Mobo/Video Card Problem

[aguynamedtony]

Hey all.

I have this HP computer that I have been trying to get to work for a while but have failed. When I first got it, I tried turning it on, but the monitor just went from Green for a couple of seconds to Amber permenatley. I thought it might be the monitor, but got the same thing with another monitor.

I then bought a PCI video card (no AGP slot on the the mobo) and tried to turn it on again, but same exact occurance with the Amber light on the monitor. If the on-board video card is bad, would the mobo automatically recognize the newly installed PCI card and boot up? Because right now, I am able to see only the monitor turn Amber. Does this mean the mobo is bad? What else could be a problem, or something else to try? If I need a new mobo, anyone know of the best mobo under $100?

Thanks! This problem is quite urgent, so all replies will be greatly appreiciated!

 

[Scout]

Well, it just means you're not getting a video signal out. Pretty tough to guess at a cause. What's the history of the computer? When did it last run?


Scout
700 Mflops in SETI!

 

[DCB_AU]

HP PCs are crap - this is the third time in a week I've read about faults with HP.

But I guess there better than nothing - "WHILE THEY ARE WORKING".

<font color=red>DCB</font color=red><font color=white>_</font color=white><font color=blue>AU</font color=blue>

 

[lazysod]

A few things you can try are:
if it has an internal modem- to take it out, because a lightning damaged modem will stop a computer from starting.
I would take out the PCI graphics card if it hasn't made a difference.
Does it make a series of beeping sounds when it starts up ?
If so this is usually a problem with either the graphics card or memory.

 

[Coyote]

Hi Tony,

Went through this about 6 mo. ago with my father. He had a HP Pavillion with onboard graphics too.

He purchased a PCI graphics card too. The motherboard had to be hard modded to get the PCI card to work. So no (at least in his case) the mobo won't automaticaaly recognise the PCI card. In his case, the BIOS did not even allow for choosing "disable" for the onboard gfx.


I was gonna get him a new mobo with an AGP slot. But HP's have an embeded chip thingy on the mobo, the OS that came with the pc will not boot up unless the chip thingy is on the mobo. In other words, get a new mobo, and you will have to purchase Windows again (note that when you purchase an HP, you don't "own" Win XP, you're only leasing it!)

So he ended up taking it to a tech shop to have the mobo modded for the PCI gfx card (and he decided to never buy an HP again)

EDIT: Here's a link to the HP forum where the embeded chip is mentioned <A HREF="http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/parseCurl.do?admit=716493758+1079979797753+28353475&CURL=%2Fcm%2FQuestionAnswer%2F1%2C%2C0x612ca432a6f7264db910a3fb042489cd%2C00.html&forumId=2" target="_new">http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/parseCurl.do?admit=716493758+1079979797753+28353475&CURL=%2Fcm%2FQuestionAnswer%2F1%2C%2C0x612ca432a6f7264db910a3fb042489cd%2C00.html&forumId=2</A>



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Win98SE<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Coyote on 03/22/04 01:26 PM.</EM></FONT></P>