My brand new Radeon AIW 9700 Pro and current mobo aren't playing nicely.

How much would it piss you off that you spent $349 on a brand new Radeon AiW 9700 Pro 128mb card and it doesn't want to work with your computer?

System:

Lian Li PC-60 Case
Antec True430 (430 watt) power supply
Abit KR7A-Raid Mobo (using CX bios)
AMD 2000+ (Thoroughbred, has Volcano 9 fan/heatsink)
2x256mb Crucial 2100 DDR
ATI Radeon All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro 128mb
160gb Maxtor 6Y160L0 Hdd
Soundblaster Live 5.1 Platinum
3com 3c905c 10/100 Nic
Plextor 40/12/40x cdrw
Panasonic floppy

Think that's everything... Had a Ledtek Geforce2 GTS and it's always worked just fine. Purchased the AIW for both the faster gpu and the tv capture capabilities. However, after installing the AIW the system powers on but gets no display and no post at all. Have tried connecting the provided ac adapter to several different plugs on the power supply(I did notice that once I forgot to hook up the ac adapter at all and I got a series of beeps followed by the "You didn't connect the ac cable" message on the moniter.) Tried setting the bios settings to higher/lower speeds. I started thinking maybe because my Agp port is rev 2.0, 2x/4x, and maybe the card worked in only rev 3.0 (due to the 8x) but quickly found out that that isn't the case as I put the AIW in another computer of mine (has an Intel chipset, don't remember which board exactly) that has Agp rev 2.0, 2x/4x, basically same as my Abit and the AIW worked just perfectly in that system. So the card does work...just not in the computer I need it to work in. I'm beginning to think it is a problem with the motherboard, but just didn't really want to buy a new one right after dropping $349 on the AIW. Any help appreciated...

 

Yea my old video card works fine when I put it back in. Already tried resetting the Bios.

Already been to rage3d.com, searched the forums, posted my problem...nothing.

 

Hmm, never thought of the refresh rate. Worth a shot though I suppose...

 

Either some one thing is faulty or some combination of things is causing trouble. I've searched through Abit and ATI forums and posted my problem on those sites as well and no one that's read or replied has the same hardware, nor do they have a clue as to what it might be. (I used the forums on www.abit-usa.com and www.3drage.com)

A lot of people (with a lot of different hardware configs) are reporting their systems don't even fully power on after installing a Radeon 9700 w/ or w/o AIW. Apparently their systems briefly turn on, just long enough for the fans to spin a few times and then everything shuts back down.

But nearly no one is having the problem I'm having? It's getting more bizarre by the moment.

 

Well yea, this I had thought of. I tried an extra power supply I have that is a 200w generic thing in my system and it still did the same thing. The power supply in the other computer is only a 160w, not sure who made it. I could give it a shot, but the outlook is not good.

Actually, now that I think about it, I can't even believe the AiW worked in that computer in the first place. ATI recommends a 300w power supply I think and I've read some people buying power supply after power supply and didn't get their AiW to work until they got one that was 550w (!!!)

 

Yea I've read about the reset trick, but that doesn't work on my system either. I also read some people turn on their system with the Radeon ac adapter not plugged in to the power supply and about 5 seconds after the power is on they plug in the ac adapter. I can't believe these people haven't damaged the card or anything else, but they claim their problems are then solved and they can at least use their computers.

I've had two Abit mobos, this current one and another based on the old 440bx Intel chipset. Both have performed well, but I was looking around and have found a lot of people having good luck with the Asus A7N8X. I've also heard/read the Nforce2 SSP chipset performs very nicely.

I decided I'm actually going to call ATI tomorrow and see if they can offer any help before I throw in the towel and buy a new mobo.

Edit: My bad, the NF7-S is a Nforce2 board. Heh

 

Well this is good news. What brand/wattage power supply do you have? (I only ask because there are some people who seem to still think it's a totally power related issue.)

Edit: And I was looking at the regular A7N8X because I have no use for SATA (I know it's only a difference of like 20-30 bucks, but ya know...)

 

WARNING: Massive Post.

Here's the latest update: Called ATI this morning, spoke with a "Senior Tech Rep". Not sure if it's normal for the first person you get to just take down your information or if they do at times do troubleshooting, but after explaning my problem she just kinda went, "um ok, I'm going to forward you to a senior tech rep" and then I got transfered.

At any rate, I explained the problem to him. We went over a few things such as what other hardware I have, typical intro to troubleshooting and whatnot. It basically came down to him telling me that it has to either be the power supply or motherboard (well, right...) and that since I've tried a different power supply in my system and was able to get the AiW to work in two other systems (allbeit Intel chipsets) that it more then likely is the motherboard with an outside chance something could be wrong with the AiW itself. He did say that they've had a number of people call in with issues with my Abit board and that it seems sometimes updating the bios to the most current version (which I have done) only sometimes fixes the problem while other times it still does not (didn't for me). He said ATI's not positive, but thinks it has to do with a newer revision of the KR7A-R that Abit might have put out. Also said that my Antec True430 should be just fine, they've got test machines there that only have old 250-300w power supplies in them and the card at least posts and boots up and runs ok, to an extent.

I did ask about the Radeon revision numbers, the 10 digit numbers at the very top of the front of the pcb and he did confirm that the last two digits of the number do correlate directly to what revision the board is. However, as suggested by Daleon, rmaing the board for a newer version is not an option in my case as the AiWs came out far after the original Radeons and there are no new revisions as of yet. Just to clarify, regular Radeon 9700 Pros have newer versions up to 30 I believe it was, but AiWs do not, they only go up to 10.

I also asked if the AiW was tested with and worked better with any motherboards in particular. He said as a company they can't legally recommand any third party companies (understandable) but from his personal experience with working with customers and with his co-workers, one of the boards that sticks out from the rest is...guess what...the Asus A7N8X and/or Deluxe.

Although they couldn't fix my problem right off and couldn't give me any definitive solutions, I'd have to say my experience with ATI's tech support was pretty good. This was pretty much a last ditch effort for me as calling tech support for anything usually just results in headaches, but it turned out that, at least the person I spoke with, was very knowledgeable, curteous, and didn't ask me to do anything I'd already tried a hundred times. I know from working in the computer business that there can be these types of issues and to an extent I do understand, but it just sucks more when it actually happens to you.

So, I'm trying to find a mobo at work or from friends that has at least the same Via chipset as my current Abit and gonna see if the AiW works in that (since it seems to work fine on two different Intel chipsets and with shitty power supplies to boot). After that, if it works, or if I can't locate one that I don't have to pay for, then I guess it's just time to bite the bullet and buy a new mobo.