AGP vs PCI Video Cards, Problems

[BadDog]

Okay Guy’s and Girls, here’s my first post.
I’m a newbie at posting but not a newbie with computers, although I’m not
an expert by any means. This question has been asked a thousand times
(please don’t think I’ve not done my homework on this) I’ve checked lots of
forums and googled until I’m googled out.

First Computer Specs;
MoBo, Asus K8V using 64/32 bit architecture, Socket 754
CPU, AMD Athlon 3000+ 64 bit
O/S, Quad Boot, Win XP Pro SP2
Win XP Pro SP1 (OEM x64 Edition)
DOS
Win Recovery Console
Chip Set, VIA K8T800-VIA VT8237
Memory, 1024Mb Kingston DDR SDRAM PC3200 400Mhz
HDD, O/S #1, (Win x86), Maxtor UDMA-6 (ATA-133) 250 Gig, 16Mb Buffer
HDD, O/S #2, (Win x64), SATA WD Raptor, 37 Gig 10K RPM
Other Storage, (2) HDD, Seagate 120 Gig RAID 0 <> (1) HDD, WD Caviar 200 Gig
P/S, 500 W ATX (Ultra)
Sound, Integrated (VIA AC'97)
----------------------------
Video; These cards work
S3 Vision 968 - 2 Mb onboard (PCI) Driver Rev 1995
Diamond Viper II - (PCI) Driver Rev 1995
Video; These cards are a problem
ATI Radeon 9200 LE (AGP) 8X 128 Mb
ATI Radeon 9550 (AGP) 8X 256Mb
XFX GeForce FX 5700 LE (AGP) 8X 256 Mb
XFX GEForce FX 5200 (AGP) 8X 128Mb

MoBo has no integrated graphic drivers.
----------------------------
I’m going to make this as informative and short as possible.

Problem; When I install the above video "PCI" cards, the computer recognizes and installs the driver with no intervention from the operator. Computer runs great, no problems except, as you might expect, I don’t want the PCI cards in there. I’ve got several ISA video cards, if I had a slot I’m sure they’d work also.

"AGP" cards give me a blank screen, and most (but not all) of the time the CPU runs (by the LED indicator) wide open. The only way to get out is
to “On – Off switch shut-down”.

This is a short synopsis what I’ve done;
(1) Boot up using PCI card. Go to “Add-Remove” to make sure all vid drivers
are gone. Go to “Device Mgr” and delete PCI driver. Set screen resolution to 800x600 and colors to 16 or 8 bit. Unplug NIC.
(2) Restart and boot into Safe Mode. Log in as Admin. Check to be sure
drivers are still deleted. Open MSCONFIG and set it to boot using “Safe-Mode”. Run “Driver Cleaner”.
(3) Restart booting into Safe Mode, Log-In as Admin. Computer will state “hdwr installed, restart to finish installation”. Check to see if adaptor in “Display Screen” is listed as VGASave. Check to see if MSCONFIG is still set to boot into Safe.
(4) Restart and boot into Safe Mode to finish installation of VGASave.
(5) Shut down computer. Remove PCI card and install AGP card.
(6) Monitor now works. Boot into Safe mode, Log in. Hdwr Wiz will execute.
Install video driver and…. Hdwr Wiz will tell you to reboot.
(7) Re-Boot into Safe Mode again. Check all properties, i.e.,

(a)Everest now says AGP “ENABLED”
(b)Device Mgr now lists driver as “RADEON xxxx”
(c)Video Adaptor now says “RADEON xxxx”

CONTINUING:

Go to MSCONFIG and uncheck boot into Safe Mode.
Restart and boot into Windows XP.

Hope I didn’t miss anything. NOW… After about 2-3 minutes screen goes blank again. Back to square one. The ONLY way I can get a screen is to uninstall the AGP card and re-install the PCI card which re-sets the driver back to “S3Vision 968” the instant the program goes into Windows. Over and over we go…

I’ve had the MoBo out of case and booted up. I’ve had all peripherals removed and replaced.
I’ve disconnected power from 3 HDD, Fans, and lights. I’ve tried the AGP’s in other computers.
I've checked memory.
I’ve tried everything I can think of.

I’m ready to buy a new MoBo, because I think I’ve got a bad AGP plug-in socket.

Also note that I’ve had minor problems with the computer from day one.
I had always attributed it to the Beta O/S and all the Beta drivers installed.
But little quirks were always popping up and getting worse as time went on.

Sorry for making this so long but I felt that it was necessary if anyone could help.

Thanks a lot… BadDog,Bad!

 

[vegasgmc]

I just had to replace my mobo because of a bad AGP slot.

 

[BadDog]

I just had to replace my mobo because of a bad AGP slot.

Thanks for the feedback. My biggest problem right now is learning how to navagate through the forum.

Did you do something to determine that it was, in fact, the AGP slot before buying and new MoBo?

I just don't understand why I can get it running perfectly using the AGP card and then POOSH, its gone.

The PCI S3 driver is not listed in the "add-remove" list BUT I have found many S3 files in \windows\inf, \windows\system32, and other directories so I don't think I'm removing ALL the S3 files.

 

[vegasgmc]

I had a problem with the computer randomly rebooting. I had the side off checking the fans and when I touched the video card the screen distorted. When I wiggled the card the computer rebooted. It was a short in the slot.
Are your video problems happening in all your partitions or just the XP 64bit one? There are still alot of problems with the 64bit drivers. Have you tried reinstalling or updating the motherboard and AGP drivers?

 

[BadDog]

Well Well, That gives me something to try. Thats one other problem I've had is screen distorting out of the blue.

On the other partitions, actually I haven't even gotten far enough along to install the new OEM version of x64 because the ONLY people who put out video drivers for 64 bit systems are ATI and GeForce. So all my problems have been with regular Win XP Pro. At one time I had both O/S's installed on the SATA WD Raptor Drive, I've been thinking of trying an XP Pro install on that drive again. I've got a 12 Gig partition empty and waiting. All drivers are the latest available. Since my MoBo is Asus they did their best from the beginning to supply 64 bit drivers for everything built into the board. VIA has also been on the ball with new 64 bit chip set versions. So that's not been a serious problem. In fact I had less trouble with the original drivers and Windows Beta systems than I did with the new OEM release Windows XP x64. Several of my "good" "old" drivers would not operate under the new OEM release.

 

[compguy]

well bad dog I would just mention that all my friends have Agp video card's 8x and all had problems with them. And I have Pci and do not have any problems.

Good luck and welcome to tech spot.

 

[BadDog]

Problem Fixed

When vegasgmc said that he had just replaced his MoBo for basically the same problem it kind of confirmed what I'd been thinking all along. I guess I just didn't want to accept the fact that I was going to have to fork out $$ to get it fixed. (1) Ordered new MoBo July 4. (2) Installed MoBo yesterday, July7. (3) Installed an NVidia GeForce FX 5700. (4) Fired it last night, computer installed video card and all I had to do was re-boot. Now that's the way It's supposed to work !! Plus I got 35$ off original price by going to NewEgg.

Thanks to all, I just needed a kick in the ****.

vegaasgmc, I never could get it to drop out by wiggling it. it was to far gone, couldn't get it to work at ALL.