Maximus Z890 Apex does not recognize old Radeon HD4890 card (Q-Code D6) used for debug.

[OldGuy17]

Sorry for the long post, but I want to ensure that you have all the info you might need in order to help me with this issue.

Looks like the BIOS shipped with my new ROG Maximus Z890 Apex does not recognize an old (15 yrs) Diamond Radeon HD4890 graphics card (with dual DVI monitor interfaces, and whatever version of PCIE was common back in 2009): After pushing the Start button on the MB, I get a long (about 1-2 minutes) succession of Q-Codes ending in a D6, with a painfully bright white LED shining just above the 2-digit 7-segment displays near the Start button on the MB.

System specs as currently configured:

MB: ROG Maximus Z890 Apex

CPU: Intel Ultra 9, 285K. Heatsink: BeQuiet! Pure Rock Pro 3. Both CPU fans, and all chassis fans are running properly.

Main Nonvolatile Storage: Samsung 900 2-TB SSD (with integrated heatsink; not using heatsink that came with MB) in the main M.2 slot

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws DDR5, 64 GB (2x32GB), in the only 2 RAM sockets on the MB.

Power Supply (PS): BeQuiet! Straight Power 12-1000. Fan runs properly.

Graphics Card (for temporary configuration and debug purposes only): Diamond Radeon HD4890. Fan runs properly, and the two 6-pin connectors on the "VGA1" power circuits from the PS are plugged into the corresponding two 6-pin connectors on the Radeon card. (I also have an Alienware desktop, circa 2012, with 2 GeForce 760 Ti cards. Might I have better luck avoiding the D6 error by replacing the Radeon card with one of those? They also pre-date DisplayPort, and have DVI connections to the monitor.)

Monitor: Samsung B245. Connected to Radeon card via DVI cable. (Monitor stills works well, but DVI and the old 15-pin VGA are the only ways to connect to it.)

I am using the Radeon card (and my old monitor) just to debug the motherboard installation before installing an ASUS GeForce RTX 5070Ti, and connecting that graphics card to a new ASUS monitor via DisplayPort.(Based on my experiences with computers over the past 40+ years, things generally end up working best when I don't try to use all-new components all at once).

My question is this: Is there any hope that I can get this MB to recognize and work well enough with the Radeon card to configure the BIOS, test the RAM and SSD, install Win 11 Pro, and address any lingering Q-Codes indicating other problems, before I integrate the new graphics card and monitor into the build? If so, please suggest actions I might take to make that happen. If you are certain that I cannot make this work without heroic measures, is there a known issue with my MB that prevents it from finding old graphics cards? In that case, I guess I'll have to install the 5070Ti and the new monitor, to see if those replacements will avoid the D6 failure while also not introducing more errors.

Thank you for any help you can provide!

[Nate152]

Hello OldGuy17

When using older hardware, you'll want to enable CSM.

In the bios on the Boot tab set CSM to Enabled.

Does this get your Radeon HD4890 recognized?

[OldGuy17]

HI Nate152,

Thank you for your suggestion. Unfortunately, I had to install the new ASUS RTX 5070Ti card anyway in order to see what was in the BIOS (ie look for CSM). The D6 Q-Code disappeared, the MB recognized the 5070Ti, and I was able to view and manipulate the BIOS, using the ROG Swift PG32UQXR monitor connected to the 5070Ti. However, I did not see where to change the status of CSM in the BIOS. So, I skipped trying to get the old Radeon card to work. Instead, I installed WIn 11 Pro on the installed Samsung 990 2-TB SSD, and started configuring  Win 11. When I shut down the computer for the night, I  used the WIn 11 shutdown command (so the computer should have shut down cleanly), and then turned off the PS in the case, and turned off the monitor.

Tonight, when I switched on the PS, and then used the case power button to start up the computer (with the monitor on), the normal Q-codes started streaming by, before I briefly saw a "D6", and then a whole bunch of unlisted Q-Codes (mainly between 22 and 29, with occasional excursions into low 30s).

And, the 5070Ti fans did not startup, until I gave one of the fan blades a gentle push. However, even after the fans started up, the monitor continued to say that Display Port 2 had no signal. I have tried power cycling the computer and the monitor about 5 times now, with the Q-Codes and the computer/monitor behaviors remaining the same.

I do not have another computer into which I can insert the brand-new 5070Ti, to try to isolate the problem to the MB or the 5070Ti.

Is there a way that I can use the internal GPU on the CPU (Intel Ultra 9 285K), without being able to display the BIOS screens on the monitor via the 5070Ti? Eg, is there a way to boot the computer in some kind of "Safe Mode", where the video output from the iGPU is routed to one of the rear panel ports? If so, how do I do that, and on which rear panel port will the iGPU's I/O appear?

One other data point: While I've been typing this, the computer just itself down. I restarted it, and it went to Q-Code 30 (starting back up from S3 Sleep) for about 3 minutes, before returning to 29 most of the time, and 33, etc.

Can you tell me what the Q-Codes between 21 and 2E mean?

Thank you for your help in resolving this rather disappointing development.

[OldGuy17]

Also, can you tell me if the bright white LED that is constantly illuminated, immediately above the Q-Code orange 7-segment LEDs, indicates a problem with the CPU, memory, or graphics card? Thanks!

[Nate152]

The white light indicates an issue with the gpu or connection with the monitor.

Shut down your pc, connect 1 monitor to your RTX 5070 Ti. Press and hold the clear cmos button for 3 seconds then try booting up.

See if you get a successful boot.

With two monitors, you may need to configure them in the Nvidia Control Panel.

In the bios, Advanced tab, Onboard Devices Configuration, check what the Q-Code is set to. If it's set to Auto it will show cpu temperature, which is what I suspect are the codes you're seeing.

Any luck booting with one monitor?

[OldGuy17]

Before I received your latest message, I downloaded from ASUS Support the latest BIOS for my MB, renamed it (A5565.cap), and copied it to the root directory on the 25.2 GB(?) ROG thumb drive that came with the MB. With the Maximus PS switched off, I used FlashBack to install that newest BIOS: I inserted the thumb drive into the rear-panel USB-A slot with a box printed around the slot and the words "10 GB" and "BIOS". I then turned on only the PS, but did not start up the rest of the computer. I pressed and held for 3 sec the rear-panel BIOS button. The LED in the button started blinking rapidly, and stopped blinking after about 5 min. I power cycled the PS, and started up the computer using the "Start" button on the MB.

So, now the PS, chassis, and CPU heat sink fans all start up, but the 5070Ti fans do not turn. The Q-Code LEDs cycle rapidly through the numeric Codes for less than a minute, before the computer shuts down, and waits about 10-30 sec, before starting itself up again, and apparently trying to complete the boot process. The codes cycle again for about 1-2 min, before finally stopping at D6, with the bright white LED lit. The monitor never detects any signal from the 5070Ti. So, no BIOS or anything else from the computer can be displayed on the monitor. So, I still cannot make any modifications to the BIOS configuration using the monitor and keyboard.

I also tried using a different DisplayPort output from the 5070Ti, as well as an HDMI port (to an HDMI on the ROG Swift Monitor). Neither attempt yielded any different results: always ends up hung on the D6 code with no output to the monitor.

Please note: I have never tried to connect more than one monitor at a time to the single graphics card installed in the PCIE slot in the MB: When I tried to use the old Radeon HD4890 card to avoid the situation in which I find myself now, I connected a DVI output on the card to my old Samsung 245 monitor (which accepts only DVI and 15-pin VGA inputs). After I gave up trying to get the Radeon/Samsung combination to work, I removed the Radeon from the MB, and reconnected the Samsung Monitor to the old Alienware computer on which I am writing this now.

I then installed the 5070Ti in the slot previously occupied by the HD4890, and connected a DisplayPort from the 5070Ti to my new ROG Swift PG32UQXR.

When I fired up that new3 configuration, I celebrated because I could finally get to the BIOS. Then, I installed Win 11 Pro, from a USB thumb drive. I configured Win 11, installed MS Office 2021, and shutdown for the night, by using the shutdown command from the menu presented when I clicked on the WIndows button on the keyboard. I then turned off the Swift Monitor, and turned off the power supply for the computer.

When I tried to start the computer again last night (first the monitor, then the PS, then the computer), it looked like most of the Q-Codes were memory related errors, but the monitor never received any signal from the 5070i, until one time when I got what was probably once the BSOD (blue screen of death, for which Microsoft was infamous). This blue screen told me to find my "BitLocker Recovery Code", or to get it from my Microsoft loging. So, I left the blue screen sitting, while I tried to log into Microsoft on this AW computer. I guess I took too long, because the Maximus decided to reboot itself, and cleared the blue screen away. I have not gotten any signal to the Swift monitor since that problem.

So, today, I tried the steps you recommended in your message, with no change in the currently-standard behavior, that I described above. The highlights: MB gets stuck on Q-Code D6, pretty much forever, and while the 5070Ti lights are pretty as they shift through the spectrum, the triple fans on that graphics card never come on at all.

I think I am at the point where I need to isolate the cause of the problem between the ASUS TUF GeForce RTX 5070Ti and the ASUS Maximus Z890 Apex Motherboard. Unfortunately, I do not have any other computer motherboard that is less than 15 years old, so I really don't have any test bed for the 5070Ti other than the Maximus. I can, however, remove the 5070Ti from the Maximus, and try to get the Maximus to boot with the iGPU that my CPU should have, and that the Z890 should be able to route to one of the 2 rear-panel TB USB-C connectors. (In anticipation of executing this step, I have ordered a unidirectional USB-C to DisplayPort cable, which will arrive tomorrow, Wed, Sep 3.) If the Maximus boots, and I don't end up with any more memory errors, or any more spurious "Detect IDE" Q-Codes (there are no IDE devices any where in my chassis), and I am able to get into the BIOS and see it on my monitor, then I will start looking for answers in the ASUS forum for the 5070T, as to why the MB and the 5070Ti cannot communicate.

Does any of this info help you to think of other things I can do to (1) switch to using only the internal iGPU, and/or (2) actually get my MB and 5070Ti working properly, reliably, and together?

Thank you for your help!

Also, given that you are the forum moderator, would it be possible for you to reach into ASUS Tech Support for one or both of the MB and/or the 5070Ti to see if they can work with me to debug my configuration, or if they can confidently declare that one or both of those items are defective?

Thanks again!

[Nate152]

Ok so, you had it working but now it's back to no display. I think your hardware is fine.

Although it shouldn't be a problem, you should keep your monitor in stand-by mode and the pc power supply switch on at all times. It seems you ran into the issue when you turned these off.

Try booting up again, when it stops on the white led and D6 code, disconnect and reconnect the monitor cable.

Make sure the monitor is turned on.

[OldGuy17]

I left the monitor in standby, and the PS switch on (indicated by some illuminated LEDs on the MB). I started up the computer with the chassis power switch, the Q-Codes went quickly to D6. Without powering down, I unplugged the DP2.1 cable from the 5070Ti to DP1 on the Swift monitor (both ends, even though only one end should be necessary). There was no response from any of the 3 brand new ASUS components (5070Ti, Monitor, or MB). So, I pushed and released the chassis power button, causing the computer to shut down within about 3 sec (as usual now). While the PS switch remained "On" and the monitor remained in sleep mode, I pushed and held down the Clear CMOS button for 3 sec. The LED on that button remained off while the button was depressed, and re-lit upon release. I pressed and released the chassis power button again, and the computer responded as usual, except that it included the little "hiccup", where the Q-Codes cycled for about 30-60 sec, before the MB shut down the computer, and then restarted within about 10 sec. Then, the Q-Codes cycled for about 60 sec before settling back at D6.

Do you have any other suggestions? GIven the intractabilty of this issue(s), whom can I contact at ASUS Tech Support to help me debug these brand-new, under-warranty components, and their poor interactions?

[Nate152]

Have you tried updating the bios to version 2006?

It says it helps with device compatibility.

ROG MAXIMUS Z890 APEX | ROG Maximus | Gaming motherboards｜ROG - Republic of Gamers｜ROG Global

How are you connecting power to your 5070 Ti? If using the adapter cable, make sure you're using two separate 8-pin pcie power cables.  

[OldGuy17]

Yes, 2006 is the version of the BIOS to which I updated yesterday, using Flashback. Based on the behavior of the blue LED embedded in the rear-panel BIOS switch, the update appeared to have been done correctly.

Actually, the ASUS TUF RTX 5070Ti card takes three (3) 8-pin (each is actually 6 + 2 pins) connectors for power, not just 2 connectors. My power supply (BeQuite! Straight Power 12-1000) came with four 8-pin modular cables, with two of those labeled VGA1, and the other two labeled VGA2. I connected both VGA1 connectors, and 1 VGA2 connector, to the 3 receptacles on the adapter that came with the 5070Ti.

As I mentioned earlier, the fans on the 5070Ti never turn on anymore, but the LEDs in various places on that card do cycle through the colors of the visible spectrum, even while the MB continues to display Q-Code D6 as the endpoint of the MB's boot sequence.