Graphics card upgrade problem..

Hey everyone. Let me start by saying that I've been on with tech supports for the graphics card, computer, and anyone else I could think of to no avail, so your my last hope. I'm attempting to upgrade my computer with a GeForce 7300GT card to replace a GeForce 5500. EVERYTHING has the lastest drivers, BIOS, Chipset, everything. So the problem is when I install the new card, the computer starts up, but the monitor light turns on (blue) then 3-4 seconds later turns off (amber).I am getting no beeps or anything. I meet the minimum requirements for the card. Oh and the card is good as I installed in a friends rig last night. As soon as I re-install the 5500 card, it starts right back up nicely. If there is any ideas you guys can come up with, I sure would appreciate it.
I have an HP Pavilion a532x (about 4 years old)
win xp
1 gig ram
Oh, and the cards I use are AGP.

 

I'm no expert in anything other than napping, but this sounds familiar.
My first thought was the power supply.
Second thought is whether or not the card is specifically for an HP pc.
I know some of the companies have, or had, slightly different hardware than what we would put together at home.
Time for my nap.
I wish you luck.
Hugger

 

I've had instances in the past where certain brands/types of graphics cards did not work in certain pc's. They would work fine in a friends but refuse to work in mine. Unfortunately i could never figure it out, in the end i had to change to a different gfx card. Have you tried your friends gfx card in your pc?

 

Thanks for the replies everyone, I have upgraded my power supply to 500 watts, with a +12v rated at 26 amps, so that's good. Now as far as the BIOS set correctly, all I know is I updated it to the latest driver, at least from I could find. Also the Chipset. Everything else I meet the minimums. It's not the end of the world if it doesn't end up working for me, but I'm trying to figure out why it wouldn't. I just can't shake this feeling that I'm just missing something, and something small at that.

My video card:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...-_-WEBLET03SHIP-_-03ship&SRCCODE=WEBLET03SHIP

My new power supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...A-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-N82E16817182009

 

The BIOS setting is your PC BIOS. Make sure the AGP interface aperature is set properly. I do know of cases where cards were set appropriately but crashed and stepping back removed the instability. If you're running it at 256 MB, drop back to 128 MB

As for the card driver - use the supplied vendor CD initially to confirm that there's no subtle driver issues. If it works, then update and see how the system responds.

Blue

 

Thanks for the reply B-Z, I'll check that out. The reason I'm confused about this whole matter is, every tech support person I have talked to can't seem to understand why It wouldn't be working. Even though I'm getting frustrated, I don't give up that easily.

 

I just upgraded an older PC (Dell Dimension 4500) to an ATI HD2600 XT card in an effort to squeeze a few more years out of this machine.

In searching around I noticed comments that some incompatibilities arose regarding the current generation cards, the legacy AGP interface, and generic drivers which were really no longer being written with AGP in mind. In my own case I noticed that the supplied drivers were specifically targeted for the AGP version of the card (which also has a PCI-e counterpart).

In your case, the direct download for the vendor supplied driver is DiabloTek Win2KXP169.21.rar - note, this is a direct download link. If you're not using that driver, try it.

Blue

 

Thanks Blue, will give it a try.

 

Nope. Didn't work.

 

Well, this isn't going to help but it appears as if you're not the only one with a Pavilion and a DiabloTek 7300GT installed who is experiencing an anomaly:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/253361-33-diablotek-7300-install-problem

Weird! (unless you're the one who made that post on Tom's).

 

Hey guys, no that isn't me at that Tom's website, though that guy's problem is pretty close to mine. @JRViejo, when I installed my GeForce 5500 about 2 years ago or so, I didn't tweak anything. I just installed the card myself and installed the drivers for it. Of coarse I had to disable the onboard graphics. The card was new, and my computer was purchased new by me about 2 years earlier. And I'll go to that HP link you provided for me (Thanks ).

@prius04, No that's not me, though it is pretty close to my setup. Anyway, I'll read all this stuff you guys have given me and see what happens.

I just know I'm missing something here, this card should work.

 

GeForce 5500 drivers are much different from 7300 drivers despite the NVIDIA unified driver packages for both. First, remove the NVIDIA drivers for the 5500. Then install the new card. If there's a problem then you probably should try changing the monitor port (most graphics cards come with two ports).

And it stikes me as odd that a 7300GT would require the same power (18A on +12V rail) as GeForce 7800GS when the 7300GT is nowhere near the performance of the 7800GS.....So obviously less power is needed; I'd say in the vicinity of 300W power supplies.

 

Hi Firecat, thanks for the reply. As far as uninstalling the 5500 drivers before I install the 7300gt, I have done that many times now. Also the new card has 2 ports, but my monitor will only connect to the one, unless there is some kind of adapter I can buy.

 

Also that AGP driver from the Diablotek website that Blue suggested keeps coming up corrupt for me.

 

I sure did follow that template JR, and also the drivers procedure. What I did find is this at the my graphics card website:

1. IRQ Resources Controlled By – Auto
2. Plug and Play OS – No 3. Assign IRC for VGA – Enabled
3. Assign IRC for VGA – Enabled
4. AGP Aperture – 256MB
5. AGP Mode – Auto
6. AGP Driving Control – Auto 9. PCI/VGA Palette Snoop – Disabled
7. AGP Fast Write – Disabled
8. Video RAM Cacheable – Disabled
9. PCI/VGA Palette Snoop – Disabled

It tells me that this is what my BIOS settings should be at. My question is where do I change these at? I have pressed F-1 at re-start, and it does bring up the BIOS page, but everything there is pretty much non-technical. I don't see anything remotely showing me how to change any setting. Mostly generic choices such as choosing either PCI or AGP/onboard. Is there somewhere I can get to the meat and potatoes (so to speak) of the BIOS settings?

Also I plug my monitor into the VGA connector.

 

Oh I forgot to ask, dumb question perhaps, but, the drivers that are installed right now for my 5500 are the same for the 7300gt, do I still have to uninstall these drivers before I install the new card?

 

Ok thats what I've been doing, unloading the drivers. When I install the new card the computer comes on, but the monitor doesn't come on. It clicks on, but after 2-3 seconds it turns itself off, thats my whole problem. But I've been looking at some BIOS and chipset settings in Everest and noticed that my AGP aperture size is at 64mb, is that right?

 

I wouldn't think that a small AGP aperature setting is an issue.

Let me ask a question - can you get any video output with this card installed if you try to jump to the BIOS configuration menu prior to booting the system?

Blue

 

No I get absolutely nothing. Err, what do you mean prior to booting Blue?

 

OK - you turn the machine on - prior to fully loading the OS, you can press a designated key (generally F2 or something similar) to jump into a text based BIOS configuration menu system. Can you access this with the questionable card installed?

If so, that provides some indication that the card is functional to some level (although it doesn't mean you don't have a problem). If you can't get to this level, you have issues well beyond driver problems.

Blue

 

Ok Blue I installed the new card and booted up and tried to get to the BIOS setting screen (F-1 for me), and I get nowhere. My monitor shuts down too quick. Oh to be clear on this, I get NO text, no splashscreen, no nothing, just blackness. And what I noticed is that the computer's busy light stays on solid, as in it doesn't go off at all, not even blink for like 10 minutes, so I think there is definitely a conflict. But to tell you guys the truth, I think I'm just about done with this experiment. I'm way past frustration. Unless somebody can think of something that may have been missed, I'll probably RMA this card back Monday. Unless......