Graphics Cards

[whiterrabbit]

Hello, has anyone here seen anything like this before? Computer wont boot after graphics card install because hard drives are removed from the BIOS (actually the entire Hard Disk Drives BIOS menu is missing). After removing the graphics card from the system, the hard drives return to bios and computer can boot again.

Motherboard: M4A88TD-M/USB3

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit

[elstaci]

What is the Make & Model of your PSU and CPU?

I presume that you haven't yet installed any AMD Professional graphics drivers yet. 

Sounds like a hardware issue in my opinion. Either your PSU can't support the W2100 or you have some BIOS setting set wrong or your defective Motherboard or GPU card.

I would try and install the W2100 GPU Card in another compatible Motherboard and see if the same issue occurs. If it doesn't that may indicate a defective PSU or Motherboard on your computer.

I would do a Clear CMOS to put your BIOS back to "Default" and see if the issue continues.

[whiterrabbit]

Thanks elstaci for the ideas,

PSU is an ATX PSIV-500-2

CPU is an AMD Phenom II X4 955

There are no other expansion cards in the system. Graphics card drivers not installed at this point.

I cleared the CMOS and the issue has not changed. Unfortunately I don't have another MB to try.

***  I did notice that it is only the drives in my RAID array that are not recognized when the graphics card is installed. Also the RAID utility (ctrl-F) is not available either. If I install an individual SATA or IDE drive, they are recognized, and can boot from them. Once I remove the graphics card, the RAID array shows back up in CMOS and boots normally.

I don't see the connection....

[elstaci]

That clears up a lot of things. So everything works fine except when using RAID.

Here is the latest RAID Chipset for Windows 7 x64 (2018) from AMD Download page : https://www.amd.com/en/support/chipsets/amd-8-series-chipsets/880g 

The RAID Chipset at Asus Support are quite out-dated and old.  Try installing the AMD RAID Chipset and see if that help with your RAID problem. Could be a compatibility issue with RAID drivers and the GPU.

[whiterrabbit]

Thanks for  the link!

Unfortunately the update made no difference. Any other ideas? Perhaps it's at the point where I have to decide between the graphics card or the array.

[elstaci]

Maybe AMD resident expert on AMD Professional GPU Cards might be able to explain your issue: fsadough‌.

Otherwise I am out of suggestions.

[fsadough]

Actually, the correct chipset driver is available from ASUS website. In addition, please disable the onboard graphics in system BIOS

M4A88TD-M/USB3 Driver & Tools | Motherboards | ASUS Global 

2010/04/0979.42 MBytes

AMD Chipset Driver V1.3.2.54 for Windows 32bit/64bit Vista & Win 7.

[whiterrabbit]

Sorry for my late reply and thanks for the suggestions. I tried installing the driver you recommended but there was no difference. There does not seem to be an explicit setting in the BIOS to disable the onboard graphics. I currently have the PRIMARY VIDEO CONTROLLER set to: PCI-GFX0-GPP-IGFX.

I did discover that the RAID array will also show back up in the BIOS if I unplug an old IDE drive that is also in the system. This is how I have been running the system for the past few weeks but would still like to get to the bottom of the issue.

So to summarize: my RAID array will only show up in BIOS if I remove either the W2100 graphics card or the IDE drive. Any 2 of the 3 will work together but not all 3 at the same time.

Any idea why it may be behaving this way?

[elstaci]

could it be a defective Motherboard?

[whiterrabbit]

I guess that's always a possibility.

Thanks for the suggestions.