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Disable onboard graphics on ECS GF7100PVT-M3

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Hi,

I have an ECS GF7100PVT-M3 board and I am trying to install a Diamond Radeon HD 4650 PCI-E video card. The card is seated properly and the fan spins when powered on. When connecting the monitor to the card, however, I receive a black screen. I never see the Windows logo or anything. I tried disabling the onboard video drivers in Windows in the device manager but I still get a black screen. The tech support at Diamond say I must disable the onboard video on the board through BIOS. I am looking for a BIOS setting to do this but the only thing I found is the PCI/PnP Setup which allows me to se the Init Display to PCI-E. I have tried this but to no avail. I read the manual looking for a jumper setting to disable onboard graphics but I do not see one to do this. I'm running out of options and I know there's an answer to this so any advice you can provide would be appreciated.

thanks - TBag

Intel Core2 Duo E7300
ECS GF7100PVT-M3 mobo
2 GB Crucial DDR2-800
Raidmax 630W PSU
250GB SATA HD

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Well I found a setting in BIOS under Advanced Chipset / VGA Share Memory Auto Detect. I disabled this setting but my gfx card still has a black screen. The onboard memory still works too. ECS has been no help here either. I've had an unanswered help ticket with them for almost 5 days now. Any suggestions are appreciated!

thanks - TBag

hello - yes the monitor cable is plugged into the video card and Init display first is set to PCI-E.

The only onboard setting for VGA that I found was "VGA Share Memory Auto Detect". This is now disabled, however the onboard video still works and the video card gives a black screen.

thanks

Hey zip,

Just got a reply from the guys at Diamond. They said I need to update the BIOS on my board. Doesn't that sound a bit extreme for something like installing a video card? Would be curious to see if you agree.

FYI - The tech support at ECS is non-existant. They haven't answered a single post in 5 days.

thanks - TBag
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After one week on an unanswered support ticket with ECS, I found a phone number and called them. The tech said this board does not have a BIOS setting to disable on board video, it is an auto detect function. He then went on to recommend that I test the board outside the case and start it by touching a screwdriver to the power pins. Seemd a little flaky to me, especially since the fan spins on the video card but the screen is black. I also know my PUS is fine even though the tech said that could be the problem. Short end of this is I just got a bad board and will RMA this thing. Shame to spend $8.00 in shipping to return a $38.00 board. I asked him why they don't reply to their support tickets and he said they were backed up from the holidays from a month ago. How lame is that. Oh well...
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Here's the post from the ECS tech:

ECS Support(USA) Posted : GMT 2009/01/26 20:11:25
Customer called.

Onboard graphics are automatically disabled once the BIOS detects a discrete video card.

Customer has tried 2 different PCIe video cards. One known to be good. One brand new out of the box.

Suggest that you test the mtoherboard outside of the case. This is to eliminate any grounding issues between motherboard and case. Setting the motherboard on top of the box it came with is a good way to do this. All you need to start out with is the CPU, CPU fan, memory and power supply. You can start the system by touching power pins (6 & 8) with a screwdriver or the tip of a pen.

If this does not resolve your issues, we would suggest trying a diferent power supply if possible. Inadequate power to your components can cause the entire system to lock up at worst, or just cause certain components to malfunction or stop working. A power supply does not have to be dead to be faulty.

Just wanted to close the loop on this thread... Since my last post, I had requested an RMA. It took 1 week to get the RMA number. The ECS website didn't automatically generate an RMA number, I had to request it off the tech support forums. Anyway, after they received the board, I got a new one in 4 business days. The PCI-E slot on the replacement works fine. So anyone having video card problems with a GF7100PVT-M3 will hopefully find this post and not spends countless hours playing with BIOS settings.

Will I buy ECS again? I'm on the fence. I can't find a good reason to buy another one of these except for one thing, price. It's a real budget board and if that's what you need then hope it works or you're in for a long customer service ride. If you have extra cash to spend, go with a different brand.

thanks - TBag
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