GTX 970 won't POST on Asus Z97 Extreme4

[matthiasShap]

I just got an ASUS GeForce GTX 970 STRIX to put into my box. I installed it the PCIe 3.0 slot, plugged in the PCIe power on the card (I'm getting a light on the LED1 on the card, but not the LED3) and the box won't POST. Nothing. I don't get anything when I press either the case power button or the on-board power button.

I'm running an Asus Z97 Extreme4 motherboard that was running fine before I installed the 970. I've triple-checked the motherboard power connectors, and re-set the memory. My power supply is 850W, which should be more than enough to power this thing. I've tried plugging in the extra PCIe molex connector, but I'm not supposed to need that until I have cards in SLI.

In the interest of complete information, the 970 is a big mofo, the back of it is touching the hard drive encloser space in the box, but I'm pretty sure I got it set properly into the PCIe slot.

I'm stumped. Going to take everything apart & put it back together soon, but that is clearly a blind attempt to try anything.

UPDATE: Mentioned below, but putting it here too. Out of desperation, I pulled out my power supply (which is pushing 6 years old) disassembled it and cleaned out 6 years of dust and grime from it. Put it back together, plugged everything in and everything works just fine.

I don't know enough about why a power supply would produce lower power based on dust, but that seems to be what happened.

 

[ubercake]

I haven't seen a GPU yet (but I haven't seen everything) that did not require power to all inputs; SLI or not.

Make sure you have power going to all of the power inputs.

Also, make sure your BIOS is updated.

What kind of 850W power supply do you have? Make / Model?

----

Update... You get 75W from the slot and 150W from the 8-pin connector. You definitely need to attach 8-pin PCI-e power to this beast.

 

[Because0789]

Yeah you need BOTH of the 6 pins populated and you should avoid using the molex adapter, any decent 850watt should have at least 4 6+2 pin connectors. I don't think you have an "Asus Extreme4" that sounds more like the ASRock Extreme4. Will the box start without the GPU? If not it is something else not related to the GPU. Make sure the switch on the PSU is turned on, make sure you have all of the motherboard PSU cables properly seated

 

[ubercake]

Yeah you need BOTH of the 6 pins populated and you should avoid using the molex adapter, any decent 850watt should have at least 4 6+2 pin connectors. I don't think you have an "Asus Extreme4" that sounds more like the ASRock Extreme4. Will the box start without the GPU? If not it is something else not related to the GPU. What exactly does happen when you hit the power button? Which fans spin, etc?

There's only an 8-pin power connector on this GPU?
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/asus-geforce-gtx-970-strix-review,2.html

 

[Because0789]

Oh right some of the 970 did that, then yeah it doesn't have anything to with the GPU I think

 

[ubercake]

That's true. Most 970s use 2 6-pins. This one is unique. Definitely need to connect that 8-pin power though.

 

[thekyle64]

make sure that you plugged a pci power cable into the card not an eight pin cpu power cable (some power supplies come with two cpu power cables and they look very similar)

 

[junkeymonkey]

don't know if this helps and I just recalling what I thought I seem but , someone said it was the onboard vga and the drivers for it caused a conflict so he removed the onboard/chip vga driver and re started back on the card got in to windows desktop and loaded the cards driver and all was good ????

also be sure the bios is set for pci slot vga --

 

[Because0789]

The computer doesn't start at all, if it was just a GPU issue it would start and fans would spin but then there wouldn't be a picture and the fans on the card might not spin. I don't think they have tried booting without the card from what they said.

 

[junkeymonkey]

ya I see I had this once where the computer would act like it would start as in power on fans would spin nothing would post or display but then it would shut down and restart and just kinda loop like that so I ordered a new builds and disambled that one and found the psu had leaking swollen caps found one cap on the board was swollen but the psu really looked bad and I figured it cause all my issues on that in the end [???] so has this guy tried another psu to see where its at on it ??? he says its a 850w but what kind of 850w ?? topend or el'cheapo ??

also is this a asus board or a asrock?? [extreme 4] ??

I also see at asrock the 130 bios call out -- Update VBIOS ??? is this for these newer cards to work??? [never thought I see the day a gpu was not just plug and play item ]

 

[junkeymonkey]

I found this at powercolors site


This status happen because mainboard could not detect UEFI bios of display card correctly during booting process ,so , please check website of mainboard vendor for newest BIOS and update this bios to solve this status .

so I guess its a uefi bios issue so you may need to update the motherboards bios to recognize newer cards -- wow so now I guess they tell you what card will woke on there boards and can prevent some to not as they see fit??

 

[Because0789]

I think we need to figure out if the computer boots at all without the GPU before we start telling them to try updating the bios.

 

[junkeymonkey]

he said above '' I'm running an Asus Z97 Extreme4 motherboard that was running fine before I installed the 970.''

so now what??

 

[Because0789]

Hmm, good point I'd say he unplugged something installing the card or like was suggested earlier he is using a CPU 8-pin instead of a PCIe 6+2 or 8 pin like he should be.

 

[junkeymonkey]

well , really no telling but I now see 1 or 2 of this type thread with this card and I guess now a days with this wonderful uefi bios if that don't give you a bios that will work with the hardware you want to use it won't work until they do and you flash to it .. [kinda looks like they can now control what hardware you can put on there boards as they see fit] so I guess if a new hardware comes out and lts say don't like it they can adjust there boards bios to prevent you from using it ???? seems years ago it was talked about when uefi started to show up on boards

 

[matthiasShap]

Thanks for all the discussion, suggestions. I'm probably going to look stupid for this, but the problem went away last night. Out of desperation, I pulled out my power supply (which is pushing 6 years old) disassembled it and cleaned out 6 years of dust and grime from it. Put it back together, plugged everything in and everything works just fine.

I don't know enough about why a power supply would produce lower power based on dust, but that seems to be exactly what happened.

 

[junkeymonkey]

well good deal --- it could of just been a loose or dirty part and removing it to clean and reseting the plugs all across the board and all scratched in better contact ????

but main thing is it works and now I hope you get to enjoy

 

[ubercake]

Thanks for all the discussion, suggestions. I'm probably going to look stupid for this, but the problem went away last night. Out of desperation, I pulled out my power supply (which is pushing 6 years old) disassembled it and cleaned out 6 years of dust and grime from it. Put it back together, plugged everything in and everything works just fine.

I don't know enough about why a power supply would produce lower power based on dust, but that seems to be exactly what happened.

That's great that you got it working, but I still wouldn't trust the 970 running on a power supply like that. That 970 cost you good money. Cleaning it could be a temporary solution, but if the PSU is moody like that and you know it, consider yourself lucky. I would definitely be shopping for a PSU replacement if I were you. I wouldn't run the PC until I installed the replacement.

 

[junkeymonkey]

@ ubercake
ya, I was thinking the same thing just did not post it

 

[jb6684]

Agree with Junkeymonkey, connectors on power supplies are prone to oxidation over the years. Simply unplugging and re-plugging will "scrape" clean the contacts.

Since the GTX 970 draws Only 145watts, it likely draws LESS than the GPU you upgraded from. So, I wouldn't worry too much about the power supply.

 

[Because0789]

There is also the possibility that unplugging and re-plugging all of the cables fixed a cable that was not quite plugged in.

 

[junkeymonkey]

not to say its how it is ,but when I reuse old stuff like a psu or a harddrive I end up wishing I just got a new one when its all said and done

6 year old psu may be getting close to the end of life and if it was to pop it may take the card or board with it [opinion]