Nothing comes up on screen after graphics card upgrade

[J_A_C_K_7504]

Hi

I brought a Nvidia Geforce 8800 GTS, tested it in my computer to make sure it worked (which it did) before selling it to my brother to replace the graphics card he had ( an AMD Radeon 4000 series I think). Everything in his machine works but when I put the replacement graphics card in nothing comes up on the screen.

I have no idea where to go on from this, I have tested the graphics card in my computer again, the PSU and cables none of which changed anything.

His spec's are :
650W PSU
Asus M2N68 - LA motherboard
AMD Phenom x4 CPU
WD blue 1TB HDD
4GB DDR 2 RAM

 

[Martell1977]

Did you uninstall the AMD drivers/software, then run something like CCleaner to get all of the driver out, then install the other card? AMD and nVidia drivers do not work well together. This is especially important when changing brands like this.

 

[mouse24]

Do you get output from the mobo?

 

[junkeymonkey]

I take it that's a store bought HP computer?? if so it may not allow you to do that upgrade...

 

[J_A_C_K_7504]

Did you uninstall the AMD drivers/software, then run something like CCleaner to get all of the driver out, then install the other card? AMD and nVidia drivers do not work well together. This is especially important when changing brands like this.

I could not get any output from the graphics card while in my brothers PC, I would at least expect the PC to post

 

[J_A_C_K_7504]

Do you get output from the mobo?

what do you mean by an output?

 

[J_A_C_K_7504]

I take it that's a store bought HP computer?? if so it may not allow you to do that upgrade...

My brothers PC was once mine, when I had it I changed the graphics card and the PSU with no problem

 

[mouse24]

Do you get output from the mobo?

what do you mean by an output?

Sorry I meant if you plug in the monitor cable to the onboard gpu do you get a signal? If so its an easy fix, just go into the bios and force it to use the dedicated card.

If not then do you get any beeps from the system? Do you have a mobo speaker plugged in? Are the power cables plugged in firmly? Are you trying to use any molex to 6/8pin adapters?

 

[J_A_C_K_7504]

Do you get output from the mobo?

what do you mean by an output?

Sorry I meant if you plug in the monitor cable to the onboard gpu do you get a signal? If so its an easy fix, just go into the bios and force it to use the dedicated card.

If not then do you get any beeps from the system? Do you have a mobo speaker plugged in? Are the power cables plugged in firmly? Are you trying to use any molex to 6/8pin adapters?

The motherboard does not have the onboard GPU, the system fans all start but that's it, the power cables are plugged in firmly, I am using molex to 6pin adapter but nothing changes when I do use a 6pin without adapter. I will change the graphics card back to the old one so I can go into the bios to see if anything can be changed there.

 

[junkeymonkey]

ya ..ok good luck

 

[J_A_C_K_7504]

after a bit more testing I have found the graphics card that I replaced works with a very old monitor I have but a slightly newer graphics card (AMD Radeon 5000 series) does not. This slightly newer graphics card displays stuff on a different monitor though. The Nvidia Geforce 8800GTS does not work with any of the screens.

 

[J_A_C_K_7504]

I am now incredibly confused about the whole situation. I tested the graphics card on a tv but with no change, then I tested a R9 280x in the computer and it worked! That means a power hungry card will work in the pc but a lower power card will not.

 

[mouse24]

Check for bios updates. I know there was a problem with some 2.1 cards in 1.0 slots that was taken care of by a bios update.

SO I went looking around to see if the card was a 2.1 card or a 2.0 card. It seems its a 2.0 card but some websites are labeling at as a 2.1 card. Also wikipedia has an article on the GTS 8800 being incompatible with some PCI-E 1.0a boards with specific chipsets. It seems this was solved by downgrading the bios on the card to use the older 1.0 bios. As with anything on wikipedia though double and triple check what you read. I'd do it but I don't have time. Just though I should bring it up. I couldn't find if your board was 1.0/1.1/2.0/etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_8_series#Compatibility_issue_with_PCI-E_1.0a

 

[J_A_C_K_7504]

Check for bios updates. I know there was a problem with some 2.1 cards in 1.0 slots that was taken care of by a bios update.

SO I went looking around to see if the card was a 2.1 card or a 2.0 card. It seems its a 2.0 card but some websites are labeling at as a 2.1 card. Also wikipedia has an article on the GTS 8800 being incompatible with some PCI-E 1.0a boards with specific chipsets. It seems this was solved by downgrading the bios on the card to use the older 1.0 bios. As with anything on wikipedia though double and triple check what you read. I'd do it but I don't have time. Just though I should bring it up. I couldn't find if your board was 1.0/1.1/2.0/etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_8_series#Compatibility_issue_with_PCI-E_1.0a

Hi sorry for the time it has taken me to respond. I think this is the reason for no image being displayed on screen. I have tried to update the graphics card bios but a slight incompatibility with a newer bios (G80 Board - p356h08 on the new bios and G80 Board - p356h01 on the current bios) meant I could no finish it, I did try backdating the bios but had no luck. Updating the bios on the motherboard may not be possible as HP does not supply a new bios and I could only find out there are modded ones available but I could not find the correct one.

I am going to continue to try to update the bios on the motherboard and graphics card when I have time but I expect this will be in about a week.