No signal to monitor with HD4870

Hi im asking this on behalf of my friend since his comp isnt working at this moment in time...

His set up is
3GB ram
Win 7 64 bit
ASUS M2N-SLI motherbord
550W power supply (true power)
AMD athlon 64 X2 6000+ processor

He did have an old geforce 8600gt but ive just upgraded my card and donated him my old HD4870 which works fine, put it in his computer and it makes a funny repetitive revving sound (as the fan spins) and 3 lights on the back keep flashing ...


ive looked up the meaning of those lights

D1601 - Red LED On, shows critical temperature fault

D1602 - Red LED On, shows External power connector A was removed

D1603 - Red LED On, shows External power connector B was removed

Both power connectors are fine (tested different ones)
Unplugged power connectors going to other components to see if it was a power issue, but still makes that funny sound and those lights flashing with no signal going to monitor, tried new vga cable, different adapators, even a hdmi connection... also after 40 seconds or so the lights stop flashing and the computer runs as normal but no signal so any thoughts? thank you

 

Sounds like a power problem to me!

Not %100 sure so will wait to see what other say.

 

well thats what ive put my money on.... hes gonna bring it to mine this weekend so i can hook it up to my power supply (800watt true power)

But my brother is running a similar setup but with a 1GB HD4870 and hes got a cheap 400 or 500 watt power supply in his, i cant remeber which.. think its a 500 watt so.... just strange...

 

Many off-brand PSU mfrs. inflate their wattage claims by using peak versus sustained wattage ratings.

Another thing to consider is that power supplies lose around 10% of their output every year due to aging. Given this, a 500 watt PSU that's been in service for 3 years may only be putting out 300-350 watts.

 

my mates power supply is only a year old if that... anyway thanks for the advice, will try out this weekend and will post what was wrong after.

 

I differ from the other posters, it doesn't sound like a power problem to me - you've got plenty with a 550 Watt PS. Sounds more like the card got damaged. Try it back in your computer and see if it still works.

 

i hope not... i took it out carefully, and went straight into the packaging my new card came in so it didn't get damaged... will try tht anyway...

 

On a related note, be sure the card is seated totally in the PCI-e slot. Now that I think about it, I had a similar issue where - although the card appeared to be fully inserted - pushing down on it (maybe half a mm.) made it "click" and work fine.