Question Graphics card upgrade for HP Pavilion p6520f Desktop PC with legacy BIOS ?

[MarktheArtist]

I have a HP Pavilion p6520f tower (bought in 2010). It is running Windows 10 (latest update).

it has an H-RS880-uATX (Aloe) motherboard, a 1 TB western Digital 7200 RPM Red Label hard drive, 14 Gb ram.

The RAM slots are DDR3 DIMM and supported speed PC3-10600@1333MHz in a 64 bit set-up, but runs at 1066MHz becaue there are 4 RAM slots occupied.

450 watt power supply.

processor is an AMD Phenom II X4 965

directX version 12.

It has (1) PCi express x16 expansion slot version 2.0.

It has a legacy BIOS version 6.09 dated September 2010.

It does not have UEFI capability

The existing graphics processor is an motherboard-based (integrated) ATI Radeon 4200 with 'up to' 256 Mb memory.

I know very little about graphics cards, but would like to maximize the graphics capability for the computer. So here I am asking for some recommendations... Obviously compatibility is the main issue.

Please let me know what you legacy gear/software folks think

Thanks in Advance,

Mark

 

[MarktheArtist]

Sorry I was away working.

thanks for the images for the 8 and 24 pin connectors. By the time I saw the post, I had already hooked them together and plugged them into the MOBO

So here’s the summary of what has transpired
I pulled the heat sink off the old processor that came with the board. The heat transfer compound was completely dried out. Cleaned both surfaces, removing all traces of the old crusty thermal compound I swapped out the athlon II cpu for my working Phenom II x4 965 and re-assembled it onto the MOBO with new thermal compound.

I pulled the old MOBO out and mounted the one I purchased into the desktop tower case. All fastener holes matched exactly.

I installed my hard drive and cd/dvd drive and plugged them into the board’s SATA connectors. Hooked up their power supplies from the 450 watt main supply.

I connected the 24 pin connector and the 8 pin connector to the MOBO from the power supply and mounted my own graphics card (an NVIDIA QUADRO K-2200). I left the ram that came with it in place (8 gb ddr-3).

I plugged the system and cpu fans in. I also connected the audio and one USB plug which was obvious.

Before going any further, I hooked my monitor up; plugged in the power cord; and attempted to power up the system.

Nothing happened. The hard drive didn’t spin up; none of the fans started. It appears that no power was going to the board from the power supply.

I’m not sure what’s going on. There were two plugs from the old set up which didn’t have anyplace to go on the Gigabyte board. One was that 9 pin plug that looked like a USB plug, except the USB board pins don’t match the 9 pin plug (the proprietary plug).

The other is a 5 pin plug which, on the old board I’m replacing, plugs into a black 5 pin USB socket. The Gigabyte board’s black USB connector is a black 4 pin socket. Here’s a fun fact: the old MOBO USB plug socket actually only has 4 pins plus a blank spot (corresponding to the blank spot on the white 5 pin plug). So I’m betting that 5 pin plug-socket combo is merely an idiot proofing so that you can’t plug it in backwards.

Im guessing that the proprietary plug we can’t figure out is connected to the power switch and some other stuff. There are no LED’s lit on the new MOBO. And on the old Foxconn board, there was a green LED in one corner which suggested the board had power or at least some sort of continuity.

I’m fairly confident that everything I did connect up was done properly.

Thanks,

Mark

 

[Aeacus]

It appears that no power was going to the board from the power supply.

0 life usually points towards PSU issue. Have you tried with 2nd, known to work PSU?

Also, in holy bible of PCs (aka MoBo manual), on page 27, there is pinout of Gigabyte's MoBo front panel connectors. If you were to take e.g screwdriver and briefly touch PW+ and PW- pins, it acts like power switch and build should power on. (I've had bad power button before, even on brand new PC case.)

 

[MarktheArtist]

0 life usually points towards PSU issue. Have you tried with 2nd, known to work PSU?

Also, in holy bible of PCs (aka MoBo manual), on page 27, there is pinout of Gigabyte's MoBo front panel connectors. If you were to take e.g screwdriver and briefly touch PW+ and PW- pins, it acts like power switch and build should power on. (I've had bad power button before, even on brand new PC case.)

*Remember the proprietary 9 pin connector…. *
It has something to do with this. I threw the old wonky board back in and hooked up all the various cables and plugs. All the fans and the HD and everything else turned on when I hit the power switch.
It didn’t boot, but that is no surprise.

the wires attached to that black 9 pin plug run in behind the CD/DVD that is where the power switch is located and the memory card reader. I suspect the white plug, which fits in a USB. MOBO port (and also runs up behind the CD/DVD) is the card reader data line to the MOBO.

 

[MarktheArtist]

I received a reply to my inquiry to the seller of the board about the mysterious 9 pin connector. They said "The nine pin plug that you have I believe is the power on, reset ,hard drive and power light cable. without that being plugged in the power supply will not power up...."

 

[Aeacus]

They said "The nine pin plug that you have I believe is the power on, reset ,hard drive and power light cable. without that being plugged in the power supply will not power up...."

So, it's a front I/O. But rather than being bunch of small wires, needing individual connects, all of them are combined into single plug.

Essentially same as this "adapter" that came with my Z170 chipset MoBo:

Mine is also 9-pin + 4-pin for connecting internal speaker. Now, these are MoBo specific and you need to look up the pinout on the 9-pin plug, on the case/wires side. Since it most likely is different than what Gigabyte MoBo has it (Gigabyte MoBo front I/O pinout is in MoBo manual, page 27).

I don't use these adapters, since i don't need them. Also, i've replaced all front I/O cables with better looking ones, like this:
(left: stock / right: upgrade)

 

[MarktheArtist]

So here is where the seller says that plug goes

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/2PQAAOSwAfljDJyI/s-l1600.jpg

The link takes you to a pic of the MOBO showing the socket which they indicate as being where that plug goes..... Scratch that.... more like where the wires somehow go

Guess Im learning a lot about system building

 

[Aeacus]

So here is where the seller says that plug goes

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/2PQAAOSwAfljDJyI/s-l1600.jpg

I take that you didn't dig up your Gigabyte MoBo manual and read that? Since yes, that specific spot is the front I/O connectors and it is clearly shown in the MoBo manual as well, at page 27.

To help you out, you can download your MoBo manual from here,
link: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-880GM-UD2H-rev-10/support#support-manual

Just pick English language and hit Download button. That's what i did and how i got your MoBo manual.

 

[MarktheArtist]

Aeacus,

It isn't the Gigabyte manual which I need, I need to know which of the wires is which, coming out HP On/Off switch module.
None of them are black and two of them are red... that's a problem.

The CD/DVD unit was blocking all view of the switch wiring. So. I pulled it out after pulling the front face plate of the tower. Thank goodness I'm fairly handy with tools and have a decent selection to work with... Too bad I'm not an electrician or know where to pull the wiring info from some sort of archived HP MOBO manual.

Im making a gross assumption that since none of my wires are black, that all I need to hook up are the positive marked connections... But this is why I am not an electrician or a computer tech guy....

 

[MarktheArtist]

OK, I looked at the switch. There are 6 wires. The white and yellow appear to power the disc drive orange LED - showing hard drive I/O activity with a rapidly flashing orange LED.

Then there are the blue and green wires which are hooked to the Blue LED power indicator and may/may not be part of the reset function.

Last but not least are two red wires which run side by side into the middle of the switch....possibly open/closed power to the MOBO/HD

The HD has it's own power supply from the PS. The CD/DVD also has it's own power from the PS.

The MOBO has both a 24 pin and 8 pin harness from the PS.

Again, itd be nice to have a wiring diagram and translation to determine which wire goes where.

I'm confident that I can deconstruct the plug in order to attach the wires to the appropriate pins...just need to know what goes where...

 

[Aeacus]

I need to know which of the wires is which, coming out HP On/Off switch module.

Since the HP case was made compatible with your old HP MoBo, we need to find and identify the connectors on the old, H-RS880-uATX (Aloe) MoBo, to know what is what.

After some Google-Fu, found this topic that explains in-depth about connectors on that specific MoBo (with pics added),
link: https://www.tenforums.com/drivers-hardware/164179-motherboard-power-connector-2.html#post2016703

Give it a look and tell if that helps.

 

[MarktheArtist]

Aecus,

The youtube video is of the Joshua MOBO... Mine was (FOXCONN) H-RS880 u-ATX 880 1.02 (Aloe) board. It is also marked "Infineon-B " part number 612498-001. On the board, the 'mystery' connector is labeled "J-18".
They were hit and miss all over the place... She wanted to hook back up the USB memory card reader .... which goes in the USB 5 header - also marked as P12...

Is there a motherboard manual for this board in the internet archive? I have the specifications file from the same location. But not the manual

Great sleuthing, so far. The GIF wiring link was close, but specifies 8 connection wires... but there are in reality, only six wires as previously noted in my previous post for that particular board in the discussion...

 

[Aeacus]

In that topic, there is yes, video linked for Joshua MoBo, but the pics in that topic are of Foxconn MoBo, same MoBo as you have. Also, the OP of the topic (who asks all these questions), also has the same Foxconn MoBo as you have.

For example, the J-18 connector is displayed on this image (with red arrow pointing at it), with connector connected to it:

https://www.tenforums.com/attachmen...840754t-motherboard-power-connector-image.png

As far as i can tell, J-18 is front panel connectors (HDD led, power pins etc). And despite the fact that plug is 10-pin connector, in actuality, only 6 wires are going to it, since i can clearly see 4 pinholes empty. Wires that are connected are: 3x black, 1x blue, 1x red and 1x yellow.

--

From that topic, i took the images of Foxconn H-RS880-uATX (Aloe) MoBo and oriented them all into same direction, whereby results are what you've also seen (6 wires only going to a plug):

What your connector is missing, is reset button wires (pin 5 and 7), while two are empty regardless (pin 9 and key).

If you still doesn't get it, then i don't know how else to explain to you, what J-18 connector is.

Is there a motherboard manual for this board in the internet archive? I have the specifications file from the same location. But not the manual

No manual exists of Foxconn MoBo. That is also told on MoBo official specs (which i linked early on),
specs link again: http://www.findlaptopdriver.com/specs_h-rs880-uatx/

At the bottom of MoBo specs page:

H-RS880-uATX Motherboard Support:
Win7, Vista/Xp, Linux, Ubuntu (32/64-bit)
Manufacturer: By Foxconn ( OEM Motherboard for HP – Aloe) Manual is not available.

 

[MarktheArtist]

Aeacus,

Thanks for your reply. The reset on this rig is accomplished by holding down the power button for approximately 5 seconds. If you hold the power button down for approx 6-7 seconds, it turns off. The only other way of turning it off is via the windows-based power controls, or pulling the plug

I understood what was going on in the Tenforums discussion... they were just mostly barking up multiple wrong trees. They seemed to think that the 5 pin white USB plug went to that J18 socket, when in reality it went to the P12 USB 5 socket.

I am ordering some short jumper wires - male to female ... They should be here in a couple days

 

[MarktheArtist]

Jumpers are here. With the power connection I have 2 red wires and the J18 plug pin out doesn't indicate any sort of polarity.

Based on the Gigabyte install manual, the front header appears to be wired properly

I still cant find anything on the 4 pin card reader USB plug... It was in the old MOBO in the USB 5/P12 socket which was a 5 pin plug where the 5th pin spot was a blank

I found and purchased a pcie minicard to pcie card adapter so I can get my wi-fi going...

other than these couple lingering questions, I seem to be ready to plug it in and fire it up and see if all the OEM factory smoke remains contained by the new MOBO

 

[Aeacus]

With the power connection I have 2 red wires and the J18 plug pin out doesn't indicate any sort of polarity.

For power connector/button, there is no need for polarity since that switch is to complete the circuit. With completed circuit (either button press or even bridging both pins with screwdriver), MoBo knows to power on (or power off).

I still cant find anything on the 4 pin card reader USB plug... It was in the old MOBO in the USB 5/P12 socket which was a 5 pin plug where the 5th pin spot was a blank

Found this, should help,
topic: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/4-pin-card-reader-to-usb-header-asus.399056/

I found and purchased a pcie minicard to pcie card adapter so I can get my wi-fi going...

other than these couple lingering questions, I seem to be ready to plug it in and fire it up and see if all the OEM factory smoke remains contained by the new MOBO

 

[MarktheArtist]

And... limited success.... It boots through the BIOS to system loading.... but encounters a stop code.... more later..
I will say that the "B" needs to changed in this board's BIOS... maybe Complicated Input/Out System would be more appropriate. But then again, I've never really had to configure my BIOS in the past... Im sure I screwed something up..

Aeacus, thanks for all your help so far. With luck, someone will be able to guide me through configuring the BIOS/CMOS properly...

 

[Aeacus]

I will say that the "B" needs to changed in this board's BIOS... maybe Complicated Input/Out System would be more appropriate. But then again, I've never really had to configure my BIOS in the past... Im sure I screwed something up..

Checked your MoBo manual (there's a pic of BIOS) and it doesn't look half bad. Sure, it isn't as fancy as modern BIOS/UEFI is, with pretty GUI, but i've seen far worse. Namely way back, into IBM 286/386/486 era. Pentium I and Pentium II wasn't much better either. E.g way back then, there was no automatic detection for PATA (IDE) HDDs. You had to read HDD specs from the label and insert them one-by-one into BIOS, while crossing your fingers that BIOS detects the drive. And i'm not going to even talk about Master and Slave drive, where even IDE cable orientation was important. Oh, HDD jumper too.
I'm so glad that this is all in past. It was a nightmare back then.

And... limited success.... It boots through the BIOS to system loading.... but encounters a stop code.... more later..

With MoBo change, you might need to reinstall OS, since for the most part, for Win at least, MoBo change = new PC.