Help required! Installing new card.

[SteveTaylor11]

Hey guys,

Before I start, can I just say that I'm not very experienced whatsoever with hardware, so please bear with me.

I recently bought a new system which was affordable and was hoping to upgrade it as time went on.

I have a Nvidia 8800 GTS card lying around (PCI-e) that I bought two years ago but haven't actually used, so I tried to install it myself.

I went to the device manager and disabled my current display adapter (on board) and also went to the BIOS and changed the settings so that it would boot from PCI before installing the new card. After connecting the new card, I powered up the PC and thought everything was a success, however soon noticed that my monitor wouldn't display anything I could hear the usual boot process running (Windows 7 noises etc) and there were no beeps when I booted.

I wondered if there may be any of you who might have suggestions?

My mobo is a: ASUS P5G41-M LX2 (which I know is not very good)

and I have a 550W power supply, so I don't think that is the problem. When I booted the PC, the fans on the GPU would spin up, but I wouldn't see anything on the monitor. My monitor uses a VGA connection.

Sorry if my terminology isn't too great, very new to this sort of thing.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Steve.

 

[gracefully]

Did you plug in the monitor cable to the output of the video card? The video card also has a VGA out, and you should plug your monitor there.

 

[SteveTaylor11]

Yep, sure did. Sorry, forgot to specify that.

=P

 

[gracefully]

It was an idiot-proofing question, actually. Some people actually forget to swap the video connection to the new graphics card.

The 8800 GTS requires a 6-pin PCIe power connector. Did you plug that in?

 

[SteveTaylor11]

Yeah, I used the 6 pin power connector. There was one coming directly from my power supply that was left over, I assume that it is ok to use that one? (I'm very new to this sorry)

 

[gracefully]

Yes, that is required to run the GPU. When you turn the compute on, does the GPU fan spin up?

 

[Psychoteddy]

Yeah, I used the 6 pin power connector. There was one coming directly from my power supply that was left over, I assume that it is ok to use that one? (I'm very new to this sorry)

Be careful there, some of those connectors are supposed to be used to power the CPU. I'm not 100% sure if it will cause issues (or even if the connector will physically fit in the GPU slot) but I've heard that this can cause problems. If it's designed to deliver power for a CPU it's usually labeled on the connector itself.


I'd try another six-pin power connector just to be sure, if possible.

 

[gracefully]

The CPU connectors are 2x2 or 2x4. PCIe power connectors are 2x3 or 2x4. Since the 8800gts needs a 6pin power connector, I doubt any confusion between the cables will occur. In any case, the CPU power connector is keyed differently from the PCIe power connector, so you can't put it in.

I do agree with trying a different 6pin power connector though, just to make sure it's not the cable causing the problems.

 

[Kari]

are you still getting image from the onboard integrated? I have doubts windows would actually disable the only working video adapter it has at the time. Usually people just plug the dedicated card in there, boot up and if it doesnt automagically work the first time then they start to manually disable stuff....

 

[JDFan]

Hey guys,

also went to the BIOS and changed the settings so that it would boot from PCI before installing the new card.

Steve.

Did you set it to boot from PCI or the PCI-e slot (there is a difference !) -- try going back to the onboard to boot from and go back into the BIOS and check the setting again.

 

[Psychoteddy]

The CPU connectors are 2x2 or 2x4. PCIe power connectors are 2x3 or 2x4. Since the 8800gts needs a 6pin power connector, I doubt any confusion between the cables will occur. In any case, the CPU power connector is keyed differently from the PCIe power connector, so you can't put it in.

I do agree with trying a different 6pin power connector though, just to make sure it's not the cable causing the problems.

Oi, you're exactly right. Gimme a break, it's early and I'm at work.

Disregard that, then

 

[SteveTaylor11]

Did you set it to boot from PCI or the PCI-e slot (there is a difference !) -- try going back to the onboard to boot from and go back into the BIOS and check the setting again.

The BIOS was set to boot from 'PEG/PCI'. Is this the correct setting?

Are you still getting image from the onboard integrated? I have doubts windows would actually disable the only working video adapter it has at the time. Usually people just plug the dedicated card in there, boot up and if it doesnt automagically work the first time then they start to manually disable stuff....

If the card is inserted and the VGA is connected to the card's VGA slot then nothing at all appears on the screen. If the VGA is connected to the normal VGA slot on the PC then I do get image. I did make a -very- stupid mistake and completely disable the onboard graphics on the BIOS - meaning I had to reset the CMOS as I had no image whatsoever

Yes, that is required to run the GPU. When you turn the compute on, does the GPU fan spin up?

Yep, the GPU fan spins up just fine.

The CPU connectors are 2x2 or 2x4. PCIe power connectors are 2x3 or 2x4. Since the 8800gts needs a 6pin power connector, I doubt any confusion between the cables will occur. In any case, the CPU power connector is keyed differently from the PCIe power connector, so you can't put it in.

I do agree with trying a different 6pin power connector though, just to make sure it's not the cable causing the problems.

The 6pin fits in just fine, and delivers power just fine (I assume as the fans are spinning)

Everyone's help much appreciated here, hopefully this will get sorted

 

[JDFan]

The BIOS was set to boot from 'PEG/PCI'. Is this the correct setting?

Yep that would be correct (PEG = Pci-E Graphics) !

Another thing to try is remove the card - look closely at the card and the slot to make sure all looks good (sometimes something small will block a connection from setting properly) then be sure it seats well in the slot - sometimes they look in place but aren't quite in there - and do the same with both sides of the monitor connection and the 6 pin plug to the video card.

 

[SteveTaylor11]

Another thing. When the card is plugged in and I can see the display using the regular VGA connection between my monitor and my PC - The hardware is not recognised by Windows. Nothings pops up at all.

Does this mean either the card or the PCI-e slot may be faulty? Or could it just be something to do with the drivers?

EDIT:

Yep that would be correct (PEG = Pci-E Graphics) !

Another thing to try is remove the card - look closely at the card and the slot to make sure all looks good (sometimes something small will block a connection from setting properly) then be sure it seats well in the slot - sometimes they look in place but aren't quite in there - and do the same with both sides of the monitor connection and the 6 pin plug to the video card.

Everything seems in place mate. However, windows doesn't recognise the hardware when the card is seated. I don't see anything in the Device Manager and can't install drivers and the Nvidia installed won't let you do it unless it detects the hardware.

I'm so confused :S

 

[Kari]

in device manager there should be option to 'detect hardware changes' or something similar... somewhere in there, the location might vary, in win 7 it's in the right click context menu of the system icon at the very top of the 'tree'
edit actually it looks like it's all over the place, just right click on anything and it should be there

 

[SteveTaylor11]

in device manager there should be option to 'detect hardware changes' or something similar... somewhere in there, the location might vary, in win 7 it's in the right click context menu of the system icon at the very top of the 'tree'
edit actually it looks like it's all over the place, just right click on anything and it should be there

Yeah, I tried that - It didn't work

I'm assuming it's new card time but does anyone have any ideas at all!?