AGP video POST troubles

[sleddog]

Sorry, wrong forum -- meant to be in 'Video Cards'.

My experience with AGP video cards is very limited -- I've always had PCI cards. Yesterday I ran into a ton of trouble with an AGP card... but first the machine specs:

System A:
Celeron 600, ASUS CUV4X, 128mb PC100.
System B:
Celeron 300A (slot 1), Delta mobo, 96mb PC100.

(Neither system overclocked and non-essential cards -- sound & network -- removed.)

I picked up a low-end ATI Rage IIC AGP 8mb card to replace a PCI card. I installed the card but could not get the machine (system A above) to boot (BIOS beep codes indicated video error). I put the AGP card in a 2nd system (system B) to try it. Same error. Thinking the card was defective I took it back to the shop. They put it in a machine and it came up no problem.

OK, back home. After about an hour of fiddling with BIOS settings and switching back and forth between the AGP and the PCI cards, I finally got the AGP card to post in System B. The pertinent settings seems to be (1) PCI/DMA resource allocation set to manual instead of auto, and all resources configured for PCI instead of ISA; (2) 'Halt on' set to 'No errors'. If I change either of these the machine won't post.

But I still haven't been able to get the card to post in System A -- after another two hours of making BIOS changes and swapping between AGP and PCI cards.

Are AGP cards usually this finicky about posting?

Any ideas what the problem may be (still won't post in system B)?

Am I just dumb?

 

[dimmreaper]

I've never had a problem like that. AGP cards have always worked without a hitch for me. Do you have a system C to test it on? Maybe it is a 1X card and the MoBos are trying to force it to run 2x/4x see if their is a AGP 2X enable/disable feature in ont of the boards bios. Disable it and then try. This is all I can think of. Good luck.

 

[sleddog]

Nah, by the time I get to 'C' I'm down to the Pentium Pro (no AGP), D & E are P75s and F is a 486

I set AGP to 1X on the Asus mobo before I tried the first time, no go. The other mobo BIOS doesn't have such a setting. The card is supposed to be 2X.

Thanks for the response.

 

[markedmundb]

Are you sure the card is seated properly? AGP cards have 2 rows of connectors, compared with the single row on PCI cards. I had the same problem with my 1st AGP experience. The card wasn't in properly. Try to push in until it clicks...

 

[markedmundb]

Are you sure the card is seated properly? AGP cards have 2 rows of connectors, compared with the single row on PCI cards. I had the same problem with my 1st AGP experience. The card wasn't in properly. Try to push in until it clicks...

 

[sleddog]

Well, I literally must've had the thing in and out 50 times throught the afternoon. You'd think I'd of got it right at least once...

 

[markedmundb]

Try taking the MoBo out of the case. - The case (esp. cheapo generic) might be stopping you from fitting the card properly, or the board itself might be bowing under the pressure - Place it on a flat surface on a large ESD bag (prevents damage to both surface and Mobo). Fit the card outside the case.

As I said before push it until it clicks. Pull it out, push it in again. Some slots are made from harder plastic than others, they take more force to get cards in. Do this until the cards takes a minimal effort to get into the slot.

( I do not recomend this)
If you wanna try it outside the case, plug the PSU, power button cable and system speaker onto the board. If you get a single beep, then it's working!
( I do not recomend this)

Either way, Once you've got the card so it'll slot in easy, replace the board in the case and fire it up.