Hi all,
I have an old (1996) Windows 95 Pentium Pro 150 mHz PCI bus (PT61-F motherboard), baby AT system that developed an odd problem with the 4 Mb S3 Virge On Board video card.  It was as if the video cable had to be placed just-so in order for the monitor to display anything.  That is, if I screwed-down the castle screws on the monitor cable to the computer-port 15 pin socket connector, it wouldn't display just a blank/black screen -- but if I backed out the cable and re-inserted gently without tightening the screws -- the display would come up fine on a restart.  Lately, that doesn't work at all but the monitor self-tests Ok and the external video controls for signal port designation comes up fine - but [No Signal] message displays.  It's a CyberVision ds86.  So, I'm fairly convinced its the socket-connector on the card that's gotten damaged some way as the cable pins looks fine.
Anyway, I'd like to get a very cheap but reliable replacement for the S3 Virge card -- say, the Cirrus 1mb PCI Video card for example.  I won't be doing any gaming on this system, just one DOS program that uses graphics for instruction that there was not released for Windows XP.
 
Can anyone recommend a good replacement choice for the video card, or comment on the Cirrus 1Mb as an Ok! but not great replacement and a good vendor source?  
Thanks,
Gary

I doubt you'll be able to find a new pci card on any store. Although, you could ask them if they have a used one. It seems that any card they would have with 1mb of memory or above would be pretty much enough for what you do.
You could try ebay as well!
But first, you should try a second monitor to make sure that the video card is your problem.

Rickzor,
Yes, I had a 3 yr old Dell monitor that does work and it has the same 15 pin DIN 'D' type connector on its built in cable and tried that with same results.
On the 'old' system the detachable video cable had a couple of missing-pins on each of the cable ends at the same location on both ends.  On the 'newer' Dell cable, all 15 pins were present.
I didn't think that would make a difference/create a problem if they were both SVGA monitors.  Do you agree?  Afterwards, I was hoping I hadn't damaged the card by hooking a non-compatible cable/monitor up.  But, I couldn't tell anyway since the results were the same - [No Signal]
Thanks,
Gary

Yeah not all detachable cables or built in cables looks alike in their extremities, but it's unlikely you have damaged the card by plugging it. And its natural that there are missing pins (unless you can see they were broken) because not all pins are in use. As much as i can remember, 3 pins are for RGB (red, green and blue) 1 for ground and other 2 for vertical and horizontal deflection, and im not sure if im missing anything.
You dont get any signal even whe the pc is posting? Can you even hear the pc fans working inside?

Yes, the PC itself appears to come up fine -- Power LED 'On', whirring sound of disk access and flashing red LED while coming up.  Of course it takes a little longer to come up the next time when I can't see and just turn it off (scandisk, etc. that runs after you don't shutdown properly)  
Like I said, very reliable system and it worked fine the last time I was able to jiggle the monitor cable to get it to display.
Glad to hear you didn't think I had damaged anything by connecting Dell monitor cable.  I'm pretty sure I've tried another detachable monitor cable and it didn't make any difference.
 
There are still Standard PCI (not PCI Express) video cards available but they're fairly expensive.  Your thinking any of them should work -- any recommendations of ones to avoid ?  Video driver availability might be an issue for a used card but I think they may be readily available on free source sites.
Thanks,
Gary

dude...why even bother?  hehe just a thought...

If you're sure it's the video card, then this is the lowest price I could find for a Riva TNT.
 
http://www.pcpartsohio.com/Books.aspx?category_id=16
 
This one is slightly more with shipping, but from a very reliable retailer
 
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] ICEGRABBER
 
Both far exceed your demands, but other than going to a mom and pop pc store and getting a used one, you're out of luck with anything less than probably 8-16MB.

Err... NewEgg lists 56 PCI video cards. You've got a wide selection to choose from... some starting at $29 (ATI Radeon 7000)
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 2&name=PCI

This forum is great.  I don't think I've ever gotten this much response from any forum.  Heck, I even appreciate the 'Why bother ...?' reply.  Thanks to all of you.
Anyway, I took a walk downtown to see if the 1 or 2 PC repair places had some old stuff like this and by golly the fellow looks around throws me a Lightspeed 128 - 2Mb or 4Mb PCI video card and says 'Here try this ... it worked when I took it out.  No charge!'.  
I found a driver w95et6.zip (v4.03.3600) and I think I'm set.  
If it doesn't work, I may try unsoldering the video connectors and swapping them since I think it's a physical-connection issue.  Hopefully won't come to that.
The one reply suggesting a PC Parts vendor looks good too.  I looked at one that had a Cirrrus card for $5 but they added $17.50 S/H.  Seemed a little high to me.
Thanks again -- I'll post my results next week.
Gary

Aww shucks, man!

This should be perfect for you:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814106001

Right...

Right...
 
Nice
 
-BTW, did he try eBay?

Hi guys,
Just wanted to let you know -- suddenly realized it's not the video card.  I've tried the one the computer repair shop gave me (could've been a failed board even though tech said it worked when he took it out...) and I also ordered a PCI NVidia TNT 16mb from PcPartsofOhio -- I was waiting till I had it to try and it arrived yesterday with same results... absolutely no video signal is coming from it on booting.
I took the monitor and cable of this computer upstairs to a newer Dell desktop and it worked fine.  
On this computer the motherboard is a Pine Technology PT-61F. It has 4 PCI slots and 4 ISA Legacy slots.  I've tried the other PCI slots thinking it may be a connection issue/loose solder joint but that didn't affect anything.  I don't know about this -- were there ISA video cards and if so, could you get video out of this board on one ?  Be gentle, I admit I didn't know much about this to begin with -- just looking for a way to salvage what otherwise had been a fairly reliable system.
It's funny that before it completely failed I could get video by messing around with the video cable where it connected to the video card socket. That's what's not making sense to me.  If cable was pushed in all the way it wouldn't work but back it out and insert just till you felt the pins connect and it 'most-of-the-time' would come up.
So, at this point I'm at a loss.
Thanks,
Gary

For even $200 or $300 at max you can get a system that will outperform that one 10x or even 12x times the system you currently have.
 
If it died, just let it rest in peace.

I found the following on a google of 'no video on boot' ...
Rest of post indicates (3) main issues : Monitor/cable (tested), Video Card fried (tried 2 different ones) or RAM failure.
The other thing I found here was to reseat the Jumpers found on the motherboard for the installed CPU --  Gary  
 
 
That has happenned to me on several different comps..... In each case a screw was grounding the mobo out. I removed the screw closest to the agp/pci slots and it would work eveytime, on every one I had a problem with. In each casr was a different mobo, different case, different everythig. Just my luck I guess. Even if I used a rubber washer it wou between the board and the monut it would still do it.  
 
Haven't had that problem in a few years now. That is the only thing that has never let me boot with no video though, so it is my only suggestion.

On some of the Pentium Pro systems I worked on, the video didn't switch automatically.  I had to shutdown the system, jumper the Clear CMOS pins, then power up and setup the BIOS.  Then shutdown, remove the jumper, and boot.

Hi Belvdr...
Thanks for your reply.  On an aside, your handle reminded of my first car, a '68 Plymouth Belvedere -- I couldn't believe I was getting 30 mpg on that slant-6.  Wished they still made 'em.  Only cost me $300, 7 yrs old.
 
What do you mean when say '... the video didn't switch automatically'?
Simply that it would not switch ON ? I'm supposing.
By 'setup the BIOS', will I need any configuration information to enter manually or will it self-detect on its own after clearing CMOS ?
I have some printouts I did when I first got the PC did them for diagnostics.  Should I attempt to download most current Award BIOS software prior to doing this procedure ?   What was on there was v4.51.
 
Anyway, I found your recommendation to coincide with another forum and I wanted to ask -- Would removing the mobo battery accomplish this ? Docs I have for this mobo don't explain all the jumpers -- particularly for clearing CMOS -- only for those concerning the specific CPU on the mobo -- an Intel PPRO 150
 
I'll clean everything up - reseat connections, remove all unnecessary PCBs (modem, network card, etc).  I think it sounds like it might be something like this or a grounding problem since when it did work I had to monkey around with the cable (which made me think it was the video card).
 
thanks for your help,
Gary

Hi again,
I found the CMOS clear jumper settings in a different doc for the mobo.
Also found the following ...
 
Unplug computer.  Remove battery (CR2032 probably) from mainboard.  Move  
cmos jumper to CLEAR position.  Run to drugstore or wal-mart or radio shack  
to buy a new CR2032 battery.  After you have a new battery, move cmos jumper  
to normal position and install new battery, + side up.  Then plug in  
computer and boot normally.  If that doesn't work, try a new power supply.  
If resetting cmos and new power supply didn't work, you are probably looking  
at a bad mainboard.  -Dave  
**************
Never thought about the battery -- and it's the same for my system, CR2032.  I don't quite understand what 'Move jumper to CLEAR position' does when you've taken out the old battery and he doesn't say to power-up the system.  Is there some residual discharge that clears CMOS or am I not understanding what's happening (more likely the case..:-)
Thanks,
Gary

The clear cmos jumper simply removes the battery power from the board.  You can also remove the battery and wait several seconds (I always go grab a cup of java  ) then reinstall it.
 
What I meant by automatically switching is that the BIOS must select a primary display adapter when two video cards are installed.  On many of those older boards, the default is the onboard video.  If that's not working, then adding in the second video card may not help if the BIOS continues to use the onboard as the primary.
 
So, by jumpering the clear cmos jumper, you can usually go into the BIOS and save the primary as the add-in PCI adapter.
 
EDIT:  About powering up for clear cmos, read your motherboard manual.  Some need the powerup (older Intel boards like the Venus or Providence come to mind) and some don't.