MSI 890FXA-GD70 no signal to monitor

[Timsierramist]

Here is yet another one of these sad tales, lol. But this one has me stumped. The funny thing is, I think I had this problem the first time I built a PC, but I can't remember what I did to solve it or if this would even be the same. This one really has me scratching my head, and I could use some

I decided to build a new PC and purchases and used the following parts.

-MSI 890FXA-GD70 Motherboard.
-AMD FX8150 Processor
-3 Radeon 6970 Graphics Cards, connected via crossfire bridges.
-1000W Power supply.
-H60 CPU cooler
-7200 raptor Hard Drive
-CDROM drive
...think that's everything, in a basic sense.

So, the motherboard doesn't have a VGA or any kind of monitor connection, leaving me to rely on my graphics cards, which I attempted to use an HDMI cable. The issue is I get a "no signal" on my monitor. The MOBO powers up, fans spinning, lights twinkling, but there just isn't any output to the monitor.

The fans on the graphics cards are also spinning. I tried connecting the HDMI cable to each and every graphics card, but none of them are giving me a signal.

I have the MOBO on raisers to keep it from touching the case.

I have my ATX 24 and ATX 8 power connected.

I admit i'm no PC expert, but I thought I knew the basics of building a PC.

Any ideas of what to do next? Sure did cost a pretty penny on my budget.

Thanks in advanced for the help!

 

[Timsierramist]

P.S.: All LED's on the motherboard light up blue, if that means anything, which I think it does.

 

[Timsierramist]

P.S. 2 (as they come up in my head, lol).

I also have 4 sticks RAM @2GB each for a total of 8GB of Ram installed.

The MOBO doesn't beep at all when starting.

EDIT:

I did a bit more tinkering and also discovered that when I start the PC, "FF" blinks every 1.5 seconds.

 

[trents]

Do you need to first update the bios to be able to work with that FX CPU? The 8xx series chipset boards came out before FX was around and typically would not work with the FX CPU family without a bios fix, i.e., they were retro fitted to work with the new CPUs. If that's the case it would mean you would have to start with and older CPU to flash the bios and before you could use the FX.

Check the manufacturer's CPU support list for that board to see what bios version is needed.

 

[Timsierramist]

Oh wow. That's a bummer if that's the case. So I have to pull out my current CPU and plop in an older CPU? My old CPU is an AMD X4 955, and I'm don't think it fits unto my new board. Is my only option to buy another CPU just to get it flashed? Or is there another board I can buy that will still allow me to use 3 graphics cards and my new CPU.

EDIT: I plopped in my 'ol AMD 955 and it changed from error FF to 2 E.

EDIT2: After getting error 2 E, I pulled out my third and second graphics card and it booted with the addition of my old CPU.

I bought the third graphics card on from a guy on Craigslist...you can see where this may be going. :-(

Anyways, I am going to update bios, install my new CPU and then attempt to get the third card to work last.

Thanks for the earlier tip Trents! It helped.

 

[trents]

AM3 CPUs will work in AM3+ boards and AM3+ CPUs will work in AM3 boards that have the right bios. They both use DDR3 memory and that's the key to that equation.

 

[trents]

Once you get the 955 reinstalled, download and install a free program called "CPU-z". Run it and check the "Motherboard" tab of the program interface to see what your current bios version is.

 

[Timsierramist]

Hey Trent, I have CPU-Z already installed on my HD. But I was having issues getting my wireless keyboard/mouse working atm, so I checked in the bios and it says version 1.9.

If i'm not mistaken, 1.9 is an update that makes the MOBO work with AM3+ CPU's.

I am going to try and get the latest bios update downloaded, but i'm working against the clock most of the night because I have to leave the house in about an hour and won't be back until about 7 PM.

In any case, I will continue to respond to messages as possible throughout the day if I can't get it going now.

Can I update bios version from the bios itself via, say a flash drive, or do I just need to download from desktop?

Update: I am downloading MSI LiveUpdate, as I understand it automatically updates bios for me. Once that is complete, I will reinstall old CPU and go from there. This will have to be completed tonight though. At least this hopefully coming to a close.

 

[trents]

Yes, usually you can flash from bios from a thumb drive thse days.

When you remove the 8150 check for bent plns.

 

[Timsierramist]

I used MSI Live Update and was finally successful in getting the new CPU to boot. Haven't been able to do any testing from there though as i'm literally out the door now.

Now I need to troubleshoot and see if my 3rd "new" card is giving me any grief. I hope I wasn't screwed out of $200.00 by buying a used card on Craigslist.

Thanks for the help Jedi Master Trents. Walk Tall today, huh?