Installing ATI HD5450 does not let computer start

[tulgomen]

Hi, I have installed a PCIe radeon HD5450 1Gb ddr3 card on an Asrock 775Twins HDTV mobo with Pentium D 930 dual core processor. I have 4Gb ddr2 ram.

The mobo has an onboard ati 300x graphic card but on the bios I selected to start with pcie slot.

When I try to boot, the front leds (dvd, hd and floppy) start blinking and I don't get any signal on monitor.

I think there may be a problem with the psu (I don't think I have more than 300w). Or that this mobo does not accept 1Gb ddr3 graphic card memory.

Can anyone help? I only changed the graphics to try out Civilizaton V, and could not run it. Now I don't want to end up upgrading psu and mobo, or reinstaling the cmos.

Thanks

 

[rgd1101]

if you want help, give us the full spec.

 

[blazorthon]

You might have a PCIe 2.1 version of the Radeon 5450. PCIe 2.1 cards (a common PCIe version for Radeon 5000 and especially Radeon 6000 cards) are notorious for compatibility issues with old motherboards that run a variant of PCIe 1. If you can give us specification info for the system and especially the mobo and that 5450, then we can try to determine if this is your problem or if it isn't, what the problem is.

 

[tulgomen]

You might have a PCIe 2.1 version of the Radeon 5450. PCIe 2.1 cards (a common PCIe version for Radeon 5000 and especially Radeon 6000 cards) are notorious for compatibility issues with old motherboards that run a variant of PCIe 1. If you can give us specification info for the system and especially the mobo and that 5450, then we can try to determine if this is your problem or if it isn't, what the problem is.

Hi,

Thanks for your help.

I'll try to add as many details as I can, but please let me know how to obtain more specific information if required.

PSU = 500w Tecnimax
mobo = Asrock 775Twins HDTV dual core CPU Pentium D 930 3.00Ghz (http://www.asrock.cn/mb/overview.asp?Model=775Twins-HDTV)
This mobo has an onboard graphic card: ATI Radeon Xpress 200 series, through the bios I allocated 128Mb ram
BIOS = AMD P.1.70 (newest version 2.10)
RAM = 2x2Gb DDR2 400Mhz Transcend

About the new graphic card: (http://www.powercolor.com/us/products_features.asp?id=385#Specification)
PowerColor Go! Green: HD5450 1GB DDR3 HDMI(V3)
Part Number: AX5450 1GBK3-SHV3
Graphics Engine: RADEON HD5450
Video Memory: 1GB DDR3
Engine Clock: 650MHz
Memory Clock: 400MHz x 2
Memory Interface: 64bit
PCIE 2.1 (you were right!)

It appears that I either update the bios, there is an incompatibility with the PCIE 2.1 or the clock speeds don't match.

What do you think?

Thanks again for your help

 

[blazorthon]

Glad to help
I think that those specs are sufficient. The motherboard's page doesn't specify a PCIe version, so it's undoubtedly a PCIe 1 variant, probably PCIe 1.0a or PCIe 1.0. You can usually accurately assume that it's one of the 1 variants for any such interface when the version number is not specified on an older board.

You can try updating the motherboard's BIOS. If that doesn't work, then you'll probably have to get a different graphics card. This is at least the third time this year where I've found a thread here at Tom's about the compatibility issue with PCIe 2.1 graphics cards and old PCIe 1 motherboards and each one has ended in replacing the graphics card with one that wasn't a PCIe 2.1 card such as a GT 240 or an older PIe 2.0 version of a Radeon 5450, so I'm not putting much trust in the BIOS update working 🙁

I've read that the graphics card's BIOS can be changed out to force legacy PCIe 1 compatibility at the sacrifice of PCIe 2/2.1 compatibility, but I've never seen it done and I think that you need a motherboard that is compatible with the card to do it.

What clock frequency are you referring to by saying that it's possible that the clock speeds don't match?

 

[tulgomen]

What clock frequency are you referring to by saying that it's possible that the clock speeds don't match?

I thought that the Mhz on the graphic card and the mobo had something to do with it. I heard a friend talking about it and I was quite lost

So I have to change graphic card to a lower version or update the mobo. I will not mess around with the bios, as I may end up worse than I am now

I'll look for threads about the pcie version and check with local dealer for a different card. The only drawback is wether I will be able to play a game such as Civilization V with this configuration.

Many thanks!

 

[blazorthon]

What clock frequency are you referring to by saying that it's possible that the clock speeds don't match?

I thought that the Mhz on the graphic card and the mobo had something to do with it. I heard a friend talking about it and I was quite lost

So I have to change graphic card to a lower version or update the mobo. I will not mess around with the bios, as I may end up worse than I am now

I'll look for threads about the pcie version and check with local dealer for a different card. The only drawback is wether I will be able to play a game such as Civilization V with this configuration.

Many thanks!

None of the clock frequencies on the card affect mobo compatibility AFAIK. They shouldn't have anything to do with the rest of the system. GPU frequency, GPU memory frequency, RAMDAC frequency, etc. are all independent of the motherboard for discrete graphics cards.

IDK what is referred to be mobo frequency. The only thing that I can think of for a mobo frequency would be the base clock or FSB (depending on the platform) and that has almost absolutely nothing to do with graphics cards. The only case where it presents a problem is for the LGA 1155 platform because it's base clock affects the PCIe clock. That is not true for your system because it uses an FSB that is independent of the PCIe clock.

Glad to help

 

[tulgomen]

Hi,

I am going to change it for a Gigabyte Geforce 210. That's a pcie 2.0, and it looks that it may work 🙂

However I'm stuck on the checking nvram screen and the computer freezes. From what I read it can be many things (update cmos, reset cmos to default, check installed ram, psu, card not inserted correctly, etc).

But I think it is either:
a) that the card does not fit right, meaning that the "L" shape of metal piece with the connectors (¿the bracket?) touches the top of the slots area (not sure if this is a fair description, but the other pci cards I have have a taller "L" shape). I'm talking 1 or 2 millimeters, no more.

b) or it is the ddr3 1Gb ram on the graphic card.

c) or it's an update on the cmos. I really would hate to touch this because I'm not sure if I can do a Ctrl-Z X-D

Not sure if I should post it here, but as you have been very helpful I thought to give it a try 🙂

Thanks

 

[popatim]

I was wondering if you made sure "Surround View' was also disabled after setting the 'Primary Graphics Adapter' to pcie?

 

[tulgomen]

I was wondering if you made sure "Surround View' was also disabled after setting the 'Primary Graphics Adapter' to pcie?

I didn't see that option. Will look for it on the bios.

Thanks!