OEM Motherboard Does Not Detect OEM Video Card

[Shinmiri]

Hello everyone,

I recently came across a really unusual problem and exhausted all possible solutions.

The system is an HP desktop Pavilion model m8400f. This model came with a Nvidia GeForce 8500 GT.

One day the PC stopped sending it's video signal through the video card's DVI port, and was using the onboard graphic's VGA port instead.

I figured the video card might be dead, but I checked and the video card's fan was still running. I took it off and performed maintenance on it; cleared the heatsink of dust, reapplied thermal paste, etc. I figured maybe it was a fluke fail, so I carefully reseated it into the PCI slot and rebooted. No luck, still refused to work.

I went out and got another card, an Nvidia GeForce 210. I installed it onto the motherboard, installed necessary software/drivers, and it works great.

Doubting that the old card is dead without any trace of damage, I put it in another PC of mines and hoped it might still work. To my surprised the card was working fine, and after installing drivers the entire card was in working order (HDMI, S-Video, and DVI).

I then tried putting the old card back into the computer/motherboard in question. Still no luck. I fiddled with the BIOS settings, and got nothing out of the video card's DVI/HDMI ports. The OS detects no change in hardware (other than the fact that I took the new card out and the motherboard is now using onboard graphics).

Other things I've tried include:
- Reinstalling drivers.
- Updating BIOS.
- Checked BIOS settings.
- Checked hardware. (no damage what so ever)

To state again, this is an old OEM motherboard that refuses to detect the OEM video card that it came with.

I'm at a loss now, just what is the problem?

 

[Cobalt006]

I had the same computer a while back. It did the same thing. So I pulled the card. Then replaced it with a Nvidia Geforce 9500 Gt. That card worked for about a month. The same thing happen again. But both cards worked in another computer I had at the time. So I gave up and started useing the onboard graphics. About a year later. The power supply died on me. So I went and bought a new one . After installing it. I thought well maybe I will try putting the Nvidia Geforce 8500 Gt card back in just to see if it would work. It did . As far as I know still is working. I gave the computer to my grandson. About a year ago and he is still using it. I am not really sure if it was the power supply. But that was what seem to fix it. If you have power supply that you can swap out. Just to test it .It might be worth a try. Other then that I really have no other suggestion. Hopefully someone here may know a few .

 

[Shinmiri]

That's one of the possibilities I've considered but scrapped because it was an OEM setup. I'll try a more powerful PSU tomorrow.

 

[Shinmiri]

I just replaced the OEM 300W PSU (LiteOn PS-5301-08HA) with a 430W PSU (Thermaltake TR2-430).
Same problem. The video card's fan spins but the motherboard and OS does not detect the video card.

 

[Cobalt006]

Wow that is really weird. I really have no other clue. Same as you. But knowing its a HP computer I can believe it. Don't get me wrong about it being Hp. Its just that they code their stuff. Most of the time because of this .It makes for a pain to fix them.

 

[Shinmiri]

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Another quirk I noticed was that upon power on with the old video card installed the motherboard blinks the power and HDD LED 7 times before doing the POST. This does not happen when the newer card/no card is put in.

I thought it might be a beep code, and found out it wasn't (by removing all of the RAM, and then it gave a 1-short-1-long beep code).

MB uses Phoenix AwardBIOS v6.00pg.

 

[Cobalt006]

Sounds like maybe IRQ conflict.

 

[Shinmiri]

Just tried to flash a custom BIOS. Motherboard is now paperweight.

This mystery will never be solved. lol

 

[Cobalt006]

Very true. What made you decide to do that? Just wandering, Sense Hp hardly ever has updates for their mother boards.

 

[Shinmiri]

I tried updating the BIOS using HP's updater on their website, and the problem still persisted. I tried to downgrade the BIOS back to the factory version but it wouldn't allow me to downgrade.

I then tried looking for a custom BIOS and found a forum, but upon successfully flashing the custom BIOS it restarts the MB and no function (not even reads from an attached CD drive or floppy drive) can be salvaged from the board.

As for the reason, I thought it might have been a firmware issue. I've literally tried everything that logic could provide, and it was highly likely it wasn't a software nor hardware issue.

 

[Cobalt006]

I was thinking along the lines of a IRQ, Issue. That was the Nettle 2 board for Hp you should be able to fined it real cheap if you google around. Or just go with another board that will fit the case. And the CPU

 

[Shinmiri]

I checked IRQ's in the OS, and there were no conflicts that I saw.

I think I rather look for a MB + CPU bundle than replace the board at this point.

 

[Cobalt006]

Sounds like a winner going that way. You will end up with a better computer in the long run. Good luck