problems installing a new AGP video card

I have s problem - I read thru similar posts on this site and have tried all the suggestions to no avail.

I have a Celeron 566 on an ABIT BX6 Rev 2.0 mobo - 256meg ram.

I had been running two video cards - one was a ATI xpertplay98 (Rage) AGP, and the other was the same thing in a PCI slot. I wanted better 3D, so I went out and bought a CardExpert GEForce MX2 (AGP).

Uninstalled the ATI AGP, put in the Geforce, turned it on, and didn't get any video, even during post. Did get 1 long beep and 3 short beeps, which indicates a video problem.

After futzing around with this awhile, I decided to go back to the ATI AGP card and start all over. But now that doesn't work either. Same thing - 1 long beep and 3 short ones on POST, with no video. However, if I put the PCI card back in and plug the monitor cable into that, it worked fine. So I got Windows back up and running using that method, but the ATI AGP card, while Windows shows it being there, has a yellow marker next to it in the Device Manager, and basically won't initialize.

I've cleared the CMOS, reseated the memory, changed the CMOS to initialize the AGP first (and I also did it the other way), but I still can't get the old AGP card working again. If I put the new card in (the GeForce2), Windows doesn't even detect it, while it does detect the ATI AGP card, but I can't get it to work properly. Also, when I run the CD that came with the new card (GeForce2), it tells me that there is not a valid device in the system, and won't go any further.

One thing that I thought was interesting, while using a system utility (Sandra), it reported that there was a problem with the ATI AGP card, in that there wasn't an interrupt reported against it. Shouldn't a card in an AGP slot be assigned to an IRQ?

I've also removed all other cards from the system and just tried booting it with just the AGP video cards (tried it with both cards). Still just one long beep and 3 short beeps. I've tried reseating the card and it appears that its in as far as it can go.

I'm wondering if I somehow messed up the connectors in the AGP slot and that's why it's not working. Seems to me that if it was a Windows problem, I would at least get video on POST. I'm thinking that maybe the only solution is a new MOBO, which might not be such a bad thing, anyway.

thanks for any help!

bobk

forgot to mention that I'm running Windows 98.

bobk

award beep code: 1 long beep, two short fast beeps... video problem indeed! means that no video card is detected.

windows isnt detecting the old ati agp card - you never removed it from the device manager, which is why its still showing up. that is why its having a problem - theres no card present.

windows wont detect the geforce card because the bios isnt detecing it. if the bios wont detect it, windows sure as hell wont https://discussions.virtualdr.com/

agp cards can be tricky to seat... make sure that the metal edge (where the video output connector is) is properly seated at the back of the case and isnt sticking in the slot. also make sure that the card is properly seated in the agp slot - a gentle but firm push should be all that is needed.

on that note - were the cards hard to pull out or hard to put in? if they were, then its possible that the motherboard is attached crooked and you might need to unattach and then reattach it differently.

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personally, i think christ is a can of spam; spam is infinate and has no age. coagulation is modern day nectar and the key to immortality. but then, i also think that pre-columbians had it right: the world is flat - its a huge petri dish.

thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, it's still a no-go. While it sure looked like the AGP card was seated correctly, just to make sure I took out the Mobo and realigned it slightly, but to no avail. I still get one long beep followed by 3 short ones.

One thing is interesting - I seem to remember that the last time I put a card in the AGP slot (the ATI when I bought it), it was alot harder to get in there. Now the cards go in and out pretty easily. I've been reading other threads where it seems that most people need to push pretty hard to get the AGP in there right - its not that way on mine. That's why I'm starting to think that I did something to the AGP connector itself when I pulled the card out and put the new one in.

I've been trying it every which way - pushing down on the card when I turn the power on, bending it slightly this way and that way, etc, but still nothing.

I was starting to get my every year and a half urge to upgrade, so maybe this will drive me to it a bit faster than usual.

thanks!

bobk

Quote:

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while using a system utility (Sandra), it reported that there was a problem with the ATI AGP card, in that there wasn't an interrupt reported against it.

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Just a thought: did you enable "Assign IRQ For VGA" in the BIOS?

You said you can boot to windows w/ the PCI card, right? I will try to boot to windows with it and once it's up, delete all the v-cards and their drivers; select the generic Standard VGA driver and then try to install the MX card again.

>>Just a thought: did you enable "Assign IRQ For VGA" in the BIOS?<<

Assigned IRQ for VGA was enabled. Tried it with disabled too, but that didn't do anything either.


>>You said you can boot to windows w/ the PCI card, right? I will try to boot to windows with it and once it's up, delete all the v-cards and their drivers; select the generic Standard VGA driver and then try to install the MX card again. <<

Tried it just the way you suggested. Still same result.

Also, since I saw this listed as another possible cause of a different AGP problem - I don't have any cards in the slot next to the AGP slot.

thanks for your suggestions, it's appreciated.

bobk

Hi,
If I were you I would remove all other cards except the vid card as you are probably having some kind of conflict! Then add the cards back into your mobo one by one starting and shuting down after each card! https://discussions.virtualdr.com/

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thanks, that's the way I been doing it - been trying to get it to boot with just the AGP vid card - I took out all other cards. Cleared CMOS and still just get the one long beep and 3 short ones and no signal to the monitor. If I put the PCI vid card back in (leaving the AGP card still in) and connect the monitor to the PCI card, everything works fine.

bobk

How to install a new video card

You left out the "Remove The Old Driver step"

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>>You left out the "Remove The Old Driver step"<<


Been doing that too. Even so, I can understand if I didn't do this (remove the old drivers) how I would have a problem once I got into Windows. However, my problem is is that the BIOS does not even appear to recongnize either AGP card (the new GeForce, or the old ATI, which it had no problem with before), even if its the only card in the system. I don't have any IRQs set manually, I've been allowing the system to set them automatically via plug and play.

bobk

Skimmed through the previous post kinda quickly. So this may be a repeat.

Do you have onboard video at all? Or just seperate video cards?

Try again to set your display adapter to "standard vga". From what I have read this must be done first. After this is done. Insert video card and reboot machine and see if it is detected and install drivers.

Good luck

it is possible that the agp socket was damaged.

if its not even being detected at bootup then fiddling with irq's, drivers, etc isnt going to do anything... but... the award bios version on this machine lets you decide which type of card to initialize first - pci or agp. pop in the pci card and look around the bios for a similar setting (i forget where i saw it). if its set to pci, change it to agp, pop the pci card out and an agp card back in. cross your fingers and hit the power button.

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personally, i think christ is a can of spam; spam is infinate and has no age. coagulation is modern day nectar and the key to immortality. but then, i also think that pre-columbians had it right: the world is flat - its a huge petri dish.

>>it is possible that the agp socket was damaged.
if its not even being detected at bootup then fiddling with irq's, drivers, etc isnt going to do anything... but... the award bios version on this machine lets you decide which type of card to initialize first - pci or agp. pop in the pci card and look around the bios for a similar setting (i forget where i saw it). if its set to pci, change it to agp, pop the pci card out and an agp card back in. cross your fingers and hit the power button<<

Crossing my fingers didn't help https://discussions.virtualdr.com/. I saw this setting while re-reading the manual - it also said that if there was only one V-card in the system then it wouldn't matter which setting it was one, the mobo would be able to detect. But I changed it anyway and that didn't help.

I took a good look at the inside of the AGP slote - it does look like one of the tiny connectors in the inside is sticking out into the center of the slot more than the others. I guess its possible that this one lead has come undone and that's the cause of this whole thing.

thanks again!

bobk

i didnt think it would work, but hey, it was worth a try right? https://discussions.virtualdr.com/

sounds like you might have to send this one back to abit...

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personally, i think christ is a can of spam; spam is infinate and has no age. coagulation is modern day nectar and the key to immortality. but then, i also think that pre-columbians had it right: the world is flat - its a huge petri dish.

Ended up buying a new motherboard - ABIT ST6R. The new V-card installed perfectly.

Thanks for all your help and advice.

bobk

There was probably nothing wrong with your Mother board …..When you were running two ATI video cards Your BIOS had to be set to PCI as primary video and AGP to secondary to work right under Win 98 ……All software and drivers for ATI must be removed …..Do file search and reg search and make sure every thing is gone Reset the bios to AGP primary ………With only one video card installed your computer was trying to find a PCI video card not an AGP

maybe, but I was very careful to remove all ATI drivers. Also had set the bios to AGP as the primary disply, although the manual said that with only one vcard in the system it didn't matter what the setting was. I couldn't even get it to recognize the ATI AGP card anymore when I tried to go back to where I was.