ASUS Sabertooth z77 - One PCI-e slot not recognizing video card, RMA?

[jacksonmills]

So I'm starting a new build for myself, giving my older ASUS Premium P6X58D to my girlfriend.

This is the setup:

GSkill Ripjaws, 1600 8gb x4
ASUS Sabertooth z77
Intel 3770k
Zalman S9500A CPU Cooler
Cooler Master HAF Tower
XFX Radeon 6950 x 2 , 2GB
Rosewill Lightning 1300W
Samsung Pro 840 SSD, 256GB

The system boots just fine, but will only recognize 16GB of RAM. I've tried each individual RAM slot and booting with all the sticks I have and each one will boot individually. One thing I have noticed is that whenever I change the # of RAM sticks, the Clock speed on the RAM changes ( not sure if this is relevant ).

What worries me more - because honestly I might be able to live with 16GB of RAM - is that my two Graphics cards do not work in Crossfire. In fact, my second PCI-e Express port, when I install a 6950 in it, doesn't seem to work at all.

I'm wondering if this is time to RMA, or if there is anything else I can do to bring this thing back. I'm fairly inexperienced as far as builds go ( this is only my second ) , so I'm curious as to if there's anything I can do to "shock" it back to life.

 

[cl-scott]

Let's just start with the PCIe issue, and then we can come back to the RAM issue.

Have you tested both cards, individually, in all three x16 slots? We want to rule out the possibility that one of the cards is bad, as well as try and pin down whether or not you've got a bad x16 slot.

 

[jacksonmills]

Yeah, I have tried both of the cards in the first slot, PCIe_x1. I have not tried either of the cards in the third slot, I did not think that was necessary. Both video cards work individually fine.

 

[cl-scott]

Yeah, I have tried both of the cards in the first slot, PCIe_x1. I have not tried either of the cards in the third slot, I did not think that was necessary. Both video cards work individually fine.

Okay, and just to make sure we have a clear picture of the situation. When you say that it doesn't work in crossfire, do you mean the system doesn't POST? Does it POST but not load the OS? Does the OS load but the cards don't work as a single linked unit? So, you press the power button on the computer, and what happens?

 

[jacksonmills]

I cannot tell exactly what happens when I have a singular card in the second slot, but it seems like the board POSTs and the OS loads, since I hear the Windows chime coming through my speakers. So I just do not have any visuals ( monitor ). When I plug two cards in , the second card is not recognized. When I go into the devices list, I only see one. When I go into the BIOS , it says no device detected ( under PCIe_x2 )

 

[jacksonmills]

I just tried this again today and got essentially the same result. The board POSTs, the OS loads ( I hear the Windows Login screen chime ) but the monitor does not receive a signal from either video card in the second slot.

 

[smorizio]

jack lets start out by looking at the mb bios code. the boards when new shipped with 0906 rev on them. boot into your bios and check the rev of the bios.the last bios is 1708 on asus web page. if your bios is higher then 0906 then use the usb flash back port and a usb stick and flash the bios to the 1708 bios. if the bios is 0906 dont jump to the last bios. go int oyour bios first set it to default and then save and exit and then use the usb flash back and slowly update the bios and reset it between usb flash back updates. there is a known bug with asus boards and bios updates sometime after doing an update when you hit shutdown the board looks like it shutting off but the fans keep on running. if that happens to you turn off your power supply and unplug it from the wall let the mb green led drain and then clear the cmos. make sure you installed from the mb cd or from intel the newest intel chipset driver. also check in the bios that you have the pci video card bus speed set to auto as default and the pcix_3 setting to 1x default. if you set it to 4x per the asus guild it turn off the other pci ports. if the second card not seen try changing the pci bus speed from auto to 2x mode for both slots. see if it a multplex chip issues. the last thing to try is try turning off onboard video.

 

[cl-scott]

I just tried this again today and got essentially the same result. The board POSTs, the OS loads ( I hear the Windows Login screen chime ) but the monitor does not receive a signal from either video card in the second slot.

Okay, and so then in the effort of being thorough, have you tested these cards in another system to make sure they work there? Or even tried taking another video card and testing it with the Sabertooth Z77?

 

[jacksonmills]

Yes, these cards work in SLI on another system.

smorizio: Thanks for the advice, the bios is at 1708 now. Mine shipped with 1206. I checked the PCIx_3 setting and it was at 1x, so the second slot is not being turned off. I'm not sure how to turn off onboard video, or how to adjust the PCI mode for PCIx_1 or 2.

 

[smorizio]

look online it in the bios setting on the video guild.

 

[jacksonmills]

So I found out that installing a dedicated graphics card disables onboard video automatically.

I've tried upping the voltage to the RAM ( 1.5 to 1.65 ), but to no effect.

In my BIOS it actually SEES the RAM but does not make it available. I am not sure why.

I checked via my "Resource Manager" to see if the RAM was being reserved by the system, and it is not.

The second PCIe slot dosen't recognize the card no matter what I do. I force 1st gen, 2nd gen, and 3rd gen on each slot and nothing happens.

Any other advice?

 

[smorizio]

jack if the ram and slot not working check for bent pin or a seating issue with the cpu. if it not a bent pin then you have a dead board and need to rma it.

 

[jacksonmills]

I removed my heat sink + CPU ( god what a pain in the ass that was ) and found no bent pins on the motherboard socket. ( I have a 1155 so the pins are on the motherboard side )

After reseating, no change. I think I need to RMA.

 

[cl-scott]

I removed my heat sink + CPU ( god what a pain in the ass that was ) and found no bent pins on the motherboard socket. ( I have a 1155 so the pins are on the motherboard side )

After reseating, no change. I think I need to RMA.

Okay, so as far as the crossfire thing goes, have you flashed a different VBIOS to either GPU?

And then on the RAM issue, are you using a single 32GB kit or like 2x16GB kits? Would it be possible to get the full kit number?

 

[jacksonmills]

Okay, so as far as the crossfire thing goes, have you flashed a different VBIOS to either GPU?

And then on the RAM issue, are you using a single 32GB kit or like 2x16GB kits? Would it be possible to get the full kit number?

No, I haven't, but honestly if the second card is not even being recognized when its in the second slot but is being recognized when it is in the first ( the cards swap fine ) I really doubt that this has anything to do with the VBIOS or drivers.

It's a GSkill Ripjaw, 8GB x 4. All sticks work independently and the BIOS even recognizes them as being there - but it doesn't make the memory available.

 

[jacksonmills]

Great, I RMA'd the board and it came back and I am experiencing exactly the same issues.

What the hell is going on here? Are they just screwing around with me? I honestly thought the request finished pretty quick.

 

[smorizio]

if the mb is a new ser# then the ram controller in the cpu is bad.

 

[jacksonmills]

I don't think its a new serial #, where would I check that on the board?

 

[jacksonmills]

Also, the PCI-e card is still acting up; would that also be affected by the CPU?

 

[jacksonmills]

I mean, how can I actually detect that this is the CPU and not the motherboard if this is really the case, without buying a new CPU?

 

[smorizio]

http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/CS-031726.htm

there should be a ser# on the mb it should not be the same as the one you sent in. check your rma paperwork.

 

[MonsterTech]

So what was the end result? I have the same PCI slot issue, was the situation resolved?

 

[Zalgradis]

I have exactly the same problem in my new build (PCI-E slot 2 not recognising a GPU for SLI and booting with a blank screen if a single GPU is used in slot 2)

i7 3770k
Asus Sabertooth Z77
16GB (4x4GB) Corsair Vengeance
Corsair 1000HX


I have done the following:

- Tested 2x 680 GTX and a 660 in both slits 1 and 2. All cards worked in slot 1, windows simply booted up with a blank screen in slot 2.
- Installed my friends 3570k to eliminate the CPU
- Installed 3 different manufacturer RAM DIMMs to eliminate the RAM
- Daisied my friends Silver Power 850W PSU to power my system.

All of the above yielded the same result.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this other than a faulty board? Because i've pretty much exhausted all avenues.

Thank you.

- Dan

 

[TenPc]

You have to use the first slot for the video card, the second slot is for a second video card, you can't just use the second slot for the primary video card.

 

[Andre Araujo]

I HAVE SAME PROBLEM!
shame on asus! We need to make some pressure so they release a better bios for Graphics Card Problems!