Solved Black screen after graphics card install (Nitro R9 380)

[Morbid Monkee]

Currently running a radeon 6850 and decided to upgrade to the Nitro R9 380, when I took my old card out and replaced with the 380 I only get a black screen and the power save mode message on my monitor. I cant figure out the onboard graphics thing because my 6850 is the only thing I see under device manager and in advanced bios there is no setting to disable onboard graphics. I installed the drivers that came with the 380 off of the disc and that didnt help either ...anyone know what I am doing wrong? Baby step walk me through the process because Im somewhat a novice these days lol, my other graphics card continues to work when I plug it back in so its got to be a driver issue unless my motherboard cant handle the new card which I find unlikely

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi and welcome to SevenForums,
Mostly gpu's are plug and play,
If you're sure it is inserted correctly and the new one has 2-6 pin power connectors not sure if the old one does or not but if they too are connected :/
Dud rma

 

[Morbid Monkee]

yeah I thought it was supposed to be plug n play too, I connected the 6-pins, both of the fans on the Nitro are running just fine on start up, it just that the screen remains black, its got to be a driver issue Im thinking

 

[Mellon Head]

Try plugging in the 6850 and remove the Radeon display driver. Put in the new 380 and boot.

Do you see BIOS messages on bootup?

If the video card shows video and you can boot into Windows (it should start up as Standard VGA), load the drivers for the new card.

If it still doesn't work, try the card in a friends machine.

If that doesn't work. RMA the card.

EDIT:

I checked the manual for that PC and it has no internal graphics card to conflict with your new GPU. The problem must lie with the new GPU or drivers.

 

[Morbid Monkee]

Yeah I have no internal graphics card so its complicated, I might have to call Saphire and see what they say, it seems like a lot of people have similar problems especially with Windows 7. I am going to try a few more things and than maybe upgrade to Windows 10 and try again, Im just hoping its not something like my motherboard but I dont think it is because my old card still works its just not as strong as I would like it to be

 

[Mellon Head]

How many Watts is your power supply? It might make a difference. Radeon cards are not known for their low power consumption.

EDIT:

I just looked it up and the power consumption is 225W, which is a fair chunk of a small power supply.

 

[Morbid Monkee]

I am pretty sure its 525w

 

[Viscon]

Talking about PSU, actually the most important is how many ampers is provided on +12V rail, so check this in your PSU specs.
For example my Corsair HX750 provides 62A on 12V rail and that would be more than enough for your new GPU.
I think even 50A should do just fine.

 

[Morbid Monkee]

Yeah Ive been lookin at a new psu, I think mine is strong enough to push that it pushes the fans but nothing else

 

[Morbid Monkee]

figured it out, there was a tiny dip switch on the video card, I switched it and it took right off

 

[ThrashZone]

lol great an on/ off switch on a gpu = brilliant design

 

[Morbid Monkee]

lol great an on/ off switch on a gpu = brilliant design

Yeah right? I contacted Sapphire and they told me exactly what to do! I am now a happy gamer once again lol

 

[Mellon Head]

lol great an on/ off switch on a gpu = brilliant design

That is one of the stupidest design features I've heard about in quite a while.

 

[Morbid Monkee]

lol great an on/ off switch on a gpu = brilliant design

That is one of the stupidest design features I've heard about in quite a while.

Yeah that and the fact that the dip switch wasnt even mentioned in the instructions (if you could call them that)

 

[ThrashZone]

yep if you ever get a chance take a picture of this switch and post it here
Inquiring minds need to see this wicked switch that must allow you on the fly to remove the card without being electrocuted

 

[Morbid Monkee]

yep if you ever get a chance take a picture of this switch and post it here
Inquiring minds need to see this wicked switch that must allow you on the fly to remove the card without being electrocuted

I will take a picture tomorrow and post it so if anyone has that card they will know lol

 

[Morbid Monkee]

Here is the picture of the dip switch, the card is a

Sapphire Radeon NITRO R9 380 4GB GDDR5 DL-DVI-I / DL-DVI-D / HDMI / DP Dual-X OC (UEFI) PCI-E Graphics Card 11242-07-20G

 

[ThrashZone]

Thanks for the update at least it's on top

The only other one I've read that has a switch is the evga 980 king pin it's for triple bios oc'ing
But at least they tell you about it
EVGA GeForce GTX 980 04G-P4-5988-KR 4GB K|NGP|N GAMING w/ACX 2.0+, Whisper Silent w/ Multi-Color LED Cooler, Customized Overclocking Graphics Card - Newegg.com
View attachment 376767

 

[Morbid Monkee]

Yeah its the first Ive heard of it, you would think a subsection in the manual would be justified at that point lol

 

[Mellon Head]

I'm still baffled at the reasoning behind that switch. What possible mode of operation requires that you turn your graphics card off? Or that you need to?