M17xR2 5870CF Wont Boot

My computer will not boot in 5870CF (boots with black screen, but can't power off unless I unplug it), but will boot with one 5870 in the slot.

I ordered new 5870 cards to replace my 4870's about a week ago.

After doing some research around here I found that the A00 cards had an issue with the master and slave cards working with each other. Now, I checked the back of my cards and it says I have A02 cards and I was wondering, does that issue still exist or does A01+ fix the master/slave issue? Does the A02 cards have anything to do with the VBIOS revision number (do I need to update to the A01 VBIOS)? Do I need to go back to A02 BIOS, update everything, then update the bios to A10 or whatever is the latest version?

I'm getting replacements sent to me again, but I'm not sure if its gonna fix the problem.

 

Bump, can anyone help me?

 

Yeah run Vbios, I'm replacing my cards as we speak they should be here in the morning.

 

So I removed my secondary card and I was able to boot to my BIOS, which allowed me to revert to the A02 BIOS. Now, the second card began to work. I flashed the VBIOS after installing Dell's drivers, and everything seemed to work well, that was until I tried updating the BIOS to A10, or to any BIOS thats after A02 for that matter. Every time, it either failed to update by freezing during the BIOS update, or it would update and wouldn't load the bios until I removed the secondary card. Maybe it is a master-slave issue? Does anyone know what causes this problem really?

One thing I forgot to do was check the green sticker on both cards to see if they were the same or different. Hopefully these replacements will fix my problem.

 

Bump, I've exhausted all my solutions.

 

You should just replace the cards and sit tight, I'll post my findings here shortly

 

It sounds like you have this problem: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/490277-m17x-r2-cf5870-wont-boot.html

You'll need to look at the green stickers on the cards to find out if the issue is the same. From reading that thread, it looks like the primary cards should say A00 on that sticker and the secondary A01. If they're both A00 then the cards will conflict and the newer BIOSes will have issues working with them.

Assuming that this is the case, and that you bought the cards directly from Dell, I'd give them a call and get them to send out a replacement for the secondary card (or both cards). Get them to make sure that the card says it's A01 before they send it. If they won't at least check it yourself before you install it.

 

Ill be getting my replacement cards tomorrow, hopefully the xfire will work

 

Both of my cards say A02, and reading though the thread I didn't see anything about an A02 card. I didn't check the green stickers though

 

Can somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but the only way to tell if you have a A0 or A1 is with the S/N id and not the Rev**. Caustixide, best not take my statement as correct until a more knowledgeable forum member confirms this.

 

The cards I had replaced before the ones I need replaced now said A00, and those caused my computer to not even turn on period unless I removed the second card. That probably was my fault because they sent me two slave cards, and I decided to take the heatsink from my master and put it on one of the slave cards.

I do recall someone talking about the S/N ID's having to be different, unsure about the Rev's though.