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Swapping out GFX cards


Helios

Helios

Well-Known Member
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Hi all!

So last night I somehow completely failed to install a replacement graphics card in my system. I'm wondering if anyone here might be able to tell me what's wrong:

I'm replacing an Asus AMD Radeon 7770 HD on an Asus H97M-E Micro ATX motherboard - with: An MSI nVidia geforce 970 GTX. I am running Windows 10 64 bit.

When I booted up the system with the new card installed, the first thing I noticed was that my temperature monitoring software wasn't detecting it at all. Sure enough, when I went to install the nVidia drivers, the installer couldn't detect the card either and refused to go any further.
I thought it was as simple as take the old one out, put the new one in, install the right drivers and off you go, but apparently not!

The one thing I did spot was that I had downloaded the 32 bit drivers instead of 64 bit - but I can't see that this would have resulted in hardware detection failure. That said, I'm not a hugely informed person when it comes to mucking about with my system - I was able to build it, but that's more or less where my knowledge ends.

My old GFX card is still working fine, I was just after an upgrade for gaming etc, and the new card is second hand, on loan from a friend until I decide I want to keep it. So it's not the end of the world if it doesn't work for me. But before I give up and stick with what I've got, I'm hoping someone can help me see that there is something simple I've missed!
Moreso, I'm concerned that when I NEED to upgrade later down the line, I'll run into the same problems. So I'd love to get some possible answers, as it's bugging me. :)

Thanks,

Helios
 
You didn't say what happens on-screen but anyway, despite your exact model numbers there are still variations on the cards so this may not even be relevant to you.

It looks like, from using Google images, that your old card had only one 6 pin connector and the new has one 6 pin and one 8 pin. Have you connected power to both the connectors? (If it has two)

Did the fans spin on the card when you power up?

Does it have an illuminated 'GEFORCE' logo and if so does it light up?

Does the motherboard give any error code beeps?

Is the board seated properly in the PCI slot? (Or whatever its plugged into)

Is the board IN the correct mobo slot?

Have you tried it in a different mobo slot?

Is the new card configurable in the BIOS?

Does the BIOS even detect the new card?

Difficult to say really without seeing it but just check those things, you never know you may stumble across something on your travels.

Regards.
MrToM.

PS. You should always use the correct drivers, if your OS is x64 then you need x64 drivers. The NVidia site has software that will detect your card for you and download the correct drivers....check out the NVidia site and see if their software can even detect it.
 
Last edited:
MrToM said:
You didn't say what happens on-screen but anyway, despite your exact model numbers there are still variations on the cards so this may not even be relevant to you.

It looks like, from using Google images, that your old card had only one 6 pin connector and the new has one 6 pin and one 8 pin. Have you connected power to both the connectors? (If it has two)

Did the fans spin on the card when you power up?

Does it have an illuminated 'GEFORCE' logo and if so does it light up?
Click to expand...
Yes to all - it's powered and is displaying to my monitor through one of the DVI ports (just not at full res yet, as no drivers).

MrToM said:
Does the motherboard give any error code beeps?
Click to expand...
Nope, just the usual 'I have been switched on' beep at the start.

MrToM said:
Is the board seated properly in the PCI slot? (Or whatever its plugged into)

Is the board IN the correct mobo slot?

Have you tried it in a different mobo slot?
Click to expand...
Yes and yes. I only have the one PCI slot. I have since put the old card back in to double check the slot wasn't damaged or something in the swap over, and it's fine (phew).

MrToM said:
Is the new card configurable in the BIOS?

Does the BIOS even detect the new card?
Click to expand...
This will be the next thing I check, well reminded thank you. Not even looked at the BIOS since I set the system up! Whatever I find in there, I'll probably still need some guidance on what to do. Will try to google as much as I can, but I do prefer having people to bounce questions off too. :)
 
Hi Helen

Just a thought but have you got the power connecting to both 8 and 6 pin connectors, the GTX970 needs both connected
 
Sorted! As I suspected, it was me not going about things in the right order. As Hawkeye pointed out, I needed to remove the old drivers first. After that the new ones installed fine and I now have a working nVidia card.

Thank you all for the help!
 
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