Help Help Help! Gfx Card Troubles!

[Lyrima]

THank you Ime.

I did install the chipset twice now.

Radeon guy couldn't get it working either.

He said I should return the Vid Card and get a new one

He also suggested I update my BIOS and told me how. I'm doing that now.

Pray for me. I'm scared when I do this BIOS thing everything is going to go poof.

This is the page i'm following from Dell:

http://support.us.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R71943&formatcnt=2&libid=0&fileid=93407

[Imeriel]

It smells suspiciously like Dell has configured that computer when it was built to not play nicely with anything "not Dell".  I hate when manufacturers do that 

Lessee if Dell sells an upgrade for your vid card.

[Lyrima]

Final update:

I'm returning the gfx card to Newegg.  The cost for this card? $199.00

I called Dell to see how much it would cost to order the identical card from them: $165.00. 

Heh.

Serves me right.  I should have done a better job price checking.

And yes, I'm certain Dell does something screwy with their stuff to make it impossible to buy elsewhere. Yet... when they UNDERSELL the competition, I can't make much of an argument.

So. I'm getting the same gfx card and I learned a whole lot about computers.

And I found out that I have many  many friends who are willing to give up an evening of fun or sleep to help me...

and that is probably the very best Valentine's gift I could possibly get.

*tears up a little*

Not sure I deserve such generosity and kindness, but I can say thank you.

Thank you.

THANK YOU to all of you for your immediate, unstinting and patient help.

Thank you.

[Gwenae]

Um, I've had two Dell machines, and I've always updated the hardware bought elsewhere.  I'm pretty sure that is not the case.  It might have been that way, way back when, but not now.

I bought my latest Radeon video card from Compusa.  Took it out of the box, plopped it in the computer, and installed stuff and up it went.  I've bought memory elsewhere, plopped it in, and went on with my business.  We did find that the memory was causing issues.  Something is wonky with the Newegg video card.  I don't know, I guess I personally feel better going into the store and picking out my hardware.

Anywho, when you get your new video card, pick the PCI-E since your old card was a PCI anyway.  You should be able to use it in the PCI slot.  I had no problems with that either.  This computer is about 2 years old, Dell 8400, and it's quite happy.

Sometimes you just get bad hardware.

Also, the Flashing is going to be so simple.  Updating is always a good thing, and they tell you what the update contains.  I updated from A05 to A09 already.  Happy computer.  It really does help and I find their flashing procedure flawless.

You'll be ok, Lyrima.

[PinkRose]

Real quick.
TECH HEADS, Can you use PCI-E cards in PCI slots?

[Imeriel]

Real quick.
TECH HEADS, Can you use PCI-E cards in PCI slots?

Yes.  And no.

While PCI-express is backwards compatible to regular PCI, the speed of the card will be throttled to that of the slot (bus).  To put it into perspective, a single lane (PCI-E 1x) has almost twice the transfer rate of a regular PCI.  AGP has up to 8 lanes.  (Lanes are what you see commonly referred to as 2x, 4x, 8x).  PCI-E is capable of 32, though most motherboards and cards are at 16 right now.

If you don't have a computer that has an AGP slot and only has PCI, then purchasing a PCI-E card for current and later use (after you get a PCI-E board)  is fine.  Or, if you plan to replace the computer really soon anyway.  An AGP will perform better, however, than a PCI-E in a PCI slot.  At least speed wise.  If the PCI-E in PCI has far more RAM than the AGP, humanly noticeable differences start to get negligible.

And there are a fair number of OEM computers that folks can upgrade at will.  There are certain models, however (more typically those "on special") that a given company will configure on a bios level to accept only that company's oem part.  And some companies (cough HP cough) that are far worse about it than others.  Dell honestly isn't all that bad about it.   My money in Lyr's case is that, or the ATI card is bunk.  Of course, I will admit I am highly biased as I don't like (more on a visceral level than anything logical, admittedly) OEM products or ATI.

[Lyrima]

I've already ordered the AGP card.  It was never a question of getting that. It's what I have now for the old card.

[Jasyn]

My foot is too big for my AGP slot.  Should I upgrade?  : 

[Lyrima]

Despite being really clear there was no way to get the card out to me...Dell has delivered. Again.

Interestingly, this card's box has 'By VisionTek' on it...the same ATI Radeon name, same type..just made by someone else.

Now then. Halagren explained that Radeon will farm this stuff out to be made. And that may be so.

However, who wants to place the bet that this card sings in my machine first time out whereas the other did not?

I asked Halagren if I should put it in today. He asked how my frustration levels were. As I was assessing he and I both realized that he will not be around tonight.  Guess what he said?

Put it in, baby! I won't be home..!

Heh.

Guessin he doesn't want to dedicate yet another evening to Lyrima Computer Woes.

The question remains...

Do I want to do this tonight or not?

/hm

[Gwenae]

I just want to emphasize that no matter when you do it, please read the instructions and follow them before you ask us.  Just see how it goes by following the manufacturers instructions.  I'm betting it will be ok.

And wow, Dell delivered it the next day!  I've had them do that before and all was well.  Dell rarely has OEM parts anymore.  The parts are easily exchangeable.  OEM stuff is pointless in this day and age, and Dell just doesn't do it.  You can also get those Visiontek parts at CompUSA and Best Buy.

[Lyrima]

You and Ime would be so proud of me. I read the instructions and promptly called Dell.

Good thing, too, because I'm suspecting they sent it without the power supply cables I need.  /sigh

I'm doomed. I know it.

Waiting on the answer from the Dell guy.

[Lyrima]

so got the second, new, video card in the computer. Still having the same error message.

What? 2? 3? hours later, still on the phone with the technician and he has remote access to my computer and he cannot fix the problem. So far.  He is getting help from someone else.

/sigh

[Lyrima]

my head and back are killing me.

Head ..well.. who knows. The usual?

Back and leg because of moving this unspeakably heavy tower in and out of its home. 

Dean at Dell was very friendly, very sweet and could not fix the problem.  He says the computer is working fine, it might be the OS.. so.  MS is at fault now.

He said before hanging up that he was going to do some research and call me back tomorrow.  And worst case scenario will be to completely reformat my disk.

One one hand, I'm not entirely against that idea.  I've gone in and messed with my registry so often, I bet I've done something stupid along the way.  Starting clean? with no other games loaded?  Has some merit.

OTOH, I'll spend tomorrow night trying to move my pictures and documents to my laptop and flash drive. I've only the one flash drive.  I don't know if I can even move all the pictures...there is an enormous amount on there. 

The good news is, teh pictures are all on the 'D' drive I have; he'd be reformatting the C drive, where all the programs are, right?

So maybe I wouldn't have to move stuff. Oh.

I just remembered my music files.

*puts head on desktop*

/sigh

This will be too big a problem if I have to clear off my d drive. If it is just my C drive, I can see doing it.

deargodinheaven, what am I doing?

[Namae Nai]

There's an easy way to make sure your D: drive stays intact. Before you do the reformat, open your case and unplug the power connector to the D: drive.

Do all the formatting and junk.. when you're all done, turn off your computer, open it, and plug the D: back into the power cable. Start your system then right click on 'My Computer' and select 'Manage.' After that, you just import the foreign disk with the 'Disk Management' addon, and you're back in business.

This ensures that no matter what happens while reformatting, D: is safe. You can't do anything to a drive that has no power.

[Lyrima]

thanks Namae

[Lyrima]

I do believe a talented gentleman at Dell figured it out.

He kept referring back to the error message I was getting.

He finally figured out that the gfx card was all wrong for my system as my system needs a gfx card that 'talks' VGA and the X1650 talks in digital.

He found a 512, agp, gfx card that has VGA compatibility for me. Finally.  I think this IS the answer.

So. Now, tomorrow, I will be returning two gfx cards and hope Dell will send out another sans the shipping charges.

*grinds teeth*

Waiting for Noa to call me back. Not sure why I was ordering from Dell and not asking our resident super sales lady to help me.

*bonks self*

[Lyrima]

don't mind me..trying to fix my gfx troubles:

http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=41507

[Lyrima]

trying the drivers for the Radeon ... AGAIN.

/sigh

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=20870