890gx won't run nvidia graphics?

[splat]

so i'm running some tests for another review using an 890gx motherboard. The onboard video works great and so does an hd5550 pcie card. But when I throw an nvidia gt240 in, the card won't display anything. The fan spins and the system boots fully into linux but never enables the display on any port (dvi, vga, or hdmi). POST doesn't even display so it can't be drivers. The card works in another system, so its not the card. And another pcie card works in this board (the hd5550) so its not the pcie slot.

bios is as up to date as i can get it. I've tried fully disabling the onboard video but i get the same result.

i just remembered I have a 7950gt sitting around so I threw that in and it worked perfectly. the 7950gt has a power plug on it which made me think "hmm, maybe the gt240 isn't getting enough power" but it has no extra power plug and the board doesn't have one of those "extra pcie power" plugs either. Every power plug on the board is used. Is this board simply not supplying enough power to the card thru the pcie slot?

 

[redduc900]

What model board is it?

 

[Bobnova]

Does the mobo have a second PCIe slot you could test the card in?

I would inspect the connector on the card very carefully, i have a x850gto2 that has some kind of issue with one of the data pins, it will only work at x8 and not at x16 unless i hold it in exactly the right position.

 

[splat]

its the mvix 890gx-usb3 miniitx i reviewed not long ago. the gt240 specs page says 69w max power while the hd5550 says 39w max. i can't find anything definitive with a quick search but i did see one page saying pci-e deliveres 75w max. so i'd think the gt240 wouldn't have a problem

 

[QuietIce]

As far as I know there are no known issues with AMD chipsets running single nVidia cards.


Earthdog and I had the PCIe power discussion awhile ago and I believe we concluded it is 75W to the PCIe slot. Still, if the board power is drooping just a little that 69W pull might be too much for it - you're above 90% of spec there. Got a Multi-meter?

 

[trents]

Sounds like an idiopathic incompatibility like you get with ram sometimes.