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Installation of 8600 GTS is causing blank monitor.
Hi all, first time poster here. I couldn't find any other threads related to my problem, so here goes:
I recently installed an eVGA 8600 GTS to replace my old 7300 LE (abysmal for playing games, which originally wasn't a concern, but now I want to play a few games). Upon restarting after installing the newest compatible drivers (178.24 32-bit for Windows XP) I get a blank screen on my monitor. It displays the loading screen normally, but just before the little jingle on startup plays the monitor goes blank.
I can boot in safe mode just fine, where I've uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers several times, but it's still blank when I restart in normal mode. I've tried using the older driver version included on the CD that came with the card. I've messed around with desktop screen resolution with the driver uninstalled. I've taken the card out and put it back in, made sure everything fit nice and snug, but everything seems to be in place. My computer is definetly recognizing the card because I can look at it in display settings. It just won't display on my monitor once the drivers are installed.
I can't find anything in my BIOS that seems to be relevant. There is one option to switch between PCI and PCI-e, and of course I have it set to PCI-e, but nothing else remotely resembles video options.
Well, I'm at my wits end here, and feeling rather stupid for not being able to get this thing working. Anyone got any ideas? Thanks in advance.
My System:
Dell XPS 410
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, 32-bit
2 Gb Corsair DDR2 RAM (only component that isn't factory original aside from video card)
E6300 1.86 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
P965 Chipset Mobo, Model 0WG855
375W factory Dell PSU
320Gb whatever-brand-Dell-uses internal hard drive
Monitor is a Sharp Aquos 32" LC32GP3U 1080p, connected with a VGA to DVI-I cord that I used on my old 7300. Luckily the 8600 came with a DVI adapter for the VGA end since it doesn't have a VGA input, so I'm using that.
fireberd
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33.3K Posts
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December 3rd, 2008 15:00
It sounds like there is a possibility that the video card is defective, but do you have the additonal PCIe Power connection to the video card? There is an extra power connection required for this card (other than the power that is supplied by the regular PCIe board connection. The older Video card probably didn't have that. Your power supply may or may not have this connection and if it doesn't you will have to use something else, such as an IDE (PATA) Molex power connector with an adapter to the needed PCIe connection.
If it's not the power connection, when you first boot up, it's using a generic and basic VGA mode and when you boot to Windows Safe Mode it's also using a generic VGA mode driver. However, when you boot into regular Windows, it installs the drivers for the advanced (non basic VGA mode) and that is where the video problems start.
goatexplosion
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December 4th, 2008 06:00
I posted the following last night. My original post contained a word which has a completely different meaning used in the context of a verb than a noun, a verb being the way I used the word, and I feel it was in no way a violation of terms of service. However, my post was instantly deleted for what the program that scanned my post mistakenly thought was slander. I know the automated email slap-on-the-wrist I got concerning this warns me not to whine about censorship back on the boards, but I think this is a case where human moderation would have been much better than a bot that can only read as deep as words and has no concept of context, where well meaning posters like myself can say something perfectly innocent and get stepped on for no good reason.
Anyway, now that I'm flirting with a ban here, I forgot to mention that I do have it connected to the power supply with a 6-pin molex cable.
Admittedly I've been researching this problem all day and haven't really found anyone else complaining about similar problems with this card. The weirdest thing(s) is/are that even in safe mode when I go to the device manager it recognizes my card as being installed and having the latest drivers. Is it just ignoring it in favor of the generic VGA mode? If I boot in VGA mode I can get 800x600 and normal color, but then for some reason when I go back to device manager to confirm that it's recognizing my card, and I click OK, it resets to 640x480 and 4 bit color... And then sometimes on boot into either safe or VGA mode it will seemingly randomly allow the option to set to a higher resolution, apparently just to tease me, and promptly go blank again if I actually try to set it higher (and won't reset to a lower resolution if I give it a minute like it normally would, but I'm guessing these resolutions just aren't supported in those modes).
Also, if I grab for example a Firefox window and move (originally a certain verb starting with a 'j' and ending with 'erk' that is evil and blasphemous in the eyes of the Dell gods, regardless of context) it around like crazy I don't get crippling lag like when the drivers are not installed... most of the time. Yeah. I'm ready to rip my hair out here ha ha.
I also tried disabling on board video via resetting my CMOS settings on my mobo jumpers, but it didn't do a thing.
Thanks so much for your time. I guess I've got a defective card on my hands. I'm gonna fidget with this thing a little longer and then, assuming I don't have some kind of breakthrough discovery, probably go ahead and ship it back.
fireberd
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33.3K Posts
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December 4th, 2008 12:00
I would assume (but that gets me in trouble at times) that the card is defective since it won't work in anything but the basic/generic VGA mode.
goatexplosion
3 Posts
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December 5th, 2008 07:00
I've gone ahead and sent it back, and now begins the epic struggle with Newegg to actually get another, hopefully non-defective card returned to me, ha ha. Thanks for being patient, I think we can call this diagnoses complete!