Sapphire 5850 Boot Problem

[L0rdMike]

I re-setted the GPU bios to the factory one via DOS to make sure...and I still didn't solve the problem.

I think its a motherboard issue like you're saying. The motherboard I have is:
Asus M4A785TD-V Evo AMD 785G (Socket AM3)

I read in some forum elsewhere that the 785G has some problems with 5850's
I think I'll have to wait for a BIOS update of some sort...

I have that board and my 5870 failed after a week and am on my 2nd card which has been ok for near a week now.

 

[andrea86]

I have that board and my 5870 failed after a week and am on my 2nd card which has been ok for near a week now.

I dont think the card is the problem, more like a BIOS update is needed. I bet if u try your previous 5870 on another board, it will work OK.

 

[L0rdMike]

I dont think the card is the problem, more like a BIOS update is needed. I bet if u try your previous 5870 on another board, it will work OK.

Why did it work fine for a week then?

 

[andrea86]

Mine worked fine for a week or two...before the cold boot issues started...once the GPU starts, everything works fine...all games at max, no issues

 

[hominid]

I think I've got to the bottom of my cold boot issues, and it was my power supply.

I had a Be Quiet dark power pro 850W and having these issues with cold boots etc.. So I changed the card to my old trusty 4850 after the 5850 failed to boot 20 times in a row, 100% fan speed(the usual) etc, and it also failed to boot. But with the 4850 it had to red LED's on the back of the card that, when lit, signify a power issue. I then dusted off my old OCZ 700W PS and hobbled it into my system and it booted first time with my old 4850. I then put the 5850 back into the machine and it also booted first time, and it's been working fine for the last 3 days, no cold boot issues - nothing.

It seems my lovely 850W PS couldn't handle the power draw of this card on initial boot and it's finally caved in. So before you blame the card take a good look at the power supply, because even a good quality PS like the Be Quiet seems to be having issues.

 

[andrea86]

hmm I hope its not my PSU (brand new)..this is my current system

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz
Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply
Geil Ultra Series 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-17000 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit
Asus M4A785TD-V Evo AMD 785G (Socket AM3)

After 3-4 boots it normally starts up...and I find no issues in games etc...the PSU should be able to handle a 5850 easily :S

 

[hominid]

I had the exact same issues as you report here, cold boot issues but not initially - only after the first week or so of use, but once the machine was booted it was fine for the entire day. If you've got another one you can try just to cancel it off of the potential problems list that'll help.

I can only say what's worked in my case, yours might be totally different, plus I've only been using the other power supply for 3 days so it's not a long term test as yet.

My PS was a 850W Be Quiet, cost me over £100 so I thought it could handle anything I threw at it, my old £50 OCZ seems to be doing the job only it's a much noisier PS.

 

[andrea86]

I don't have another PSU to test with

Any other ideas I can test?

 

[eastonia]

I have same problem.

Im going to a LAN party at the weekend and my mate has a 5850 too (mine an XFX his a PowerCool). We are going to swap cards to test... he doesn't have any cold boot issue's like me.

I should be able to rule out if its the card or not, i'll post next Monday and let you know how i got on.

Cheers

 

[andrea86]

I have same problem.

Im going to a LAN party at the weekend and my mate has a 5850 too (mine an XFX his a PowerCool). We are going to swap cards to test... he doesn't have any cold boot issue's like me.

I should be able to rule out if its the card or not, i'll post next Monday and let you know how i got on.

Cheers

Thanks a lot for that!

I just ran a memtest86, and it all seems fine, so that rules out RAM issues. I also did a BIOS upgrade via EzFlash to rule out any bad configs with Windows-based BIOS update.

Hopefully things will be better on my next cold boot.

However it looks as if there are FAR too many people with 5850/5870's that have the same problem for it to be a CARD issue. I think it's a matter of waiting for a BIOS update to support these cards better.

As for my PSU, its a Corsair TX 80+ (SLI Certified) PSU, and its giving me no problems in games and stuff...so I'd rule that out too.

 

[Unguided]

I would have to agree the 100% fan looks like a power issue, I had it happen atfer saving a BIOS update which did a forceful power remove. It might be worth checking the following

http://ati.amd.com/products/certified/powersupplies.html#pstop

Looks like my PSU is not a supported 5850/5870 supply, so an upgrade is probably needed.

 

[andrea86]

There are many people running a 5850/5870 successfully with my PSU though...according to many reviews, the Corsair TX 650W (80+) is more than enough for a 5850... ;(

 

[eastonia]

I have a Hiper 850W (Sli compatible) that has 60A over the two 12V rails, surely thats enough juice to power this card?

All be it, my PSU isn't on the supported power supply's for the 5850's on the Ati website.

 

[andrea86]

Wonder of wonders, I managed a successful cold-boot finally!!

Here's what I suggest you do:

1) Update your BIOS to latest version from within BIOS itself (EzFlash if using an ASUS motherboard). Do not update BIOS from windows.

2) Make sure your ram is running stable at your selected timings/speed by running memtest86 for a couple of hours - with no errors.

3) Remove the [Auto] setting for the PCI Express frequency, and set it to 100.

After doing all this, I switched off the PC for around 3 hours, including power from mains supply. I then tried it, and it booted without a hitch!

I'll try again after a 12 hour pause, and hopefully it will work again.

 

[andrea86]

I have a Hiper 850W (Sli compatible) that has 60A over the two 12V rails, surely thats enough juice to power this card?

All be it, my PSU isn't on the supported power supply's for the 5850's on the Ati website.

I wouldn't stick to what's on the Ati website...there are a couple of crap PSU's there too

 

[andrea86]

Wonder of wonders, I managed a successful cold-boot finally!!

Here's what I suggest you do:

1) Update your BIOS to latest version from within BIOS itself (EzFlash if using an ASUS motherboard). Do not update BIOS from windows.

2) Make sure your ram is running stable at your selected timings/speed by running memtest86 for a couple of hours - with no errors.

3) Remove the [Auto] setting for the PCI Express frequency, and set it to 100.

After doing all this, I switched off the PC for around 3 hours, including power from mains supply. I then tried it, and it booted without a hitch!

I'll try again after a 12 hour pause, and hopefully it will work again.

Cold boot failed after the 12 hour pause
I guess only a BIOS update can fix this problem now

 

[hominid]

Honestly, try a new power supply. I know I'm only on day 5 after changing but I've had zero problems changing from my Be Quiet 850W to my old, noisy, OCZ 700W PS.

I know it's not cheap to try it as an experiment, but it seemed to have worked in my case and it was exactly like yours. this is my old thread about it: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18069684 I will update it once I'm sure the issue is finnished.

 

[andrea86]

I'll try that if I can, but I'm not about to purchase another new PSU after buying this 2 weeks ago

 

[fornowagain]

Interesting, reminds me of a few past unrelated cold boot issues relating to psu 12v coming in late. Couple of things -

• The 12v from the psu is started by the motherboard button from cold reboot, but the 12v stays up during warm reboots with no transition state.
  
• The 100% fan thing is the cards safe default until the fan control ramp is enabled by the cards bios, again almost if its waiting for something.

 

[andrea86]

Interesting, reminds me of a few past unrelated cold boot issues relating to psu 12v coming in late. Couple of things -

• The 12v from the psu is started by the motherboard button from cold reboot, but the 12v stays up during warm reboots with no transition state.
  
• The 100% fan thing is the cards safe default until the fan control ramp is enabled by the cards bios, again almost if its waiting for something.

Precisely my thoughts.
The fan speed goes up to 100% as a safe default until the GPU bios is loaded. However the GPU bios loads only after the 12v line powering the GPU is correctly initialised.

That rules out the problem being with the 5850, and is therefore related to the how the motherboard is initializing the power lines.

When correctly started up, the 5850 can play anything I throw at it, and the PSU can handle things perfectly.

It all boils down to the Motherboard/Power button.

I will open up my case today and make sure the power button is well plugged into the motherboard, and check other power connections just to make sure.

Thanks for the info