Aspire M3450 at bios P01-A3 won't recognize msi GeForce GTX770. 3 beeps then freezes on Acer screen.

lmuir · October 2014

I'm upgrading my Aspire M3450 to a 650W power supply and GeForce GTX 770 video card. I've tried various BIOS settings - Primary Video [AUTO] and [PCIE]. The system will only boot to windows if the video card is not installed and the monitor is plugged into the onboard VGA. When the new video card is installed, the ACER boot logo appears with the poweron beep, then there are 3 additional beeps with 40 second delay, and on the 3rd beep, the display goes black (but still has a signal).

I was able to boot with the new video card in the system once (after some BIOS setting changes), and install the drivers from CD, and reboot to windows using the new card. The 3 beep problem started when I uninstalled the Catalyst drivers from the previous card from windows.

I see that there is a BIOS update available (P01-A4).

Any recommendations?

IronFly · October 2014

The beep code is about VGA issues.

So, have you connected all the power cables to your VGA?

Have you checked if the VGA is well plugged and in the right slot? (pcie-16x, the black one)

check in BIOS if under "integrated peripherals" the "onboard graphic controller" is disabled.

lmuir · October 2014

The new video card has two 8pin power connectors and they are both plugged in on separate cables. There's only one pci-e slot which I install the card in. The bios will not allow me to disable the onboard graphic controller (not editable) - is there a way to force it?

IronFly · October 2014

Try to set a supervisor password on BIOS and check if it will be available to set.

lmuir · October 2014

Yes, the Change Supervisor Password option is available and I am able to enter a new password.

IronFly · October 2014

This gives you to disable the integrated graphic card?

lmuir · October 2014

Sorry for the delay in responding. No, I didn't get anywhere with the bios settings or getting the motherboard to recognize the new video card. I bought a new motherboard, transferred memory and processor, reinstalled the OS, and everything is now working fine. I believe that the stock motherboard at that bios level was incompatible with the video card. Thanks for your help, but the issue is now solved by replacing the motherboard.