Question is my top pcie slot dead?

[NatePotate]

cpu: amd ryzen 7 3700x
motherboard: msi mag b550 tomahawk atx am4
memory: silicon power 16 gb 2 x 8 gb ddr4-3200 cl16
storage: samsung 980 1tb m.2-2280 NVME
gpu: nvidia quadro fx 580
power supply: evga gd 2019 700w 80+ gold certified atx

so i made my first gaming pc but i got a temporary gpu in there tell im able to get a decent one but when i put it in the top pcie slot it wont give any image on screen and i get the vga light. the bottom pcie is fine my father use to be head of I.T a few years back and he said it was just bc the gpu was so old and outdated compared to everything else that i had to put it in the bottom pcie slot. but i wanna make sure that i don't have a dead pcie slot before i get the better gpu so i thought i would ask here see if anyone could confirm or deny this or anything inbetween. im knew to all this i just now made a account on here so sorry if it takes me a bit to reply or figure out how things work on here. also im told i suck at spelling so sorry if anything was hard to understand '^^

 

[Darkbreeze]

The graphics card being old or new shouldn't have anything to do with it working or not working in the top x16 slot. If it works in the lower x16 slot, it should work in the upper, primary one.

I would try installing it in the first slot after removing it completely from the board and doing a hard reset.

BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

Trying a different monitor as well, if possible, is also a good idea if there is a lack of display. It happens.

 

[Grobe]

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

I use to include an additional step after this, to press the power button. At least on very old systems this had the effect that it drained leftover charges in the psu - just to drain it quicker.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I use to include an additional step after this, to press the power button. At least on very old systems this had the effect that it drained leftover charges in the psu - just to drain it quicker.

Yes, my instructions include doing that if you read them.

 

[NatePotate]

The graphics card being old or new shouldn't have anything to do with it working or not working in the top x16 slot. If it works in the lower x16 slot, it should work in the upper, primary one.

I would try installing it in the first slot after removing it completely from the board and doing a hard reset.

BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

Trying a different monitor as well, if possible, is also a good idea if there is a lack of display. It happens.

alright i have time to try this a few days from now ill let you know how it goes.
i do wanna ask tho

1 will i have to reinstall windows after this?
2 should i back up any important files before doing this?
3 is this safe to do? like is there any chance that this could make things worse?

 

[Darkbreeze]

There is always a chance of things getting worse, even if you do nothing at all, but it is a common procedure that we recommend all the time so in that regard it's not like it's some voodoo ritual that could go wrong. LOL.

It should have nothing to do with any files, whatsoever, except those files/instructions used by the CMOS for BIOS configuration, and there is no way to back those up. They are hard coded to the BIOS ROM.

No, you should not have to reinstall Windows after doing this, unless there was already an existing problems with your Windows installation to begin with.

 

[NatePotate]

There is always a chance of things getting worse, even if you do nothing at all, but it is a common procedure that we recommend all the time so in that regard it's not like it's some voodoo ritual that could go wrong. LOL.

It should have nothing to do with any files, whatsoever, except those files/instructions used by the CMOS for BIOS configuration, and there is no way to back those up. They are hard coded to the BIOS ROM.

No, you should not have to reinstall Windows after doing this, unless there was already an existing problems with your Windows installation to begin with.

alright thank you. ill have time a few days from now to do so ill update you on how it goes!

 

[NatePotate]

ok sorry it took so long to get back to this but i tested it in the top slot one more time before i was about to to do what you suggested and it started working. ig i just didn't have it fully set in all the way the first 2 times? ether way it's working now so sorry for the inconvenient, and ty for helping even tho it was probably just me being stupid.

 

[Darkbreeze]

It is NEVER stupid to ask questions about things you are not sure about. What IS stupid, is moving forward on doing things when you DON'T know what you are doing. So, it's smart to ask, not stupid.

Besides which, as usual, if you had not asked you probably might not have gotten around to figuring out that it works right in the primary slot and works at half lane speed in the secondary one.

Glad it worked out for you and now you know what to look for if it happens again. Not getting the card fully seated is easy to do, even for veteran builders sometimes.