[SOLVED] Boot Issue with two Modern GPUs and an older Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H Motherboard

[thenuttybavarian]

I am using an older motherboard, a Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H and in March I removed my Radeon HD 6970 and replaced with an MSI Ventus 3x Geforce RTX 3070 in order to see if I could mine ETH. After powering on the computer it did not allow me to go back into the BIOS by hitting the delete key on the keyboard - no message displayed so I had to make sure my BIOS was properly configured without this GPU installed (I configured to use on-board video instead of auto detect). After about 10 seconds of being powered up with a blank/black screen (no signal being provided to the monitor), the system rebooted again. I had to wait about a minute before the system would actually display my login and the desktop. After that I was able to overclock the GPU using MSI Afterburner and bring up a browser to monitor the mining progress. I have rebooted several times since March and it boots fine... no rebooting, no dark screens with no signal, etc. I am expanding my crypto mining and assumed I could put two GPUs on this board and was able to obtain and AMD Gigabyte Radeon RX 6700 XT yesterday. After installing the GPU and upon booting up, the system did the same thing.... booted up, no way to hit a key to get into the BIOS, it rebooted twice maintaining a completely dark screen... and then nothing. I removed the 6700 XT and rebooted only with the RTX 3070. Once again, it booted and displayed a dark screen and after about 10 seconds it rebooted again, after about a minute the login screen presented itself and the computer is running fine. I rebooted again and this time no dark screen; it went straight into the long in screen. FYI, I am running window10 professional and before the 3070 installation I set the BIOS to use the onboard video instead of a GPU - autodetect seemed to be defaulting to the GPU. I also have a Corsair 850 watt gold series power supply so I know power isn't an issue. Has anyone run into similar issues or have a suggestion as to what might fix this? Also curious about the double reboot when it appears the motherboard "sees" a different configuration. Do I need to be more patient with two GPUs installed?

 

[logainofhades]

You might need to do a motherboard bios update, in order for them to work.

 

[thenuttybavarian]

You might need to do a motherboard bios update, in order for them to work.

I believe I checked the BIOS revision back in March and I had the most recent. I did think about that and plan to re-verify. But since I don't recall the BIOS level, I think the only way is to go into the BIOS utility which for some strange reason I am not able to when I have a new generation GPU installed. In March I had to put my old Radeon HD 6970 or use the onboard video with the new GPU removed. That to me is also very strange.

 

[logainofhades]

Have you tried a CMOS reset, before putting in the new GPU?

 

[thenuttybavarian]

Have you tried a CMOS reset, before putting in the new GPU?

No I haven't.... What would that do for me on such an old motherboard? Not even sure where/how to reset on this board.

BUT a little update on troubleshooting.... there are two PCIE connections on the motherboard. I removed the 3070 and left the 6700 XT in.... booted up in the slot I had it in originally... it cycled through a two reboots on its own and the SSD was flashing so something was going on. Then the SSD LED stopped flashing. I pressed a key on the keyboard and the system rebooted. I repeated this several times after the SSD LED stopped. There was no image on my monitor (plugged into the on board connector). I swapped the 6700 XT into the other PCIE slot and had the same results. I pulled the 6700 XT out and rebooted with NO GPUs in the computer and I was able to get into the BIOS. Verified Revision F15 10/23/13 and Gigabytes website advertises that is the last revision, however, the BIOS on their website has a date of 11/4/13, Do you think the variation of date is a concern? Normally I would think they would change the Rev level if there was a change. Anyway, I put the 3070 back in and it did it's normal thing after being out of the computer.... booted up... after a few seconds it rebooted... and after about a minute they system was logging in and kicking off the batch file to start mining.

So at this point I don't know if the 6700 XT is DOA or if there is an incompatibility issue. I would suspect the latter more than the former, but I don't have a secondary computer/motherboard set up yet.

 

[logainofhades]

CMOS reset clears all settings, in the bios. I had an old Asrock Z77 extreme4 that would not accept a new GPU, without a CMOS reset. Most boards have a jumper that you ground out, with the PC off, and unplugged. The other way is to have it off, unplugged, and remove the battery, from the board for a couple minutes.

 

[thenuttybavarian]

CMOS reset clears all settings, in the bios. I had an old Asrock Z77 extreme4 that would not accept a new GPU, without a CMOS reset. Most boards have a jumper that you ground out, with the PC off, and unplugged. The other way is to have it off, unplugged, and remove the battery, from the board for a couple minutes.

So... dumb question here.... if you do a reset, I presume there is some sort of backup in the CMOS so that it doesn't wipe or erase? And if so, that would imply the current CMOS might have been corrupted? Am I correct in this assumption?

I have never done a reset like that before and I hesitate doing it for fear of it making the issue worse.... to the point the 3070 might not work afterwards. Besides in time, hopefully not long period of time, I will retire this motherboard. At least that's the plan... and plans can always change. I actually had hoped I could get risers and use this motherboard for a small rig setup since it still works and is paid for.... but I may be limited on what GPUs can go onboard. I will have to rethink that.

 

[logainofhades]

CMOS reset will reset the board to factory, out of the box settings. It would be the same if you bought a brand new board, with your current bios revision, and built a system with it.