HP Compaq Pro 6300 SFF Graphics Upgrade

[Fastvan]

I have been using this system for quite some time. I upgraded it from 8gb ram to 32gb just before the price of ram blew up. It has an i7-2600 processor, 256gb ssd and a Radeon R5 430. BIOS version is 2.90. Everything works beautiful for what I am trying to do. However, I picked up a Radeon R7 450. Cards look almost identicle. Just the R5 had 2gb of GDDR5 and the R7 has 4gb GDDR5. The R7 will not give a display when powered on. I was told before to go into the option roms and change the video from Legacy to UEFI. Didn't work. I tested the card on an old dell I have. Works fine. Is this computer just not capable of handling the R7 or am I just missing something? Yes, I even unplugged the system and pulled the cmos battery for an hr. No change.

Thank you all for your attention. 

[BeemerBiker]

You need to enable UEFI bios in the 6300.   This is just a guess based on the following

Why the R5 430 Works and the R7 450 Fails

• Legacy vs. UEFI VBIOS: Many OEM and later-generation cards (like certain R7 450 variants) ship with a pure UEFI-only GOP (Graphics Output Protocol) firmware. The HP Compaq Pro 6300 runs on a 2012-era Ivy Bridge motherboard (K01 BIOS family) that may struggle or fail to initialize a pure-UEFI graphics card if the system is set to Legacy BIOS mode—or vice versa.[ref_1]
• Secure Boot / Non-HP Card Locks: Older HP business desktops can reject or fail to output video with certain non-whitelisted or un-signed graphics cards if Secure Boot is enabled.[ref_1]
• Power or Slot Limits: The PCIe x16 slot on the Compaq Pro 6300 delivers up to 75W, and the proprietary power supply has no auxiliary 6-pin/8-pin connectors. While the R7 450 typically draws under 75W, variations or multi-monitor configurations can sometimes trigger power-state or initialization hangups.[ref_1]

Our upgrade expert @NonSequitur777 has upgraded the 6300 here but I recall the bios was 3.08 and not 2.9.  I will defer to NonSequitur777.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

@Fastvan 

I have a R7-450 in my older HP 8200 Elite CMT which I removed from my Dell Optiplex 7050 MT.

The equivalent PC model series to yours would be the 6200 Pro.

Worked fine.

The 8200 Elite has a 300W power supply and the Optiplex has a 250W PSU, so I doubt is a power issue with the 240 W PSU the 6300 Pro SFF has.

Could it be that the BIOS is out of date?  That I do not know.

Your post indicated that you are running Linux, but if you want to update the BIOS you can do so outside of Windows.  You don't even need a hard drive installed, but you will need to use a Windows PC and the free 7-Zip file utility to extract the BIOS DOS flash folder from the BIOS exe file, because I have no idea if you can do that in Linux.

Since you are running BIOS version 02.90 on your PC, you have to first update it to version 02.99 and then to the final 03.08 version.

See this discussion for how to update the BIOS outside of Windows.

Solved: Updating BIOS Pro 6300 SFF - HP Support Community - 7644632

[Fastvan]

If I upgrade to the 2.99 then the 3.08, do you think it may possibly work? Any other workarounds maybe?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

All I can say is you have nothing to lose by updating the BIOS.

Whether or not that will get the card to work, as I posted earlier, that I do not know.

This all is dependent on if the R7 graphics card you have is known to work.

I do not know of any other workarounds, because a graphics card either works when you install it, or it doesn't.

I have never had to do anything special or out of the ordinary when installing a graphics card.

I uninstall the graphics drivers and any applicable software from the graphics card I'm removing.

Shut down, unplug the PC, install the new card and turn on the PC.

Now, on my 8200 Elite, when I first installed the card and turned on the PC, nothing happened for around 20 seconds or so and then the PC came to life.

I don't know why that happened, but other than the first time I installed the card, the PC boots up normally and fast.

[Fastvan]

BIOS is now upgraded to 3.08.

The R7 works on my old dell just fine.

I tried the option rom again with bios updated. Still no display.

I'm going back to my R5

[NonSequitur777]

@Fastvan,

Thanks for the update. Since you've updated the BIOS to version 03.08 and retested the option ROM settings without success, returning to your Radeon R5 430 is understandable.

The R7 450 working in your Dell confirms that the card functions, but it doesn't guarantee compatibility with the Pro 6300 SFF. The difference in VRAM capacity is unlikely to be the deciding factor.

Seems to me that your specific R7 450 may exhibit a specific firmware or hardware compatibility limitation with your Pro 6300 SFF.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[Fastvan]

I'm open to just about trying anything. Even flashing the bios of the card so the hp thinks this dell card is actually hp. I do have access to other computers. The dell i tested it on and a couple custom PC's. I've done it before years ago with another card. Why not try it, right?

Next question is, where do I get the bios?

[NonSequitur777]

@Fastvan,

I honestly do not know if an HP graphics card firmware/BIOS is even available or not, but even if it was, I would strongly advise against it as it may ruin your card.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[Fastvan]

Well, looks like a new problem now. I put my R5 back in. Now the computer won't post. As soon as I plug the power cord, the computer turns on. Not supposed to just start up. After sitting for about 15 seconds with no display, tge cpu fan starts running wide open. Never done that before either. 

Troubleshooting done...

Pulled the graphics card and plugged in directly to the vga port. No change.

Reset cmos. Pulled the cmos battery and pressed the power button to drain any residual power. Kept battery out for an hr. Even pressed and held the cmos reset button on the motherboard for 60 seconds. No change.

Pulled all the ram out and tried just 1 stick at a time. Nothing. 

Unplugged ssd and dvd drives. No change.

Tested all parts pulled on my old dell. Everything works. The only pars not pulled is the cpu and power supply.