New Geforce GTX 970 Installed = No Signal to Monitor

Mulatto_Rance

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Dec 21, 2014
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Greetings friends,

I recently ordered a new Zotac Geforce Gtx 970 from Amazon. I removed my old graphics card (a GTX 470), installed the new one, and booted it up. The computer seemed to be running just fine, as all the fans were operational and I heard the usual boot-up sounds. However, my monitor just switched back and forth between 'digital' and 'analog' several times, before shutting off. I was even able to type in my password and hear myself 'log in', but the monitor wouldn't turn on. (I was using the DVI connector).

I took out the new card, re-inserted the old card, and everything worked like a charm. But upon switching to the new card again and confirming that everything was properly attached/snapped in, same problem. I even tried bringing my TV monitor over and attaching by HDMI (as my computer monitor has no HDMI output), but no such luck there either.

I'm hoping to bring the card over to a friend's house tomorrow to see whether or not it works in his computer.

I browsed some other threads and saw recommendations about disabling old graphics drivers and also messing around with settings in the BIOS menu, but I'm not sure how any of that would help me if I can't even get the monitor to ever turn on in the first place. Also, I'm a pretty big noob when it comes to this stuff - I'm not even sure how to access the BIOS menu.

Also, my PSU is a Corsair 900W, so it shouldn't be a power issue. My motherboard is a Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3, and my processor is an Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600 CPU @3.40GHz

Thank you in advance!!
 
Put the old graphics card in so that way you can get the picture to display. After that, uninstall any and all Nvidia drivers. Shut down, reinstall the new card, and boot up. If it works install the newest drivers from Nvidia's website and you should be good to go.

If it doesn't work, after installing the new GPU, with the computer off, remove the battery on the motherboard for about 30 seconds and replace.
 


Thanks for the response - I'll give that a try today, as well as testing the card in a friend's computer! I'll have to do a little research about the motherboard battery (not entirely sure what it looks like hah). Will get back later with my results!
 


Uh oh. Welp, that doesn't sound good at all! On my way to a friend's house to rule out the graphics card being DOA. I pray it's faulty - I would hate to have to buy another motherboard, as it feels like it hasn't been that long since I bought this one.

But if it works fine on my buddy's computer, I'm gonna try ThatVietGuy's advice this evening!

 
don't know what to say on that but be sure you got the latest bios for your board and see where it goes on that , then try another brand card like the msi 970 on a return deal of the zotac??? --

I just wanted you to look over what I been seeing and you can judge it for yourself ... may contact your boards support and see what they tell you on that ??


don't know if this was part of the links I gave above or not ??

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2371304/gtx-970-2600k-gigabyte-z68x-ud3h-problems.html
 
Unfortunately, the card worked perfectly fine in his PC, so it sounds like I'm likely experiencing the same problem as the boatload of other Z68 owners who are trying to install a new Nvidia 900 series card.

I could still try uninstalling the Nvidia drivers for my old card and/or pre-downloading the Nvidia drivers for the new card, but I'm just not sure if it's worth the headache at this point (I'm really not very tech-savvy and remember running into a lot of headaches installing the drivers for my current card, whereby I had to download specific software just to erase all trace of the old drivers, etc...).

I am thinking I'm just going to head to Fry's tomorrow, give them all my specs, and get a new motherboard (probably Asus, as my buddy's mobo was Asus, and the new card worked just fine in his machine, without having to disable drivers or anything).
 


I'm not entirely sure how to check which version of BIOS I have or how to update it, but I may try to look into that later this evening, if I have a chance.

Otherwise, I think it may make more sense for me to go ahead and get a new motherboard at this point, as the card works fine, and I'm not sure I want to spend the time waiting for a return card, etc (when, who knows, it may not work with my mobo either), when I could just pick up a new board tomorrow. It would probably behoove me to have a newer one anyway, especially if my current one is having semi-compatibility issues with newer hardware like this. I really appreciate your letting me know about the already-existing issue!

 
well theres 2 revisions 1.0 and 1.3 of the board what one is yours ??

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3853#ov

I don't see a newer bios that says a thing on improve/update gpu compatibility on either of them ?????

sorry I just think these cards were rushed out to early so to make the x-mas rush and this maybe a backlash from that and no one got all there bios's updated or what ever the case may be on the cards or the boards ???
 


Yep, just as you said, I'm seeing problems with z68 + GTX 970's all over the place. I'm not sure which version my motherboard is, but it sound like a bit of a moot point, from what I'm reading. Will update as to how much success a new motherboard brings!
 
one guy here claimed and I thought I seen elsewhere is the they replaced there older psu [I assume the one the bought when they built there z68] with a new psu things worked ?? you have to base you own conclusion on this..

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2418519/msi-gtx-970-stability-issues.html

just looks like it works or it don't .. its crap to spend that kinda money the find now you got to spend more just to have something to work that should just be plug and play , enjoy not plug play and be pissed .. just you don't know where's the fault lies .. is it the vid cards bios ?? board bios ?? or just the board overall ?? its hard to look at that seeing older cards most time have a higher power requirement in the class so ??? it to me seems like a bios support issue of the card or the board [opinion]

like I said they were in a rush to make x-mas and goofed something in there rush to do so [more opinion]
 


Aaaaaah, how interesting. Yeah, I agree with you completely. There is already enough compatibility checking that you have to worry about when constructing your setup - it really sucks that sometimes things that check out on paper and SHOULD work 100% just don't. And all the logical solutions don't help, and something as random as switching out a power supply can fix everything hah.

I am almost positive that, in my situation, the power supply isn't the issue (but I guess you never know). I think it's actually more recent than the motherboard, and it's a 900 watt. Also, it seems like in most of the cases where it's a psu issue, the computer turns on, and then proceeds to crash on boot-up, or upon opening up a game. For me, the computer turns on and stays on just fine - all fans running perfectly, etc, but from square one, the monitor doesn't even recognize any kind of signal input, which suggests that the motherboard isn't even recognizing the card, which is consistent with all of those z68 problems that you showed me.

We went to Fry's today, and they didn't have any mobos compatible with my processor, so I'm going to go ahead and order one online. I will keep you updated and let you know if the new mobo fixes the problem, so you'll have my full case of evidence when helping other people in the future haha!

 
Update:

Unfortunately, we are back at square one. Even with the new motherboard, the monitor would still not turn on. Since we knew the graphics card had worked in his computer, we figured maybe it was a problem with my monitor, so we took my whole computer over to his house to plug into his monitor. His monitor did the same thing (flashing back and forth between digital and analog several times before shutting off).

So, despite all the different combinations we've tried in order to isolate the issue, all we know is that things just don't want to work with the new graphics card in my computer. Consequently, we also tried putting his GTX 680 in my computer, and that ALSO did not work. (Similar to the new card, we heard the computer boot up, but the monitor just wasn't turning on).

So, since my old 470 and old motherboard still work fine, I'm just going to send both the new mobo and the new card back. I'd like to try a different card, but since even my buddy's card didn't work in my PC, I don't even know if my finnicky machine is going to accept ANYTHING that's not exactly what's in it right now. Maybe I'll just order a different brand, or a non-900 series card and hope for the best.
 
Before sending them back, I think I will try looking into updating the BIOS and also uninstalling my old drivers and pre-installing the new ones. I seem to remember it being a huge headache getting my current drivers installed, but it would be worth it if that happened to be the solution!
 
did you try a different psu ?? maybe something wrong with it in some way ?? seemed like one of them guys said there older psu did not do the job even though it was plenty of power [ 750w I think] but he got a new up to date psu and all was well after that..

I just hate that your doing all this spending just over a card but seems that life with a 970 ???

compare you psu with your buddies seems that's about where your at with that now ??

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2418519/msi-gtx-970-stability-issues.html

and to think I had a 970 in the cart and something told me to back out and do the wait and see
 
Recheck all of your connections. Someone asked me for help with this very things. The issue they had was they didn't have a stick of ram seated properly. Started by trying one stick of ram, but no boot. Pulled the card, no boot from built in video. Checked the second stick of ram and it was not seated. Seated the ram, added the other components, and voila it booted.
 


Thanks for the tip ohiou_grad! I am fairly certain everything is seated properly at this point, as we have disassembled and reassembled everything - we even tried booting it up without RAM, and with just one stick of RAM. Also, in my situation, the computer doesn't seem to have any issue booting (I can hear the Windows logo, I can even hear myself log in to my account) - just the monitor refuses to come on. (Also, I'm using the PC right now to type this message, and it's registering all of the RAM.)

 


At this point, I certainly can't rule out anything as impossible hahaha, but given the fact that I'm not dealing with any sort of crashing or failure to boot, I just have a hard time believing that it's my psu (my psu is a 900w Corsair, and probably the most recent thing that was updated before this new graphics card). My buddy's is only a 650 or 750w, which I believe is about the same age as mine, and had no problem.

But just like you said, I would hate to buy a new psu just to find out that's (more than likely, I think) not the issue. Frustrating as it is, I think I can still return the card and the new motherboard no problem, and re-asses getting a different one. I may go to Fry's, explain the whole situation, and ask them for a card recommendation, so that way if it doesn't work, I can make them figure it out hahaha!

 
ya , I don't know . like I sasid above why it works on your buddies and nothing with yours and all you did ??

seeing all that mess its down to that psu ??? your monitor works -- card works in your buddies -- you changed the board and nothing -- its down to the one part you have not changed out . the psu ???

like I say crazy... your going to have $1000 put in to just to get a card to work --

tell you what if you rma that card to try a different one evga has released a newer card this week or so if you can get it to try ?? it may be '' new and improved'' I don't see any bios info on it to see if its changed over the original it replaced yet ??

http://hexus.net/tech/news/graphics/78613-evga-launching-new-improved-geforce-gtx-970-ssc-card/

MSI and zotac also have cards that have not been released yet but should be soon ???
 
Do you have an older spare card you can try with the system? Or can you borrow one? Also, since those intel chips should have built in video, start it without the 970 in there, check your bios and see if there is a setting for it to go to PCI E or onboard. On some older boards, they used to have an option like that where you could specify to it that it was to look on the AGP/PCI E slot for a video signal or try to use onboard. Worth checking.