added another graphics card now wont boot

stu_d909 · 23 Mar 2011 at 17:49

hi guys

first time posting here so looking forward to the help/info from your selfs if you would be so kind

rite eh where do i start got an older rig now by todays standards built in 2006. system is as follows:-

amd x2 5000 skt am2 cpu
zalman aero flower cooler am2-amd
msi k9a platinum crossfire skt am2 (have not updated bios since i got it)
320gb barracuda hdd
ati x1950xtx crossfire mastercard
2gb(1gb matched pair) ocz ddr2-800 pc6400
os is vista ultimate 32bit
psu fsp epsilon 700w fx700-80gln

also added in ages ago 4gb(2gb matched pair) geil ddr2-800 pc6400 gaming ram just for the hell of it i know vista cant use it but it was a more money than sense thing!

so problems came about when i bought another x1950xtx card as i always wanted to try the crossfire thing so got it cheap off o ebay plugged it in an tried to power up.

did ok went through bios start up bla bla then just wont start i thought it was a power supply problem but it seems to be that its the amount of ram anything over 2gb an it just wont start up the ram check thing only goes up to 2544 stops for a lil pause then shoots up to full about which would be 6gb but it just wont start up.

have swapped the ram chips about took the ocz out leaving 4gb wont boot up took out 1 of the geil chips out leaving system with 2gb starts can swap them 2 about an it starts the check goes to 2041 or round about that

with either card in the system it starts fine is there a limit with graphics card memory and ram or is it cos it 2 different types of ram memory????

as i said any help or info would be great cos its really startin to pi** me off :mad:

cheers

stu

Surveyor · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:11

Have you connected the graphics cards using the Crossfire dongle (connection cable)?

Have you connected the power cables to the graphics cards?

BIOS version 1.9 is for improved VGA compatability.

Is the master card in the top PCI-E slot?

Setup should look something like this:

In that picture the master card is on the left.

Tealc · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:15

Best I can tell is that the x1950xtx uses around 150w at load which should be well within your PSUs capability.

Such an old crossfire configuration though. Wren't the rules different back then? Master card and normal cards and those cable things?

stu_d909 · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:26

yea sorry should o said its all set up as it should be master card in top slot i can get it working and playing games and crossfire enabled with only 2gb of ram if i install more in the system it just wont start up

pcAnywhere · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:34

Could the gpu memory be using up all the available memory addresses, as it's only a 32bit OS?

Surveyor · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:42

Update the BIOS to 1.9 if you haven't already.

http://www.msi.com/product/mb/K9A-Platinum.html#/?div=BIOS

Try just using the 2x2GB of RAM. The other 2 sticks are doing nothing as your OS can't access more than 4GB and only around 3.25GB of that will be useable.

Using one of the sticks in the slot nearest the processor go into the BIOS and enable Quick Boot to stop it checking the RAM every time you switch on. After that set your memory timings manually using the appropriate settings.

Put the second stick back in the third memory slot and see how it goes.

Could be it just won't work with more than 2GB. If that's the case use the 2x1GB modules in dual channel mode.

stu_d909 · 25 Mar 2011 at 17:51

hey guys no had much time to mess about with the pc.

wats the best way to update the bios as i have never tried it before always freaked me out a bit incase i cocked it up

went on the msi website an downloaded msi liveupdate5 it only sees bios 1.8 and not 1.9 as on there website is it best to let that program up date it or try it my self???

cheers

stu

Surveyor · 26 Mar 2011 at 00:56

Oddly enough the manual doesn't tell you how to flash the BIOS.

You don't want to use the Windows utility as they are notorious for screwing things up.

If you download the 1.9 BIOS and extract the files there are instructions on how to flash the BIOS.

You need to make a bootable floppy disk (how quaint) or a bootable USB memory stick with the BIOS file on it and follow the instructions.

I think your board has an AMI Bios and you'll need to check if your file system is FAT32 or NTFS to see which instructions to follow.

This may be of some help:

http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=450760