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OhioGeek

4 Posts

7534

December 22nd, 2004 01:00

Problem with Radeon X700 Pro using 4700 A05 BIOS

I purchased a Dell Dimension 4700 running BIOS version A05. I also purchased the ATI Radeon X700 Pro PCI Express and I cannot get it to work. I've tried everything, and I don't get any feed to my monitor. Reading other posts, it seems to be a problem with others as well. Returning the video card and getting another one is not an option. Is there anything I can do to get this thing to work? Is Dell working on a solution? If anyone got the X700 Pro to work, what's the secret?

bigpp82

5 Posts

December 22nd, 2004 02:00

Bump....

I have the exact same problem.  Same specs same everything.

Anyone with some info please respond. 

 

Anyone else with this problem, make a post to see how many of us there is.:)

Message Edited by bigpp82 on 12-21-2004 10:42 PM

DJRobXX

24 Posts

December 22nd, 2004 03:00

What brand of card is it? 

My Gigabyte 128mb x700 pro works flawlessly in my 4700 (A05 bios)

Why is returning it not an option? 

Be sure you do NOT have something plugged into the VGA port of the onboard video card.  If it detects a monitor there the system will boot and halt on a screen telling you to unplug the monitor.   If you are already sure, try plugging in a montor on the onboard video and verify that the computer at least is aware of the Radeon card.

Also verify that the BIOS is set to allow the add-on graphics card.  

 

Message Edited by DJRobXX on 12-21-2004 11:40 PM

OhioGeek

4 Posts

December 22nd, 2004 09:00

The video card I have is ATI Radeon X700 Pro with 256 MB DDR. And yes, I verified that there is no monitor plugged into the On board VGA. The bios is set to Auto for Video, which should make the PCI Express card the primary when detected. I know it detects the new video card since both the VGA and X700pro will not work when the card is connected to the PC. When I take the card out of the PC, then the On Board VGA works.

 

DJRobXX

24 Posts

December 22nd, 2004 16:00

Sorry, but one of the following must be true:
 
1) Its a bad card.   You'll need to get a replacement
 
2) It's a bad motherboard.  You'll need to get a replacement.
 
Problem: You have no way of knowng which it is without taking your video card to another system and testing it there.  That's currently tricky with PCI Express, since it's so new.
 
3) Your card's video BIOS (the BIOS on the card, not the Dell) is incompatile with this system.  Seems fairly unlikely because the Gigabyte and Connect3d Radeon x700 Pro cards do work for sure.  Even if this is the case, you have no recourse other than to return the card, since you cannot boot in order to update the bios, even if ATI had a fix.
 
I suggest returning the card.
 
 

OhioGeek

4 Posts

December 23rd, 2004 03:00

I find it highly unlikely that there would be a problem with a brand new dell 4700 and a brand new ATI X700 Pro. Especially with so many other people having the exact same issue. Is it possible that ATI is manufacuring so many bad video cards? Is it possible that Dell is manufacturing so many bad motherboards?

 

 

bigpp82

5 Posts

December 23rd, 2004 17:00

Update:
 
 
1)I have disabled onboard and tried installing =nothing
2)Uninstalling the onboard =nothing
3)Lowering the onboard mem=nothing
 
Does anyone else have any ideas..?
 
Also I highly doubt its the comp and the video card.

mo9900

2 Posts

December 26th, 2004 18:00

I had the same kind of problems with an x700.   I also have a Dimension 4700.   If you search this message board, you'll find others who also have had the same problem, so I'm guessing it's not a defective card or mobo.
 
I installed the card in November -- before bios version A05 was released.  I went through all of the steps to clean the old drivers...etc, but the computer would not cold boot correctly.  If I restarted from windows, the computer would boot normally, but not if the computer had been shut off for more than 1 hour.  Here's what happens: the Bios screen loads, then the Windows XP splash screen starts.  Afterwards, instead of going to the welcome screen, the screen just goes blank, and windows doesn't start.  Usually, rebooting after this will start windows normally.
 
Recently, when I cold boot, I've just been tapping F8 during the bios screen, and then selecting "Reboot" from the options menu, and everything starts OK.  Of course, this is not by any means a good solution, but I'm hoping enough other people will have the same problem, and a fix will be released.
 
After hours on the phone with ATI tech support, the best we could figure is either a problem with how the card interacts with the MoBo, or else a frequency problem with the card and the monitor.
 
The monitor thing sounds likely, since I've read some other posts with the same problem, who were using Dell LCD monitors.  Search the Dell support forums for "RADEON X700" and you'll see those.  I don't have a dell monitor, but I have a Samsung SyncMaster, which I believe is the same technology Dell uses in their monitors.
 
I just got the A05 revision, and the newest Catalyst, hoping it would help, but judging from your post, I guess I'm still waiting.
 
Anyway, good luck, and please post back if you encounter a solution.
 
 
 

OhioGeek

4 Posts

December 27th, 2004 01:00

The problem I was having with the X700 pro was that the computer would not boot at all. It would not even get to the bios. Nothing I tried would work. I went out this weekend and got a PNY Nvida GeForce 6600 GT and it works fine. So either one to two things, the X700 is a bad card, or there is some issue with X700 with the motherboard. I doubt it's the X700 card, since so many people are having issues. My guess is it's some kind of compatability issue. Either it's drawing too much power from the motherboard, or the bios software needs updated. In either case, I can't use the X700, which is a shame. I now have to pay a 15% restocking fee just to return it. With so few PCI express cards on the market, it's too bad that some will not work.

dlr80020

1 Message

December 28th, 2004 22:00

Same problem, same specs.  I don't think the boot ROM is happy with this board :smileysad:.   Hopefully Dell is working on a patch.

DJRobXX

24 Posts

December 30th, 2004 04:00

"PNY Nvida GeForce 6600 GT and it works fine"
 
Be sure to *stress test* that card.  3dmark05 and the "Filter & Anti Alias" screen works best, just let it sit there for about 20 minutes.   The one working eVGA 6600GT card I had that I thought worked finally bit the dust.   
 
 
 

Message Edited by DJRobXX on 12-30-2004 12:54 AM

salmonfly

1 Message

January 28th, 2005 00:00

same problem as all it seem.  installed fine, worked fine, when you shutdown and try a restart or startup, the video card fan screams and you have absolutely no bootup.  Opening the device manager, and the all ATI video drivers disappear.  In addition, it does some funny things to my company outlook email account and won't allow me to reply to anything.

I thought I would upgrade from a BFG GeForce 5200 to the ATI X700 Pro, and it failed.  I had a similar problem with an ATI video card and an older optiplex several years ago.  Going back to the BFG video cards forever........

ATI cards are worthless.....

 

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