just unlucky or real unlucky; video problem

map · Oct 23, 2006, 12:43 AM

i have a dell dimension 8250. p4, 2x 4x agp, 1 gig ram. i was running an ati xl 800. after about a year and a half i started to get some no signal to monitor boot ups. always fixed by reboots. however the xl 800 appears to have finally died. i grabbed the bfg nvidia fx 5200 from my daughter's machine and it is working fine. worried about my generic 250 watt psu i upgraded to a 410 watt psu. went to best buy and got a visiontek xge 1300. no signal to monitor. after a couple of hours of swapping cards, and monitors between different machines i find out that the 1300 and 1600 cards have a conflict with older dell bios[thats me]. go online and see lots of good things about the nvidia 7800. email bfg and they tell me the 7800 will run on my machine. take the 1300 back and bite the big one and get the nvidia 7800 gsoc. no signal to monitor

. i call bfg tech support and they assure me that the card should run on my machine and maybe it's a bad card. go back to bb and of course they have no more 7800s in stock. so now i'm twitchy about my machine. fx 5200 still running with no problems. so before i start driving all around los angeles do you think i'm just a little unlucky and did get a bad 7800 card or real unlucky and there is something wonky with my machine such that the fx 5200 card will run but not a 800, 850 or 7800. i know all the problem cards take aux power, but they all are getting power to their fans. with the problem cards my diagostic leds all show video failure. i'm stumped any help would be greatly appreciated. also i do have the lastest bios for my machine.

CDsDontBurn · Oct 28, 2006, 03:06 PM

did you get the PSU upgrade before or after putting in the 7800 and either of the two x800 cards? Also, you want to make sure that the PSU isn't some generic POS that gives out like 14a on the 12v rail and is declared to do 410w; something like that is total BS. I recommend nothing smaller than a 450w PSU that puts out a minimum of 18a on the 12v rail. Have you tried any of the non-functional cards in different machines to see if they work in those? If they do work, that means that the cards work fine and it is your machine that has the issue. If the 7800 is infact dead, the best thing you can do is submit an RMA to get it replaced. And just because the fan is spinning doesn't mean it's not working....think of it like this; if a car has the engine working, but the tranny is broken, the car still can't go anywhere

.

>GSXR<mrbusa · Oct 28, 2006, 03:35 PM

When you changed graphics cards from one mfg to another you need to make sure that you do a complete uninstall of your graphics drivers. Make sure you use dh drivercleaner. Even then it is not guaranteed that it is going to go well. I have found that reinstalling your chipset drivers after a complete uninstall of a graphics card will help.

Before you determined the original x800xl was bad did you test it in another system? This really sounds like a software problem or your agp bus going bad. Before spending anymore money i would test the x800xl in another machine. it would be best if you could do that in another system that currently had an ati card in it to begin with. Maybe someone you know is getting ready to reinstall windows so you could give it a fresh start just to make sure.

Randomness · Nov 16, 2006, 04:02 PM

Hello:

have you determined what version of of the AGP specification your Dell supports.
Once, i wanted to upgrade a system that was using its onboard GPU. But the motherboard had an AGP slot.
I installed a Radeon 9600, but the system wouldn't even POST, and the monitor remained blank. It turns out the Radeon 9600 was compatible on AGP ver. 3.0 slots

I instead installed a Radeon 9200 that was designed for AGP 3.0, but also backward compatible with the earlier 2.x standard.

You stated your system uses AGP 2x or 4x, which is most likely related to the AGP 2.x specification. When you buy a card, make sure it is backward compatible with the earlier AGP specifications.

Take care, and good luck.

- Randomness

Dowaco · Nov 16, 2006, 04:26 PM

I have to agree with CD's

The newer video cards require a lot more juice (and have a power connector that the FX5200 does not have as well as a cooling fan.)
Dell machines are notorious for having just enough power to run the machine as configured and no more, so adding a heavy load is almost guaranteed to crash the computer. Even a new no-name brand 400 watt PSU might not have the amps on the 12 v rail to run a 7800.

Oct 23, 2006, 12:43 AM	#1
map DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 6 Rep Power: 0	just unlucky or real unlucky; video problem i have a dell dimension 8250. p4, 2x 4x agp, 1 gig ram. i was running an ati xl 800. after about a year and a half i started to get some no signal to monitor boot ups. always fixed by reboots. however the xl 800 appears to have finally died. i grabbed the bfg nvidia fx 5200 from my daughter's machine and it is working fine. worried about my generic 250 watt psu i upgraded to a 410 watt psu. went to best buy and got a visiontek xge 1300. no signal to monitor. after a couple of hours of swapping cards, and monitors between different machines i find out that the 1300 and 1600 cards have a conflict with older dell bios[thats me]. go online and see lots of good things about the nvidia 7800. email bfg and they tell me the 7800 will run on my machine. take the 1300 back and bite the big one and get the nvidia 7800 gsoc. no signal to monitor . i call bfg tech support and they assure me that the card should run on my machine and maybe it's a bad card. go back to bb and of course they have no more 7800s in stock. so now i'm twitchy about my machine. fx 5200 still running with no problems. so before i start driving all around los angeles do you think i'm just a little unlucky and did get a bad 7800 card or real unlucky and there is something wonky with my machine such that the fx 5200 card will run but not a 800, 850 or 7800. i know all the problem cards take aux power, but they all are getting power to their fans. with the problem cards my diagostic leds all show video failure. i'm stumped any help would be greatly appreciated. also i do have the lastest bios for my machine.

Oct 28, 2006, 03:06 PM	#2
CDsDontBurn Lurking DriverHeaven Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 22,779 Rep Power: 235 System Specs	did you get the PSU upgrade before or after putting in the 7800 and either of the two x800 cards? Also, you want to make sure that the PSU isn't some generic POS that gives out like 14a on the 12v rail and is declared to do 410w; something like that is total BS. I recommend nothing smaller than a 450w PSU that puts out a minimum of 18a on the 12v rail. Have you tried any of the non-functional cards in different machines to see if they work in those? If they do work, that means that the cards work fine and it is your machine that has the issue. If the 7800 is infact dead, the best thing you can do is submit an RMA to get it replaced. And just because the fan is spinning doesn't mean it's not working....think of it like this; if a car has the engine working, but the tranny is broken, the car still can't go anywhere . __________________ Her First Day \| A year later

Oct 28, 2006, 03:35 PM	#3
>GSXR<mrbusa im a FREAK Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 2,107 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	When you changed graphics cards from one mfg to another you need to make sure that you do a complete uninstall of your graphics drivers. Make sure you use dh drivercleaner. Even then it is not guaranteed that it is going to go well. I have found that reinstalling your chipset drivers after a complete uninstall of a graphics card will help. Before you determined the original x800xl was bad did you test it in another system? This really sounds like a software problem or your agp bus going bad. Before spending anymore money i would test the x800xl in another machine. it would be best if you could do that in another system that currently had an ati card in it to begin with. Maybe someone you know is getting ready to reinstall windows so you could give it a fresh start just to make sure. Last edited by >GSXR<mrbusa; Oct 28, 2006 at 03:41 PM.

Nov 16, 2006, 04:02 PM	#4
Randomness in a state of flux Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Canada Posts: 366 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Hello: have you determined what version of of the AGP specification your Dell supports. Once, i wanted to upgrade a system that was using its onboard GPU. But the motherboard had an AGP slot. I installed a Radeon 9600, but the system wouldn't even POST, and the monitor remained blank. It turns out the Radeon 9600 was compatible on AGP ver. 3.0 slots I instead installed a Radeon 9200 that was designed for AGP 3.0, but also backward compatible with the earlier 2.x standard. You stated your system uses AGP 2x or 4x, which is most likely related to the AGP 2.x specification. When you buy a card, make sure it is backward compatible with the earlier AGP specifications. Take care, and good luck. - Randomness

Nov 16, 2006, 04:26 PM	#5
Dowaco DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: East Coast, USA Posts: 217 Rep Power: 0	I have to agree with CD's The newer video cards require a lot more juice (and have a power connector that the FX5200 does not have as well as a cooling fan.) Dell machines are notorious for having just enough power to run the machine as configured and no more, so adding a heavy load is almost guaranteed to crash the computer. Even a new no-name brand 400 watt PSU might not have the amps on the 12 v rail to run a 7800.