Series of computer upgrade problems

[superjoebob]

Hey everyone,
I recently upgraded my computer with a 790gx-G65 motherboard, a PhenomII Black Edition 3.4 Ghz quad core, and 4 gigs of DDR 3. I kept the Nvidia 9800 GX2 I had.

I'm having a few problems with the whole setup, and I think the problems may be stemming from the motherboard, but I'm not sure. The motherboard boots up fine using on board graphics, but when I try to boot using my GX2 as the default video, nothing ever shows up on the screen. I actually have to take the card out of the computer to be able to see anything again.

The funny thing though, is that the graphics card seems to work if I use it as a secondary. I can boot into windows with the on board, then run games on my second monitor using the GX2. This would be fine, but the whole setup seems to be very shaky. My computer is actually running slower now than before the upgrade, and its somewhat unstable as well. The first time I tried to use my GX2 as a secondary, my computer threw a blue screen, then after that it worked. My sound card has also stopped detecting completely, even though it worked on my old board.

I realize this post is sort of all over the place, but the nature of my problem is all over the place as well, so I guess that's how it needs to be. In a nutshell I've reinstalled all my drivers a dozen times and my computer is still running like a shaky wreck since the upgrade. Any Idea what could be causing this? Could it be stemming from the fact that I cannot boot with my video card as a primary?

 

[FALC0N]

How are you connecting to the monitor. Card and onboard?

 

[superjoebob]

I'm connecting to the monitor through a DVI cable, the on board graphics go to one monitor, and the graphics card goes to the other. I've also tried every possible variation with no success.

Interestingly enough the whole problem actually seems to be hit and miss. I managed to get the computer to boot up with my graphics card as primary, but then when I restarted the card wouldn't display anything again, and I had to revert to on board as primary. Every now and then the computer will start up without displaying on board as well, there doesn't seem to be any pattern, it's very hit and miss. Sometimes with on board it can take as long as 30 seconds before I see anything on screen, at which point the computer is well into the boot process. Sometimes even turning the monitor off and on seems to kick it into gear, although the monitor isn't the problem as I've tried this technique successfully with several different monitors.

 

[Shaun o]

See your problem is you need to go into your bios and turn the onboard graphics chip on the mother board off completely.
Then just connect both your vga cables from each monitors to each of the two DVI ports on your 9800 Gx 2.

 

[superjoebob]

See I've already done that. I set the GX2 as my primary and disabled the on board video, the problem still persists. Even if that did help, that would require me running both monitors on my GX2, and that's just not happening. It's a gaming card, and to run 2 monitors on it I would have to dedicate one of its GPU's to my second monitor, which means half of its power. There is the option to switch back and forth between double GPU on one monitor and single GPU on two, but it's incredibly time consuming. My old board was also of much poorer quality and it allowed me to use the on board video while my card was set to my primary.

That diagnosis doesn't explain the boards lack of ability to detect my sound card either (again, the sound card works, I've tested it on another computer). I've adjusted the Bios in dozens of different ways, and I cannot seem to make any of the problems better that way.

 

[Shaun o]

A few years back people would run into this problem.
And from what i remember if your saying you have problems with the sound card, using on board graphics
and your 9800 gx 2.

It all had to do with too many devices wanting the same IRQ to talk to the Cpu on the mother board bus.
That could explain why the sound card works fine in another system and not yours.
And why your also having a hell of a time with the on board graphics, and the 9800 gx 2 plugged in together.

The only way to free a few Irq`s up is to go into the bios and turn off board devices you dont use like serial ports.
And set the IRQ to manual, instead of auto detect in the bios.

Its the only other thing i can think of to be honest.

 

[superjoebob]

Alright, I'll try playing around with the state of the on board features and see if that helps. Now that you mention it, I did get a blue screen at one point while running with my GX2 as a primary that said something about an issue with IRQ's.

 

[superjoebob]

Best answer selected by superjoebob.