Monitors, graphics cards... power

Fingernail on 20/7/2008 at 17:15

Well, I have onboard graphics, and a GeForce PCI-E card. For ages I just used the PCI-E as I only had one monitor. Then I got a small monitor which I used on its own for a while, but since it had a proprietary lead, and I couldn't be bothered to buy an adaptor, I used the onboard graphics D-Sub connection for a while.

Now I wanted to use both together (one onboard, one PCI-E, which appeared as a setting on the BIOS) - but the PCI-E was the primary, and now neither monitors display anything which means I can't change any settings because argh I have no display.

I think this could be either a power issue, or an issue with the PCI-E card. Any thoughts on how I can get a display back so I can work from there?

It is possible that this will just remedy itself, this computer has done similar things before... when I moved it once it didn't boot windows for a couple of weeks, then was fine for a whole year. In fact, in general its very robust with no crashes or instability, but this is very frustrating.

Fingernail on 20/7/2008 at 17:36

Ok, well now the analog signal from the onboard chipset is coming through so at least I have a display in windows. Although I think I'm still fucked as per the BIOS since it still treats the PCI-E as the primary adaptor.

Not sure what's up with the PCI-E, everything is reported as working.

Fingernail on 20/7/2008 at 19:05

Alright I've fucked it up again by selecting some option, I now get no graphics whatsoever. How the fuck can I sort this out? Any help seriously appreciated.

Okay, well windows is now just a black screen with a mouse pointer (coming from the onboard graphics). The problem is

a) the BIOS needs to have the onboard graphics as the primary as that seems to be the one that works but
b) since it isn't the primary, I get no image during the POST, so can't use the BIOS very easily.
c) the onboard graphics is fucked up in Windows because of something I clicked on in the drivers that isn't even applicable (NVKeystone)

so even if I remove the PCI-E card and the onboard becomes by default the primary and I can use the BIOS - it's no good because the drivers have fucked windows up.

Microwave Oven on 21/7/2008 at 04:52

Could you list your system specs? I could help out if I actually knew what I was dealing with.

One quick thing that might get you back into the game is to pound F8 during boot and select start in VGA mode. That usually will let you reset the display options back to something that works.

Fingernail on 21/7/2008 at 09:22

It's useable now, I've taken the 7900 GT PCI-E out of the ASUS M2NPV-VM socket AM2 motherboard (4Gb Corsair RAM, 460W Akasa power supply, AMD 4200+ CPU) with onboard NVidia 6150 graphics, and now the onboard graphics is working fine again, so at least I can use the BIOS and windows (XP) as normal.

The only issue is; either the graphics card was fucked and causing problems, or wasn't getting enough power (I did try disconnecting other components to test this by freeing up some power, to no avail), or there's a major conflict between it and the onboard graphics somehow.

The card worked fine until I stopped using it for a couple of months and started using the onboard graphics, which makes me suspicious. Then by trying to use them together neither worked properly, and now I can only get the onboard to work.

Unfortunately I don't have another machine I can test the card on. The only thing I did to it recently was whilst installing a new sound card (Audiophile 10/10 DT or whatever), I reseated it more securely than it had been before, which I suppose could have messed it somehow. I'll probably try installing it again.

The only difficulty is that the power cable to the motherboard wraps rather tightly round the graphics card because I built my PC in a silly case where the PSU is at the bottom.

bikerdude on 21/7/2008 at 13:32

Hi FN

Its now working now because you are using 2 gfx chipsets from the same manufacturer, if you had of mentioned what your system specs were from the off I/we would have pointed out that certain gfx chipsets dont work well if at all with each other.

biker

Fingernail on 21/7/2008 at 16:30

so two NVidia chips don't work together if one is a 6150 and the other a 7900?

EDIT: Not only that, but Viewsonic VX2025 (and others) have a problem whereby they don't register the DVI signal and you have to go to lengths to reset the monitor. It's ridiculous.

bikerdude on 21/7/2008 at 17:58

Quote Posted by Fingernail

so two NVidia chips don't work together if one is a 6150 and the other a 7900? EDIT: Not only that, but Viewsonic VX2025 (and others) have a problem whereby they don't register the DVI signal and you have to go to lengths to reset the monitor. It's ridiculous.

Hi

You need a driver that will support both the 6150 & 7900.

And with regard to the onboard and offboard, some onboard chipsets will NOT work with an offboard card of ANY type - you would have to diable the onboard gfx first etc.

biker

Shadak on 21/7/2008 at 20:37

So your PCI-E card doesn't have two monitor plugs? Most do. But you mentioned something about a proprietary plug? Usually there are just DVI and VGA, and if you have the wrong one you can use a little two inch adapter which are pretty common. It's definitely better (and easier) to run two monitors from your good PCI-E graphics card rather than try to do what you're attempting.

Fingernail on 22/7/2008 at 08:54

Thanks for the help guys.

You see, I already had a driver that supported both...

It does have two DVI outs and yes, I should've done that. But I didn't have an adaptor and since the BIOS offered this as an option, I thought it couldn't hurt to try.

However, in testing the PCI-E, it fucked itself, I came into the room, smelt burning and the thing had partially melted its own heatsink, and was too hot to touch. Great. Thankfully it didn't cause any other damage, and the machine still works fine.

So I think the cause of all this trouble may actually just have been a fucked card, or at least non-working fan on it. Either way, it's gone now.

So anyway, now I'm using the onboard graphics, but one thing still isn't quite working as it should; there are VGA and DVI outs, but the DVI doesn't seem to work. There seem to be no options in the BIOS to enable/disable either one, so I'm a bit stuck on that.

EDIT: Well, people have had issues of all sorts relating to the onboard graphics, DVI ports, PCI-E cards and everything inbetween with this motherboard. Excellent! One suggestion is soldering a resistor between two pins, which since I'm no electronics whizz, I think I'll give a miss. At least I have some kind of display.