My Hardware Nightmare - Dead AGP?

[sk8er4u]

Hi all,
I'm looking for suggetions...

My hardware is:
ASUS p4c800-e deluxe mobo
Antec Smartpower 2.0 500W
Kingston Economy Ram DDR400
P4E HT 3.0GHz w/ Vortex TX CPU Cooler
CM Stacker Case
ATI Radeon x800xl (AGP 8x Pro)

I have no overclocking and all frequency/power settings to either default or required for hardware.

My problem is infuriating... My computer after power on will graphically lockup at the bios flash screen, however i can hear windows booting up. Through some fancy magic i was able to remote desktop into the machine so I know it's functioning. I put in a PCI card and was able to see the computer boot into windows and everything seems A-OK...

I want to say my graphics card is dead, but if that's the case would I even see the bios splash screen?

Any suggetions would be awesome, thx in advance.

 

[Rik]

Have you tried removing your graphics card driver in safe mode then reinstalling it?

 

[sk8er4u]

Have you tried removing your graphics card driver in safe mode then reinstalling it?

I haven't... a question on the order of that...

do i:
1) Take out AGP video card
2) put a PCI video card in
3) boot into safe mode
4) uninstall the video drivers for the AGP card
5) reboot into windows (normal or do i stay in safe mode?)
6) reinstall AGP graphics drivers
7) uninstall PCI driver
8) power down
9) uninstall PCI card, reinstall AGP card
10) boot back up?

 

[Rik]

Just booting with the agp card in into safe mode then removing the driver should do it, then boot normally and install the driver.

Its the simplest thing to try first off. If that has no effect, there are a few more things to try.

 

[sk8er4u]

Just booting with the agp card in into safe mode then removing the driver should do it, then boot normally and install the driver.

Its the simplest thing to try first off. If that has no effect, there are a few more things to try.

I can't do that... it's locked at the motherboards splash screen... i could boot into safe mode but i wouldn't be able to see anything if i'm using an AGP card