Video Card/Monitor Related Problem

Status
Not open for further replies.
Video Card/Monitor Related Problem - New Problems, Please help.

Over the last few weeks, occassionally the monitor would not turn on when I turned on the computer. A simple restart of the computer usually fixed this. Yesterday however, the monitor decided not to turn on period, no matter how many times I restarted.

First I decided to try to isolate the problem, whether it was monitor or possibly video card related. I tried 2 other working monitors and found the same affect so I concluded it was not monitor related. I then took out the video card and tried plugging into the onboard video card on the MB and it worked first time, no problems.

I then assumed it must of been the video card as it was one of the oldest components in the computer, Nvidia Geforce 4 MX440.

I went to my local computer shop and got a decently priced new video card, a Nvidia Albatron Trinity Geforce 6600. I was also suggested to purchase a new PS as my current one was a 350W, so I got a 450W. I installed the PS no problems.

I then got a small paint brush and brushed away any excesss dust that may of been in ports etc, removed ram, video card etc. I installed the new video card, plugged it all in and still the same problem. Nothing on the monitor. I then put back in the old video card, same thing again. Nothing. I also tried 2 other different sticks of ram, no change.

I then tried it again one last time with the old video card and bingo, it works, WTF. I put the new video card in and it still doesnt work. Put the old one in once more and its working again. I'm currently typing on my comp with my old video card in. Can anyone give me any suggestions? Please help.

MB=Asus P4R800-VM
 
You need to uninstall the old graphics card driver (in add/remove programs), shut down, remove old card, install new card, restart, cancel Window's request to install generic driver, install new driver and restart. That should do it.

When I say shut down, I mean also unplug or switch off power supply. Download the latest Nvidia Forceware driver ahead of time to have it ready.
 
mailpup said:
You need to uninstall the old graphics card driver (in add/remove programs), shut down, remove old card, install new card, restart, cancel Window's request to install generic driver, install new driver and restart. That should do it.

When I say shut down, I mean also unplug or switch off power supply. Download the latest Nvidia Forceware driver ahead of time to have it ready.

K I did all that, new video card still wont work. Now what? :S
 
You say you have onboard video? Go into your BIOS and look for any settings relating to the video card. Such as selecting the default video and so forth. Make sure it is all set to AGP or whatever your card is. Just in case the system is still trying to use onboard vid on POST.

Or as an expirement, on a particular boot when you don't see anything, plug the monitor cable from your card back into the onboard. You can that while the system is on, and see if the video shows up. If so, it is not switched to your card from onboard.
 
Ok my first post, just use that as background info as it isn't really the main problem anymore. I concluded that my video card was first not working due to dust in the sockets, hence I dusted and now it works. The reason why the new video card wasnt working was because it required a power supply cable dirrectly plugged into it which I did, comp boots up now with it.

I now have new problems however, all the bootup information, video card, motherboard etc is fully glitchy and blury and the windows loading thing is too big for the screen. When it loads into the account selection screen however its fine. I tried installing the driver for the new video card ALOT of times, removing old drivers first, trying different driver versions and trying to install in safe mode aswell. Nothing worked. One thing I noticed was that in the add/remove programs in CP, Nvidia Display Drivers was not present, nothing Nvidia infact. So after the first uninstall of the old drivers it wouldnt list the new ones as installed.

I am now back on my old video card but when booting up its still all glitchy like with the new video card which is VERY odd as it wasn't like this when I first posted this thread this morning.

WTF is going on lol, any help would be appricated. Spent the entire day and im back in the same spot with now a glitchy bootup screen :(.
 
Look for the program called "DriverCleaner". It is meant to clean out driver files from Nvidia, ATI and more.
Go in Safe Mode, remove all the drivers again using normal means (device manager, add/remove programs). Then run the driver cleaner.
Do this with the new card plugged in, should be fine.

Then upon restart, hopefully Windows won't auto-load a driver. If it pops up, cancel it and don't restart. Then run your new, downloaded driver.
It sounds like Windows may be using one of the same driver files between both cards?
 
Yeh, very werid. I just booted up the computer now (with the old video card) and theres no more glitchy/distortion when booting up with the information. It was only doing that with the new video card but did it with the old one once which confused me. The new albatron video card came with a software cd, I tried the drivers on it, the lastest one from the albratron website and the lastest nvidia ones from the nvidia website. None worked, kept doing the windows new hardware wizzard when I logged in. I also tried using Detonator R.I.P and DH Driver Cleaner Professional Edition several times then restarting etc. I didn't however try using those programs in safe mode, I only tried installing some of the drivers in safe mode which made no progress.

Perhaps the glitchy/distortion issue with the new video card on bootup is due to the driver not being installed. Even the option screen to boot into safe mode was barely readable.

Thanks for the help and suggestions so far, really appreicated.
 
Hey, I've had this almost exact same problem before and coincendtly it was with the geforce mx440 card as well. Most times the problem is due to a dirty card or the fact that the operating system is trying to run the new card with the old drivers.
As the people above have suggested try and find something that will clean off all traces of the Nvidia drivers and restart before installing the new video card drivers,as sometimes the Nvidia drivers can be hard to get rid of.
Cheers,
Hope this helps.
Moltenz.
 
I think that the track that all of the above people have you going on is your best bet, but as a sidenote, have you modified any of your BIOS options regarding AGP or anything? I might recommend a reset to defaults (at least for things regarding your AGP slot), just to make things easier, remove other factors etc. I know it's not THE problem you're experiencing, it just would make things nicer, I think.

Good Luck
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back