EVGA GTX 970 installation problem

So I just got an EVGA GTX 970 to replace my GT 420. I uninstalled all the Nvidia drivers on my pc (at least I think I did, seeing as the resolution on-screen switched to a much lower one and there was nothing Nvidia related in the control panel), completely shut down and disconnected the tower, took out the old card and put the new one in the same PCI-E x16 slot (the only one my motherboard has. It's a Cleveland GL-8 that came with the prebuilt HP computer I got back in 2011).

I didn't move or touch anything else. The card has two 6 pin power connectors, I had one and used the Molex to PCI-E 6 pin adaptor that came with the card, and connected them both to the graphics card (I did also make sure the card was properly seated in the x16 slot). Once everything was seemingly in place I closed up the case, hooked everything back up same as before (using the DVI-D slot in the card) booted the pc and it went to the HP splash screen and nothing happened; I waited some 5 or 6 minutes but nothing at all changed. Occasionally the pc beeps then stops after a while when the 970 is in it and nothing responds to the keyboard it would seem. To make sure the card was actually receiving power I checked if the fans were moving when I booted the pc and they were. Also, the splash screen took up the whole monitor at 1920x1080, if that's any indication of anything.

I then switched the new card for the GT 420 (though with no drivers, I think), and the Windows 7 OS started up no problem and took me to the login screen, again at a really low resolution. After logging in the bugger reinstalled the geforce drivers cos it's connected to the internet now :p

The rest of my specs are:

• i7 2600 (no k) @3.4 Ghz
• 8Gb DDR3 RAM
• Motherboard: Cleveland GL-8 that came with the HP prebuilt
• 750w PSU
• 1TB HDD

Thanks in advance for any help :)

Update: Others have seemed to have the same problem with the same motherboard. It would seem the BIOS is out of date and there is no update available. If it is indeed this (the cases were very similar, but with a 770 instead of a 970) then any suggestions, or is a new mobo the answer?

Have you tried the card in a different PCI slot?

Only one PCI-E x16 slot on the motherboard, the other 3 are PCI-E x4 slots.

Edit: or x1 slots, point is they're petit.

So the other slots are too small for the card to fit? Even if it's 4x it's still gonna work. PCIe 3.0 4x will at the very worse bottleneck the bandwidth but I've heard reports even that's enough for a single GTX 970.

@Juub1990: Huh. Well right now I'm gonna try with the nvidia drivers installed before putting in the new graphics card. I've read elsewhere that this worked for some people. If not I'll keep that in mind, thanks :)

Ok best of luck to you. Keep us posted. Also, sometimes resetting the BIOS is useful as when you change the cards, some motherboards just switch to onboard graphics even if you put a new GPU. If installing the drivers don't work, try connecting your monitor to your motherboard while the card is connected.

Nothing changed with the drivers installed before boot and when the DVI-D cable was connected to the motherboard the pc just beeped continuously and nothing appeared on-screen

The motherboard may not be able to supply enough power through the pci-e slot causing the problem. Or the board has an issue with pci-3.0 based gpus for backwards compatibility. So the only thing you can do is get a new motherboard This would be a ok replacement LINK

Thank you. This seems to be the problem. I'll probably make a new thread asking for mobo suggestions though, just to make sure the boards suggested fit my need well :)

Unless that 750Watt PSU is by popular brand I doubt it's the MOBO that cause the problem.

I've heard some time before that a 750Watt PSU by some crappy brand couldn't hold a normal modern GPU.

Would you happen to know how I can figure out if it's the motherboard or the PSU? It indeed isn't a popular brand and it hasn't got any 80+ rating, but I'm still not the first to have this problem with the same mobo, and that ended up being the problem for others. The last BIOS update came out in 2011 and there hasn't been anything new since.

I have the exact same problem, same old MOBO and same GPU. I have finally landed on a final conclusion by buying a new MOBO. The most affordable and compatible MOBO, coming to having right socket size for CPU, RAM specs and all that. Ended up i being this one. http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4143

Highly doubt is the psu because many online with the same board have issues with low end to high end gpu's with mny different psus with wide range of wattage's and brands. Chances are that its the board's lack functionality to see pci-e 3.0 gpu's which seems to a common core.

@04dcarraher: Hey I'm just trying to solve the issue with as little money spent as possible :P

Edit: Still, the card says it's compatible with PCI-E x16, 2.0 and 3.0, and the GT 420 was a 2.0. Shouldn't it be able to work just fine?

I understand that you want to solve the issue with as little money as possible but from what Ive read on other forums, its the board and its out of date bios, not able to see the pci-e 3.0 cards. Only thing I can think of is getting into the bios and forcing the pci-e to run at 1.1x, if it works you will only lose about 5% of the gpu's performance

So what basically you say that the MOBO can't recognize a PCIe 3 GPU? that's insanly stupid, not by you, but from the module itself, haven't seen such compatibility problems yet.

For some odd reason, that motherboard with the older AMI based bios does not like pci-e 3.0 gpu's that same board using the more up to date uefi based bios tends work fine. Looking further into it TC's only shot is to find the bios update for his board using his old gpu or onboard gpu then try using his new cpu.

• Motherboard: Cleveland GL-8 that came with the HP prebuilt

I just noticed this ^ , forgive me - what would anyone expect from a crappy brand that came with any pre build HP PC.

Never buy HP pre build PC if you intend on some serious gaming, starting from the crappy case and up to MOBOs that doesn't support high end GPUs apparently.

Wasn't planning on using it for gaming at first, and for everything else it's served its purpose. But yeah lesson fucking learned. From now on I'm building my own pcs!

LOL, well, there's nothing to be upset with, I'm actually stunned that a regular office case is holding inside of it an i7.

I would just change the mobo, dude. Save yourself some gray hairs just get a decent gaming board that you don't intend to overclock with.

Yup, that's the plan

Pick one - both should be great for your build

@PredatorRules: Thanks, those both look good. Just a few questions: Can I be sure the RAM, CPU and HDD will then be compatible with the new motherboard despite being from the HP prebuild? Also, if I were to get a bigger mobo that required an 8 pin rather than a 4 pin for the cpu, would I be able to get by with only a 4 pin connector or with two 4 pin connectors? My psu only has one 6+2 pin which I'm using for the graphics card, see.

Ah, and lastly, will I need to buy Windows 7 again? What'll happen then with the OS already on my hard drive?

1) Yes, the only problems with those HP builds are the crappy brands they choose from and their lousy custom made MOBO and case. - but to make sure please specify RAM brand.

2) CPU doesn't require any sort of pin configuration??? the only pins that are required for the CPU is actually for the CPU cooler that connects to the MOBO; the 6+2 pin that you have is for the GPU that you're using that's correct - EVGA 970 requires 2x 6 pin - but it also comes with 2x 6 pin - molex adapters so you should be fine without switching a PSU at all.

3) Probably yes, because the way Windows works is by saving the MOBO that is being used on the installation process.

I found you a way, it's kinda tricky but you may try it if you wish to save a couple of bucks: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/making-sure-windows-7-will-boot-after-changing-the-motherboard/

Sorry, got confused. I meant the 4 pin connector that's near the CPU on many motherboards. I've seen 8 pins on some boards instead of 4 pins like the mobos you suggested, and I'm wondering if in that case two 4 pins or simply one 4 pin would work instead.

Thanks for all the help :D

Oh, right that 4-pin ATX 12V power connector, in the MOBOs that I've suggested 1x 4 pin should do the work, many PSUs allow to connect those 2x 4 pins together to make 1x 8 pin as a whole unit for easier installation.

But no, now that I understand the original question - you cannot go away with only 1x 4 pin - you'll have to make somehow a 2x 4 pins, either the PSU already came with 2x pin or by molex adapter.

@PredatorRules: The psu came with 2x4 pin, so yeah, good to know!