AGP not working

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Hey guys, i'm having a bit of a problem with my computer and i was wondering if anyone could help.
Recently, I went to start up, and as soon as i logged into XP, i was prompted with a dialog box that said something like "Windows has just recovered from a serious graphical error", i cant remember exactly, but words to that effect.

The next time I went to start up the computer, i got nothing from the monitor, it just stayted on standby mode. I then tried the monitor on a different computer and it worked fine, so i assumed the graphics card had failed, so i stuck another one into the AGP slog, but it turned out that that didn't work either!

I then resorted to using an ancient PCI card, which thankfully worked, but sadly is useless for any games with even just a hint of decent graphics.

This led me to the conclusion that my AGP slot has gone and failed but i'm not sure exactly why/where etc. COuld anyone help, am i gonna have to fork out for a new mother-board??

Baz_

I would get the wallet prepared for immediate attack, I personally have never even attempted to fix such an error as the agp port failing, I wouldn't even know where to start (of course I'm assuming its a physical failure rather than software or bios). Other than that you could try warming up the old soldering iron

Sorry for your troubles, I really do feel for people in this situation, it's happened to me a few times before (too many times).

Thomas_S_Hunterson

I don't think i'd trust myself to attack it with a soldering iron , Its a bit of a messy situation tho, i know. Do you know it there's any decent PCI based graphics cards around, or is it a case that the PCI architecture just isn't fast enough to support high speed graphics processing?

Baz_

sean_keevey wrote:

or is it a case that the PCI architecture just isn't fast enough to support high speed graphics processing?

I think thats the case alright, if I was in that position, I would be thinking heavily in favour of jumping onto the pci-e bandwagon...

Ri_Nollaig

changing over to pci-e might mean getting a new cpu and ram too aswell as new mobo and graphics card
what skt is your current mobo?
but the only pci card komplett have is http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=304713&cks=PRL and its sh.ite...
changing over is probably your only option

Thomas_S_Hunterson

:-( i was hoping i wouldn't have to fork out, but i suppose such is life, i'm probably better off starting afresh with a new rig at this stage, i'm currently running an Athlon 1400 overclocked to 1600 with 384 Megs of RAM
Thanks for the help guys

angelofdeath

yeah i agree, now might be a good opertunity to upgrade to pci-e/64bit, might be able to keep your ram, prolly won't be able to keep the cpu though

Stephen

If you upgrade to an Athlon 64 you'll need new RAM. That 1400+ most likely uses PC2100 DDR, A64's need PC3200 or better. You can get a gig of PC3200 for about 100 euros (2x512).
If you do upgrade to Athlon 64, get a socket 939 board and CPU, as these should offer a bit more upgradeability.

astrofool

did you try and drop the cpu back to normal levels? (i.e. non-overclocked), it could be a case of the AGP bus running slightly out of spec, it would be very unusual for just a slot to fail on a motherboard.

Also, looking at the board, is there any bulging or leaking capacitors? (the cylinder shaped objects)

Thomas_S_Hunterson

I'll have a look at the caps tonight,. The computer was running fine for months before it just suddenly failed, so, i don't think it was running out of spec tho'

TerrorFirmer

My advice, if you don't want upgrade, just get the Ge5200 PCI.

Its not the best, but on your rig, 1600+ and 384ram, it'll be more then enough for anything that'll run on the other specs.....