Poweredge 1600SC Video Card Upgrade

I would say for the people that want to host games on the servers that there are the precision workstation series that have plenty of horsepower and ram and do support the high end video cards.

Not supporting means that we have NO tested and validated drivers for the video boards (Random BOSD's) and have not developed and will not develop features in the BIOS to support the use of the cards.

That being said, perhaps you could try putting the video card at least one slot away from other PCI cards, and as the M/B does not have the auxillary power connector used for some of the highest end cards, there may indeed be cards that will not work well.

Try disabling parallel and serial ports that are not used, you may have IRQ conflicts that are causing problems.

Do post your results and configuration to include IRQ assignments  PCI slot and other cards in the system as well as a link to the driver when you get a card to work well.

I'm filling in for Mark.

DELL-GaryS

It sounds like you just have a bad driver/card...I never got a BSOD but would have other problems..on-board ATI would take over...Or if you used an ATI it wouldn't install the drivers becuase it would find the on-board video first and not let you install them. I talked to one of the people that make the drivers for ATI.. They said that the only real fix for this would be for DELL to release a bio's that would fix the problem...I also talked to a Nivida rep and he said the same thing.

 

Why don't you guys make a bios to fix this problem??

Quote from Dell rep "I would say for the people that want to host games on the servers that there are the precision workstation series that have plenty of horsepower and ram and do support the high end video cards"

Great I'll just sell my 1600sc server, and buy a new server that will work...Won't be the dell thou, I build systems for a living, and just thought I would give one of these systems a try, but the fact still stands that Dell ignores the fact that for some people Disabling the on-board video is needed. If they don't fix the problems that there old servers have why would I want to buy another Dell that may have problems that they won't fix?

I will aggree with the readears that is not difficult for DELL to disable the onboard VGA. And what DELL can do is to give the source code of their BIOS to open source so we can try to modify the BIOS by ourselves, but this is another big thing.

I also try the ATI OEM SAPPHIRE RADEON 9000 128MB DVI/TV 8X PCI with no luck. Server does not boot.

I have a dual 2.8GHZ  bios A09. I tried all the slots with no luck but I did not disable the LPT and serial ports yet.

I have a lot of USB devices though with no problems (including USB keyboards etc).

It will be nice if both cards can work together because we need the server for programming and video editing.

So we need to use the system with multiple monitors.

gp.

 

I will second that notion. If Dell does not and will not continue developement of their BIOS then it should be given to the open source community.

That way things like ACPI could be better handled. Alternate video hardware could be used.... BIOS updates would no longer require us to run windows..... somewhere....

I would like to be able to disable onboard video on my Dell poweredge 2400. I would also like to be able to use SMBIOS s4 suspend to disk on my 600m. If ot were open source I feel confident these problems would not exist.

Dell is Crud for anyone actually using their equipment. They do however probably have tremendous support for the masses. And offer updates when things are busted.

I would consider this video issue busted. What am I supposed to do with all these poweredges I have replaced with nice HP hardware?

Oh, why did we replace them? HP sure doesn't have forums like this. I may have made a mistake.

Best wishes and good luck to everyone. I have grown completely detached from dell. I LOVE to have them now. At least I still have a serial port on my 600m...

-=Bill

Hi guys,

I have just got the VisionTek Xtasy 9100 PCI card with 64M memory. I put into my 500SC server and the onboard ATI Rage XL is automatically disabled since it won't give out a signal (I have to plug the monitor cable to the 9100 to get the signal). But the really problem is the system just got dead if I try to use the CD to install the drivers and control panel features. I have to manully find the .inf file for the card and upgrage it. Also, I disable the onboard video in the device Manager. Everything works find, I can just the basic feature of the display settings, but still the system will DEAD when I try to install the software comes with the CD. BTW, I'm running 2000 pro. I have seen people talking about this problem at fatwallet.com/forum or anandtech.com, but just can't find it any more.

Let me know if you guys have any luck, and especially the guy with VisionTek Xtasy 9000, try to manully install the driver.

 

 

FWIW -- I'm having the same B(lack)SOD problem trying to install my video card (PNY GeForce FX 5200) on my Dell PowerEdge 1400.   I can only get the thing to work in VGA safe mode.  Rebooting normally results in a black screen right before the login screen is displayed.  These are the same symptoms as the original poster detailed.  Technical support over at PNY is stumped since they expected a BIOS option that would allow me to switch from the onboard graphics adapter.  They urged me to contact Dell to fix the problem.

Dell, what's the big deal?  Why can't you provide this option in the BIOS? 

I too would like dell to allow the video to be disabled in the bios. Some of our servers could really use a better video card than the onboard rage xl (and no I don't need a precision workstation -- I need a server) but the main reason is so that I can run a headless system, and not allow people to walk up and attach kvm to the box. We purchase a significant number of dell servers, and will consider looking elsewhere to find cost effective servers that can have upgraded video cards, or be headless. 

I was able to get the following cards to show video (bios screen at least) on a 1600SC:

ATI (built by) Radeon 7500

Mad Dog Conquerer FX5200 Plus 128MB

Xtasy (powered by ATI) 9200 SE 128MB

 

I'm well aware of the security issues for somebody with physical access to the box. I used to work for a company that made embedded servers, no video! You just need a null driver for the os. I still think there should be a bios option to allow disabling of internal video.

Plus Dell, you should move beyond the rage xl. please!

Disabling the video in BIOS will never be an option. Have you seriously considered the implications of such an option?

Frankly, if your worried about someone attaching a KVM, then you have other security issues you need to resolve becuase if they have physical access to the box it will NEVER be secure.

hey,

I was wondering if there is any other stores that sell dell, Store like Offices Maxs, Staples(ect.)The reason i'm asking is because my stepdad is taking me to get a labtop, and there is not a dell store out here in Syarcuse New York.The computer that i want is a dell 1100 labtop.

thanks, DjLilTLCFan

Well first off you posted this in the wrong area, but anyway...

As far as I know there are NO Dell store's I think they learned from Gateways mistake on that one and found it to be a bad idea.

I have bought several Dell's from here website and that is the best way to buy one, normally they will give you $100 off the price for buying it off there website and If you check websites like www.ableshoppers.com they will list any really GREAT deals that Dell.com has going, some of the deals expire fast so you have to buy them right then, or at least that day. I personally don't like ordering from the phone were you have someone that is trained to Sell you the best that they can get you to buy, that and the fact that when you buy it on-line you have a better idea what the upgrades cost and don't end up buying something you don't want.

now back to the MAIN topic.

When I got my 1600sc it had a revision 01, well that motherboard had a bad memory slot and I sent it back and got it replaced(after tech support argued with me for two weeks and I RMAed my memory because they insisted that was the problem), the replacement was also a 01 motherboard. In both boards the Gef 4 420 worked fine and I NEVER had a problem with it. Well that motherboard had a small problem and I got a replacement motherboard again. Well the 3rd motherboard that I got was a revision05 now I have the same problem that the other are having, halfway thru boot the server loses video.

The reason that I have this server is to run game servers at LAN partys (gaming partys) and the server gets a good work over hosting the games for people to play,  if there has not been a dedicated server download made for the game I can not run a server for that game. (to be able to run a dedicated server without having the dedicated server file created you have to be able to start the game, if you do not have a good video card you can NOT load the games.)

But it's kinda funny when people ask me why I can run game x, y, or z I tell them the problem that I have had with this server over the last year from the video card (and all the dead mobo's). I know for a fact that 8  different people that WERE going to buy Dell desided to just build there own servers when they found out that Dell will not fix this problem...And the 8 that I do know of is only the smallest damage that Dell has caused there self from not suppling a fix for this, I'm sure that others desided the same but I never heard about it. And the fact that I have been to over 100 of these LAN partys I know alot of people that Would be server customers (I meet LOTS of IT people at the events and tons of people that setup large companys with servers) I plan on helping dell with this as much as possable buy spreading the good news that the servers DON'T support video cards good and that Dell will not do anything about it but tell us that we sould have bought a precision workstation series computer that the most stripped down model cost $1276 (plus $149 for a scsi card to run my drives) just so I can get an option to disable the onboard video. And when I get it to my house and find that there is no option to disable it then what?

NO thanks, I was talking to my sponsor at one of the events and they desided to get me a new case and motherboard to replace this motherboard that doesn't work right (good thing since the thing has been having problems turning on in the past few weeks (hit the power button and it will run for 5 seconds and then turn off)and more than likely motherboard #3 is dead as well and I will be on board #4 in less than ONE year)

My sponser is sick and tired of seeing the game server have all these problems that make them look bad (there name is the name of the game server) (like they don't have the money to buy REAL servers that work) looks real good to the 200-500 attendes when a sponsered team doesn't have a server that works 50% of the time.

 

P.S. my new laptop is NOT a Dell....and my server will be de-delled in two weeks when the parts are delivered

Thanks so much to all the participants on this thread. I found it yesterday accidentally while looking for info on upgrading my 1600SC BIOS.

Not only did I successfully upgrade, with your input, I installed a Mad Dog Multimedia Conquerer FX 5200 Plus videocard in my 1600SC just now and it seems to be working beautifully.

Thanks for all the great info, gentlemen.

One thing to keep in mind, these boxes were thrown in the trash by Dell. That is how everybody got them so cheap on e-bay. So when you pick through garbage don't expect much. After all it doesn't help Dell's bottom line to make this server as user customizable as other boxes costing much more. And the moderators know this and are either laughing at you or crying for you depending on their personal disposition. Best bet, pull the xeon processers and ECC ram and put em in a clone box.