So in 2011 I bought an "awesome" deal for an OEM 5970 off of a 1 day sell on Newegg for$299 CDN. Turns out, "OEM" meant "refurb". I should've returned it when I learned it, but I'm an idiot, and it was working at the time, soI didn't. 2.5 years later, GPU is stuck at X4/X4, and there's MASSIVE microstutter/micro freezes while using Crossfire (posted to this forum, nobody knew why). Turned off computer earlier today, and went I went turned it on, it didn't POST. There's a red light by the PCIe port, and a blinking LED in the middle of the 5970. I tried multiple PCIe ports (using an ASUS P8Z-68-V-PRO Mobo, and both DVI ports, but to no avail. I booted using Intel Integrated Graphics, and the 5970 does not show up in the Device Manager. Help? . Is it simply bricked?
Reseat it in another slot, reconnect power supply connectors (try different rails). Maybe do CMOS clear. The easiest way to figure out if the card has died is to try it in another PC though ...
I do not remember non special card to give light warning for other reason than power issue. If your MB shows some warning, then refer to manual too. But likely it is due to problem with card, maybe PCIe can't provide enough power to card as PSU connector may have problem.
Mobo made no beeps to reflect PSU issue. In the past the card's fan would ramp at 100% at boot and it woulden't POST if a plug wasen't connected properly to it. Also reset CMOS. Didn't help.
Then card is likely dead. Remove it completely, and start with iGP in i5-2500K. It should be enabled since you reset mobo CMOS. If it posts without dGPU you know where problem lies, you can check for overheat signs on PCB and see if some capacitors are dead or cold solder break occurred.
Even with the 5970 plugged in,it POSTS as long as I have something plugged into the iGPU (BIOS has it set to AUTO, where it boots whatever's plugged in). But yes I'm worried my 5970's dead :'( also I've never opened a GPU before. What do you mean by PCB?
After further investigation, I think it actually does POST, but there's no signal to the display, a green LED is blinking on the card, and there's a red light by the PCIe port (tho I think that's just to indicate that it's using that port). It's not the monitor or cord, as I've tested both by just plugging the cable into the iGPU...which works 100%. Wish I had an alternate GPU...or computer to test my card in...tho it's likely just fried $100 cards are still horse crap, so it would be another ~$200 to get an equivalent card I spose.
