Troubleshooting new X1900XT - no signal

[foop]

After struggling on with AGP for a while I've taken the plunge and bought a Sapphire X1900XT and ASUS A8R32-MVP.

I've just reassembled my new system, using the old 2GB of Kingston RAM, Athlon X2 4200+, SATA disks and Enermax 470W power supply. When I power on I get all the usual activity from the disks and DVD but nothing at all from the graphics card. My Samsung SyncMaster 172x, which I ran with a DVI input before, reports no input. Meanwhile the fan on the X1900XT is whizzing away quite happily.

Anyone got any bright ideas? I hate upgrading to a new format, because I have no other PCI-Express graphics cards to hand to test the motherboard with. And I have no motherboards to test the graphics card with.

I'm hoping that it's something fairly trivial like a power supply issue. The PSU is an Enermax Noisetaker 475 AX. I've tried powering the X1900XT from the six-pin connector and from an adaptor on a molex connector. Neither of these worked.

Anyone? The cost of upgrading was depressing me even before nothing worked

 

[foop]

There is another thread showing they use up to 30A & 360W to keep them up & running

30A? I want to play Oblivion, not make a cup of tea!

This could definitely be the problem, then. I've just looked up the tech specs on the Enermax 475 and it only pushes out 15A and 16A on the two 12V rails. Even with the bare minimum of stuff plugged into the PSU I still get now signal. Now where can I get a 600W PSU at this time of night?

Thanks for the help.

Edit:

have you plugged in the atx 12v connector on the motherboard?

Yep, remembered that. I never forget that since an embarassing incident just after they first introduced those things...

 

[foop]

Well, one Hiper 580W PSU later and I get... nothing.

Argh?

Powering the X1900 from the Hiper's PCI-E 6-pin connector. Long ATX connector and 4-pin ATX connector both connected to motherboard. Only other thing connected is a single HD. Boot gives reassuring whirring from the HD and no post beeps, but I still get no signal from either of the DVI-outs on the card. The fan on the card is going at what I assume is max speed (it's whining loudly enough).

Unless anyone has some bright ideas, I guess my next step will be to try and borrow (or buy cheaply) another PCI-E graphics card to test the mobo.

 

[foop]

First of all: Thank you so much for all the helpful replies. This is why I visit the OcUK forums whenever I'm thinking about buying hardware (and occasionally when I've bought it and it doesn't work). You're all lovely.

Secondly: I think I may stop working with computers and become a mushroom farmer. The good news is that the card/mobo combo has suddenly decided to work. I'm not sure I trust it much, though, so I'll be keeping a close eye on it as I reinstall XP.

For those of you that are interested it, this is how I fixed the problem:

1) Strip down system to one stick of RAM, X1900XT, cpu and one HD.

2) Check card is seated, check power connections. Check all connections. Make sure mobo has both power connections. Recheck all connections. Fire up machine and test both DVI outputs on the card. Get nothing. Swear.

3) Repeat step 2.

4) Repeat step 2.

5) Girlfriend comes home. Extract sympathy from her.

6) Repeat step 2.

7) Eat toast.

8) Repeat step 2.

9) Repeat step 2. It works.

I'm thinking it might be the toast. I'm just popping out to get some more bread in case the problem reappears.

 

[foop]

Have you put the second mem stick back in? May have been a memory thing and you messing with it, a cmos clearing thingy.

It's funny you should mention that, because I just put the second memory stick back in and the problems came back. With a little experimentation I've discovered that two sticks work okay as single channel but not as dual channel. Odd.

It's Kingston KHX3200/1G RAM, which worked fine dual channel at 200MHz in my old ABit mobo. This new Asus board (I know, I should have paid attention to the cries of anguish over in the mobo forum) wants to run it at 166MHz even in single channel mode. The finger of suspicion begins to point at the motherboard.

 

[foop]

Or the memory. Motherboard manufacturers often supply compatibility charts for memory. Some sticks just may never work. Bios update?

Mmm, could be. The manual lists the 512MB version of these 1GB sticks as suitable for dual or single channel use, but I guess I'll have to visit their website to check further.

At the moment I'm trying an install of XP, but I'll update the Bios - once I've trawled through the A8R32 thread in the other bit of the forum to try and work out which version of the Bios actually works. And I'll borrow a handful of sticks of RAM from work to see if any of those work as dual channel.

What did I do without a laptop to surf forums while I was swearing at new hardware?

Edit: 1GB sticks, not 1MB sticks. D'oh.

 

[foop]

WAIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IS IT TO LATE? YOU DIDNT BUY A NEW PSU DID U ?

Don't worry, the 580W PSU has been "borrowed" temporarily from a rather reluctant donor. I don't really want to give it back, though, because those modular cables really reduce the clutter inside my case.

Edit: Spelling