Two months ago, I put a Radeon 9800 Pro in my system and was enjoying all sorts of gaming goodness. Yesterday, however, when turning my system on I received this message:
YOU HAVE NOT CONNECTED THE POWER EXTENSION CABLE TO YOUR RADEON 9800 VIDEO CARD PLEASE REFER TO THE "GETTING STARTED GUIDE" FOR PROPER HARDWARE INSTALLATION !!!
So I opened it up and checked all the connectors were still seated and tried again. No go. I get to that screen and stop every time. I hate troubleshooting for hours on end, has anyone run into this before? Where is my problem most likely to be?
Did you inspect the current power cable and connector to the 9800 pro for any scorch marks?
Just did, everything appears to be fine.
Have you tried plugging in a different power cable for the card?
I don't appear to have any other spare connectors. That's what I get for buying someone else's system.
Do you have a motherboard monitoring utility so you can check the voltages coming from your power supply?
No, can you recommend a good one?
In other news, I replaced the original onboard GF4 the system came with and it boots fine. So that tells me the problem is not the power supply or the hard drive. I'm disinclinced to believe the card is broken, or else it wouldn't have given me an ATI error, would it?
I don't know what your system specs are, but when I got my 9800Pro XT, I had to have a larger power supply unit put in. The techs at Gateway, and the video card box, said that you would need a certain amount of voltage in the power supply unit to run the card effectivly. Don't know if this will help, but perhaps it's an option to look into.
I have an Antec 310watt power supply, which I've been told should be OK for the system. I also have a 150MB hard drive, a 40x CD/RW and a 2.4 ghz processor, which I've also been told is plenty fine for the 310 to handle.
I suppose I COULD strip out all the power cords and replace them, but man, that sounds like a tiresome task...
noun, I use a utility that came with my Intel mobo to monitor my temps and voltages. You may want to try Motherboard Monitor, which I have seen recommended.
I assume it monitors PSU line voltages but I haven't tried it. It's probably a good general utility to have unless your mobo maker has one available.
You don't seem to have too much in your system -- it's a little surprising that you don't have another empty power lead from the power supply that you can try with the Radeon. Antec power supplies are usually pretty good, especially their Truepower series, but I did have the 350W Antec Smartpower that came with my case start throwing voltage alerts after about 9 months. I dumped it for an Antec True430 and have been good since. The Antec 310W you have should be adequate, if it is functioning properly.
When the sun goes out, we'll have eight minutes to live.
Had the same exact problem, except that the problem was random. I was getting it alot for a while, then I reformatted and I didn't have the problem for 2 months or so. I just got a new MBoard and CPU, and haven't experienced the problem at all.
I have a 350 watt Antec power supply, cdrom, 2 hdrives, etc. Wish I had a better answer for you.
EDIT: Have you tried reseating your vcard and a different power connector?
Freezer, I'm a dork. I do have that same Intel utility, and it shows all the voltage as being just fine.
And I seem to have fixed the problem tonight. I took the cord that was plugged into the hard drive and plugged it into the Radeon, and vice versa. Now it boots normally as it has done so for months. I have no logical explanation for this.
noun, glad you got it working. Let me suggest one more thing. I'd feel a little uneasy plugging a possibly dodgy power cable (the one that was apparently not playing nice with your Radeon) into something critical like a hard drive. Since you don't have another empty connector, I would get a "splitter" cable so you can plug two things into one of your "good" power leads and not have to use the sketchy one that was previously in your vidcard. I'd keep your vidcard on its own cable, but you could plug in a HD and a fan or something into the splitter. You should be able to find one for a buck or two at Compusa or wherever.
