Requesting Assistance Booting Onboard Graphics as Primary - ASRock z77 Extreme4

[cupper24]

Good morning (and a chilly one it is, too!),

I have a buddy's bricked HD 6950 that I'm trying to revive from a bad flash. When I put into my system in the main PCI-E Slot (dubbed PCIE 2 by AsRock), I get the d6 code with 5 beeps telling me that basically the MoBo cannot read the BIOS (or the BIOS simply won't POST for the MoBo to read it). Anyway, not altogether unexpected since he did say it was bricked.

My 6950 works like a gem in that slot, booting as expected. I also, for fun, tried to get the bad card to boot in PCIE 3 to no avail (just FYI). Currently, I would much rather try and boot my onboard graphics (never used til today) with the bad card in tow, if you will, to boot to DOS via USB and try to use ATIFlash to bring that bad boy back by re-flashing with one of Tech-Powerups' VGA BIOS for the card (matched to brand and memory configuration).

I can't for the life of me get the MoBo to ignore the card in the PCIE slot and boot the onboard graphics!!

Take the card out, onboard boots as expected. Put it back in with the DVI still connected to the onboard port, and "Dr. Oz" is back to throwing d6's and beeping at 5 times. I have been through the BIOS after taking the bad card back out and setting the Primary to "Onboard" in the North Bridge section of "Advanced" in my BIOS (2.90 BTW), and setting the PCIE link speed to "Gen1" for both slots, as I saw others post around the web. I also disable the "I-GPU Multi- thing, too" just in case that was forcing the MoBo to key on PCIE.

Funny thing is I can't get the onboard to take over with the good 6950 in it either (BIOS settings unchanged from above). The monitor doesn't detect a signal, but the computer makes it all the way to the user sign-in screen. Hence, if I dropped the monitor cord back on the good 6950, the monitor would all-of-a-sudden get a signal.

Question is: What may I be missing that forces the MoBo to override the "Primary Graphics --> Onboard" setting in my BIOS?

Thanks (and now I'm outta breath!)

Cupper24

[Britgeezer]

Re: Requesting Assistance Booting Onboard Graphics as Primary - ASRock z77 Extreme4

I have 3 z77-Extreme 4's -have to admit I never tried to boot with a bricked GPU (happy to say) but never had problems to swap between onboard and GPU.
I'll think about it, but for now can offer no help.

[parsec]

Re: Requesting Assistance Booting Onboard Graphics as Primary - ASRock z77 Extreme4

Actually, try setting the IGPU Multi-Monitor to Enabled in North Bridge Configuration.

While the name of this option seems to enable the use of multiple monitors with the onboard graphics, its actual function (supposedly) is to enable both the onboard and separate video card simultaneously. I've used multiple monitors with the onboard graphics with this option disabled, so I know that is not the purpose of this option.

The manual of my Z87 Extreme6 has this description for the IGPU Multi-Monitor option:

IGPU Multi-Monitor
Select disable to disable the integrated graphics when an external graphics card is
installed. Select enable to keep the integrated graphics enabled at all times

You may want to disable the Deep Render Standby and Render Standby options, which are for the onboard graphics, just in case they affect it when attempting to use two video sources.

What should the Primary Graphics Adapter setting be in this situation? Nothing is specified about this in the manual, so you may need to experiment with this. My feeling is set it to Onboard.

Even if this works, I have a feeling it may not help you to get the PC booted to flash the VBIOS of that bad 6950. POST will still detect the problem with it, and stop the POST process, and no boot. That is what you are experiencing now IMO.

One other thing to try is do not have the bad 6950 connected to a cable when you try to boot the PC.

We would be interested to know what happens with all this, success or failure.

[cupper24]

Re: Requesting Assistance Booting Onboard Graphics as Primary - ASRock z77 Extreme4

Well, I have solved my issue!

Parsec, I tried all those settings to no avail in the BIOS. I also tried the external GPU in the PCIE slot without the PSU cables and settings which should favor the onboard graphics. That resulted in a black screen and the fan spinning full speed.

What wound up working was pulling the CMOS battery. I left it out for 5 minutes, put the Primary Graphics setting to onboard and I was able to finally boot the onboard graphics with the bricked card in the PCIE slot hooked to power. What is strange to me is that the Clear CMOS button at the rear of the board didn't have the same effect. Is the button somewhat of a "softer" reset?

i created a flash boot drive and put ATiFlash on it with a Tech Powerup default vBIOS for the HIS 2gb flavor. After flashing and restoring my AsRock BIOS Back to the way I had it, no more Dr. Debug getting angry at me and it was brought back from the dead! Woot!

Appreciate everyone's feedback and suggestions. I was glad to bring that card back to life and especially my buddy. He thought he was going to be out a GPU.

Thanks again!

Cupper24

[parsec]

Re: Requesting Assistance Booting Onboard Graphics as Primary - ASRock z77 Extreme4

Glad you figured it out.

The difference between the Clear CMOS button and what you did is removing the battery. The Clear CMOS button or jumper alone is a softer reset than removing the battery. The BIOS CMOS chip has memory in it that will not be cleared until power is removed from the CMOS chip. The battery supplies power to the CMOS chip to keep that memory's data intact.

[cupper24]

Re: Requesting Assistance Booting Onboard Graphics as Primary - ASRock z77 Extreme4

Glad you figured it out.

The difference between the Clear CMOS button and what you did is removing the battery. The Clear CMOS button or jumper alone is a softer reset than removing the battery. The BIOS CMOS chip has memory in it that will not be cleared until power is removed from the CMOS chip. The battery supplies power to the CMOS chip to keep that memory's data intact.

Ok, that's what I was thinking. Thank you for the explanation. I've been building systems since 2003, and I'm still amazed at what I can still learn from forums like this.

Cheers!

Cupper24

[Britgeezer]

Re: Requesting Assistance Booting Onboard Graphics as Primary - ASRock z77 Extreme4

Ok, that's what I was thinking. Thank you for the explanation. I've been building systems since 2003, and I'm still amazed at what I can still learn from forums like this.

Cheers!

Cupper24

I can't tell you how many times removing the CMOS battery has helped me revive a seemingly dead or malfunctioning MB. My experience is you got lucky with 5 minutes My default is at least an hour, I guess it varies by MB and state of the caps, etc. Back in my Dual CPU days I had one Tyan 2460? MB that took an overnight period without battery before it gave up and booted.

I agree, I'm glad I found this forum.