PC boots up on internal Intel graphics instead of dedicated GPU - need help

[formerlyL4]

Hi!

 

A while back I built a new Skylake PC. i5 6400 with intention to BCLK overclock it, Gigabyte Z170M-D3H, 16GB DDR4 2400MHz RAM and MSI GTX 980. So everything came through except the graphics card which seemed to be lost in shipping. Meanwhile my sister was on holiday so I "borrowed" her GTX 970 since I thought it won't be a problem to change it afterwards and I wanted to enjoy my new rig. Everything was going perfectly with this build, everything worked without a hitch.

 

Here's when it gets real. The 980 came and when I put it in my PC, replacing the 970 which wasn't mine. The computer seemed to be booting up but there was no signal output onto either of my monitors. I plugged in the internal graphics and it booted up fine. I thought the graphics card was faulty. I put it into my sister's PC (i5 4460, B85 8GB RAM, 500W PSU) and it worked without a problem, recognised in GeForce Experience. Weird I thought. I went back to the 970 then to see if I may have broken the motherboard. Interestingly enough, my PC was able to boot up with the GTX 970 just fine. But when I went to reboot it, the same thing happened like the GTX 980 - it was booting off the internal graphics.

 

Now here's my current situation. I need to turn the computer on and off about 10-20 times till it boots of the dedicated GPU instead of the internal. I know that both graphics cards are working in the 2nd computer. What I tried doing is trying out the other PCI-E slot, disabling integrated graphics in the BIOS, updating and downgrading BIOS and resetting the whole BIOS including CMOS. The PC still boots of the internal graphics even if both monitors are plugged in to the graphics card! But when I reset it a couple of times, it works. What can I try before returning the motherboard as faulty? It's Incredibly annoying because I will need to disassemble the whole PC, wait and then rebuild. In addition to that, I both game and do content creation on this PC, each of these things require different operating systems in my case (macOS & Windows) which this issue makes it impossible to switch between them.

[NTDaws]

Are you plugged into your graphics card?

[DiamondShark286]

1 minute ago, Dawson Wehage said:

Are you plugged into your graphics card?

are you reading the post before you reply

[bgibbz]

did you use DDU to unistall 970 drivers? Check BIOS as well.

[formerlyL4]

25 minutes ago, Dawson Wehage said:

Are you plugged into your graphics card?

 

Everything is correctly plugged in. I know in fact that the graphics card would display a "PCI-E cable isn't plugged in' if it wasn't

[formerlyL4]

6 minutes ago, bgibbz said:

did you use DDU to unistall 970 drivers? Check BIOS as well.

I even reformatted the SSD since then. I can only once per several times to boot it from the dedicated GPU without making any hardware changes. The problem still persists.

 

What exactly should I check in the BIOS? If it's booted up from the internal graphics card, 970 isn't detected. If it's booted from the 970 then everything is recognised..

[bgibbz]

1 minute ago, L4xeus said:

I even reformatted the SSD since then. I can only once per several times to boot it from the dedicated GPU without making any hardware changes. The problem still persists.

 

What exactly should I check in the BIOS? If it's booted up from the internal graphics card, 970 isn't detected. If it's booted from the 970 then everything is recognised..

There is a BIOS setting for graphics proccesor to use. It defualts to discrete, but it may have been changed accidently. Try reaseating the GPU, and maybe testing the new card in another system. 

[formerlyL4]

6 minutes ago, bgibbz said:

There is a BIOS setting for graphics proccesor to use. It defualts to discrete, but it may have been changed accidently. Try reaseating the GPU, and maybe testing the new card in another system. 

The priority is set to PCI-E slot 1 where my GPU is seated. It was tested in another system as I mention in the post.

[NTDaws]

1 hour ago, Tb428 said:

are you reading the post before you reply

Nopeeeee

[Jer45]

3 hours ago, L4xeus said:

Hi!

 

A while back I built a new Skylake PC. i5 6400 with intention to BCLK overclock it, Gigabyte Z170M-D3H, 16GB DDR4 2400MHz RAM and MSI GTX 980. So everything came through except the graphics card which seemed to be lost in shipping. Meanwhile my sister was on holiday so I "borrowed" her GTX 970 since I thought it won't be a problem to change it afterwards and I wanted to enjoy my new rig. Everything was going perfectly with this build, everything worked without a hitch.

 

Here's when it gets real. The 980 came and when I put it in my PC, replacing the 970 which wasn't mine. The computer seemed to be booting up but there was no signal output onto either of my monitors. I plugged in the internal graphics and it booted up fine. I thought the graphics card was faulty. I put it into my sister's PC (i5 4460, B85 8GB RAM, 500W PSU) and it worked without a problem, recognised in GeForce Experience. Weird I thought. I went back to the 970 then to see if I may have broken the motherboard. Interestingly enough, my PC was able to boot up with the GTX 970 just fine. But when I went to reboot it, the same thing happened like the GTX 980 - it was booting off the internal graphics.

 

Now here's my current situation. I need to turn the computer on and off about 10-20 times till it boots of the dedicated GPU instead of the internal. I know that both graphics cards are working in the 2nd computer. What I tried doing is trying out the other PCI-E slot, disabling integrated graphics in the BIOS, updating and downgrading BIOS and resetting the whole BIOS including CMOS. The PC still boots of the internal graphics even if both monitors are plugged in to the graphics card! But when I reset it a couple of times, it works. What can I try before returning the motherboard as faulty? It's Incredibly annoying because I will need to disassemble the whole PC, wait and then rebuild. In addition to that, I both game and do content creation on this PC, each of these things require different operating systems in my case (macOS & Windows) which this issue makes it impossible to switch between them.

Do you have multiple pcie slots? if yes move the card around, addtionally there should also be a setting in the bios to disable the igpu What power supply do you have? and is your bios up to date?

[formerlyL4]

On 18/01/2017 at 7:53 PM, Jer45 said:

Do you have multiple pcie slots? if yes move the card around, addtionally there should also be a setting in the bios to disable the igpu What power supply do you have? and is your bios up to date?

Yes I do and tried to put it in the bottom slot. It still only boots up sometimes. iGPU setting does not make a difference either My BIOS is the newest from Gigabyte (and looks awful IMO). I have a newly bought Cooler Master 650W 80+ Gold semi-modular power supply.

[Biggerboot]

Did you disable bclk oc?  It may have been inherent with the bios flash, but I wanted to make sure.  Iirc your iGPU shouldn't even work while it's on, so something funky is going on with the motherboard.

 

I'd remove the GPU and flash it one more time.  You may want to start on the original drivers if the OC is important to you, but the newest ones if it isn't.