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View Full Version : Defective 4870x2 6 pin socket?


Kamus
10-25-08, 04:40 AM
Ok, i just got my new ati radeon 4870x2 and immediatlly ran into trouble.

Installed it, tried using 6 and 8 pin cables, and then two 6 pin cables. neither works.

Here's what happens:

If i connect a single cable to the 6 pin socket nothing happens... it's as if there was no power at all, the video card powers up at 100% fan speed all the time and i get a long beep, then after a while, another long beep.

(this is exactly the same thing that happens if there's no cables connected at all to the card, and i get the exact amount of leds turned on with or with out that single cable there, two.)

Now, if i connect either a 6 or 8 pin cable to the 8 pin socket.. it works. it boots up properly, then i get the message that one of the cables isn't connected to the power supply. (as expected.)

Now, when i connect both sockets, either using a 6 or 8 pin cable on the 8 pin socket. i get exactly the same error, that one of the sockets isn't connected to the powersupply.

Obviously, this isn't true. and i'm pretty sure both 6 pin cables work fine, because they power up the card when i use them on the 8 pin socket. (the 8 pin cable also powers the card up, so all 3 cables from my powersupply work just fine.)

Now, this is where it gets wierd.

If there's no cables connected at all, fanspeed stays 100% all the time, and i get two red leds turned on. (i assume one for each power cable.)

If i connect a cable to the 6 pin socket i get... 2 red leds, same as if i had no power cables connected at all.

If i connect the card with any cable to the 8 pin connector (either 6 or 8 pin.) i only get one red led, and the card is working fine, but i get the no power cable on the other socket error.

But this is where it gets really wierd, if i connect the 6 pin socket along with either a 6 or 8 pin cable on the 8 pin socket, i get NO red leds at all. BUT i still get the error that says that one of the sockets isn't connected.

I hope i didn't confuse the people that might be able to help with all the socket talk, i tried to make it as clear as i could.

I use a high quality 600 watt seasonic power supply and my UPS isn't drawing more than 250 wats when the card powers up to give me the error. (so i'm pretty sure my power supply is doing ok, since with my old video card i usually drained about 370 watts at full load, and i can't even get this thing to power up...)

I belive that the 6 pin socket is not working at all, i'm allmost certain at this point, it's as if there was no cable there at all when i connect it.

Also, i have to add, that the 6 pin plastic socket was actually not all the way down, it was about mid way and you could see the pins themselves cause it wasn't pushed all the way down.

At first it thought that that was the problem, so i tried pusing it all the way down the way it's supposed to be, but i was afraid that to much pressure might break the soldiering work on the pins. i figured that had to be the problem, since the plastic thing was so high that there was probably no contact at all between the cable and the pins when i connected them.

So, very carefuly, i started to tap it down bit by bit, and i'm 100% sure the pins were undamaged while i did this. (i can tell that they are as sturdy as they should be, and that the soldering work is intact.

After doing that i was allmost sure that would fix the problem, however. i was wrong, even though there's no doubt now that there's contact between the pins and the cable. i get the exact same problem.

Anyone had a similar experience or has any ideas on what the problem could be?

I want to be sure that there's no way around this before i RMA this thing back. but from the looks of it, i have a defective card.

m_k
10-25-08, 05:15 AM
have you tried a different powersupply? the psu can be overloaded, depending on how old it is and how many things are plugged into it. i had an OCZ Gamextreme 700W PSU when i bought my x2, and it ran fine on windows, it would completely lockup my system while i was playing a game at random moments. Figured it could be the psu, i bought a silverstone st1200. No problems since. Run crysis Maxed at 1080 with no aa and same with warhead and farcry.

Jolly-Swagman
10-25-08, 05:20 AM
Sounds like a defective card,

Have you tested using a Digital Multimeter for power at the card points on the socket to make sure if there is power getting to the card

Kamus
10-25-08, 05:52 AM
have you tried a different powersupply? the psu can be overloaded, depending on how old it is and how many things are plugged into it. i had an OCZ Gamextreme 700W PSU when i bought my x2, and it ran fine on windows, it would completely lockup my system while i was playing a game at random moments. Figured it could be the psu, i bought a silverstone st1200. No problems since. Run crysis Maxed at 1080 with no aa and same with warhead and farcry.

I don't have another powersupply, but like i said in my post. it can't be the issue. i have no issues with this power supply at load on my geforce 8800 GTS, which draws considerably more power at load than that card does at idle with the CPU at 0% utilization.
Basicly, the radeon doesn't draw more than 100 wats when i get the leds, when i get it to power up with the 8 pin connector it's at 190 wats, about 150 wats below what this thing handles at load with no problems whatsoever so far.
I have no reasons to belive this is a power supply issue.

Kamus
10-25-08, 06:45 AM
I just thought about how to put and end to any doubts.
Can any 4870x2 owner be willing to boot up their card with just one power cable conected?
When i boot up with no cables, i get 100% fan speed, a long beep and no video at all.
When i boot up with the 6 pin cable by itself, i get exactly the same as above.
When i boot up with either just the 8 pin cable conected, or both cables connected, i get the error about one cable not being connected.

If you guys would get the error, while just using the 6 pin cable, it would mean that my 6 pin connector is defective, broken or whatever. (in which case i'd have no choice but to RMA immediatly.)

Thanks in advance to anyone that goes trough the trouble to test this out. ^_^