# [SOLVED] No signal from PCI-e card OR onboard graphics after installing new card



## devismi

Hello there, I am doing some work for a friend on his new-ish HP computer. The specs it shipped with are:

HP Pavillion p6531p
Aloe H-RS880-uATX motherboard
AMD Athlon II X4 635 processor
6GB DDR3 memory
Integrated ATI radeon HD 4200 graphics
250 watt Bestec power supply

He wanted to upgrade the graphics for gaming, and ended up purchasing an XFX ATI Radeon HD 5670 brand new. Because it recommended a 400W power supply, he also purchased a second-hand-but-tested L&C brand 450W power supply.

*THE PROBLEM:*
He first replaced the power supply and reconnected all the elements of the motherboard and the hard disk and optical drive, and then booted up, and everything worked and displayed just fin with the onboard graphics. BUT...After installing the XFX ATI Radeon HD 5670 in the PCI-e slot he hooked the monitor to the DVI ouput on the card and rebooted. the computer appeared to reboot normally and all fans and lights were running appropriately, but no signal at all during the whole process from the graphics card. Not too unusual, right? But...

*THE BIGGER PROBLEM*
He powered down, took the graphics card back out and reconnected his monitor to the onboard graphics, then booted back up. This time, even though it had booted successfully in this configuration just a few minutes previously with perfect monitor signal, he got the "no signal" from the monitor.

We have since worked on this problem quite a bit to the extent of our abilities. The XFX card works like a dream when inserted into my computer. So does his monitor. But no configuration of power supplies (original or higher-powered second-hand) or graphics output ports seems to be able to send a signal to his monitor. Have also tried using a VGA cable in addition to the DVI, or turning the monitor on before the computer. Have also tried putting my old PCI cardin his computer and no output through it, either.

The last confusing element of this problem is that the lack of signal is not 100% consistent... more like 99%. When I arrived to take a look at the computer today, he booted the computer up with the new graphics card and the new power supply both installed, and voila, we got an image on the monitor showing the bootup screen and about five seconds of Windows 7 beginning to boot. Then, boom, it cut out with a "no signal" and we haven't been able to coax the signal back yet.

Any ideas? There's only so much I can possibly do without a functioning display (bios is unreachable). Please let me know any thought you may have, as this leaves us scratching out heads. If you need any more information from me, please ask!


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## emosun

*Re: No signal from PCI-e card OR onboard graphics after installing new card*

Give it a bios reset and see if it has any effect. Just unplug the computer and remove the clock battery for 10 mins. Should at least get your onboard back.

As for the card make sure your pci-e slot is set as the primary video output in the bios rather then onboard or auto.


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## devismi

*Re: No signal from PCI-e card OR onboard graphics after installing new card*

Thanks very much for your reply! I actually did perform a BIOS reset with the battery (there is also a jumper that is for reset on this mobo), with no result for either onboard or card graphics, so still no access to BIOS or any display at all.

However... on a whim I took out all but a single stick of 2GB DDR3 RAM and rebooted, and all graphics were suddenly up and running. I added the ram back in one stick at a time and rebooted... when i got to the 3rd stick, all the graphics shut down again as described above. There was one open slot for ram, so i moved the third stick there instead of the slot HP had originally installed it in... and now everything works great. dunno what would happen if he ever decided to upgrade to 8 GB of ram, but that shouldn't be an issue. Don't know enough to know why this is, but apparently the original setup for ram was not going to work with a PCI card installed.

Thanks again for your help, and i figured i would post this solution for anyone else with an issue!


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