Graphics card failure beep code, a mystery

[jhsachs]

I'm doing some work that requires frequent switching among different graphics cards, and I've noticed an odd pattern with many of the cards I use. When I power up or reboot, a card often gives me a "video card failure" signal (one long beep). The same cards tend to do this over and over. If I boot again the card comes up normally on the second or third try.

This is not a random failure that I can get past if I just keep trying. If it were, cards that didn't work the third time would sometimes work the fourth time, and cards that didn't work the fourth time would sometimes work the fifth time. In fact, in the rare cases where a card doesn't come up on the third try, it's broken, and it never comes up.

If someone knows a way to fix this problem, so that a working card always boots on the first try, I'll be delighted. Mainly, though, I just want to understand why it's happening.

The motherboard is an EVGA 132-CK-NF79. The graphics cards are mostly four to ten years old, of various brands and models, but all based on one or another NVIDIA chipset.

 

[DRagor]

You may try resetting CMOS before you put another card into mobo. That way you force BIOS to check what GPU it has connected, and not to rely on previous (and for obvious reason incorrect) data. But that only makes sense if your BIOS is close to default settings, otherwise the need to restore all settings to what you need them after each reset would make whole operation longer then just few reboots.

 

[jhsachs]

Just when does the motherboard check the GPU, and when does it assume the GPU is the same as it was?

I'm asking because the "video card failure" error occurs both when I power up the system without changing the card, and when I press Reset after a successful boot. It seems to me that when system fails to boot ("Hey!" This isn't a GKxyz GPU!") and then succeeds ("Oh! It's a GFpqr now!") it ought to remember its new-found insight, but it evidently doesn't.

So far as I can recall, my CMOS settings are pure vanilla. I'll have to confirm that before I try your suggested experiment, though, and it may be several days before I can make time.

In any case it will be an experiment, not a solution; even with no settings to change, clearing the CMS settings before a reboot would be more trouble than hitting Reset once or twice. I appreciate the idea, and it may lead to useful insights, but by itself it won't solve the problem.

 

[DRagor]

So it is like motherboard keeps 'forgetting' what GPU is installed, or can't recognize that there's a GPU at all.
If it was former, I would have to ask when last time you put new battery into motherboard. Failing battery can make mobo 'forget' some things. Although I doubt it would be that.
The latter problem however, it seems more possible. So you often change GPUs at that motherboard. Now, every time you install or remove GPU, friction causes some damage to both contacts on PCIe slot and GPU too. With enough repetitions, you could possibly damage contacts to the level they sometimes not connect, causing the mobo to not recognize installed card. Yeah, I know it's a wild shot, but what you wrote about cards that won't come up on third try plays well with this.

 

[jhsachs]

That occurred to me, and for a long time I thought it was the problem. But I'm now sure that it's not, because I stopped turning the machine off after each failure and reseating the card. I just hit the reset button, and I get exactly the same results. If the contacts weren't electrically connected, that couldn't happen.