Aggressor Posted March 2, 2003 Share Posted March 2, 2003 Today i went out and got the geforce mx 440 se 64 mb vid card, it is made by a company called apollo. I followed all instructions which was to power down and disconnect monitor and everything else from the pc then install the card in the pci slot, then turn on the pc and install the cd. i tried that but when i turned the computer on with the monitor connected to the card, i got a series of beeps and the screen stayed black and eventually the monitor turned off. so i unplugged everything again and this time plugged the monitor into its original socket, when i logged into xp it found the new hardware and installed all the drivers and all that stuff and everything looked ok. so after a restart i went to bios and selected pci instead of on board agp then i went into device manager and saw that the card was there along with the onboard video, so i disabled the on board from device manager. i did a restart and there were no beeps but the screen was still black, i don't know what else to do, i'm so upset since the store does not offer refunds just exchanges i just feel like i got ripped off or something if i'm doing anything wrong (i hope i am) can someone please let me know, otherwise its the card and i'm out $139 canadian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger Posted March 2, 2003 Share Posted March 2, 2003 Are the drivers for your onboard still on there (hdd)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggressor Posted March 2, 2003 Author Share Posted March 2, 2003 Stinger, yeah they are still there, i only disabled the onboard in device manager and in bios. could that be the problem? can you give me a sequence of steps that i could follow? Thanks for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigT4187 Posted March 2, 2003 Share Posted March 2, 2003 Did you disable the on board video card in Device Manager? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger Posted March 2, 2003 Share Posted March 2, 2003 Did you disable the on board video card in Device Manager? Read what he posted i only disabled the onboard in device manager Well I only disabled it in Device Manager but you actually may need to remove the old gfx cards drivers. BUT...if you remove all that and your computer is only on crap and the onboard then you are in depper crap. Now I just realized after I formatted and reinstalled XP I no longer can see my disabled onboard gfx, but to remove the drivers you just right click the device in device manger then click on properties then you have to go to uninstall. Now I wouldn't do this yet cause it could do a lot more trouble then good. I would wait till some of the others come and help out too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggressor Posted March 3, 2003 Author Share Posted March 3, 2003 Stinger, Too late bro i already did that and then some, so to make a long story short its 5 am and i have just finished doing a non-destructive system recovery on my pc since it said that my os was corrupted and i'm trying to back up all my files before i reformat the hd completely. i got it to work earlier but it showed 2 monitors one with the onboard and one with the nvidia, so i set the nvidia as my primary and the screen went black, i could not see anything but i could hear sounds and all that stuff. the funny thing is that my girlfriend was telling me "if it ain't broke, then don't fix it", she thinks i got it all working and that the system is ok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeXaN Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 try this cause i kinda did the same thing when i bought a Nvidia MX 420 PCI card ok and i thought i had almost locked myself out of my pc but i got it tooo work lol. i think what i did was disable BOTH of the graphics card onboard and the card u just got and put the monitor cable on the nvidia card then when i booted up it started then i had to turn on the nvidia and its been working ever since but i really dont suggest this unless u know what ya doing which i really didnt lol i only knew how to install and disable the onboard graphics card.when i had turned off both of the cards and put the monitor cable in the nvidia one it booted up and i went to display properties and found that it was running on just the monitor it didnt say my graphcs card so i turned on the nvidia card and then it switched over. but good luck to ya man and hope ya get it too work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 "if it ain't broke, then don't fix it" Dude, never go by that. Many people will say that and yeah youll be okay. But youll never know what woulda or coulda been if you never take the risks. I wonder how that corrupted the OS though.. This time when you format it should work cause the Onbaord drivers will be no more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggressor Posted March 4, 2003 Author Share Posted March 4, 2003 Stinger & TEXAN, Thanks for all the help . After all that time reformatting and installing everything, I took the card back today and spent a good 45 mins arguing why they should give me a refund. they will be sending me a cheque for the amount that i spent which is good enough for me. I did some calling around and Staples (Business Depot) has a GF4 MX420 64mb for $150 with a mail in rebate of $30 or instant rebate of $20. i'm thinking about that or the radeon 7000. I must say that i have learned alot during this experience and thanks for all the help and i WILL TRY THIS AGAIN SOON If are any Canucks here from ontario, can you give me some good places to check for vid cards, eh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger Posted March 4, 2003 Share Posted March 4, 2003 The Radeon 7000 will perform much worse but can be found on the net for under $70. If you are willing to do net shopping I reccomend the Asylum GF4 MX440 SE. Very high quality and their tech support is excellent. So your PC is okay again now right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggressor Posted March 4, 2003 Author Share Posted March 4, 2003 Yeah Stinger, its ok...just like new Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger Posted March 4, 2003 Share Posted March 4, 2003 Yeah Stinger, its ok...just like new At least you got that. After I formatted I realized how fast my computer could be all cleaned up. I like it a lot. Went from a 40GB full HDD with lots of cool stuff and lots of crap to a 9GB full HDD with only thes best stuff. I dont install every utility or game anymore just whats good. And never use programs uninstallers, just use the Control Panel lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggressor Posted March 4, 2003 Author Share Posted March 4, 2003 Ok..this might seem funny ...but boy do i feel stupid . i went out again today to grab another vid card this time it was a PNY GEFORCE 4 MX 420, it was on sale so i grabbed it. PNY is an excellent company with live tech support and all that...so when i installed it it was the same story as the other GEFORCE 4 MX 440SE that i had...beeps during start up and a black screen..i was on the phone with a tech when i started and he heard the beeps...the first thing he asks me is to check my power supply and tell him what number was on it..so i look and sure enough the stupid HP has 115 watts, and the card needed 350...so that's why none of the cards worked. so now i took the card back and will get a power supply soon Stinger...you were right..i would not have learned anything about video cards, bios, and the power supply if i had just left it alone. and one other thing..i will NEVER buy a premade system EVER i will still get the upgrade in about a month or so. since its almost spring i might as well get a cold air intake for the civic now at least i know how that works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger Posted March 4, 2003 Share Posted March 4, 2003 i will NEVER buy a premade system EVER Same here! And I can reccommend Antec for your PSU. The 350 Watt or 480 Watt True Power or Smart Blue series does very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggressor Posted March 4, 2003 Author Share Posted March 4, 2003 Stinger, will that fit an HP Pavilion 7935? its a mid tower and the PSU that i have looks pretty small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYR_32 Posted March 4, 2003 Share Posted March 4, 2003 (edited) Here are the dimensions of the series PSU's Stinger told you about, Antec Truepower- L5.9" x W5.5" x H3.4" Edited March 4, 2003 by NYR_32 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteKnight77 Posted March 4, 2003 Share Posted March 4, 2003 Prebuilt systems typically have special power supplies made for them. Typically there isn't much upgrading you can do to them. That is the biggest downside of buying a PC that way. I wanted to use the case I had gotten with my Gateway (my first PC) only to find out that the PS was too small (90W) and no room for a ATX mobo. Start buying pieces at a time. If you can find a PC parts store close to you, start buying parts to put your own system together. You can get cases for as little as $40 (but has a cheapo PS in it) and buy a good PS in it or you can find an Antec case for $100 that may or may not have a PS in it (if it does it will be an Antec PS.) Buy your mobo and CPU as a combo, it may be cheaper that way. Just start getting parts a piece at a time when you can. You can get the parts you want and have the PC that will do everything that you want it to do when you build it yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger Posted March 4, 2003 Share Posted March 4, 2003 Stinger, will that fit an HP Pavilion 7935? its a mid tower and the PSU that i have looks pretty small. The one in my system was AT Im pretty sure but I got it to fit into my Compaq box. Check those meausrements that NYR_32 gave ya and yes Prebuilt systems BLOW BLOW BLOW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeXaN Posted March 5, 2003 Share Posted March 5, 2003 yea when i got my vid card the GF4 mx420 by pny i got a instant rebate of like 10 bucks and theres a 20 dollor mail in rebate.my comp now comes to a XP home AMD1700+ *1.4ghz* processer 60 gig hard drive 248mb of ram* which i plan on upgrading once i get some money* and i think i have 350 watts of power or more plus the graphics card i got o yea its a 64mb card Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggressor Posted March 5, 2003 Author Share Posted March 5, 2003 Thanks for the replies everyone The measurements for the Antec PSU will not fit the Pavilion, so i'm stuck at 32 mb (10-35 fps) onboard for a very long time . WK thanks for the tip, i think i just might do that over the summer I would like to say that THIS is DEFINATELY the PLACE to find great help and excellent advice, again thank you all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger Posted March 5, 2003 Share Posted March 5, 2003 You could put it outside of your computer like on top of it I 'spose. You may look into getting an AT Powersupply. They are smaller. What are the dimensions for the PSU area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
=MM= SHADOW Posted March 5, 2003 Share Posted March 5, 2003 The AT supply wont work due to the wrong connections. You need an ATX power supply but i have always come under the assumption they are all ONE size. Even the smaller Midi cases use the same size psu? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Ranger Posted March 5, 2003 Share Posted March 5, 2003 (edited) >The AT supply wont work due to the wrong connections.< This is true. IIRC, the standard sizes today are AT and Baby AT(ATX) sized PSUs. They are not interchangable. >You need an ATX power supply but i have always come under the assumption they are all ONE size.< The After-Market PSUs are all one size as long as you purchase a PSU in the respective size class. It's the pre-fab and proprietary PSUs that are the issue. When I got my first computer(Gateway), it was an ATX case and had an ATX mobo and ATX 200W PSU. Well, when I bought my GF4 Ti4200, I needed a PSU upgrade. Thinking that since my current PSU was an ATX, I could get any ATX-sized PSU and it would fit. WRONG! Long story short, my case went through much modding to fit the PSU into the previous space. Had to trim edges, drill holes for new screws, the works. It sucked. So, just because you have an ATX case or PSU, doesn't mean an After-Market PSU will work for your Pre-Fab. Maybe it will. Be prepared for some modding, unless you purchase a REAL ATX case. >Even the smaller Midi cases use the same size psu?< Yes, even if they are a Mini-Tower ATX, they will use the same PSU. Edited March 5, 2003 by Dark Ranger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger Posted March 5, 2003 Share Posted March 5, 2003 My bad sry. Then the "ATX" psu in my case is not normal cause it is NOT I reapeat NOT the same size as my ATX by Antec... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RooK Posted March 5, 2003 Share Posted March 5, 2003 I have a PC that still uses an AT PSU, and they are completely different. Also, might want to note that ATs are generally larger and more square compared to ATX rectangular design. From what I've seen in the past few years, it would be some work to find an AT PSU for sale, just about everyone carries an ATX though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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