Unlucky video card???

[frostys]

Lets start with CPu spec

Thermaltake Butterfly 480W
AMD Athlon XP 3000+
ASUS A7VBX-LA (Compaq card)
Seagate 160 gig IDE
No name DWD+RW
Powercolor Radeon 9550 256mb
Sound blaster Audigy2 ZS platinium

Ok now with the problem

About 2 week ago i bought a video card (the one listed in spec) and installed it. It worked really good for about 2 week then BAM! Nothing work correctly. The exact problem is that now the computer will fail to boot (no POST at all) a lot of time but not all the time. Yeah you didn't made a reading error, The PC is able to boot at some time like about after 2 try or 20 or 50 or ... I think you all understood where I am going. This is now making my go crazy because it's the second time this happen to me. All i know right now is that swapping video card make it work normally but i don't erally whant to try another one for 2 week to see it go crazy.

Anyone here got a similar problem and is willing to help me with some hint???

 

[ravon]

what was your original video card? u said this is the second time this happening right? than was the first time with the same comp? you tried using your radeon on other computer and see if it did boot up? have you checked your connection, meaning the agp slot? try to clean the slot and see what happens.

 

[frostys]

OK i will answer the question in order

1- The original video card is an onboard crap that seem to work at 100% but is useless for games
I then purchased a Radeon 9550 and it broke like this one (yeah right now the broken one is my second). Well it might not be broken but the same problem happen

2-Yeah the card bugged on the same computer

3-The Radeon make the same thing on all computer i could test it on
It have problem booting but boot after a lot of try

4-Can you tell me what you exactly mean by checking you agp port? Do you mean is teh card fully inserted or something else?
Thx for further info man and thx for the 1st ones too

 

[roorunner]

Outside of knowing this is in a compaq, what is the model of that compaq (to look up the mobo description)? Something is nagging at the back of my mind that you are putting in a vga card that is 4x/8x into a 2x slot. Or maybe you didn't turn off the onboard video of the mobo.

 

[frostys]

ill check on this tonight after work

but hmmm if the card is a 4x/8x in a 2x slot shouldn't it work at all every time i try to boot
thats all the question because the card work at someitme like rightnow the PC is running since 2 days

 

[roorunner]

lol, it is a question of voltage that is being supplied to the card among some other things. the key is you tried 2 of the same cards as you stated in your previous posts and had lots of problems with them. BTW, what is the Compaq model where you got the motherboard? If we all knew what that was, then one could go online to HP and look up the specs of that motherboard to see what they recommend. Hey, that is maybe what you need to do - see if you have the correct type of video card for the video slot by looking in your manual. I mean I could be full of hot air here, you know.

 

[frostys]

sry for long wait

ok I checked on HP website and it say the motherboard is : A7V8X-LA (Kamet 2) winch come from a Presario S6500NX
description found on HP website

Motherboard Description

MB manufacturer name: ASUS A7V8X-LA
HP/Compaq name: Kamet2-GL6E


CPU

Socket A
AMD Athlon/Athlon XP
Barton core support
Supports up to AthlonXP 3000+


Chipset

VIA KM400
VIA VT8237


Front Side Bus (FSB)

333/266 MHz


Memory

Two 184-pin DDR DIMM
Maximum memory size is up to 2GB, 1GB per slot recommended (the PC manufacturer's recommended maximum memory may differ)
Supports PC2700/PC2100/PC1600
Unbuffered non-ECC


Expansion Slots

Three PCI slots
One AGP 8X/4X slot (1.5V)


Storage

Two UltraDMA 100 connectors
Two Serial ATA connectors


Intergrated Graphics

VIA UniChrome Graphics


IDE

Two UltraDMA 100/66/33 connectors
PIP Mode 3/4
Supports ATAPI IDE, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, and LS-120


Onboard Audio

Digital audio via an S/PDIF out interface
RealTek ALC658 6-channel audio CODEC subsystem


Onboard IEEE 1394

VIA VT6307
Supports two 1394 ports


Onboard LAN

VT6103 LAN PHY (Physical Layer Protocol)
Integrated 10/100 Mbps LAN controller


Hardware Monitoring
Super I/O intergrated monitoring:

CPU and chassis fan rotations
Motherboard/CPU temperature


Rear panel I/O

One parallel port
One serial port
One video port
One PS/2 keyboard
One PS/2 mouse port
One RJ-45 port
Up to four USB 2.0 / USB 1.1 ports
One IEEE 1394 port
Audio line-in, line-out, and microphone ports


Internal I/O

One USB 2.0 connector for two additional USB ports
One IEEE 1394 connector
CPU/chassis fan connectors
20-pin ATX 12V power connectors
Front panel connector
S/PDIF out connector
CD/AUX audio connector
Front panel audio connector


BIOS Features

4Mb Flash ROM
Award BIOS with Enhanced ACPI, PnP, DMI2.0, Green features


Form Factor

Micro-ATX form factor
9.6 inches X 9.6 inches (24.5 cm x 24.5 cm)


Industry Standard

USB 2.0/1.1
PCI 2.2

as you can see it's suppose to support AGP 4x/8x so this should not be the problem

now this really annoy me because when i tryed another card from another PC (a Hercule 4500 if i remember correctly) it worked everytime. I just removed it to be sure nothing would happen to this one too (can i be that unlucky???)

now my biggest question is: Should i get a new mobo+CPU and use the compaq MOBO as a shield in some sort of epic battle to be sure of getting rid of this???

THX again for help man

 

[roorunner]

hello, And let me apologize too - I did not receive an email that had you replied.

Ok, thank you for finding the specs of the mobo. That helped. On your video card the hercules 4500, is it an 8x or 4x or 2x/4x or 4x/8x? Please check what type of card the hercules is.

PowerColor Radeon 9550
AGP 8X (0.8V) or 4X (1.5V) slot
here's the new address for the company that made your card -
http://www.powercolor.com/main_product_series.asp?int=agp&chp=9550

Well I am thinking of a new possibility - HEAT? Fan working ok on the video card? Or if no fan, have you opened the case and set a small house fan blowing on it? This series of cards is known for hot temps and messing up from the get-go (old person term)

Let me know.

 

[slowburn77]

OMG! I couldn't have wrote my problem anymore specifically if I wanted to!!! I have the same problem with the same hardware, even on my second video card...... I can't figure it out, it works in Vga/safe mode, but as soon as it trys to run off any drivers it just goes blank screen at start up. Driving me crazy, thinking maybe the card is too new for the mobo/cpu in some way?? Spec wise it clears on paper, so I am stumped.....