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video mode 103 not supported by this GPU Sapphire R9-285 ITX

Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 7:51 pm
by Retrorockit
I installed a Sapphire R9-285 ITX video card in my Dell Dimension E520. It's a dual BIOS card and runs quite well in Windows 7-64. The only issue is I can't enter my MB BIOS Setup screen due to an error "video mode 103 not supported by this video card". So I either need to change the video mode of my BIOS, or add support to my GPU. My motherboard is Dell 0WG864. I have service tags open with AMD, and Sapphire, but haven't heard back yet.
I've done a little research and have printed the list of video modes. But I don;t know how to do this. I'm kind of a hardware junky so this will be first time doing this for me.

BTW my locked BIOS Dell is running QX6800 @ 3.72Ghz.

Re: video mode 103 not supported by this GPU Sapphire R9-285

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2016 6:01 pm
by Retrorockit
Retrorockit wrote:I installed a Sapphire R9-285 ITX video card in my Dell Dimension E520. It's a dual BIOS card and runs quite well in Windows 7-64. The only issue is I can't enter my MB BIOS Setup screen due to an error "video mode 103 not supported by this video card". So I either need to change the video mode of my BIOS, or add support to my GPU. My motherboard is Dell 0WG864. I have service tags open with AMD, and Sapphire, but haven't heard back yet.
I've done a little research and have printed the list of video modes. But I don;t know how to do this. I'm kind of a hardware junky so this will be first time doing this for me.

BTW my locked BIOS Dell is running QX6800 @ 3.72Ghz.
AMD says Sapphire writes the GPU BIOS, so I'm waiting for an answer from them. I use this computer as a test bed for modifications, and hardware evaluation so I can post answers at Tomshardware for the many people who are buying refurbished Dell BTX office computers and want to upgrade them. So far the best recommendation for GPU has been GTX750Ti because it can run off of the original PSU, comes in low profile ans single slot variations. The ITX cards are interesting because they "almost" fit in a BTX Mini Tower. If I can find a solution for this I could start recommending this upgrade also.

Re: video mode 103 not supported by this GPU Sapphire R9-285

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 5:51 am
by Retrorockit
I finally heard back from AMD. They informed me that their GCN series GPUs don'r support Vesa mode 103. I kind of already knew that. So I'm going to have to depend on the aftermarket for a solution. I'm into another Dell BTX project now. It turns out the Dell T3400 workstaion will go 4.15GHz easily with a Core 2 Extreme QX9650, and can run Crossfire GPUs. I now have a T3400, plus 2x R9-285ITX video cards and a QX9650. I'll probably start off with a couple of old HD9670s I have around so I can get into my BIOS to set up 3x 120GB SSD RAID 0. That's one way to make SATA2 faster then SATA3!
Anyway I'm still hoping to find someone who can splice VESA 103 support into my video BIOS.

Re: video mode 103 not supported by this GPU Sapphire R9-285

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2017 4:30 am
by Retrorockit
AMD GCN3 GPU R9-3xx (285) + up can't display Dell BIOS

Well it's not just me. AMDs GCN3 architecture doesn't support VESA mode 103 at all, and millions of Dells require this.
AMD R9-3xx (and 285) or newer can't run, or can't display the BIOS screen. This is separate from UEFI/Legacy issues.
This even applies to Crossfire rated workstations.
Dell BIOS requests this resolution at interrupt 10. I don't know if another resolution would work or if it's the form of the request.
There is no list of Dells afected by this that I know of. To check for this issue I go to userbenchmark.com and look at the 100s of benchmarks for the Dell in question and see if any GPUs shown above are being used. If I only see Nvidia or older HDxxxx ,R9-2xx cards then I can be pretty sure the issue exists for that system.
I don't know if it can't be fixed, or if they just don't want to fix it.
GCN1 and GCN2 know how to do this

Re: video mode 103 not supported by this GPU Sapphire R9-285

Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2018 10:57 am
by edwin
It seems Dell cannot be bothered to fix the bios for these older systems and some 3rd party AMD card makers (including Sapphire) cannot be bothered to support legacy screen modes. Final result: people staying away from both Dell and those AMD card makers (including Sapphire). It seems that MSI have done something to make this work as there has been a report that one of their newer AMD cards started to display the bios after installing Afterburner. Maybe some of the other main bigger brands have got something similar too. It can be made to work.