Ok so last night I purchased a large box of computer parts, some cool stuff in there. I built a POS gaming rig for my roomie, with an X800 GTO2 in it. There were some weird things happening. His PC wouldn't post. I tried all sorts of little things like clearing the RTC, reseating the card etc. Finally I decided to put the card in my gaming rig to see if there was a problem with the card. It booted fine! So I removed it and put the x800 back in the new build. Now it boots perfectly! Great!

I put my 4870 back into the slot and reconnect the power. Now when I start my pc up there's 3 red lights on the back of the card (On, Off, On, On) the card spins up briefly, then spins down. No display on my monitor. Tried other monitors, same deal. Cleared RTC, reseated card, removed all components using power so it was just the card and mobo and ram and nothing else. Still same deal. No beep codes, I don't think it's making it to Windows login though cuz I'm not hearing any sound.

Very frustrated, spent a few hours on it last night. In getting a POS rig going I accidentally borked my own.

Lots say its a power issue, but I calculated that my PSU has enough juice to power the card, especially since it worked fine before. For the 2x6 pin connectors I used the one from my PSU and for the other I used a molex-6pin adapter.

Maybe if Grizz or Dr. B see this I can lend em the card to see if it runs on their boards...

Denty, is that card still eligible for RMA?


EDIT: No, it is not eligible.

I just bought this card a few months ago. And had this problem from the first time I installed it in my board. I don't know how I fixed it then, I think it just fixed itself, but it was the exact same problem as this. I am really stumped/frustrated/defeated. I totally can't afford a new card right now, or a new PSU, but I'm in the middle of finalizing a project for my job, which I'm thinking now, this could actually mean me losing my job and livelihood because my PC crashed. Not very cool at all.

Have you tried reseating the heatsink? Sounds like it could be an overheating issue. Mine has done this a few times and eventually sorted itself out after multiple boot attempts

Did you reseat everything on your board that can be reseated? Obviously if its not posting, its one of 5 things giving you the issue.

Motherboard, Ram, Cpu, PSU or video card.

It can be fustrating for sure. Patience and testing.

Just a shot in the dark, but make sure your rams fully seated, sometimes you can hit the leavers when you seat the card.

I tried reseating everything at least once. I got a new case here I"m going to break down the whole pc tonight and put each piece in carefully. I don't even have a pci vid card to see if I can get into windows

this is off the amd/ati forums. ummm i dont know if that card is still able to be rma'd
i'll look into it.

http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview. ... adid=97885

Gosh darnit. Just rebuilt the whole thing in a new case, looks snazzy, still 3 red lights no display (i even think its posting in the bg, just cant see it).

Is it time once again to buy a new card? 4890 perhaps? Any good deals?

UPDATE: I tried putting the x800 that started this mess back in the board, but still no video.

Starting to think something happened when I put the x800 in my box to test, not sure what it is but it's frustrating the hell outta me. I must have cleared the rtc a dozen times still nothing. Could my board be fubard? (O god I hope not I just bought it)

Oh and Denty I found that link there while troubleshooting, but read elsewhere that alot if not all of the time it's a false positive, but it still means there's a problem somewhere. Most likely with my board...

well if you tried another working card and you got no video...then its not the card.

Once again, not even 6 months later, I'm left in a position where I don't know which component I need to replace. Seriously discouraged here, makes me want to give up altogether. Almost positive it's the board, must have been a discharge or sumtin when I first put the old card in my board. Or maybe the old card had a charge idk...

Screw AMD and go Intel!

Seriously. My recommendation is to borrow a PCI video card and see if the mobo will post with that, without a PCI-E card installed. Any 2D capable PCI card should suffice.

I may have an ATi 7500 PCI sitting around here, i'm not diggin around though unless you want me to.

I have a 1650 PCI-E that I know works and I don't care if it goes kaput if yer really desperate.

Update: I left the PC off for a while, reseated my 4870. Then try to boot. Now i get the post screen for a few seconds, then my monitor cuts out and says "no signal" maybe 10 secs after that my PC just shuts off on it's own. If I leave the PC off for a really long time, then the post screen appears, I can ALMOST make it to Windows, then the screen shuts off "No Signal" and the PC stays on for about a half hour. But eventually it does shut off. WTH is going on here. Thanks for the offer Steve-O but I'm in NG atm, I'll have to find some other stuff to test with.

This is getting to be heartbreaking lol

Oh and Dr. B. I'll gladly go Intel if you're cool with paying the difference of AMD-Intel hehe.
I'm not made of money here, I have to plan graphics card upgrades many months ahead lol.

hmmm silly question, but did you happen to bump your HSF when switching the cards back and fourth...and have you tried a BIOS reset...im sure if i ready your first few posts i would see the anwser..but well...im lazy....

Yup cleared the RTC a few times to no avail. Yes the HSF was bumped, and it was more of a jimmy rig job fitting a socket 939 cooler on an AM2 socket (but it worked) but I quickly reverted back to stock after seeing the PC reboot itself.

hmmm...have you tried disconnecting everything except essentials...i.e. optical, any usb except mouse and key, and just see if you can get it to boot...