Main PC Setup

This page assumes you already picked a slot. If you have not, Your Main PC covers which one to use and why it matters. It is worth five minutes before you continue here.

Before you start

That last one matters

Windows 11 encrypts the drive on a lot of machines by default. Changing hardware, or changing settings in your motherboard's firmware later, can make it ask for a 48-digit recovery key the next time it starts. Without that key the drive is unreadable. Nobody tells you this and it is the easiest way to lose everything.

Search Windows for Manage BitLocker. If it says encryption is on, back the key up to your Microsoft account or print it before you touch anything. On Windows Home that search finds nothing, so go to Settings, Privacy & security, Device encryption on Windows 11, or Settings, Update & Security, Device encryption on Windows 10. If you sign in with a Microsoft account, your key is usually already saved at aka.ms/myrecoverykey.

Know your card

Have a proper look at it before it goes anywhere.

• Your gold strip along the bottom edge is what plugs into the motherboard.
• Your metal tab on one end is what screws to the back of the case. Ours have one.
• Your two USB-C ports are not interchangeable, and which is which is printed on the card. If yours are not labeled, the data port is the one furthest from the gold strip and JTAG is the one nearest it.
• Your kill switch, if your card has one. It cuts the card off from the slot, so it has to be on for anything here to work. Check it is on before the card goes in, and never flip it while your PC is powered on.

Data is the port you use day to day.

Firmware is the software that lives on the card itself and makes it work. JTAG is the port you load that firmware over, and the one a flashing tool reads the card's ID from. You will not need it unless you are flashing.

Before you put the card in

A new card only has factory firmware on it, not yours yet, so do not boot into Windows with it plugged in. Windows records the device it finds, and that record is not something a tool can tidy up afterwards. Put the card in, leave the main PC off or no further than the BIOS, and flash it first from your second computer. While you flash, the main PC has to be on in the BIOS so the card has power. Set up your second computer next, then flash your firmware.

Getting the PC ready

Shut it down and pull the plug out of the wall, then hold the power button in for fifteen seconds.
Shutting down alone leaves charge in the board. Nothing will happen when you hold the button, and that is the point: the lights on the motherboard go out and no fan moves.

Now take the side panel off.
Every case is held together differently, so find the screws or catches on yours and go from there. If it does not want to come off, look up your case rather than forcing it.

Then touch a bare metal part of the case, and hold the card by its edges rather than by the black chips.
Static off a carpet is enough to kill a card and you will never know it was your doing. There is no way to tell that you're free of static, which is fine. It just needs to be done.

Putting the card in

Look at the back of the case from the inside. There is a column of thin metal covers, one lined up with each slot on the motherboard. Take out the one directly in line with your slot, usually one screw. Keep the screw, you need it in a moment, and keep the cover for if you ever move the card.

The card only fits one way. Hold it with its ports pointing out through the gap you just made, line the gold strip up with the slot, and press straight down and evenly until the gold is out of sight. It should feel firm rather than forced.

How to tell it is right:
no gold showing, the card sitting parallel to the board rather than tilted, and the metal tab flat against the back of the case with its screw hole lined up with the one the cover came out of.

If it will not go down, do not lean on it. Look into the slot instead. Something in there is nearly always the reason. You can always use another slot if needed. Find an option using the walkthrough in Your Main PC.

Now screw the tab to the case with the screw you kept. Give the card a gentle wiggle afterwards: it should not move.

Using a riser

Only if the slot you want is covered by your graphics card. Which riser to buy is in Your Main PC.

• The riser goes in the slot first.
  Line it up and press straight down until the gold is gone, exactly like the card.
• Then the card goes into the socket on the other end.
  Same push, same feel.
• Fix the card down.
  It is held by nothing but the ribbon now. Use the mount that came with the riser, or double-sided tape or velcro on a flat part of the case.
• Never let it rest on bare metal.
  Not the motherboard, not the case wall, not a drive cage. That is a short circuit waiting to happen.
• Mind the ribbon.
  A gentle curve is fine, a hard crease is not. Keep it clear of every fan and check nothing pinches it when the panel goes back on.

The cable

For first setup, plug the cable into the JTAG port, the one closest to the card's gold connectors, because flashing is the first thing you will do with it. Then run that cable through the gap you just made and leave some slack. Do not pull it tight around a corner, because that will put force on the slot and progressively weaken it.

Run the other side of the USB over to your second PC and plug it into a port that is USB 3.0 or higher.

First boot

Leave the side panel off for now. You are not finished until the card is flashed, and until then you may be checking the card or trying another slot.

Plug the PC back in and go straight into the BIOS as it starts, usually by tapping Delete or F2. Do not let it boot into Windows while the card is not flashed. If you land in the BIOS and the PC is stable there, nothing you did has stopped it starting. The checks further down tell you the card itself is alive.

If it does not come back on:

• Fans spin but no picture.
  Switch off your power supply and reseat the card, meaning take it out and put it back in. Improperly seated cards are the usual issue.
• Same with the card taken back out.
  Then it is not the card. You have knocked something. Check anything you were near, press your graphics card back down, and sometimes your RAM can even come loose so reseat that as well.
• Read the motherboard.
  Most have small lights or beep codes telling you which part it stopped on, which is better than just guessing.
• Give it two or three minutes.
  The first start after any hardware change takes longer than usual while the board sorts itself out. Longer than that and something is wrong.
• It goes into the firmware menu on its own.
  Normal after a hardware change. Stay there, or turn the PC off from there. Do not save and exit into Windows until the card is flashed.
• A drive has gone missing.
  That slot may share its lanes with an M.2 socket. Move the card to a different slot, and Your Main PC explains why that happens.

One setting before you go further

• Turn Fast Boot off in your motherboard's settings. Everyone does this one, whatever card or firmware you end up on.

The PCIe slot speed comes once the card is flashed, and Flashing your firmware covers it. Nothing else in there needs changing. Our firmware works with virtualization left on, so leave the rest alone.

Checking it worked

Two things, and then you are done here.

Look at the card's LEDs.
They should be on. That is your main PC telling you the slot has power and the card is alive in it.

On the GODLIKE 100T, the power light means it has power and the PCIe status light means it is connected to the slot. If that one blinks, shut down and reseat the card. What each light means.

Then check the second PC.
Press the Windows key on the second PC, type Device Manager, and open it. Unplug the USB from that machine, then plug it back in, and watch for something appearing and disappearing. That is your card.

You do not need any drivers installed for it to show up as something. What it is called depends on the port and what is installed. With the cable on the JTAG port you are looking for a device appearing and disappearing rather than for a particular name, and before any driver is on it Windows may list it under Other devices with a yellow triangle, which is normal at this stage. The named FTDI FT601 USB 3.0 Bridge Device under Universal Serial Bus controllers only appears once the cable is on the data port and the data driver is in.

If nothing appears

• Wrong cable.
  A USB-C cable meant only for charging a phone will not carry this. Use the one that came with the card.
• Try another port on the second PC.
• Start from properly cold on the main PC.
  Windows Shut down is not always a full power-off. Turn the main PC off, pull the plug, hold the power button fifteen seconds, then power it back on into the BIOS.
• Still nothing.
  DMA card not working goes through the rest.

Flashing

Your card arrives with factory firmware on it.
That is not the firmware you will run, it is just what the board ships with from the factory, so flashing is still a step you do.

You flash it from your second computer over the JTAG port, using our own tool, and it is covered once your second PC is set up. After that, updates go out when they are actually needed and while your card is in warranty.

Done

Leave the side panel off until the card is flashed and everything works. Next is the second computer, and then flashing.