H8-1280t and GTX 780 Video Card installation issue.

[dvargas714]

I hope someone can give me good news with this issue as I am at the end of my rope.

I recently purchased an EVGA GTX 780 SC video card which I am attempting to install into my h8-1280t Elite HP Desktop.  

I have switched out the stock Power Supply that originally came with the unit and installed one that can support the necessary power requirements of the card (750W with 61A on 12V rail [Corsair ATX 750).

This is actually the second card that I have tried and they both have the same issue.  The issue is as follows:  When the unit is powered on I can see the POST message which shows my processor, memory amount, and BIOS Revision date and version.  The unit will then proceed to beep once every 10 seconds, there will be a total of 3 beeps and the unit proceeds to a black screen where nothing happens.  I know the card is not bad as it displays the POST message just fine.  

I have since contacted EVGA the manufacturer of the card and they have stated that this issue has something to do with UEFI BIOS.  Their card has shipped with the most recently updated UEFI BIOS located in the GTX 780, I was referred to try and ask here if there is an update to my current motherboard to bring it upto date with the latest revision of UEFI.  I have also since tried both BIOS updates on my model page the lastest having a revision date of 9-12-2012.  I would hate to think that my unit is incompatible being that I only bought it last year.  I have noticed that in my BIOS settings there is very limited UEFI boot options. so that gives me some hope.

The following is the information about my unit to the closes detail I have found:

Motherboard: IPIWB-PB (http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03132964) 
BIOS: 7.15 Rev. A (09-12-2012)
Processor: Intel i7 3820 3.6ghz

Desktop: h8-1280t (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategory?os=4063&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&sw_lang=&product=5155...)

Power Supply: Corsair ATX 750w

Memory: Corsair 16gb Vengeance

Hard Drive and CD drive are stock.

I believe the issue lies with an outdated BIOS and hopefully HP is providing BIOS updates.
Once again any help would be greatly appreciated!  

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

The amount of beeps that you are reporting do not correlate to any of the diagnostic beep codes for the HP h8-1280t.

I would suggest that you go back to EVGA and ask for a video card bios update that doesn't require the PC to have full UEFI.  Some of the older EVGA video cards were purposely shipped without full UEFI support so that the video card would work in the PC.  I know this from experience as a had purchased an older EVGA video card without full UEFI support and then later requested the UEFI video card bios update from EVGA.

The Corsair CX600 would have been sufficient for the GTX 780 according to the EVGA specifications.  An recent article in Maximum PC does indicate that 600 watts would be sufficient.

You might try clearing the CMOS. I don't have a lot of confidence that this will solve your problem.

BTW -- outstanding video card but big bucks

You PC is over a year old and probably out of warranty.  I don't see HP providing a bios update.

[Leo_K]

I also now have this exact same problem, but with a 780Ti and in a P7-1058UK.

Am I right in thinking even if I do find an update for the Gphx Card's firmware, I'll need to get it working in another machine to perform the update?

[Lil_Lisa27]

Hello Leo_K,

You are correct in your thinking. Once you are able to locate a firmware update for the card that you do want to use, you would need to have it working on a computer to install the update.

[smkuehn]

I too have the same exact problem on my h8-1380t with the same motherboard.  I have evga 770sc card.  Have you figured out any solutions at all?

[Lil_Lisa27]

Hi,

For this issue of not getting the video card to load after the POST. Please make sure that your BIOS is completely up to date. I have included the document 'Updating the BIOS'. Once this is completed put the new card back into the computer, and see if it works.

If the above steps fail. Put the original graphics card back into the computer. When the computer starts up, please access the BIOS. What needs to be done here is to set the computer so that it boots into legacy mode. I have included the document 'BIOS Settings for the Pittsburgh Motherboard'. Please click on Storage menu, and then boot order. This will tell you how to make the changes. As well show you pictures of what the menu looks like. Then shut the computer down. Install the new graphics card, and turn the computer on.

Please let me know if you are able to boot past the POST, thank you.

[smkuehn]

Updated to latest bios and updated latest chipset driver.  Still unable to get past post with new card.  I then swapped the cards again and placed the old card back in so that I may enter the bios menu.  I scrolled to storage, then boot order.  I disabled UEFI boot and tried legacy.  All of the legacy boot options came back with and error and didn't boot.  I then went and reenabled UEFI boot and individually turned off all boot locations except for one.  It turns out I only can boot from Windows boot manager option.  Note that I do NOT have windows installation CD as it came preinstalled on computer.  I also have windows 7 64 bit so I do not have legacy support and secure boot options in my bios options.  Don't really know how to create a bootable file from any of the legacy boots other then having an installation CD, but then again I don't fully understand the bios boots.  

Could you lend me anymore help at all?

Thanks so much 

[Lil_Lisa27]

Hi,

Have you made sure that your P6 and P8 connectors are connected properly to the video card?
If you have, and your power supply is capable of running this card, then it is possibly not compatible with this motherboard. For the greatest chance of compatibility, since your motherboard has PCIe generation 2 slot you would want to look for a video card that uses PCIe generation 2.0. While 3.0 should be backwards compatible; it is not always the case.

Thank you.

[Kantucki]

Wow. What a sad thread. I just purchased a EVGA gtx-780. Took out my EVGA gtx-580 and intstalled the new card. I'm getting the same results as above.

My PC is a Pavilion Elite HPE 597 c-b.

Bios version is AMI 7.15.

btw...Motherboard is HP/Compaq name: Cleveland-GL8.

Manufacturer's motherboard name: Pegatron

[Leo_K]

I changed my MB and all is now well. Sadly it was just an incompatability issue. EVGA owners can update their firmware to try and resolves this which others have reported as working, but as I said in my post, your'll need the card in a different machine where it already works to do this. So not an easy task.