jack_d12

Last nite was using my computer all of a sudden computer froze and wouldn't restart (running windows xp+sp2) so i thought it was my ati 9600 aiw acting up since it was always doing that. so i went out to wal-mart and bought a 9200 just to see if my guess was correct. slapped in the 9200 and the computer started up. i reinstalled windows xp + sp2 and tried to put hte 9600aiw back in and didn't work. so i figured it was burned. so i returned the 9200 back to walmart and went out to compusa to grab a 9600xtaiw instead. THAT DOESN"T WORK EITHER !!!! what's going on ?!?!? only the 9200 would work but the 9600s don't work ??!?! when i put the 9600aiw it just didn't show a screen but the lights in the front blinked alright. but when i put in the 9600xtaiw the mobo gave me some beeps that i couldn't understand !!! someone please help what's going on with my computer ?!?!? i'm running a asrock k7s8xe+ with the newest bios 2.00 with a amd athlon xp 2600+ oced to 3000+ with 1gb ddr400 ... someone please help !!!!

jack_d12

it was giving me 8 beeps and when i searched online it said that means the video adapter has bad memory. i've got amibios guess that means i'm outta luck and should go get another card than ?!?!

theonlybabyface

Remove your overclock and then try it again. Any chance the the agp bus speed isn't set to 66mhz? AIW cards are VERY sensitive to agp being run out of spec.

jack_d12

i revert everything back to factory settings .. i think it would be 100mhz tho cuz the factory settings for the memory is 200mhz ?!?!? man i went out and returned the aiw 9600xt and got the regular aiw 9600 gonna try it on tonite see if it's going to work .

Dyre Straits

You may not be understanding the need to set the AGP BUS speed to 66 mhz. That's not the same as the FSB speed or even the PCI BUS speed. FSB will generally be 100, 133, 166, 200, etc.

AGP needs to be 66Mhz, and the PCI BUS needs to be 33 Mhz.

So, make sure you have these settings.

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jack_d12

I don't see anywhere in my bios that allows me to change the speed of the agp bus. i can change the ram speed(ddr400) and i can change the cpu speed(190 mhz and shows up as 3000+ at startup) but it doesn't allow me to change the agp bus speed ?!?!?! it lets me change auto - 8x - 4x that's about it .... weird thing is i never touched any of these settings when i installed the 9600aiw a few months ago. i installed a brand new one from compusa today and it wouldn't boot again ... it just gave me the same 8 beeps ? even weirder is that the 9200 works great every time i plug it in ?!?!?! driving me crazy

Dyre Straits

If you don't have a separate setting where you can adjust and/or lock the AGP/PCI BUS speeds, then what happens is, if you overclock the CPU, it will automatically adjust the AGP and PCI accordingly. So, if you can't lock the AGP and PCI speeds so that they don't adjust upward when you O'c the CPU, you're best to not O'c at all. Just use the default CPU FSB speed at least until you get the matter resolved.

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jack_d12

mmmm... but my default cpu bus is 166 mhz and i've tried that already .... i even took out the cmos battery to make sure the settings were default and it still didn't work .... let me download some utility that will test my agp bus speed .. does sisoft sandra or some thing like that wor k?!?!

jack_d12

okay i have set my cpu bus speed to 66 mhz and it still gives me 8 beeps ... i've also tried older bioses for my asrock k7s8xe+ 1.7 and 1.8 which was reported to be stable with the 9800 cards and they don't work either still 8 beeps. and i've tried the old bioses with the 66mhz and still 8 beeps. plug my 9200 aiw back in and everything works fine !!! WTF is going on !!! this is driving me crazy. i don't think any thing is broken cuz the mobo takes the 9200 and the 9600aiw cards are brand new from compusa (the one i have is the second card i got from them that is new) SOMEONE PLEASE HELP !!!!

Dyre Straits

What PSU do you have? Also, what voltage setting is on your AGP BUS?

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jack_d12

i don't think the psu is the problem i have a 480 watt power supply but everytime i know i'm gonna boot and turn off my computer multiple times i unplug my hard drives so i've tried it with both my hard drive's power unplugged which means there should be plenty of power. and i don't think my mobo allows me to change the voltage of the agp bus ... the most i can do to my agp bus is the 8x/4x change and the enable fast write and the 64 aperture setting ...

jack_d12

any ideas guys?!?!?! i'm really stomped on this one ... i have till next week to return the 9200....

Dyre Straits

Change the AGP BUS to 4X and see if it boots.

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jack_d12

i tried that .... i even thought it was the power supply but i have a 480 watt power supply and i've tried it with both my hard drives unpllugged ...

Dyre Straits

It's beginning to sound more like a motherboard problem to me.

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jack_d12

mmm... but i've tried the ati 9200 on it and it works fine ! mmm..

Dyre Straits

Is there anyone who will let you try the 9600 in their computer?

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jack_d12

yeah i think i should try that ... but what would be wrong with the motherboard if everything works but a certain video card ?!?!?

Dyre Straits

There's any number of things it could be. However, trying the video card in another computer will either verify or eliminate that the vidcard is the problem. If the card works in another computer, then you know it's not the card and has to be something on the motherboard.

Also, there have been times when I've installed a brand new card that it might take a few attempts to boot the computer before the newly inserted video card 'takes'. That isn't as common on newer motherboards, but was a big hassle in the past.

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