GA-Z77X-UP5 TH no POST display for thunderbolt or PCIe GPU, only Windows shows.

[duntuk]

I can't get any POST screen to display until my PC actually boots into Windows--everything is running fine, except nothing shows until windows actually boots up.

(and yes, I tried the stock settings, and overclock settings; same result... also tried BIOS F4 (which shipped with the board) F9 and F10 (my current BIOS)

I tried the following:

• EVGA GT430 PCIe (I pulled this from my media center), no POST display. Windows displays OK
  
  • connected via HDMI to HDMI Samsung LED
  
  
• ATI 4970 PCIe no POST display. Windows displays OK.
  
  • connected via mini display port to 2010 imac mini display port
    
    • POST displayed fine on my previous x58 EVGA motherboard; using same GPU
    
    
  • connected via HDMI to HDMI Samsung LED (no post display)
  
  
• Integrated Intel Thunderbolt no POST display. Windows display OK
  
  • connected via Thunderbolt port to Apple Thunderbolt Display
  
  
• Integrated Intel HDMI, POST display OK, Windows display OK
  
  • connected via HDMI to HDMI Samsung LED

Any idea what's going on here? Is there maybe a voltage setting I should try setting?

The only thing that shows a POST screen, is the integrated Intel graphics HDMI port.

[Acebmxer]

depending how your display is connected to motherboard did you set that as the first display device in bios?

I have you cleared the cmos and load optimized defaults?

[duntuk]

Yup, you're right, had to do the following:

1. set the initial display to igfx (internal intel graphics)
2. set "Reserved IO for Thunderbolt" to "40"... the default "20" didn't work for whatever reason.
3. set "Internal Graphics" to "enabled" (the default "AUTO" would disable internal graphics completely IF a GPU was installed)

Now here's the kicker... I tried several countless combination and there was NO possible way of getting thunderbolt to work from factory settings--at least with the Apple Thunderbolt Display.

Meaning, if you only had an Apple Thunderbolt Display, you wouldn't see anything with this motherboard--you'd simply think it doesn't work.

I bought my Apple Thunderbolt Display when it first came out... Not sure if there were any firmware updates or whatnot, since then... it has been patiently sitting on my desk waiting for a compatible PC thunderbolt solutions, till a couple days ago

Well... it's def not without it's quirks. And I don't think it's primetime ready for the PC--feels very early beta (doesn't feel solid like it does on the Mac)

First, Virtu MVP (software that switches from intel graphics to GPU when it detects a 3D game), that is hit and miss... I got MW3 to work great, but Skyrim a no-go... which kinda sucks for me, cause that's the game I've been playing most... Thankfully, I still have my 2010 iMac which, btw, still doesn't show any POST (only works when windows is loaded) when connected to my ATI 7970 card... There gotta be some kind of other setting I'm missing in the BIOS--because like I said, I tried countless combination...

I can't daisy chain sh*t from the Apple Cinema Display--example can't do: GA-Z77X-UP5 TH to ATD to 2010 iMac... supposedly the end device needs to be Thunderbolt--so i read...

So basically, the way I'm running dual screens is the ATI 7970 connected to the iMac and GA-Z77X-UP5 TH thunderbolt connected to ATD...

Oh... and there are no brightness controls for the ATD, had to install bootcamp 4.0 to get that working--feels kinda beta too (takes like 2 minutes for it to start working)

So that's it, and that's that... If i could go back in time, I'd get the Apple Cinema Display instead...

[duntuk]

Just found out today, that you can use the Thunderbolt port to drive a mini display port display. So now I'm using the 2 Thunderbolt ports.

1 thunderbolt port to drive the ATD
1 thunderbolt port to drive the iMac

So this turned out pretty good. However, playing games I now have to completely rely on Virtu MVP.

[Acebmxer]

Sorry I have no Thunderbolt devices or displays.