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7970 Issues (card fans spin, LEDs light, but nothing else)

2K views 20 replies 6 participants last post by  Mega Man 
#1 ·
Hello all,

I'm working on my new build and decided I wanted to put in my second Vapor-X 7970 3GB back in for Crossfire. The issue is this though: It might as well not exist to my computer.

The second card spins up and all of the pretty lights turn on (see picture below) but there's no mention of it in CPU-Z, device manager, anything. Also, while the second fan on my primary card will turn off, both fans on the second card always spin (I'm assuming that means it's not communicating with anything and thus entering a fail-safe of keeping the fan on always). Pictures and more info below:



Now, I figured "Perhaps it just needs to be alone to be seen for the first time." So I isolated the non-functioning card. Everything boots up, no error code on my Crosshair V Formula-Z, but no display on my monitor. Then I tried swapping it to PCI-E slot 1. Same thing. I'm stumped, and truly want both cards to work again. It's been safe in it's anti-static bag in it's box for the past 5 months while it wasn't in use. Anyone have any ideas what could be wrong?

Thanks,

Matt

Rig info:
Case - Corsair Obsidian 750D
PSU - Corsair AX860i
Mobo - ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z
CPU - AMD 8350
CPU Cooler - Corsair H100i
Memory - Corsair Vengance 1866 (32GB)
SSD - Samsung 850 Evo 500GB(boot Drive)
OCZ Vertex 4 256GB
HDD - WD Blue 1TB
 
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#2 ·
how many times have you reinstalled this card in the slot
 
#3 ·
Try turning pc off with only the bad gpu , disconnect power cord and hold power button for 10-15 secs to drain any residual charge and flip the bios switch on your card and start up pc see what happens
 
#5 ·
check to see if there are any debris in the slot, also check in the bios there is a screen that will show you if the board sees the GPU , if it does odds are it is an issue with windows/drivers/firmware
 
#8 ·
Sounds to me like a bad video card.
 
#10 ·
It happens. Could have just been a dud from the beginning.
 
#11 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord Xeb View Post

It happens. Could have just been a dud from the beginning.
Yeah, but it wasn't. This was the original card in my "Big Red" build, then I swapped to my "newer" card and put that one in it's box. It's disappointing. I'll keep troubleshooting it for the next few days, see what I can figure out, and put in a support ticket with Sapphire. I don't have my receipt though, so I doubt I'll get anywhere with them.
 
#15 ·
hahaha

why do people not believe baking will work

it really does

congrats glad for you
 
#16 ·
I got a 7950 crossfire setup Vapor X as well. Try doing this.

First are foremost see if your bios detects it. With my asus Rampage Extreme it lets me know that both my cards are showing as 16x before even getting to Windows and enabling crossfire. If it doesn't show in bios then try shutting down the PC. Press the bios boost button on the card that isn't being detected and then see if it shows in bios. You will see a blue light on the side of the card. It is possible one of the cards may have attempted to be flashed at some point and has a non functional bios. If the 2nd card is detected with the boost bios then boot to windows. Make sure your crossfire bridge is connected properly. Shut down your PC and fix the bridge if it isn't and restart. After Windows boots enable crossfire with Catalyst Control Center.

Now keep in mind if it did boot on the boost bios and you want to fix it for good you will need to reflash the original bios on the card with a stock 7970 vapor X bios which you can download or research on here.

If both bios' are not being detected I would say double check your motherboard settings also to ensure you did not disable a PCIe slot by mistake. At absolute worst try another PCIe slot and see how if you get any life. I would also attempt to put it in the main PCIe slot that the existing card is in and just see if it shows any life. Then troubleshoot from there. Good Luck.
 
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Reactions: matt9882
#17 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by danycyo View Post

I got a 7950 crossfire setup Vapor X as well. Try doing this.

First are foremost see if your bios detects it. With my asus Rampage Extreme it lets me know that both my cards are showing as 16x before even getting to Windows and enabling crossfire. If it doesn't show in bios then try shutting down the PC. Press the bios boost button on the card that isn't being detected and then see if it shows in bios. You will see a blue light on the side of the card. It is possible one of the cards may have attempted to be flashed at some point and has a non functional bios. If the 2nd card is detected with the boost bios then boot to windows. Make sure your crossfire bridge is connected properly. Shut down your PC and fix the bridge if it isn't and restart. After Windows boots enable crossfire with Catalyst Control Center.

Now keep in mind if it did boot on the boost bios and you want to fix it for good you will need to reflash the original bios on the card with a stock 7970 vapor X bios which you can download or research on here.

If both bios' are not being detected I would say double check your motherboard settings also to ensure you did not disable a PCIe slot by mistake. At absolute worst try another PCIe slot and see how if you get any life. I would also attempt to put it in the main PCIe slot that the existing card is in and just see if it shows any life. Then troubleshoot from there. Good Luck.
Everything is working fine after the bake - but thanks for the great write-up. + rep, for sure.

Also, kick-ass avatar. NYG should have a great season incoming.
 
#18 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mega Man View Post

hahaha

why do people not believe baking will work

it really does

congrats glad for you
Dude. I was skeptical. I was constantly convinced this was a "Apple added a super-fast-charge if you microwave your iPhone" troll that just went waaaaaaay to far, and everyone was in on it but me.

Then I figured, "Hell, it's just a fancy lookin' paperweight right now anyway, might as well give it a try."

Seriously, I still can't believe it works.
 
#19 ·
umm iirc either linus or tek has a video about it,
basically what it does, some times what happens is the solder forms micro cracks

and eventually the solder points are cracked to the point of no connectivity

the oven reflows the solder

makes the connection again.

now it works

idk if you know about the " wrap the xbox in a towel " fix when xbox360s started failing left and right

it was basically the same thing, but they used the chip to heat up the solder, but it failed as they dont get nearly hot enough
 
#20 ·
Yeah, I watched some of the videos, but none that went that in-depth. I understood the principle, but was worried that other pieces would be damaged. The bios switch got a little deformed (even with an aluminum foil shield) but otherwise, everything seems ok.

It was stored in the trunk of my car for the past month or so. I wonder if the extreme temperatures (sometimes below 0 here in Jersey City) could have caused the cracks.
 
#21 ·
no
it is because it is illegal to use leaded solder in many countries ( mainly uk area )

so they use unleaded, which after use heats and cools ( heats when electricity flows through it cools when doesnt ) cracks
 
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