GFX card in, no beeps?

[Chrispy]

I unplugged the computer, got the screwdriver, and took the card out. Was a bit easy, yeah?

I then continued and put your 5500 in. I'm pretty sure I had it locked in, and the silver part screwed on. However, there was a latch thing at the end of the AGP slot which also ensured the card stay in place. I couldn't manage to latch it - I didn't wanna break it so I left it altogether. I'm pretty sure the screw's tight enough to hold this thing...

Once I got the 5500 in I hooked up the PC and turned the computer in. Looked at the monitor, "NO VIDEO INPUT" it says on the monitor - okay... I unplugged the monitor from the graphics card and plugged it in again. This time, I heard one long ass beep. Now, that would mean that the computer booted up successfully - but this beep, was a higher tone I believe, and went longer...

Now, the thing is, the blue plug for the monitor (VGA plug?) that plugs into the graphics card, it has one screw side loose (see pic below). There's two of those things that you screw right into the graphics card. One I realized happened to be loose. It was like this ages ago however. So what I did was I figured I'd push the loose part of the plug in and see what happens if I turn on the computer just then. That was the time when the weird beep came.



I thought screw this and put the ol' GeForce 4 back in (even on that card I couldn't get the friggin' latch on so I just screwed it tightly).

I plug everything back on (woot) and luckily the computer still went. However, on the boot up when it went to the desktop, I, for the first time in a long long time (we're talking 2-3 years here) I experienced the computer freeze. Yep, it locked up. That's never ever happened to me in a long long time. I clearly saw that as trouble. I instantly reset it, so I don't know if it was just because the computer was lagging (startup processes loading up, etc.) or did it actually freeze...

I reset, hoping it won't lock up again. It didn't, but I still have doubts. So I came and posted this.

Any ideas?

I'm not that quite happy to go back in and try and do this again, since this is the family computer, not mine. So if I screw it up, the ****'s on me. And yes, plenty of ****. I'm a real cautious guy ya know lol. I mean, I got lucky with the RAM, and I saw that as a one-off.

Not too sure what to do now. I'm just praying that this damn computer didn't suffer any ESDs or anything.

Oh, and when I booted, the 5500's fan was whirling around okay. I also didn't uninstall my current GeForce 4 drivers when I was attempting to put the 5500 in (obvious reasons).

Ya, that's about it... :/

Chris

[Mstenger404]

for me, that small latch on the agp slot had to be locked in place, in my case i got no video output unless i successfully latched it, its like it acts as an on/off swich for the video. dont worry about breaking that, its a tough latch, a bent screw driver or somethin shaped similar should do it a lot easier.

[Chrispy]

You sure it's the latch?

Because I just put back in the old card and I couldn't get the latch in for that either to be honest, yet this old card is working right now.

I'm pretty sure I had the card in properly though, as when I was getting the silver part screwed I was pushing down every now and then. I'm sure I had both sides fully down - although I can't remember hearing any clicks, if that's what I'm supposed to hear...

There's a chance I'll probably try and attempt to put the vid card in again once I get more details on what I did wrong.

Thanks for your reply though.

Chris

[Steve]

Originally posted by Chrispy
I also didn't uninstall my current GeForce 4 drivers when I was attempting to put the 5500 in (obvious reasons).

what obvious reasons?? always uninstall your old drivers when putting a new card in.

[Hellfighter]

as Steve so pointed out

1.) unstall your old GPU card
2.) place in your new GPU card CD into the tray
3.) Power down the computer and Unplug it from the wall outlet
4.) remove the GPU card carefully
5.) place in the New GPU card in and fool around to get the latch on the new card on.
6.) power up only after you get that latch onto the GPU Card,
System will see the new card and scan for drivers for it, by scanning the CD in the tray.
7.) after you get to desktop install the software and all the software from the Cd, after you install everything in you may have to restart the system.
8.) when all is done check to see if there new updates for the card.

keep all metal icepick, screw drivers...ect away from the mob totally, you can move the latch by your hands no tools is needed

[Chrispy]

Originally posted by Steve
what obvious reasons?? always uninstall your old drivers when putting a new card in.

I didn't uninstall current drivers just in case I thought the card wouldn't work (not that I was thinking it wouldn't work) or just incase I was planning to putting the old one back in ("just incase" sorta thing). And then I'd have to re-install the old drivers again lol. I'm always a "just incase" sorta fulla, if you get what I mean.

Regarding the card itself I might try and put it back in later on some time this month or maybe early next month. There's a chance I didn't get it in properly, even when I checked multiple times. Oh yeah, not to mention that latch that I should try and lock in.

I'm just wondering what the no beep meant. At one stage it did a long beep on bootup, which meant that the card wasn't in correctly so I know it was something I did. I'm just wondering what the no beep at all on bootup was. It was most likely probably to be the card not being in properly by me.

Chris

[Hellfighter]

the thing is when it bootup your see the video card listing get pass bois screen, these old driver and software were in it still, so both were fighting who was in control. thats why its a must totally unstall all old video card drivers and software from the system before install new card in.

live and lrean right i been there many times over the years big oooppsss

oh and the beep thats the bois saying there a big error going on! with the video setting in bois you had both install or error going on with the bois and video settings.

like you said you had older video card drivers/software still install that would do it

[Chrispy]

Originally posted by William
the thing is when it bootup your see the video card listing get pass bois screen, these old driver and software were in it still, so both were fighting who was in control. thats why its a must totally unstall all old video card drivers and software from the system before install new card in.

live and lrean right i been there many times over the years big oooppsss

oh and the beep thats the bois saying there a big error going on! with the video setting in bois you had both install or error going on with the bois and video settings.

like you said you had older video card drivers/software still install that would do it

That's what I was thinking too mate.

The big long beep meant there was something wrong with the video (I checked the AMI BIOS codes).

Chris

[Chrispy]

Computer just froze again, with the long beep at the startup. Fixed it by unplugging and replugging in the VGA connector. One screw on it is a bit bunged up - might be causing that prob.

Anyways don't worry about this, lol.

Chris

[Xx_jet_xX]

Drivers wont affect the bios post screen William, they load with Windows.

try resetting the cmos back to default, and verify the card is seated properly in the slot.

[Chrispy]

I got the card in, finally... I'm flattered...

The end slot latch I was unable to lock on (trust me, I tried and I tried), but who cares, the card's working now. Don't worry, I screwed the silver part on tight enough...

DFX was way more better. Everything looks 50x better. I even saw some awesome blur effects too (pixel shaders?).

Might download UT3 and try that out some time...

Oh yeah, I forgot to uninstall the drivers too. Yeah, sh*t. But once I booted up I instantly uninstalled the GeForce 4 drivers, got that 5500 disc out, chucked it in, put on the AGP drivers, and woot.

Oh yeah, and remember that left screw thingy I said that was broken on the VGA plug? Yeah, for some reason that actually screwed in properly now. A sign of luck!

Screen's a bit bright though. Might have to adjust some settings in the nVidia Control Panel thingy - or set the monitor brightness/contrast.

Chris

[Hellfighter]

keep in mind some time you need to loosing the mob screws to let the PCI, PCIe, video cards set in nice and not super tight or like you have to push them in and the metal plate were the secrew set in is off set.

[ronbo191]

Chris, I have had Nvidia cards from the get go. I even had the Gforce 1 when it came out. I have never had to uninstall the old drivers, the new ones overwrite the old ones. A few months ago I installed an ATI X1950Pro with the 7.11 drivers and never took out the Nvidia drivers for the 6800GT. I have never had to uninstall old drivers with Nvidia but the ATI might be different. So far I have had a Gforce 1, Gforce 2 , Gforce 3, Gforce 4 and a Gforce 6. Never had the 5 series. When I bought the Gforce 4 they put a Quadro 4 900XGL chip on it by mistake. That card was fantastic for its time. I still use it on one of my servers. Anyway I am glad things worked out for you.

[Hellfighter]

so chrispy it almost been 45days now, so how it been working out for you?
you very happy with it?

[Chrispy]

It's going great, the 5500.

Everything's much better, and the performance is much greater.

The latch is actually still loose and not locked in on the motherboard, but things seem to be fine (I could lock it in if I used a bit more force maybe, but remember that I'm a really cautious guy and I don't wanna mess anything up).

Not using the latest drivers (I have my reasons, trust me), but the ones on the CD go fine.

Thinking about trying out Unreal Tournament 3, Armed Assault, GRAW1, and BF2 (demos, to be exact). They're quite big downloads though.