Video Card Wrecked My Motherboard???

Androidt

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Nov 19, 2008
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I have a Gateway GM5052E Media Center Computer which contains a Foxconn C51GU01 Motherboard. The motherboard has GeForce 6100 on board graphics and a 16x PCI Express slot. I've had the system for nearly 3 years. Shortly after purchase I added an ATI Radeon X1300Pro PCIE 256m graphics card. This worked fine until 6 months ago when the video card stopped working. I converted back to the GeForce 6100. Last week I turned on the computer to see the graphic display has wavy lines and is way too bright. I tested the monitor on another computer to verify it wasn't the problem. I reinstalled windows (used the system recovery disk to return the computer to a new state) to rule out windows or drivers as the problem (didn't figure this was the problem but it was time to reinstall anyway). This seems to leave the onboard video as the problem so I bought a PNY Nvidia Geforce 9400GT graphics card (PCI Express 2.0 16x).

I installed the card as follows: uninstalled the GeForce 6100 driver and shut down the computer, installed the video card, restated the computer, went into the Bios and switched to use PCI Express as the primary device, windows loads but will not recognize the new video card. It won't even load the drivers because it can't find the device. The card is firmly seated in the slot and the onboard fan runs. The new card is not listed in Device Manager under Display Adapters and PCI Express is not listed under System Devices. PCI Standard is shown but not PCI Express. I even reinstalled the motherboard drivers.

Is it possible when the ATI card went out 6 months ago it took the PCI Express slot with it? I'm grasping at straws here, I've tried everything in my bag of tricks with no success. Any ideas??
 

jake45

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Jan 28, 2009
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I am running into the same problem. From what i have read so far the foxcon will only recognize pci express 1.0 not 2. Maybe a bios flash will update that issue but im not willing to try that on a customers pc
 

fred64

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I have the same MOBO in my gateway. It has died recently, but on the way over the past year I lost the red from the on board graphics, so I tried a couple PCIe video cards, none worked (might have been they were 2.0). I found a PCI video card and it worked just fine. (GeForce 6200).

From reading many forums, the onboard video notoriously dies on these mobos and many of the folks can't get their PCIe slots to work (me included).

I also upgraded the power supply to a 500 watter and all ran great for more than a year. Now the system won;t stay powered on with the 12 volt dc plug in the mobo. Obviously it work without 12vdc, and I'm not going to try troubleshooting the mobo.

Replacing it is not easy (its a BTX form factor with an AMD socket 939) those are impossible to find! So, I found a site geeks dot com that stocks BTX mobos for Intel 775 for about $25. I got a an Intel 775 CPU and I'm waiting on an Intel BTX heat sink. With it all rebuilt, I can still use the case and peripherals and I'm out less than $150.00 (including a new SATA 750gb hard drive my old one was IDE).

If you decide to replace the mobo/CPU make sure any new mobo is BTX and supports your old drives and memory (unless you want to buy those). One catch, the gateway heat sink on my GT5034 fit on the mobo (4 screw stands all same height). The Intel BTX heat sink is about 2 inches longer, so two of the screws are supposed to connect off the front edge of the mobo to thread in the case. Problem is my GT5034 Didn't have the case set up with those holes. So I'm waiting for another heat sink I found at geeks.

Can;t use the old AMD heatsink, because the Intel CPU chip sits lower than the AMD chip and it would interfere with surrounding components. Intel heat sinks involve a copper offset to raise the aluminum block high enough to clear everything.

Seems like a lot of trouble, but everything else on the system is fine (TV Tuner, DVD drives, memory and the case with all the ports), so why spend more than $150?
 

metafizx

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Feb 1, 2006
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:) thanks Fred64, that's the info that I've been searching for.
I didn't know I couldn't use the old heatsink, you helped !! THX ! :)

I am ordering the same mobo and heatsink from geeks too.

the GM5084 gateway motherboard died and I replaced it with the same part, too bad I didn't know it was the stupid video chip, cuz it failed again after a few months.

hoping the Intel board lasts longer.
 

metafizx

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Feb 1, 2006
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unfortunately the board wont even boot with the video chip dead. so...no hope of a PCIx card. although I might try again...
 

Sereno011

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Jan 2, 2010
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This is coming in a bit late but I have the same system and experiencing similar problems. I just wanted to confirm that while a pci-e x16 won't work a x1 will, even in the x16 slot. Currently using a Zotac ION card (g210). I hope you can get your onboard to work at least momentarily though since you may have to change the primary display device back to PCI-E in the BIOS.