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M18X R2 Not Recognizing 2nd AMD Radeon HD7970M
Hello,
I just finished installing a second AMD HD7970M in Crossfire configuration in my M18X R2, and now my computer won't recognize either of the graphics cards. I've already tried the FAQ solutions for being stuck in Integrated graphics mode/graphics card not recognized, but none of the solutions worked. When I press F2 for setup on boot, it only lists my Intel graphics, and says "None Detected" for both the graphics card 1 and graphics card 2 slots. I'm about at wit's end trying to search for an answer to this type of issue, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
CougarPilot
10 Posts
1
June 12th, 2013 15:00
After swapping the new GPU into the original GPU slot, I determined that the new card is bad. Working with the vendor to file a shipping claim with USPS. Thankfully it's insured, fingers crossed...
CougarPilot
10 Posts
0
June 6th, 2013 23:00
Sorry, forgot to specify: this is with Windows 8. The single 7970m worked just fine, I've only had problems after installing the 2nd one. Just want to eliminate any software issues before I consider blaming it on the hardware (card or x-fire cable).
CougarPilot
10 Posts
0
June 7th, 2013 15:00
Update: I removed the 2nd (crossfire) 7970M and re-installed Catalyst 13.6, and the computer is once again recognizing the original 7970M. I had Catalyst 13.6 installed properly before installing the 2nd card, so I'm guessing that this is not a driver issue. At this point I'm inclined to think that the problem lies with either the 2nd graphics card or the Crossfire cable, but don't have another one of either laying around to try. The Crossfire cable would be inexpensive and easy to test, however another 7970M would not. Any ideas, short of just returning the kit for another?
89fordprobee
1.2K Posts
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June 7th, 2013 17:00
well to test if cable is issue you can simply just unplug cable form the primary card... it should detect.... card and just give error saying xfire cable is missing in catalyst control center ....
only reason I know this is when I recived my M17X R2(replacement 1st system for broken R1) it had dual 5870's the last M17X to have dual cards at that, but anyway when I went to enable Xfire it said Cable was missing.. I was WTH , opened it up, wasn't plugged in.. POOR POOR Q/A Dept.
Second incident , second card failed(bad ram causing artifacting) dell sent replacement card, system refused to post after that card was added..... defective unknown, but later down the road I did some reading and if the video bios's didn't match it can cause issues with not detecting secnd card or even posting....
im unsure were you got the video card but if it dosent have dell's video bios it might conflict aswell unless its dell's then I would find out what bios rev it has and make sure your current card is updated with the same ..
unplug Xfire cable and try posting that way and see if it detects it.... if not might be dead card or conflicting VBIOS
this was my experience with 5870's on a M17X R2 ..... I currently run a M18X R2 with dual 7970's and gawd the heat.....
ALSO do you have the 330Watt PSU...... otherwise you wont be able to run it either .. as not enough power ..
mine shows DELL PN: 0Y90RR
CougarPilot
10 Posts
0
June 8th, 2013 06:00
Thanks for the recommendations, I'll re-install the 2nd 7970M without the cable and see if the cards get recognized or not. Hopefully they do and it's just the cable. If not, then the card is most likely bad as it was pulled from another new M18X R2 so it should be configured identically to the original one; even if there were a vBIOS difference, I'm assuming Windows would at least detect the card, which it wasn't doing for either card when both were installed. And I've seen vBIOS instructions and download for NVidia cards, but none for the AMD cards here or on the AMD website. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right places?
And I purchased a 330W PSU when I bought the 2nd card, so I'm good to go on that.
CougarPilot
10 Posts
0
June 8th, 2013 07:00
I checked the vBIOS on my original 7970m, and it is the most current available; because the 2nd card came from the exact same model of computer (another M18x R2), I'm guessing that this isn't the issue since they should at least have the same manufacturer's vBIOS, if not the same version. If for some reason it had the wrong mfr vBIOS, how would I go about fixing that if the computer won't even detect the card?
When I removed the 2nd card, I took at look at how it was seated before pulling it out, and even put it back in to see if I'd missed something. It seemed to be in properly and looked like it was seated just like the original card. This next time around I'll blow out the slot with some canned air in case there was any crap in there for any reason (although I doubt it).
And thanks for the link to that article - that's actually one of the first things I read when I first got the problem. Tried everything, to no avail unfortunately.
89fordprobe
83 Posts
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June 8th, 2013 07:00
actually you would be surprised what a different vbios would do .. kinda like mixing windows 98 with windows 8 in 1 system :O
Got the right PSU always good sign :O
but atleast its easier to remove then some systems out there.....
make sure card is seated 100% perfect aswell since its possible itas not in right if not detected, cause if defective it would probably stop system from posting
you can also take a gander at this when card is inplace
www.dell.com/.../ArticleView
CougarPilot
10 Posts
0
June 8th, 2013 10:00
Another update: I re-installed the 2nd 7970m (after thoroughly blowing its slot on the motherboard with some compressed air), but this time without the Crossfire cable, and had the same problem. I tried switching to dedicated graphics per the article, but after the restart the computer was still in integrated graphics mode, and couldn't see either of the 7970m cards. Re-installing the Crossfire cable didn't fix any of this. At this point it appears that the 2nd 7970m card is the problem, unless there's anything else I'm potentially missing (but it doesn't seem like it). I've already contacted the vendor, hopefully the return process is painless.
89fordprobee
1.2K Posts
0
June 12th, 2013 16:00
well that sucks ..... but atleast you know for sure...
hopefully all goes well with the return/exchange
Alienware-Alexa1
361 Posts
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June 12th, 2013 17:00
Hi Cougarpilot,
That's unfortunate to hear that the new card is faulty. Thank you for the updates.