[Solved] Power cable needed for NVIDIA 8600 GT?

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Exactly. I have done that, and that's where I'm at now. Just installing the card as all have suggested does not work. After booting the monitor does not even pick up the signal. The test box just floats around.

After removing the card and going with the original integrated video, rebooting, the monitor immediately picks up the signal and I have video just like I did before ever installing the NVIDIA card. Of course the test box that floats around is no longer present because I have a signal without the NVIDIA 8600 GT card installed. Make sense?

Is everyone following this ok? There's a lot written. Do I need to re-cap? Let me know.

HELP!!!! ...lol. :hello:
 
Remove the SPDIF cable and put the jumper back the way it was before. Note if you put it wrong it will be continously resetting the Bios.
You need to go in the Bios and set the video to PCI-Express, save, shutdown.
 
Alright, Gotcha.

First it sounds to me like the clr cmos where you did connect that cable to your mobo is just two pins and originally had no jumper on it. Is that right? It's important to know as if it's 3 pins and you removed a jumper pin you should get it back in the right spot. Dell may do that unlike most mobos you buy where there are 3 pins and a jumper on two of them. It's storage for the jumper until you move it to the clr position. But again, Dell may have just two pins and not supply a jumper for clearing.

Assuming that is the case, your 8600GT is only working when the bios is being cleared (jumped to CLR). Putting a jumper pin or carefully touching the two pins with a screwdriver would have the same effect. Testing this show you that the card doesn't need the spdif cable hooked up to work, but instead the mobo needs the clr cmos jumped to work which you in effect did with the spdif cable (hence your bios settings won't save). That would be helpful to assure Dell and yourself you do not need the spdif cable to use the card.

So it seems to me that what you need to do is go into the bios and figure out how to disable the integrated video AND also make the PCI-e slot the first place it checks for video. Dell should be able to help you get it to recognize a PCI-e card and if you tested the above you eliminate the 8600GT and it's two pin cable from the problem...so it's like any other pci-e card. It may be set to PCI not pci-e.


edit: (I hesitate even to mention this but will). On the other hand, if for some strange reason the system won't work with the 8600GT installed while testing with a clr cmos jumper pin in place (clearing the cmos) like mentioned above, then it seems the 8600GT needs the pins connected. I highly doubt it's the case, but if that's what those tests show, I would then and only then would try a jumper on the 8600gt's two pins to see if that is the case. Sounds dumb, but it eliminates that as the problem and should not do harm when you already jumped them through the cmos anyway connecting that cable.

To recap...Steps I would do being in your shoes now. First check bios and see if there is another setting that sets the PCI-e 16x slot as the first check for video. Second put a spare jumper pin on the mobo's clr cmos pins and see if the 8600GT still works just like whent he spdif cable was installed doing the jumping. If it works, go back to Dell and say it's not the 8600GT or the spdif cable, how do I get the mobo to first check video from the pCI-e slot (intall a pci-e video card). If it doesn't work, then I'd *rolleyes* jump the pins on the 8600GT and see if the card works then just to eliminate that is not why it worked for you jumping it through the cable.

Anyway, good luck. What is the model number for this dell? Any numbers on the mobo so we can google more info on the bios settings? This would be helpful.
 

Thanks evongugg,

There is not anything to put back the way it was before. This is a new card. The SPDIF cable is not attached to anything on my mobo/PC. For illustration purposes, I attached the cable to the card in the picture. At this time the card is not installed at all. At the time of this post, the card will not work on it's own when installed in the PCI slot.
 
Thanks so much pauldh.


Yes, this is correct.


The jumper is two pins (male) and they are exposed on the mobo. I never removed a jumper pin. I only connected the one end of the included with new graphics card external SPDIF cable - two holes (female)

I think you are 100% correct that the card only works when the CMOS is being cleared. Need to test.

Everything you said makes perfect sense to me. It was so clearly written it's as if the card miraculously just installed itself! ...lol. I will give it a go. I will start trouble shooting and report back. Thank you again! :bounce:

Some system specs you requested from my fave app - PC Wizard 2008...

Mainboard:
General Information :
Manufacturer : Dell Inc. (Dell)
Product : 0RY206
Version : ÿÿÿ
Serial Number : ..CN698617B702CD.
Support MP : Yes, 2 CPU(s)
Version MPS : 1.4

Chassis Information :
Manufacturer : Dell Inc.
Type : Desktop
Version : Chassis Version
Serial Number : Unspecified
Asset : PASS:12/34

On-Board Device Information :
Embedded Controller : Yes

Slots Information :
Slot PCI : Available (32-bit) 5.0v
Slot PCI : In Use (32-bit) 5.0v
Slot PCI-Express : Available (x16) 5.0v
Slot PCI-Express : Available (x1) 5.0v

Please let me know if you need any additional information on my box. I will post soon with my new findings from the trouble shooting techniques you recommended. 😗

Thank you,


 
Is everyone bored with my graphics card issue? Still with me? Ok, I just spent 2 hours on the phone with Dell tech support. First of all, the mobo is simply not reading the card. We went into the bios to change the settings for the PCI slot, and disable the integrated card. There's no option at all to change any card which means the mobo is certainly not reading the card at all. The monitor was set to auto detect and we tried manually changing the monitor settings to digital. Dell is sending me a new card. I'll report back after I install the new card. Damnit, I just baught Crysis too, wanted to play it this weekend. Horrible!
 
Good luck and let us know how the new one works out. Leave the SPDIF cable out altogether this time. 😉

It always comes in handy to have spare parts around for testing. Hopefully it's the card. I don't know, but if it is not the card, then you probably paid too much for it buying from Dell and their tech support has been unable to help you. You would have been better off returning the card to Dell and buying it locally. That way if it didn't work you could return it same day for your money back.
 
Thanks for the reply. I did not pay too much for the card. I researched ahead of time as I am not naive. I purchase through Dell because their support team is incredibly helpful, and knowledgeable. Their return policies are also above industry standard. I am completely satisfied with my Dell experience and will do it all again in a few years when I upgrade my PC. It is not costing me anything to get a new card shipped. And it will not cost me anything if I need to have a tech on the phone again. I realize that Dell is not for everyone, but for me, I will not go through another company, supplier or website - ever.
 
in the bios there should be a setting for graphics adapter or something like that. choices may be igp,pcie etc..let us know if you can find any options about that.
 
I wasn't assuming you were naive. You had just mentioned you were sure to buy from Dell to keep their support. That and I daily shop for video cards and know very often you could do way better prices than Dell for upgrades. If you paid about the same as newegg, that's good for you. Then it just comes down to whether the 8600Gt was the right card. Example a $60AR HD2600XT is typically a little better performer.

I have some customers who used to deal with Dell for higher end systems and are absolutelty blow away by my build quality and support vs what they got from Dell. But that's a-whole-nother topic and I'm glad you are happy with Dell. Obviously good to stick to what works well for you. We see a whole lot here that aren't happy but that's more based on them buying a budget system that Dell decided to make virtually non-upgradeable then finding out their new rig can't game or be upgraded. Blame is 50/50 I guess inthose cases as they should have researched.

Anyway, good luck. Hope it was the card. If not you may change you opinion on Dell. 😉
 

Yes exactly. The pcie, igp or anything to that effect is simply not showing in the bios. Just to be sure, I checked every single setting looking for it. I am waiting for a new card at this time. I will report back. Thanks for helping!
 
I'm not sure if I can help, I'm bit of a novice.

I bought a GF8600GT card and installed it and it works fine.

It doesn’t need any extra power cables, it just slots in the PCI express slot. The 8600 manuals seem to refer to cables applicable to a higher spec card.

On my system I had to go into BIOS and change the setting for graphics. If I recall, the choices were onboard, PCI and something like 'PEG'. It was PEG which needed to be chosen, not the PCI. That setting told the system to check the PCI express slot first for graphics in case I have multiple graphics cards installed.

It sounds as if the onboard graphics are being switched off, but that the new card is not being recognised or has been possibly fried with the power connecting thing you were doing before.

I got the same symptoms of no video signal when I previously tried installing a modem card into one of the standard PCI slots. Due to the BIOS settings it was trying to use that as a video card, and the result was no video at all.

So in short, the GF8600 needs no additional power cable and my guess is the lack of video output is related to BIOS settings or some sort of damage from your power connection attempts.
 
Did you ever try running the card WITHOUT the wires attached? I can't recall ever seeing a card with those pins up there, though I don't normally look at 8600GT reviews. If the card only works if those are jumpered close, then perhaps you can just remove the wires, or put a jumper on it. (grab one from the back of an old hdd or optical drive.) Something to keep in mind if you have the same problem with the new card.
 
THE NEW CARD WORKS JUST FINE!!!

Ok, here's the skinny, the fat of the matter. Thank you all for your input as I must say I gleaned value from each of your replies. After a long troubleshooting session with dell last Friday it was agreed that the only option would be to start over with a new card since all of the trouble shooting procedures were not working. My replacement graphics card arrived today! I just popped it in the PCI slot, without connecting the provided jumper cable which we all determined to be for use with the SPDIF, etc. After firing up the computer, everything worked as if the card came factory installed. No adjustments were needed in the bios to read said card or in the windows settings either. There must have been something wrong with the card all along or i must have fried something when connecting to the bios jumper the first time. Either way...It's all good!

Thank you!
 

For sure pauldh! Yeah, the very first thing I did after I knew I was golden was load the files from desktop for my MMO = City of Heroes, and get online in the game. O M G, how I missed that card (even though it was working when plugged into the bios jumper..lol) Looking back now, I have learned so much. If I had to do it over again, I would not change a thing because I learned so much along the journey. Thanks so much!
 
i had this kind of problem when i first hooked up my 7600gt. what i did is i uninstalled my previous fx-5700 driver and then switched my pc off and installed 7600 and it ran fine.. i dont know much but u can try it
 
Thanks for the reply redwine01. In my last post I explained that my graphics card issues have been resolved. It's all good now.
 
You guy's are going to think I'm nutzo. Well, for starters, I am...lol. As I mentioned, after installing the 8600GT replacement card that Dell without question re-sent to me, the NVIDIA 8600GT worked perfectly after plopping it in the ole PCIe slot. It has been working great!

In fact, My system devours Crysis! And has been ever since I installed the card this time without connecting the (included in packaging) external cable to the BIOS/CHMOS jumper on the mobo. Well...I am really sick. I have the gaming bug as it turns out.. Really bad now. My favorite game...I started to play Crysis, and all without incident, but I have been left wondering what kind of gaming experience would I have with a new card? A better card. A new card like the familiar NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT 512MB? No need for me to wonder anymore. Today I won an auction on ebay for a NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT 512MB graphics card bought for $192.35. Retail is $260.00 through websites such as Tiger Direct. Yep, they go for $260.00 (shipping included) Not too bad. So I saved a little coin, and the card will be here before next weekend. Good. A nice little upgrade wouldn't you say?

Still with me? I hope you like my little story...

Anyway, my question...Will it or should it be the same process where I just fit the new 8800GT graphics card into the PCIe slot and presto, all is a go? Just like the 8600GT? Installing without an external power cable of any kind?

Is there an external cable needed for the 8800GT graphics card?

I am thinking an external power cable is not needed for this install either. And it's simply a matter of plug & play, just like the 8600GT was after all my troubles.

Thanks in advance for your input, and for staying with me. You guys have been great, and I owe a lot of my new learning on how to properly install a graphics card to you all. :ouch: Thanks too for reading my long winded post,...Ah hem...
 
The 8800GT uses a 6-pin PCI-e power cable off your power supply. Adapters are available that plug into regular 4 pin molex connectors, but typically if the power supply doesn't ahve PCI-e power cables, it probably doesn't have enough 12v power for a upper end gaming card anyway.

Oh, and the 8800GT at it's max playable settings will offer about 200% (3 times) the performance or more of the 8600GT. Huge upgrade.

Edit: here is a review that compares GF8's. You can see just what your upgrade can offer you.
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=710&p=2

And it seems according to that review. 4x performance is more typical not the 3x+ I stated. Monster upgrade, enjoy.

 
Hi, this is an interesting thread. I am having a somewhat similar problem. I recently got an EVGA Geforce 8600GTS as a REPLACEMENT to my EVGA GeForce 7600GT when it stopped working randomly. I installed the new replacement card (that doesn't look new, btw, so not sure if it's refurbished or what) without any knowledge of an extra power cable just for the video card (is this true?). It has been running fine, except some pauses in NFS:Most Wanted demo and today it crashed twice. I just bought 2gigs of ram today on NewEgg since I am running Vista with only 1gig and Vista is a memory pig, thinking that might help the pauses in the game. I have not installed the 2gigs yet (still running only on 1gig.) However, turning the computer on just now I got an error message saying my video card's power cable is not plugged in and I risk damaging my hardware by not having it plugged in and as a result the card will be running at a lower performance level. I never saw a cable for plugging in when I opened my new card--nor do I know where it would plug into (somewhere on the mobo?) I DO see the cable connected from the video card to the fan (I assume) on the video card. The fan on the video card is operating. So I hope someone can help answer my question about this power cable! Is Vista tripping, or is there a cable for the 8600 *GTS* (not to be confused with the 8600 GT)? I believe my card has 256MB RAM. Yesterday I updated the latest Nvidia drivers.

Error message appeared again:

"To protect your hardware from potential damage or causing a potential system lockup, the graphics processor has lowered its performance to a level that allows continued safe operations."



Here is a picture of my card:
2211860EVGA8600GTS.jpg