NVIDIA not working in top PCI-E slot

[//:mC.n]

I have the ASUS Crosshair V Formula Z mother board. Latest BIOS 2101.

I picked up the EVGA GeForce GTX 980 yesterday. I got the the drivers installed and everything was fine. Then today everything was normal until I turned off my PC to zip tie the pci-e cables. Nothing abnormal.

When I rebooted, I was getting a black screen, no Bios, and posting error code B2.

I looked this code up and it is for Legacy Option ROM Initialization.

I tried my 7950 and went through the boot up no problem same slot, same cables.

Replaced the 980 and back to posting B2.

I then tried the 980 in the second PCI-e slot and booted up no problem.

Not sure if this is an issue with the card, or the motherboard. Everything seems to be running normal with it in the 2nd PCI-e slot.

Anyone have any knowledge as to what could be the cause? I see the top PCI empty and get this feeling it is sticking it's tongue out at me.

 

[BuRgLaR]

I have the ASUS Crosshair V Formula Z mother board. Latest BIOS 2101.

I picked up the EVGA GeForce GTX 980 yesterday. I got the the drivers installed and everything was fine. Then today everything was normal until I turned off my PC to zip tie the pci-e cables. Nothing abnormal.

When I rebooted, I was getting a black screen, no Bios, and posting error code B2.

I looked this code up and it is for Legacy Option ROM Initialization.

I tried my 7950 and went through the boot up no problem same slot, same cables.

Replaced the 980 and back to posting B2.

I then tried the 980 in the second PCI-e slot and booted up no problem.

Not sure if this is an issue with the card, or the motherboard. Everything seems to be running normal with it in the 2nd PCI-e slot.

Anyone have any knowledge as to what could be the cause? I see the top PCI empty and get this feeling it is sticking it's tongue out at me.

That Crosshair V while being a fantastic board has gotten some really lousy reviews on the AM3+ platform. I have heard of thermal issues on that board with the 9590 that cause the 1st PCIE slot to go wonky but considering that the 7950 is working fine I am clueless as to what tthe problem could be. That proc draws a ****ton of power and perhaps somewhere on the board between the 980 & the 9590 it's sucking too much juice. Years ago I had an MSI board do the same thing where the 1st slot didn't work but the 2nd and 3rd worked fine. Do you have another AM3+ proc to put in that board to test my theory?

 

[//:mC.n]

I have been doing some reading and it seems like the Nvidia cards are having this happen quite a bit even with Intel Cpu's. My rig has always been water cooled including cross fired 7950's I had in there.

I switched to nVidia because I heard about their reliability. It has only been a little over 24 hours since installation, so I will not judge as of yet, but my 7950's ran cooler without water cooling, and were less of a head ache.

While I was researching if the 980 BIOS needed an update as some people said this fixed their issue, and I found something that seemed a little odd.

My card is the last card on the list. The BIOS my card has does not match the BIOS that is recommended. I noticed my card has the same BIOS as the second card on the list. This card went right out of the box into my tower. I am going to call tomorrow and see if NVIDIA can help me figure this out.

 

[//:mC.n]

I chatted with an nVidia rep and they were not able to help me either. They were as well baffled by the BIOS on the card being for another card (I know they are thinking I did it). I just took the card back to Micro Center this morning and exchanged it. I put the new card in and everything works fine. I looked at the BIOS and indeed is the correct BIOS. I asked the guy if they repackage and she said no. Being EVGA is just a few miles away from my house, I am sure they ship out some of the cards they get returned to them after they go through a "review" and some may end up at the local Micro Center.

On a positive note from the whole situation, during the exchange, another code for a free game printed out and was redeemable!