnut · 31 Jul 2016 at 13:12

I had similar experience having installed a GTX 980 ti, with onboard graphics available though.

When uninstalling the old cards driver there's a bunch of other nvidia stuff listed under the driver version number, physX & something else.

First time, all I uninstalled was the driver version, when I went to check using onboard graphics I uninstalled all the nvidia related stuff, through Control Panel>programmes & feaures> uninstall a programme.

Then using device manager disabled the onboard graphics. Reinstalled new card and lucky enough it was working.

Not really much help seeing you don't have onboard, but that was my experience.

I feel your pain and hope it can be resolved.

Dantay · 31 Jul 2016 at 14:09

Mark has said he will test the psu for me aswell cos he's an absolute legend, I have arranged to get a new motherboard sent out, so hopefully will be here in a few days, that shot of current sent where it shouldn't have been, could that have damaged anything else? Cpu?

And yes the blue connecter fit the 970 easily,
Hard lesson learned

paradigm · 31 Jul 2016 at 15:54

Dantay said:
Mark has said he will test the psu for me aswell cos he's an absolute legend, I have arranged to get a new motherboard sent out, so hopefully will be here in a few days, that shot of current sent where it shouldn't have been, could that have damaged anything else? Cpu?

In theory, its possible yes, it might be the CPU that's gone rather than the motherboard at this point, without the replacement board in your hands it's impossible to tell.

At this point it could be the PSU, Motherbard or CPU that have gone (possibly RAM too), or indeed all of the above. That's an absolute worst case scenario though.

Borealis · 31 Jul 2016 at 16:07

Edit: should really have make sure I read page 2 first!

If you've tried a different PSU already, it's looking like the board could be dead/damaged.

Paradigm has a good point here. If the cable shorted a 12V rail and sent +12V somewhere it really shouldn't be going, it could have done damage to the board, CPU or RAM even. That's a total worst-case scenario though and hopefully it's just a dead board.

Dantay · 1 Aug 2016 at 18:46

I ordered a replacement cable as well, thought I better check on here if it's the right one :/ CORSAIR CP-8920111 Type 3 Sleeved Blk PCI-E Cable. Any tips or is there anything I should be wary of when replacing the motherboard?

Borealis · 1 Aug 2016 at 18:53

That cable should be the right one. It species the CXM series and yours is the CX600M, so the cable is definitely compatible.

When you're swapping over the motherboards, just take the usual precautions.

The first time you're ready to start it up, I'd probably have just the CPU, 1 stick of RAM and a graphics card installed. Once you've successfully made it to the BIOS and know that it POSTs, shut everything down and reconnect everything else. That way, it'll be easier to diagnose any board/CPU/RAM issues if something doesn't work right.

Dantay · 1 Aug 2016 at 19:22

Ok will do thanks for the advise

Dantay · 7 Aug 2016 at 21:06

Ok so I got a new motherboard still had the exact same issue, ordered a new CPU and it worked

huuuurrraaay!!! A very hard lesson learned for me. Thank you everyone who posted on here for all the advise, it was greatly appreciated!

Claire Drew · 8 Aug 2016 at 15:15

I would not suggest tinkering with the power supply. No disrespect but as you stated you do not have a lot of experience and you could cause further damage or worse personal harm.

Need to pull in a favour and get a PSU for a hour or two....

Nice one, glad you sorted it

NeilF · 8 Aug 2016 at 15:21

golfnut said:
I had similar experience having installed a GTX 980 ti, with onboard graphics available though.

When uninstalling the old cards driver there's a bunch of other nvidia stuff listed under the driver version number, physX & something else.

First time, all I uninstalled was the driver version, when I went to check using onboard graphics I uninstalled all the nvidia related stuff, through Control Panel>programmes & feaures> uninstall a programme.

Then using device manager disabled the onboard graphics. Reinstalled new card and lucky enough it was working.

Not really much help seeing you don't have onboard, but that was my experience.

I feel your pain and hope it can be resolved.

Sorry... Windows drivers or the like are not going to stop a PC from even powering up? This is a hardware issue almost certainly....#

The problem here (as with any non-responsive PC) is working out what bit of hardware is at fault. PSU-->MB-->CPU-->RAM etc...

And the only way to work that out is to eliminate one at a time... Right pain!

Good luck!