DG35EC Motherboard no PCI-e video out

[johnk624]

I have an Intel DG35EC motherboard which will not display PCI-e video with ANY known, working PCI-e card. Have tried PNY GeForce GT610 1024mb DDR3, as well as EVGA e-GeForce 8400 GS. Both low power consumption cards needing no additional connections to power up on the mobo. No matter what variations I try, it fails. I have experimented with the amount of RAM, anywhere from 2gb, up to 8gb, and it makes no difference. I have tried SATA instead of IDE hard drives, I have cleared the cmos more times than I can recall. I have tried ALL of the BIOS revisions available from Intel. Currently running BIOS revision ECG3510M.86A.0113.2009.0326.1302. To keep the system as barebones as possible during this troubleshoot, I have reduced the RAM to 2gb in Channel A, DIMM 0, and have only the OS hard drive (an old ST3160021A 160gb) installed with no other drives attached. The cmos battery is known working good (retains cmos data after power loss). I have tried two known, good power supplies: Currently using Seney BXP 450 PSU, but have also tried Thermaltake Pure Power-480APD, which has only 20 pins on the main connection to the mobo, which is supposedly backward compatible with 24 pin main connections, but to cast away any doubt, I used the BXP 450 PSU, which has 24 pins. I am using a standard PS2 connected keyboard and ball mouse. I have also installed a STANDARD 64mb pci VGA card, which worked. I have verified that the BIOS setting was set to PCI-E as the primary video device in use, as well as setting it to AUTO, but no matter what I have done, when a pci-e board is installed, I get NO VIDEO at all. You can hear the drive working at boot up in this condition, and there is activity, but no signal is getting out to the monitor. The system works flawlessly when using the on-board graphics, but I need this system to be capable of running a PCI-e card. If you need a system report, such as AIDA 64 or other, let me know. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also, the memory is Elpida EBE21UE8AFFA-8G-F DDR2-800 SDRAM (6-6-6-18 @ 400Mhz). I have also tried using the optimal BIOS settings, with no difference in outcome.

 

[drtweak]

Try putting in the video card, but set the onboard to default and boot up using the onboard video. When when in windows see if windows see's the video card. If it doesn't them there may be an issue with the PCIe slot

 

[johnk624]

Dear drtweak, your advice was sound and proved correct. I was able to demonstrate just what you told me, which ended up being exactly right. The mobo did not recognize the card using the settings and output you suggested. I was able to get a refund (well, a credit to my store account), and I will just wait it out and get another (used) mobo. It's an electronic thrift shop, and they always have something old and interesting in there, just not today. Can't thank you enough for your help on this.

 

[drtweak]

Welcome!