r9 380 power cable

Hey Chuck, glad to see you settled on a nice card. My R4 is no longer on the original power supply, I don't have access to cable # assignments, but I doubt we need them

R1-R4 875watt / 825w 12volt max power supply has two vid-cables, each on its own 12volt rail

- we need to engage both 12volt rails -

Stay with me here. Blu-wht has a primary 6pin & a 6+2 jumper, so does blu-ylw:

• if a card needs a 6pin, use the primary 6pin
• if a card needs an 8pin, use the primary 6pin & 'borrow' the 2pin from the jumper

in my A51, P18 is a primary 6p, P19 is the 6+2 jumper

• I insert the P18 primary & 'borrow' the 2p off of P19 jumper
• the card is now using both primary 6pins, both jumpers are laid to the side, unwanted

- this card is now operating off of the paths of least resistance: the primary 6pins -

In your instance, if P14 & P16 are the primary 6pins, insert them, then borrow 2pins off of P15 / P17 when & where needed. Got it?

this HD 5970 needs 6p + 8p power

• I've inserted the P23 primary 6p (left) & P20 6p; P20 'borrows' the P21 2p
• in each instance the resistive jumpers are laid to the side
• if HD 5970 needed dual 8pin power, P23 would be borrowing the 2p off of P24 jumper

... can you handle the truth of it Chuck ...

get her connected, post me a photo of your job well done

engage both of your 12volt rails & release the Kraken

Tried both combos of F14 with 2 pin from F15 and F16 with 2 pin from F17.  Computer turns on and both fans spin on vid card, but never get anything on monitor.  Not even the alienware skull for BIOS.

Tried both of these.  The vid card has a DVI-I (which i used) and a DVI-0 and two HDMI slots.

The Kraken has destroyed Argos!

Chuck

this is a snip of an email notify I received but I do not see the message itself, it's in limbo

Fussy cards aren't my especiality, but I might try to turn off or on the PCI-E Gen 3 in the bios; if yours is of then turn it on, if it is on, turn it off, see if you get video output. I might try a different monitor &/or monitor cable, that goes for simply unplugging your monitor there for a minute then plug it back in. Report back

you weren't kidding, just a solo 8p

Per Newegg it is a 190watt card; my notes say R4 was sold with dual GTX 780s which are 250watt cards each, (what is the maximum hardware can Alienware Aurora R4 support?), so you're well within specs, meaning if one cable powered a 780 then one cable should power a 380

PlanB: dual 6p -to- solo 8p

search 'EVGA cable' on eBay, score a black n' for ~$5 - $8

dual 6p y-split cable has been used to good effect in Area-51 for HD 7990 / 295 X 2

Area-51 ALX, upgraded to AMD HD7990, random power offs?

Area 51 ALX v1 with R9 295x2

if all else fails Chuck, get a y-split, engage both 12v rails in that solo 8p

 ... re-release the Kraken ...

Heyo Cass-Ole!

Thanks again for all the input!  Not sure what happened with my post, but I put pics in it, so maybe it's waiting on admin.  Basically, the system seems to power up and run smoothly, the vid card fans spin, but I get nothing on my monitor.  I can't even get to the BIOS option.  I get no beeps to indicate an issue, just the smooth purr of fans.  My fins on the top go up and down like normal on start up.  I removed the coin battery on my motherboard for 5 min and tried again.  I jumpered the pins on the motherboard and tried again.  Always the same thing.  After reading one of your posts, I removed all four sticks of RAM and booted up and then the motherboard started beeping at me.  2 beeps.  So it's not a completely quiet motherboard.  I also unplugged the mouse, keyboard, speakers and ethernet cable and tried again.  I wish I had another monitor to try, but I do not.  I will try and see if my computer store has a dual six to eight pin adapter.  Perhaps another cable.  I would think, that even if the vid card is not powered correctly or even if it's toast, I should be able to get to BIOS?  I shall continue to look and try some things.  I'll keep you updated.

Thanks,

Chuck

*Update*

Tried every combo I could think of with power cables.  I have not tried the dual 6 pin to 8 pin.  My computer store did not have one, so I'll need to order one.  I swapped to an HDMI cable from the card to my monitor, but still no BIOS.  I replaced the CMOS battery with a new one.  I get no initial beep when I turn the computer on, I normally get the power up beep, and it won't send anything to my monitor.  The only thing I have not tried is loading BIOS externally.  But I'm thinking my motherboard needs to be replaced.  

Chuck

I'm not so sure it needs replaced. Please place your original card back in, go back to square one. The new battery swap will have imparted all BIOS settings to revert back to 'default values', which may have led to this latest puzzle piece of not beeping. What I meant last night, was if you were to place your old card back in, then check your bios PCI-E GEN3 setting, change it, then place new 380 in there. Please make a companion post on AlienArena, General & TechSupport, lots of gamers / card swappers over there & I'm not a 'no video output guru' with a new card; I don't make card recommendations to people; half the reason is if it gets there & fails to produce video, I don't possess wizardry to get video from it, I'd feel bad for saying a card is ok if it gets there and flops

I agree with you, that in the scenario where a new hard drive is in place & a Windows DVD is inserted, you should get video, get a BIOS screen a least, in preparation to install Windows. Sometimes it is a monitor needs unplugged for a minute then plugged back in, a monitor needs replaced, a monitor cable change can help at times, I wish I knew. Try your old card, test the motherboard 1st

*update*

Tried the old Radeon 6870 card, but to no avail.  That card's fan spins as well, but nothing at the monitor.  I've tried DVI and HDMI.  Prior to losing the system I had upgraded BIOS to A11, which was per the Dell site for my service tag.  Both cards give me the same results.  I did make a post on AlienArena yesterday, Cass-Ole.  I shall remain hopeful.

Thank you for your time,

Chuck

PCI Gen3 is disabled

Cass-Ole!

HOly head of Medussa!  I'm at BIOS.  One stick of ram in slot number 1.  Holding at BIOS until I see what is next.  It's in boot mode UEFI.  

Chuck

I see on Arena you're in RAID? Set SATA controller to AHCI mode? As a test?

here's the sad part: I don't know what to tell you to do next ... ... ... but!, I'm a glad we got a good base of sub-systems to do battle with the Kraken. Looks like I'll talk & pretend like I said something useful? I think it's a Bios setting that needs played with. You might research your card, see if it has a UEFI vBios, a Legacy vBios, or a hybrid switch, which allows both. That, then, would play its part in your mthrbrd UEFI vs Legacy Bios setting, which affects your hard drive & if it will boot or not. I would enable PCI-E Gen 3, remove 6870, insert 380, however, we don't want your mthrbrd to spaz out again, afterall, it works now. I might wait it out, see if anyone knows how to whip that STRIX into shape 1st, what the Goldilox settings are that will automatically make it majik on startup; this is my weak point, always has been, I can't troubleshoot no output from new cards, mine simply work, never looked into fussy cards cause I haven't had one yet. Maybe uninstall drivers 1st, I wish I knew. Don't uninstall drivers before you hear someone say to Chuck ... *laughs*

My final thoughts: so long as you have an 8pin in the 380 - be it the jumper or the primary + borrowed 2p I advised you over, just get a 8pin cable plugged in the darn thing for now. That dual 6p -to- 8p is still a good idea, based on your dual vid-rail psu, but I can not say if your no signal is due to lack of powa, since it is a low draw on power-up as it is: under loads, yes, we might think that one rail is too whimpy & therefore siamese the two-rails-into-one with the adapter. Make sure you update Arena, let them know you're back in b'ness and need to know what to do next. Good luck ok?  

"It's a longgg roaddd....."  - Song from Rambo.  Back to square one, but it's a good place to be.  I feel better about it somehow.  Can't thank you enough for all your insight.  I've learned more this last week than the previous four years i've owned this rig.  Today has been a chill day.  BBQ'ing some ribs and drinking beer, trying to figure this Titan of an issue out.  I'll keep you updated.  

Chuck