Please help

Ok, my new 6600GT graphics card just arrived today. Note that the card was generic and AGPx8.

So straight away I put it in my computer (AGP slot, socket A mobo, AMD 3000+ and 512 ram), and my computer starts up fine, and I get an image on the screen, but the image freezes on the first window, where you get "hit del to enter setup", etc.

So my first thought was that it was the fact that it was a shitty generic graphics card, so I tested it on my mom's computer (also AGP slot, socket A mobo, AMD 2100+ and 256 ram). Straight away, the thing works fine, no problem, and the drivers install fine.

Then I rechecked that I hadn't busted up my AGP slot, or fried my motherboard by putting my old card back in my computer, and again it works fine.

Now I went back to the first step several times, and no more luck. Also note that I wired up the thing correctly, with the 4 pin power into it, and I assume the way I wired it up was correct, as it worked on my mom's.

I also thought that it could be a PSU problem, as on my computer I have loads of things plugged into the power supply, but I don't think that should be a problem as I have a 350W supply.

So my conclusion of all this testing is that the graphics card just doesn't like my computer, which seems completely illogical.

So please anybody, is there a sensible reason for this situation, and better yet a solution?

Thank you.

Hmm, It might be a PSU problem, since new wave of cards do require alot of power for them.

Try to disconnect some of the extra stuff you have running, and give the card another try, that way you will be sure that it is not lack of the power from the PSU that causes that.

Ok
I just removed my cd drive, dvd burner and a firewire pci card from the power, and still no luck.
Also, mom's computer is about 300W, and that managed fiine.

... is your bios set up to use AGP 8x properly?

I checked up on this site which calculates how much your computer consumes. Normally, it would be 341W/350W, but now with all the additional components removed it says it consumes 261W/350W. So power shouldn't be a problem.

cka: My old FX5200 worked fine on the same computer, which was also AGPx8

maybe there's a hardware incompatibility somewhere then

The bios was already set to AGP as opposed to PCI, so that's not it

And there's nothing can be done about the incompatabilty?

Ok, I'm giving up on solving the problem with my computer, but the card works in my bros, so I will just swap motherboards and case with him
Thank you Cka and Despair anyway.

Best advice I can give for problems like this, google your mobo and graphics card model together... add the word freeze or problems if you get to many garbage hits, make sure to search groups too..

chances are, someone else has had the same problem as you before...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by burky

The bios was already set to AGP as opposed to PCI, so that's not it

And there's nothing can be done about the incompatabilty?

Ok, I'm giving up on solving the problem with my computer, but the card works in my bros, so I will just swap motherboards and case with him
Thank you Cka and Despair anyway.

---

Glad you solved the problem. Next time though, check your mobo documentation as to what slots in your comp share with other slots/devices. If you have something like an onboard RAID or SATA device that you are not using enabled in your bios, you can run into problems. Are you overclocking your cpu? This can make weirdness happen with new hardware as well. Check all the jumper settings as well, especially if it has onboard vid. If your bios has an AGP aperture size setting, make sure it is set correctly.
I also have weirdness going on with my new vid card as well. I have a radeon 9800se 128mb and if I pull my audio card from the computer to load the drivers before plug and play detects it, it won't boot. I put the audio card back in and, voila, it boots again. I had a radeon 9000 :( before this and never had problems with moving other cards around.

Ok, things have got worse
After switching round the motherboards, I found that I cannot get any image whatsoever on the screen. I tried 3 different graphics cards and two different monitors, and nothing appeared.

Now everything else with it seems to be fine, the heatsink goes and the case fan goes, so I'm assuming that I haven't fried it by switching them round otherwise none of this would happen. Is it possible that the motherboard is just partially damaged? Or is there another (hopefully better) reason.

Right now, I think I'm going to switch the motherboard back with my bro, and if that doesn't work, I'll get a replacement through the guarentee on it.