new[ish] pc - no video :/

subway

aghh,
please help,
tearing my hair out at this stage.

bought a dell gx240 off here yesterday.
came with a dvi-only agp graphics card sobegan the process of tracking down a low profile agp card.

after much confusin,
i realised i had a low prifle card in the desktop,
so i whipped that out and transferred it over.

booted up the gx but got no video.
checked everything,
loose cables/loose connections, absolutely nothing.
no beeps from the mobo,
4 green diagnostic lights.
if i put an xp disc in the drive the pc does seem to boot from it so afaic see everything is fine.

so "Oh noes" my gfc card is fecked?
back in the main pc and everything is fine.
using it right now in fact.

ive been at it for about 2 hours now,
disconnecting all ides / switching the ram around the slots / disconnecting pci
absolutely nothing.

does anyone have any idea what may be going wrong here?
unfortunately i dont have a dvi enabled montior to test with,
and my spare agp card doesnt fit the mobo on the pc im using or the gx so i cant try that.

help
please :?

conzy

I am a bit confused, does the Dell have a onboard graphics card with a DVI, output and you want to use a AGP card with a D-sub output

If so, onboard will have to be disabled in the bios, now seen as you cant connect a monitor to see the bios, get a DVI to VGA(D-sub) adapter, and use that to hook your monitor;)

If i took the wrong end of the stick let me know:D

Endurance Man

Ye, im confused on the same lines as above .

subway

sorry,
i seem to have given you the worng end of the stick

theres no onboard video,
the was an agp card in it with dvi.

i swipped that out and put in the agp vga card.
but cant get any output,
have tried 4 different monitors to be sure.

any ideas?

subway

the "desktop" is my current pc
and the "gx" is the one i just bought.

just to clarify..

conzy

Is the card your putting in newer/older than the original, there are different standards of AGP, I dont think a 8X card will work in a 4X slot without changing settings in the bios.

If the only problem is you dont have a monitor with a DVI input and the card is ok, just get a DVI to VGA adapter like this:

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=106841&cks=SER

subway

ok, agp 8x wont work in agp 4x,
thats something i didnt know.

the card is 8x and the gx appears to be 4x.
is there any workaround for this, besides going into the gx bios?
ie, can i set something on the card bios from this pc and then slot it into the gx?

conzy

A 8X card will work in a 4X board, although it will be starved of bandwith

its just i dont know if it will work without changing a setting in the bios first

If its not broken dont fix it;) I would wait for the DVI adapter

subway

its not the vga i need,
its the tv-out.
im intending to use it as a media centre pc.

ive a cheap agp 4x card on the way so that should cover me.

cheers for the help

conzy

Oh, Ok hope it works out for you;)

I want a HTPC:(

subway

me too...
maybe next week

seriously tho,
im trying to get this up and running for under 250 euros cash outlay,
mainly by scavenging parts / trading / selling off bits i have that arent in use.
needing an mce compatible gfx card could put me over the top.

the most expensive part is the tv-tuner - 100euros for the feckin thing.

conzy

Are you streaming to other rooms/PCs?

My dad has a Dell I was thinking of making a Media Centre/server for the house

Are you using "Media Centre Edition" or an application

subway

will be using mce,
i wont be streaming,
its just going straight under the tv and will be hooked up to the lan for easy access to divx and mp3 libraries etc..

its my first time setting one up so im looking forward to a bit of a challenge regarding network setup etc.
generally im doing it as im pissed off with the output of the 3 divx/dvd players ive had in the past year.
theres always soemthing with them,
whether its incomapitble codecs / subtitle problems or resolutions

conzy

I have Freeview digital sattelite, SKY Digital, analogue

Whats the best card to handle all these??

What card are you using?

Did you find any good websites with info during your quest;)