Gigabyte G1 Sniper M3 - no video from card in pci-e 3.0 mode - complex problem

[ar1ur]

Hello everybody i have a problem which I've been trying to solve for more than a week now and haven't been able to.
I've built a new system consisting of:

1. Gigabyte Sniper g1 m3 mainboard (z77 intel chipset) - new (BIOS f9)
2. Intel i5 3570k ivy bridge processor -new
3. A-data 2x4mb 1600mhz gaming series memory - new
4. Hd7850 2gb Sapphire graphic card ( 2 months old - tested on my previous system on a assus p5e mobo with pci-e2.0 - working flawlessly)
5.Tagan 800W PSU - 2 years old - working flawlessly
6. 1 ssd 60gb corsair and 2x250gb segate barracuda sata drives

My problem is that my card after putting together my rig wasn't producing any video signal in the main pci-e 3.0 slot (fans were spinning at normal rate). I could only use my integrated graphics chip to go into bios and log into windows (my grapics card wasn't even visible in device manager then).
After trying to figure out what is the case i did the obvious which is - take out the card and put it back again, clean the pins (there wasn't much to clean as its a new mobo and almost new card), try a different power connector with the card and try different pci-e slots (2 of them are dedicated for pci-e 3.0 and one for 2.0).
After such troubleshooting i managed to figure out that the card was only working in the 2.0 pci-e slot(also visible in windows device manager then). After going into bios and lowering the pci-e gen to other values i observed that the card was working in the pci-e 3.0 slots when i change the value to 2.0 or 1.0(also visible in windows device manager) but when set to 3.0 or auto - no video.
At this point i wanted to find out what was the cause of this malfunction -the mobo, the card or ... i don't know maybe the i5 3570k proc.
After searching the sapphire forums i found 2 similar threads with similar problems:

1. http://www.sapphireforum.com/showthr...-with-PCIe-3.0 - also no video in pci-e 3.0 slot, also a gigabyte mobo, also i5 3570k -no solution found on the sapphire forums. I contacted the user he still hasn't found the solution to this problem, card works in 2.0 atm - the user suspects incompatibility issues between the MB and the card and not a hardware malfunction.
2. http://www.sapphireforum.com/showthr...ck-Z77-Pro3%29 -also no video in pci-e 3.0 but also not working when pci-e gen set to 2.0, also i5 3570k processor. Card only works in 1.1 mode. I contacted the user he returned the asrock MB an bought an Asus P8Z77-V LK - now card works in pci-e 3.0 slot - BUT ONLY WHEN pci-e gen set to lower than 3.0. No sollution found. The user also suspects incompatibility between Card and MB.

My question is - Does anybody now what is the problem in this situation ? Which component can be the culprit in this configuration. What can i do to test it further (Apart from testing my MB with another 3.0 card or testing my card in another z77 MB - not everybody has friends with high end equipment or wants to pay 30$ to an IT shop to do those tests for me)? Can somone confirm that he has a Sapphire HD7850 2gb card working in 3.0 mode without any issues in a Sniper g1 M3 motherboard (and if so what proccesor did they have).
And finally can i RMA the mobo if it comes out there is no hardware malfunction but only incompatibility between the MB and the card.

Thx in advance and sorry for the wall of thext but i wanted to provide as much data as possible.

ar1ur

[wazza300]

tested with latest f10a beta bios??

sniperm3.10a.zip

seems to be a bios issue between mb and that make/model of gpu to me

[Conners]

Hi and Welcome to TT forums. Please verify for me that in your bios that PCIE slot one is selected as the input.

[ar1ur]

tested with latest f10a beta bios??

sniperm3.10a.zip

seems to be a bios issue between mb and that make/model of gpu to me

I'm aware of the F10a beta bios however I'm hesitant about using a beta bios on my new system without even knowing it actually adresses pci-e 3.0 compatibility issues (I haven't found any notes on the changes in the bios)

Hi and Welcome to TT forums. Please verify for me that in your bios that PCIE slot one is selected as the input.

The only option in the bios which selects the video input is the "INIT DISPLAY FIRST" option which allows to switch between integrated graphics chip and the pci gpu. Currently its set to "auto" but testing other options "igfx" and "pci" hasn't yielded any possitive results to my problem

[wazza300]

beta bios is quite safe,im using one myself,fixed memory speed and usb mouse in the bios screens for me,theres not usually a list but you can flash back to your previous bios if it doesnt fix it

[ar1ur]

beta bios is quite safe,im using one myself,fixed memory speed and usb mouse in the bios screens for me,theres not usually a list but you can flash back to your previous bios if it doesnt fix it

i updated to the new f10a beta bios but unfortunately the problem persists. reverted back to f9. I'm looking for further help.

[wazza300]

tried emailing gigabyte and telling them the issue? they might be able to test and fix it with a bios update? or maybe post in the latest beta bios thread or pm stasio to pass it on to the bios engineers

[genericasian]

I'm running into the exact same problem, though mine started acting up just recently. I was troubleshooting something else (thought it was a GPU issue), so I've been through 3 7870 GPUs in the course of about a month. When I plugged in my last replacement about a week ago, it wouldn't boot up with the x16 slot. If I moved the card to the x8 slot, it came up and the system detected it as a 3.0 card. I thought it was the motherboard, so I went ahead and picked up a replacement just to test. I installed that today with the same results: no video from the x16 slot with everything set to auto. The only way I was able to get it to boot was to force the PCIe slot to Gen2 or Gen1. Gen3 and auto would yield no video. I've tried both with the F9 BIOS and the F10a beta BIOS with the same results.

[ar1ur]

I'm running into the exact same problem, though mine started acting up just recently. I was troubleshooting something else (thought it was a GPU issue), so I've been through 3 7870 GPUs in the course of about a month. When I plugged in my last replacement about a week ago, it wouldn't boot up with the x16 slot. If I moved the card to the x8 slot, it came up and the system detected it as a 3.0 card. I thought it was the motherboard, so I went ahead and picked up a replacement just to test. I installed that today with the same results: no video from the x16 slot with everything set to auto. The only way I was able to get it to boot was to force the PCIe slot to Gen2 or Gen1. Gen3 and auto would yield no video. I've tried both with the F9 BIOS and the F10a beta BIOS with the same results.

The 7800 series cards have some serious compatibility issues with gigabyte/asus motherboards. Despite trying to find a sollution to this problem on several official and unofficial forums absolutely nobody could help me - offical technical support for gigabyte and sapphire included. In the end i came to the conlusion the problem is ont the side of the gpu and am trying to RMA it.(givi ti back all togather and get my money back) When this will happen i'll buy an nvidia card (660 gtx or 660 gtx ti) and try with one of those.

I dont have the streangth to wait a year or longer until the manufacturers finally get their act togather and fix this problem with a bios update. - I advise you to do the same

[genericasian]

The 7800 series cards have some serious compatibility issues with gigabyte/asus motherboards. Despite trying to find a sollution to this problem on several official and unofficial forums absolutely nobody could help me - offical technical support for gigabyte and sapphire included. In the end i came to the conlusion the problem is ont the side of the gpu and am trying to RMA it.(givi ti back all togather and get my money back) When this will happen i'll buy an nvidia card (660 gtx or 660 gtx ti) and try with one of those.

I dont have the streangth to wait a year or longer until the manufacturers finally get their act togather and fix this problem with a bios update. - I advise you to do the same

The thing that's really sad for me is that everything worked just fine with the hardware I got originally. I was just seeing some odd artifacts with one game (in retrospect probably due to the graphics engine) and the driver occasionally crashing. When I RMAed the card, I got one back that locked up the machine whenever the monitors went to sleep and then also caused my internal network to go haywire. Now with the third card, it won't even be recognized in the x16 slot if it's set to PCIe 3.0. It works in the x8 3.0 slot (the one on the very bottom), but not the x16 slot. Let me know how things go with switching cards, I'm probably going to keep everything as is with the card running under x16 2.0, it probably won't do much to the performance at this point.