Graphics Cards

[KamuiX]

After trying my luck in gigabyte and other forums, I hope people here will help me on my worst nightmare. 


So the story is the below. My Sapphire AMD RX6700 Pulse 10GB burned one of the 2 fans so I send it back for RMA.
After some days the shop exchanged it with a new same brand same model graphics card and when I put back the new card I get 4 beeps (1long, 3short).
I went back to the store and ask the service guy to install it at his PC (and use the x16 PCIE @ x16) and check if it works.....it WORKS GREAT! I do that on a 2nd store ....works PERFECT!

1. Use 750 and 850W PSU
2. Hard reset BIOS (battery + jumper + hold power)
3. Clean contacts with isopropyl alcohol
4. Uninstall drivers (does not matter although because the problem is at BIOS POST)
5. Change PSU wires cause it's modular
6. Remove all other PCI(E) cards
7. Updated BIOS to the latest version
8. Re-flash VBIOS

My system
Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite V2 Rev1.1
Sapphire AMD Radeon RX6700 10GB Pulse
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 RAM CMK16GX4M2D3600C18
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 100-100000065BOX
PSU both Corsair CX750M and a CoolerMaster MWE Gold V2 850W

-----UPDATE 1-------

So I send the mobo as RMA to the store I bought it. The guy helped out and tested with 3 GPUs that he had available. The mobo works perfectly fine.

3 service centers, and they have tried 6 GPUs (2 service centers from the store I bought the GPU and 1 from where I bought the mobo). Some GPUs that have been tried are
nvidia 1080
nvidia 4070
nvidia 3060
AMD 6500...
I don't know their brands. All of them are working PERFECTLY fine with my mobo.

I am lucky because the service guy from the mobo store had just received an B550 Elite V2 as a replacement for another customer and he exchanged his mobo with mine. Now I have a Gigabyte Aorus Elite B550 V2 Rev1.2 but again the madness persists!!! 1 long and 3 short beeps.

-------UPDATE 3------

A friend of mine has exactly the same mobo Aorus Elite B550 V2 rev 1.1 with an AMD 5600G and a 750W PSU RM series from Corsair.

We tried the card on his system and it's not working at his PC either! The monitor stays black with no signal output. This situation is going to make me crazy. He has a Sapphire RX 6600 which works perfectly fine, but this specific RX 6700 give the same error!

------UPDATE 4-------
I tried to get RMS for the GPU with the excuse that it does not work specifically on  Gigabyte Aorus Elite B550 V2...of course they don't give a **bleep**. So please help

[elstaci]

Did Sapphire replace your GPU card with a brand new GPU card or a Refurbished GPU card?

If Brand new and especially if it is a Refurbished GPU card try installing the vBIOS again on your new GPU card and see if that helps any. But since you can't do it on your PC take it to the shop where it does work and have them update or install the vBIOS again.

Since you replaced the Motherboard plus tested it on another Motherboard of the same Make & Model on a different PC with the same results seems to indicate a issue with just the new GPU Card and not your PC.

Sounds like you have a defective GPU card or the vBIOS is corrupted.

By the way, the first PCIe x 16 slot on the motherboard is controlled by your CPU and the second PCIe x 16 is controlled by the motherboard's AMD CHIPSET drivers.

Ask Sapphire Support if they can send you the original vBIOS version link to download and install again.

EDIT: on the first GPU card where the fan burned out was it due to a short or defect from the GPU card itself or did the fan just died out by itself?

Unfortunately, AMD has nothing to do with your Sapphire Warranty issues. I do know with Sapphire Warranty it is up to the Retailer/Vendor that sold you the GPU card to decide and take care of all Sapphire Warranties. So you need to take it up with your Retailer/Vendor to get a refund or another replacement.

By the way, did you take your PC to the Retailer or shop to show them what was happening?  Because they could have troubleshot the issue using your PC instead on a PC that it seems to be working.

[KamuiX]

The card seems new. At least by the time they gave it to me was crystal clear, even the cooling system had no signs of dust but of course you never know how well they refurbish them. 
I did reflash the VBIOS sorry forgot to mention that, I will add it in the initial post.

You say "Since you replaced the Motherboard plus tested it on another Motherboard of the same Make & Model with the same results seems to indicate a issue with just the new GPU Card and not your PC."

Yes but you forget that it has been testes in another 3 or 4 mobos and works perfectly fine. 1 was ASUS with an intel 11XXX, the others I don't know because the service centers did the job in front of my eyes but didn't have the mind to get the mobos brands.

And that's the worst thing of all, I have to prove them "that the earth is flat".

Regarding taking my PC to the retailer yes I did. The local branch acknowledged that MY system does not work with this GPU, they even changed CPU and RAM modules on my mobo just to be sure, but their answer is that we will ship the GPU to our supplier for check and they will return it as working because it works perfectly fine in ALL other systems.

I am about this close to make it "non working" for all systems. I am trying to get a few more ideas to try what I can try before that.

Thanks for the prompt reply. Btw I don't as for warranty from AMD, of course it's not their job. But I hope that someone will probably will have at least the answer why that GPU worked perfectly fine for 1,5 year and after a replacement with the same model/brand it does not work ONLY with the specific motherboard but works perfectly fine with EVERY other motherboard (or at least the ones tested so far)

EDIT: On the 1st card the fan just died suddenly. It smelled burned but everything was working properly, searched for some time before I saw that one of the GPU fans was off.

[elstaci]

Okay, I was going to suggest the CPU being problematic but since you installed it on another PC with a different CPU but with the same motherboard that eliminated the CPU as being the issue.

When the GPU card was tested at the shop did they use the same Monitor cable that you are using on your monitor?

Maybe you have a bad Monitor cable and if you are using an adapter that could be an issue.

I presume you have tested the monitor on the other video output ports on the GPU card correct or connected it to a different Monitor.

I had a similar issue when I upgraded my FX8350 PC to a Ryzen PC using my Asus Nvidia 1070 GPU card with a LG 4k Monitor connected via DP.  I also had no signal to my monitor plus the Motherboard's GPU Trouble LED would light up and stay lit.

Took first GPU to computer shop worked great. But same result at home. Took PC to computer shop worked great. So I knew the problem was with my GPU card or Monitor Cable.

So I decided to connect it to my Samsung Smart 2k HDMI TV and viola, I had Video output and no more GPU Trouble LED light on the motherboard.

Entered BIOS and set BIOS to CSM Mode and now I had video output during POST but on UEFI mode I had video output only when Windows would start loading.

[KamuiX]

They tested with HDMI, their monitors didn't have DP and that gave me the idea to test too and I did. Of course with no success.

I have tried with 2 different DP and 3 different HDMI cables. The same cables work fine with the old Radeon HD 6850.

I have tested all the DP ports of the card and the 1 HDMI, I also have tested another monitor (but only HDMI)

In some forums I read about the CSM mode and I did try with enabled and disabled state. Again nothing. 

I don't really understand how CSM and UEFI has something to do with a GPU card. Is there any chance that the UEFI BIOS to lock out hardware?

Btw the system boots normally but without signal to monitor. I can login to the system through remote desktop. If you think that I can get you some info from windows I will be glad to do that. I know that windows find the card as "problematic" with error code 43

[elstaci]

Thanks for the update.

You have a kinda unique type of GPU trouble.

Basically your GPU card works fine in all other types of PC except with both PCs with your Make & Model Motherboards.

Either the first GPU card somehow damaged your Motherboard when the GPU fan burnt out since it worked fine before and not after.

Error code deals with the GPU AMD driver. If you uninstall the AMD driver, using DDU (display driver uninstaller) do you get video output from Windows using its native MS Basic Display Adapter driver?

Do you get video output during Windows Safe Mode? If you do then it is your AMD driver or there is a conflict with another driver on your PC since Safe Mode disables everything except MS drivers including Anti-Virus Apps.

Also since you get video from a Remote Desktop try entering into Windows Safe Mode and see if your get video output.

Also using Remote Desktop if you can try booting into a Clean Windows Desktop which is similar to running Safe Mode but when Windows Desktop is running: How to perform a clean boot in Windows 

Note: just trying to eliminate driver issues or conflicts that might give you your Device manager error 43.

Have you tried to Restore point or System Backup file in your PC before your previous GPU card went bad.?

Have you run Windows  Troubleshooting Menu - Repair Startup to see if it might fix your problem?

check your Windows OS for corruption or missing files by running in a elevated Command Prompt or Powershell the following simple line command: SFC /scannow

EDIT: by the way you have done an excellent and thorough job of troubleshooting your GPU problem. You just about eliminated 98% of hardware and drivers that could be causing your problem in my opinion.

Also try opening a Gigabyte Support Ticket and AMD SUPPORT TIcket (https://www.amd.com/en/forms/contact-us/support.html).

No need to open a Sapphire Support ticket since they already know what your issue is and couldn't fix it.

Ask the Retailer if your replacement GPU card is brand new or refurbished. That could make a difference.

If it is refurbished it would look brand new plus it needs to pass all of Sapphire's GPU tests before being sold again as Refurbished.

Does another same Make & Model Sapphire GPU card work in your PC?

Otherwise I am out of suggestion except as a last resort:

Do a Clean Windows installation or purchase another GPU Card and keep the one you have as a backup or sell it.

[KamuiX]

Not just unique...once in a lifetime.

"Either the first GPU card somehow damaged your Motherboard when the GPU fan burnt out since it worked fine before and not after."
I thought the same and that's why I pushed and got a replacement motherboard (had rev 1.1 and now 1.2). So it's not the mobo.

Error code deals with the GPU AMD driver. If you uninstall the AMD driver, using DDU (display driver uninstaller) do you get video output from Windows using its native MS Basic Display Adapter driver?"

On PCIEx16@x16 gen 4.0 slot 1 no signal for any reason. At PCIEX16@x4 slot 2 I have signal ONLY if my NVME is connected in slot 2 which I think "degrades" the PCIE slot 2 to PCIE 3.0. And ONLY if I am in Microsoft basic driver. If I try to install any adrenaline driver the PC goes dark and reboots and goes to boot loop whenever it tries to boot Windows. Although only the standard 1 beep.

If I remove the NVME 4 beeps again at PCIE slot 2 too.
Because of that behavior, I have tried to force PCIEx16 slot 1 to work as a Gen3 and Gen 2 but again no signal.

"Also since you get video from a Remote Desktop try entering into Windows Safe Mode and see if your get video output.
Also using Remote Desktop if you can try booting into a Clean Windows Desktop which is similar to running Safe Mode but when Windows Desktop is running: How to perform a clean boot in Windows"

That's clever, I will try this one.

"Have you tried to Restore point or System Backup file in your PC before your previous GPU card went bad.?"

No, I think I have system restore points disabled. But I have tried the GPU on my friends system (Aorus Elite V2 + Sapphire RX6600) and also got a 1long 3 short beeps. These beeps are BIOS related, so I don't think drivers has anything to do here.

"check your Windows OS for corruption or missing files by running in a elevated Command Prompt or Powershell the following simple line command:SFC /scannow"

Yes yesterday and did a DISM restore health. Everything is fixed.

"Also try opening a Gigabyte Support Ticket and AMD SUPPORT TIcket (https://www.amd.com/en/forms/contact-us/support.html)."

Have done already but I am still waiting for a week without response.

"No need to open a Sapphire Support ticket since they already know what your issue is and couldn't fix it."

I did, It's like talking to a Spartan. Every answer is like "Uninstall drivers", "push button" this is taking forever!

"Ask the Retailer if your replacement GPU card is brand new or refurbished. That could make a difference.

If it is refurbished it would look brand new plus it needs to pass all of Sapphire's GPU tests before being sold again as Refurbished."

They said new, you can't win against that argument with them.

"Does another same Make & Model Sapphire GPU card work in your PC?"

Unlucky, I do not have access to that resource. 

"EDIT: by the way you have done an excellent and thorough job of troubleshooting your GPU problem. You just about eliminated 98% of hardware and drivers that could be causing your problem in my opinion."

Ι feel so pro and so unlucky!

BTW 1000 thanks @elstaci you are the 1st and only that replied seriously to my problem in many many forums and contact forms.

[KamuiX]

@elstaci 

Is there any point to create a bootable MBR - BIOS flash drive and try to boot without UEFI?

My mind is still making circles about the things you said regarding UEFI and CSM, which I still haven't read anything about it so I do not know the connection between a GPU and UEFI. And UEFI probably can mess with POST.

[elstaci]

I wouldn't partition your Window's SSD as MBR which is considered to be legacy. I would keep it with a GPT Partition.

I have 4 Internal HDDs and my SATA SSD partitioned as GPT from MBR in my PC. I can enable CSM Mode with UEFI in my Asus BIOS Settings.

Found this tech article explaining the differences between CSM and UEFI Mode. It is very good in my opinion: https://www.technewstoday.com/csm-vs-uefi/

If your BIOS has a "UEFI with CSM Mode" or "Legacy or Legacy + UEFI" you can enable that, which will automatically disable "Secure Boot", and see if you get video output or not.

If it doesn't boot into Windows then just disable that setting again.

[KamuiX]

By the way 1 more thing that I noted. When I tried to disable CSM, I saw that many times my mobo reverted back CSM to enabled state after save + exit (and reboot). I need to retake the steps and be sure about it. And that led me to this thread, a guy cannot disable CSM in a Gigabyte board because of his GPU!
https://www.reddit.com/r/gigabyte/comments/q41atr/i_cant_disable_csm_support/
which states that the solution is https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/nv-uefi-update-x64/

Is there any similar tool for AMD graphics?

[elstaci]

If your Windows drive has a MBR partition then you won't be able to enable UEFI Mode in BIOS.

The Windows drive must be partitioned as a GPT Drive for both CSM and UEFI mode to work in BIOS.

Windows has a MBR-GPT Tool you can use without losing any Data or use one of the free Partitioning programs that will do the same thing: https://www.diskpart.com/articles/free-mbr-to-gpt-converter-7201.html

I am not aware of any AMD Tool similar to the Nvidia Tool that you linked. You can ask AMD Support would be the best option.

[KamuiX]

My NVME is on GPT of course.

Regarding the testing 

I tried to reboot to safe mode...Nothing. Of course this is expected because the 4 beeps happen long before booting to safe mode. I pressed blindly F5 and 5 after I did a Shift+restart from within windows but nothing happens.

I tried boot with a WinPE and a Linux live USB....once again the same.

I tried 2 options that I found in BIOS menu near the PCIEx16 configurations. 
"Above 4G Decoding" and "Resizable BAR". Not really sure what they do but again no go.

Although, during my tests I did a mistake and when I connected my old HD 6850 to start the PC I forgot to put the 6-pin power cable. What I heard was again the 1 long 3 short beeps but this time it happened 1 second after I pressed the power button.

In Sapphire 6700 Pulse's case I press the power button, I wait around 10 seconds and then the 1 long 3 short sounds. Do you know if this is something worth of attention?

[elstaci]

To enable S.A.M on AMD GPU cards you need to enable both of those settings in BIOS, "Above 4G Decoding" and "Resizable BAR".  This article explains this new GPU Memory feature: https://www.howtogeek.com/819578/what-is-resizable-bar-on-a-gpu/

Resizable BAR is a term specific to NVIDIA's GPUs, but as is often the case, their main competitor AMD has its own version of the same technology. AMD calls its version Smart Access Memory or SAM, but by and large, both features do the same thing in more or less the same way.

Without this feature, the CPU can only get data to process from the GPU's memory in 256MB chunks. This has never been a problem until quite recently. After all, it took many years for GPUs to even have that much memory in total. Even at a few gigabytes in size, it takes no time at all to sift through it all 256MB at a time.

Related: What Is Ray Tracing?

However, at the time of writing, GPU memory sizes are typically between 6GB and 12GB in size, with larger allocations becoming inevitable in the future as resolutions climb, detail levels improve, and technologies like ray-tracing really push memory boundaries.

That's where SAM or Resizable BAR comes into the picture, literally. With this feature activated, the CPU can access the entire "frame buffer" (another name for the GPU's memory), which means it can quickly find and process the data it needs.

It also cuts down on the number of transfers between the CPU and GPU and allows the CPU to only request data from the GPU's memory when it needs it and from exactly the correct place. In theory, this means that both the CPU and GPU will receive a performance boost because the amount of overhead and traffic is cut down.

Does Resizeable BAR Make a Difference?

Right now, it doesn't seem that this feature makes much difference regarding real-world game performance. While it increases performance in some titles, the improvement is modest and can even worsen performance in some cases.

NVIDIA, for their part, automatically disables resizeable BAR for games whose performance worsens with the feature on, so you don't really have a reason not to take advantage of it. You'll get a small performance bump in many games and won't get worse performance in games that aren't whitelisted. If resizable BAR causes any serious issues for you, you can just toggle it off in the BIOS

As for your question about the Beep sounds with the GPU power cable disconnected, The only thing that comes to my mind, is both are very different in the way it was engineered. So possibly that might be perfectly normal for the 6700 to take a little longer to realize it has no GPU power cable connected. But just guessing.

I would ask Sapphire Support that question and see what they say if that is normal or not.

[KamuiX]

As for your question about the Beep sounds with the GPU power cable disconnected, The only thing that comes to my mind, is both are very different in the way it was engineered. So possibly that might be perfectly normal for the 6700 to take a little longer to realize it has no GPU power cable connected. But just guessing.


Actually I was comparing the Radeon HD6850 4 beeps without power cable VS the Sapphire 6700 Pulse WITH power cable and the 4 beeps coming from the unknown problem.

[elstaci]

Thanks for the clarification.

The 4 beeps is just telling you that something is wrong with the GPU card so with no power cable connected to the HD GPU card it would generate 4 beeps to let you know the GPU card is not working quickly, while when the 4 beeps is generated with the 6700 GPU card it is again just notifying you that something is wrong with the GPU card but took a little bet longer since BIOS was testing the GPU card.

My suggestion is get another GPU card since I believe you mentioned that other GPU cards worked fine on your PC. 

Something in that new Sapphire GPU card is not correct. I mean you have tried all the troubleshooting steps plus extra ones with no positive results.

[KamuiX]

By the way, for all of you thinking to buy Sapphire products and for you AMD for working with such frauds....this is called troubleshooting, or better say "I got your money. Now shoo!". The order goes from bottom up