video card problem

[arthur.nudge]

On my experimental PC I decided to switch from the embedded vga to a
4x AGP card that I grabbed off ebay.

However, when I put the card in, the pc will not boot. The fans and HD
spin, but that's it. No speaker chirp or anything. Is the card toast,
or is there something obvious I'm missing?

I did check the bios, nothing interesting there, and the motherboard
manual doesn't list any jumpers or anything to disable the onboard
video.
FWIW, it's an elitegroup p4vmm motherboard, and a Gigabyte GeForce4
MX4000 128MB 8x/4x AGP card.

 

[Mike T.]

On my experimental PC I decided to switch from the embedded vga to a
4x AGP card that I grabbed off ebay.

However, when I put the card in, the pc will not boot. The fans and HD
spin, but that's it. No speaker chirp or anything. Is the card toast,
or is there something obvious I'm missing?

I did check the bios, nothing interesting there, and the motherboard
manual doesn't list any jumpers or anything to disable the onboard
video.
FWIW, it's an elitegroup p4vmm motherboard, and a Gigabyte GeForce4
MX4000 128MB 8x/4x AGP card.

First you need to find the exact specifications of your mainboard. There
were THREE different versions of it (P4VMM) released by ECS. I know the
latest version supported AGP 4X, but did all three of them? If you can
confirm that your board is AGP 4X compatible:

You must be missing something in the BIOS. There has to be a way to disable
onboard video. Otherwise, you have two video cards that are conflicting
with each other, both on the same AGP bus. (one built-in to mainboard) And
yes, your mainboard is acting EXACTLY as it should in that
ircumstance. -Dave

 

[John Doe]

On my experimental PC I decided to switch from the embedded vga to
a 4x AGP card that I grabbed off ebay.

You get what you pay for.

However, when I put the card in, the pc will not boot. The fans
and HD spin, but that's it. No speaker chirp or anything. Is the
card toast, or is there something obvious I'm missing?

I did check the bios, nothing interesting there, and the
motherboard manual doesn't list any jumpers or anything to disable
the onboard video.

Look in Integrated Peripherals, including subcategories.
Also, make sure Init Display First is set to AGP.

http://www.ecsusa.com/downloads/p4vmm.html
http://www.ecsusa.com/downloads/manual_p4v.html

Good luck.

 

[arthur.nudge]

First you need to find the exact specifications of your mainboard. There
were THREE different versions of it (P4VMM) released by ECS. I know the
latest version supported AGP 4X, but did all three of them? If you can
confirm that your board is AGP 4X compatible:

I double checked, it's the p4vmm3, and the manual confirms that it
supports 4x.

You must be missing something in the BIOS.

The only thing I can find is on the PCI/Plug and Play page:
Share Memory size [32mb]
Primary Graphics Adapter [AGP]
Allocate IRQ for PCI VGA [NO]

The manual claims that "the default AGP setting still lets the onboard
display work and allows the use of a second display card installed in
an AGP slot."

Thanks for the help so far.

 

[BigJim]

does the board get to post? If it does then the card works if not, might be
a bad card or in the bios if you can set the boot priority for agp.

 

[Trimble Bracegirdle]

You will get nowhere unless & untill you can be certain the card works..
Try to use it in another machine ...or find another card to try in yours.
Mouse
@@@

 

[DaveW]

You likely missed something. You HAVE to turn off the onboard VGA in the
BIOS in order for the AGP slot to work on most motherboards.

 

[Rod Speed]

You likely missed something. You HAVE to turn off the onboard VGA in the BIOS in order for the
AGP slot to work on most motherboards.

Wrong, as always. And that one clearly says that you can use both at once.

 

[x5]

You will get nowhere unless & untill you can be certain the card works..
Try to use it in another machine ...or find another card to try in yours.
Mouse
@@@

yep! find urself another card. go to a used place and get a crappy AGP
for peanuts. bought an ATI rage128 for 1$ in a flea market. or try it
in another computer. its 2007 everyone has 5 or 6 computer lying
around! lol

 

[Mike T.]

First you need to find the exact specifications of your mainboard. There
were THREE different versions of it (P4VMM) released by ECS. I know the
latest version supported AGP 4X, but did all three of them? If you can
confirm that your board is AGP 4X compatible:

I double checked, it's the p4vmm3, and the manual confirms that it
supports 4x.

You must be missing something in the BIOS.

The only thing I can find is on the PCI/Plug and Play page:
Share Memory size [32mb]
Primary Graphics Adapter [AGP]
Allocate IRQ for PCI VGA [NO]

The manual claims that "the default AGP setting still lets the onboard
display work and allows the use of a second display card installed in
an AGP slot."

Oh!!! That throws a different light on the situation. I'd suggest you test
your new AGP video card in a different system. If you can confirm that the
new video card is working fine, then you probably need to flash your BIOS to
a later version. Regardless of what the manual says, what should be
happening is NOT happening. So you've got a hardware problem (new video
card defective) or more likely a BIOS issue, which hopefully would be solved
by flashing your BIOS to a later version.

You've got another problem. If you can get the computer to boot at default
BIOS settings, Windows will want to use your monitor as a SECOND monitor.
So you've still got to find a way to disable onboard video, somehow. -Dave

 

[Mike T.]

You likely missed something. You HAVE to turn off the onboard VGA in the
BIOS in order for the AGP slot to work on most motherboards.

Yes, but his manual says it should work anyway. So I think he's dealing
with a dead video card, or he needs to flash his BIOS to a later
ersion. -Dave

 

[John Doe]

The only thing I can find is on the PCI/Plug and Play page:
Share Memory size [32mb]
Primary Graphics Adapter [AGP]
Allocate IRQ for PCI VGA [NO]

The manual claims that "the default AGP setting still lets the
onboard display work and allows the use of a second display card
installed in an AGP slot."

Oh!!! That throws a different light on the situation. I'd
suggest you test your new AGP video card in a different system.

Adding a spare monitor so that both video connectors are in use
might tell something.

Regardless of what the manual says, what should be
happening is NOT happening. So you've got a hardware problem (new
video card defective) or more likely a BIOS issue, which hopefully
would be solved by flashing your BIOS to a later version.

I tend to agree.

You've got another problem. If you can get the computer to boot
at default BIOS settings, Windows will want to use your monitor as
a SECOND monitor. So you've still got to find a way to disable
onboard video, somehow. -Dave

Windows ignores a connected secondary monitor unless you enable it
in Display Properties.

 

[x5]

First you need to find the exact specifications of your mainboard. There
were THREE different versions of it (P4VMM) released by ECS. I know the
latest version supported AGP 4X, but did all three of them? If you can
confirm that your board is AGP 4X compatible:

I double checked, it's the p4vmm3, and the manual confirms that it
supports 4x.

You must be missing something in the BIOS.

The only thing I can find is on the PCI/Plug and Play page:
Share Memory size [32mb]
Primary Graphics Adapter [AGP]
Allocate IRQ for PCI VGA [NO]

The manual claims that "the default AGP setting still lets the onboard
display work and allows the use of a second display card installed in
an AGP slot."

Oh!!! That throws a different light on the situation. I'd suggest you test
your new AGP video card in a different system. If you can confirm that the
new video card is working fine, then you probably need to flash your BIOS to
a later version. Regardless of what the manual says, what should be
happening is NOT happening. So you've got a hardware problem (new video
card defective) or more likely a BIOS issue, which hopefully would be solved
by flashing your BIOS to a later version.

You've got another problem. If you can get the computer to boot at default
BIOS settings, Windows will want to use your monitor as a SECOND monitor.
So you've still got to find a way to disable onboard video, somehow. -Dave

if your are bootin in dual video card mode, your 2nd card will have
a dark screen until u enable dual monitor in windows. but since your
AGP is the primary you should be able to see the dos boot! have you
tried both vid connection? or just the AGP? boot an try the agp and
then the on board. if nothing then ur out of luck. try lowering
or turn of the share memory share. some BIOS lets u disable the
inboard other dont.

anyway u get what u pay for on ebay! i got my share lemon buy there

buy a brand new card, they are pretty cheap for the perfomance these
days.

 

[Dave]

You've got another problem. If you can get the computer to boot

Windows ignores a connected secondary monitor unless you enable it
in Display Properties.

EXACTLY!!! That's why if the monitor is connected to the new video card, no
video will display. -Dave

 

[Frank McCoy]

First you need to find the exact specifications of your mainboard. There
were THREE different versions of it (P4VMM) released by ECS. I know the
latest version supported AGP 4X, but did all three of them? If you can
confirm that your board is AGP 4X compatible:

I double checked, it's the p4vmm3, and the manual confirms that it
supports 4x.

You must be missing something in the BIOS.

The only thing I can find is on the PCI/Plug and Play page:
Share Memory size [32mb]
Primary Graphics Adapter [AGP]
Allocate IRQ for PCI VGA [NO]

The manual claims that "the default AGP setting still lets the onboard
display work and allows the use of a second display card installed in
an AGP slot."

Oh!!! That throws a different light on the situation. I'd suggest you test
your new AGP video card in a different system. If you can confirm that the
new video card is working fine, then you probably need to flash your BIOS to
a later version. Regardless of what the manual says, what should be
happening is NOT happening. So you've got a hardware problem (new video
card defective) or more likely a BIOS issue, which hopefully would be solved
by flashing your BIOS to a later version.

Instead, try booting with the default (onboard video), get into SETUP,
and see if there's a way in SETUP to disable the primary video.
Sometimes they're stupid, and require a BIOS setting-change to even look
at the other video-board.

You've got another problem. If you can get the computer to boot at default
BIOS settings, Windows will want to use your monitor as a SECOND monitor.
So you've still got to find a way to disable onboard video, somehow. -Dave

Also, does your motherboard support the voltage-settings of the new
board? I remember having a large worry about my new ATI AGP board when
the instructions warned that it *only* ran on 1.5volt capable AGP slots
.... Not the older 5 volt only ones. No warnings that the higher voltage
would burn it out; only that it wouldn't work. I suspect an interface
compatibility problem.

 

[John Doe]

That's why if the monitor is connected to the new
video card, no video will display. -Dave

Well... when I've used two different video cards, the BIOS setting
Init Display First determines which monitor displays during initial
bootup.