# [SOLVED] Asus P5N-E SLI motherboard & Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3870 graphic card



## Piffles (Feb 29, 2008)

Hey up folks,

I finished assembling my new computer yesterday. Obviously, upon first power up, I didn't reach the BIOS menu. That would have been too easy, wouldn't it?

My config:
Motherboard: Asus P5N-E SLI ATX
Processor: Intel Duo Core 2 E6750
Memory: Kingston 2GB DDR2 SDRAM PC6400 CL5
Case: Arctic Cooling Silentium T1 Eco 80 550W ATX
Graphic card: Sapphire ATI HD 3870, 512MB, PCIexpress 2.0, 16x

Current symptoms:
When I press power on, the green LED on the motherboard lights up normally, the hard disk spins normally, the processor fan spins normally, the graphic card fans spins continuously at max speed. The HDD activity LED lights up briefly, then extinguishes and lights up again 3 times, then stays off. I have no display on the screen. No beeps.

Diagnosis so far:
- Motherboard reset by removing battery and moving appropriate jumper across and back; no change.
- Removing the memory makes it impossible to start at all (HDD LED stays on and nothing happens). This seems to indicate that the RAM is okay, not the source of the problem.
- The fact that the power LED lights up and all the fans run indicates that power supply is okay and that the motherboard is properly isolate from the case. If not, it would switch itself off automatically. Also double-checked the connections (20 pin + 4 pin connectors are on).
- An error in processor or hard disk shouldn't stop me from getting to the BIOS screen, only give me an error message later. Tried disconnection them, no change.

My conclusion:
I'm pretty sure it has to do with the graphic card, especially since it's the only component showing an abnormal behaviour (fan spinning at max speed continuously).

Unfortunately, and as far as I know, the P5N-E SLI has no onboard video (no VGA out connector at the back) so I can't remove the graphic card and I don't have another.
I'm using an LCD monitor connected from its VGA input through VGA cable and DVI to VGA adapter to the graphic card's DVI output. The connection there should be okay.
The graphic card is also connected to the power supply as indicates the fan activity.

My questions:
- Anyone have any experience with P5N-E SLI in combination with Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3870?
- Are they compatible? (can't find any info in any of the manuals)
- Are there any additional configs on motherboard or graphic card (jumpers...)? (again, can't find anything on that in the manuals)

Thanks for your help. I appreciate it. Browsing through the forum, I seems that it's a pretty common problem with newly assembled PCs.

Cya,
Piffles.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

*Re: Asus P5N-E SLI motherboard & Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3870 graphic card*

if this is a PCIexpress 2.0
does your m/board support PCIexpress 2.0


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## Piffles (Feb 29, 2008)

*Re: Asus P5N-E SLI motherboard & Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3870 graphic card*

Hmmm. That's a very good remark.

Technically, it doesn't say PCIe 16x 2.0 on my motherboard, so I'm assuming it only has a PCIe 16x 1.0 connector.

However, I'm reading that PCIe 2.0 and PCIe 1.0 are completely compatible, ie plugging a 1.0 card in a 2.0 slot should work and so should 2.0 card in a 1.0 slot. "Except certain graphic cards" I read on wikipeadia.

I'll dig up some more dirt...

Thanks,
Piffles.


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## oldmn (Oct 16, 2005)

*Re: Asus P5N-E SLI motherboard & Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3870 graphic card*

Your MOB Is not a PCIE 2.0. PCIE x 16 (single) PCIE X8 X8 (SLI)
Whether they backward compatible?


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## Piffles (Feb 29, 2008)

*Re: Asus P5N-E SLI motherboard & Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3870 graphic card*

yep, well, that was it.

I tried out a friend's GeForce 8800 GT and it booted up first time, no issues.

Apparently, virtually all graphic cards are now PCI-Express 2.0 and the vast majority are PCI-Express 1.0 compatible but not all.

So, issue solved. Thanks guys.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

*Re: [SOLVED] Asus P5N-E SLI motherboard & Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3870 graphic card*

i think pcie 1.1 versions are for those that are not compatible i believe the workaround is to flash the bios on the card


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