ASUS HD5450 only works in PCIe 2.0 x1 slot, or driver install timeout  

Correct.

I solved it. This was the solution: how to properly uninstall ATI/AMD Software Drivers for Graphics Cards.

I then installed the latest driver, via Device Manager >> "Browse my computer for driver software" >> "Search for driver software in this location".

PianoGuy said:

The board has:
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (blue)
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode, black)

The blue slot is closest to the CPU and is the one that does not work.

Clearly, the HD5450 is supposed to be installed in the PCIe 2.0 x16 slot and run in x16 mode. I've installed three HD5450's that way in three separate machines, and they all work fine.

I also have an ASUS P8Z77-V Pro board, which has THREE PCIe 2.0 x16 slots total. Two are x16 (but x8/x8 if both are used for video cards), and one is x16 but compatible with x1/x4 devices. However there is lots of complexity about bandwidth for two of the three x16 slots being shared with x1 slots and USB 3.0 ports, and lots of setup configuration options in the BIOS for how all of these slots will perform depending on what types of devices you have in which slots.

In other words you can't just put any PCIe x16 video card in any of these these PCIe x16 slots. As to whether the drivers would even install or not, I can't say.

But... for sure, your blue PCIe x16 slot is definitely where you HD5450 video card should go, not in the black x4 one.

And any partially successful (or started but failed) video driver installs should probably be "wiped clean" before trying again. Sound like from your latest post you've finally gotten things worked out. And I always get my ATI/AMD drivers for ATI/AMD video cards (including my HD5770 and HD6450 in other machines) from their web site, not from ASUS.

My own approach for removing/cleaning drivers is to use what used to be called "Driver Sweeper", now named "Driver Fusion". ATI/AMD says just install new updated drivers over old currently installed drivers and that should work, but more often than not it does not work for me. I then just use Driver Fusion to clean out the old ATI/AMD software (including Catalyst Control Center, Install Manager, etc.) completely, re-boot, and then run the new updated ATI/AMD driver installer.


As far as your Windows Experience Index 3.9 with the HD5450, that's "normal" for that card. It is NOT a high-performance card, although it does have 512MB or 1GB of memory and is part of the HD5xxx family of ATI/AMD products. So it performs perfectly fine for non-gaming applications and Win7 and HDTV viewing via WMC, etc., and that 3.9 allows Win7 Aero desktop. The newer HD6450 is somewhat better, but not much.

Don't know what onboard graphics chip is in your mobo that provides WEI of 6.5, but it probably doesn't have much/any dedicated memory. It may take memory from your PC's to support itself. That's why the external video card with 1GB of its own memory supports higher resolutions for your monitor. As long as you're not a gamer the HD5450 should be perfect (as it is for my own machines on which I've installed it for the same reason). The HD5450 is a low-priced video card that uses very little power, making it great for machines that don't need much more (e.g. HTPC).