new graphics card and now no boot

[mugatea]

My sisters friend has an emachines 410. It's a 2.4 celeron with 512 ram and a 64mb ati graphics card. Her son couldnt play the games he wanted so I said it was the graphics card and a couple of weeks ago I fitted an ati radeon 9600 256mb. The games now worked but the pc seemed kinda slow. A few days later my sister said that the pc wasnt working. When I went over, it wouldnt boot. Now I've got it at home and I'm puzzled.

I can get it to work if I press delete at the startup and go into setup then exit setup. It will load. But on its own it wont, it will just show the emachines logo then go into a blank screen. Now heres the odd part. While it will never boot up from the power switch without interference it will always boot up when you reset it, so something happens or doesnt happen with restart.

I just tried putting the old graphcis card in. I think its screwed tho, the screen flickers violently but it boots. I tried a really old agp card about 4mb and it works great. Boots everytime. Why? Before you ask, the 256mb card works and I tried my other 256mb and it will cause the pc not to boot either. In safe mode I noticed it would stop at the agp440.sys driver so I did a search and microsoft said on their website that sometimes if your computer doesnt boot disable the agp440.sys file which I did but that didnt work.

Now I've tried everything. I've reinstalled windows twice. I've reinstalled the graphics drivers. I cant get a bios for emachines but I did find the intel 845 chipset, but that did nothing. I'm all out of ideas and my sisters friend who is holiday will be expecting it back by saturday.

Why do the new cards cause problems with the boot? It's hardly an old machine, much newer than mine.

I'm trying to help out but I seem to have messed things up.

please help, I expect this will be a hard problem to solve.

Jamie

[glc]

It's probably a weak power supply. The stock unit is not designed for the demands of a higher end video card than it comes with.

[mugatea]

so is a new psu the answer. I dont wanna get this and be mistaken.

Jamie

[tomkear2006]

Have you tried a fresh Windows install with the original graphics card in place? If this works as normal then it pretty much points the finger at the PSU being underpowered since fresh installs with the more powerful cards have been unsuccessfull.

Have you been careful to take anti-static precautions when playing about inside the computer and with the components? Theres a chance something has got a static shock which would case all kinds of strange behaviour.

[mugatea]

I've been good with safety. The power supply is 250w. Does that sound an ok amount? Now I wanna point out again that windows reboots fine it just doesnt boot from the switch normally. So I thought it maybe drivers or something.

I've installed windows twice and spent all day downloading updates inc sp2, I really dont want to have to do it all again.

I have to get this fixed for when she gets back. I thought at first it was probably the motherboard, but now there has been a suggestion of power, I'm clueless. If I cant get it fixed I'd at least like to be able to tell her what needs to be done/bought to fix it.

Thanks for your time.


Jamie

[tomkear2006]

I would say you need a PSU with a bare minimum of 300Watts.

I'm not saying that's definitely what's causing the problems but it is certainly a likely culprit.

[mugatea]

ok thanks for your help. I'll have to try and see if I can find a 300w tower unit now.


Crumbs.....


Jamie

[tomkear2006]

ok thanks for your help. I'll have to try and see if I can find a 300w tower unit now.


Crumbs.....


Jamie

Just a replacement PSU is all you need...it would save a lot of hassle on changing the system into a new case...which may cause you even more problems!

[mugatea]

Yeah, good idea.

BTW, if I unplugged the cd-rom and dvd would that free up more voltage or is that just lame?

jamie

[glc]

What you need to do is try to borrow a power supply to TEST with. A standard ATX power supply is compatible. The factory unit is a 250 watt Bestec - not a high quality PSU.

What country are you in?

[mugatea]

I'm in the uk. I borrowed my uncles pc and connected up his 300w psu. Still the same crap.


Help



Jamie

[glc]

Please post the exact model - 410 doesn't return any hits at the eMachines UK site. I need to look up the specs on it.

All eMachines that I've seen with 845 chipsets have onboard video and no AGP slot - I'm a bit confused how you can put a Radeon 9600 into it. If yours does have an AGP slot, it may also have onboard video - if it does, pull the card completely and try it with the onboard video.

[mugatea]

thanks for your time. Its got the blue socket where you would plug a monitor into, but it has no holes and says do not remove. I dont think it has built in graphics. Its' got agp.

spec
http://www.computers-components.co.uk/691687.html

jamie

[glc]

If it boots fine with the old 4mb card, it HAS to be either an inadequate power supply for the stronger cards or both cards are defective.

[mugatea]

Both cards work fine, I've tried them on my pc. They're great cards. I thought the 300w supply would have fixed it but no.

Why does it restart ok, but not boot? Is that important? What differs from reboot vs booting that stops it booting properly?

jamie

[newbuilder14]

Well I have a 300w power supply which powers a Pentium 4, 512mb, 200gb hdd, 2 optical drives, and a 6600 pci express card so I wouldn't be so sure it's the power supply.

[mugatea]

arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhh!

I'm (removed by admin)

*sigh*

what about the motherboard?

[mugatea]

the graphics card that I thought was 4mb turned out to be a nvidea geforce ddr 32mb card.

Its all working fine with that. Are there any other differences between older cards and newer ones apart from power? The 300w psu is still connected.

I need ideas....

Jamie

[tomkear2006]

the graphics card that I thought was 4mb turned out to be a nvidea geforce ddr 32mb card.

Its all working fine with that. Are there any other differences between older cards and newer ones apart from power? The 300w psu is still connected.

I need ideas....

Jamie

Where have you got this 300W PSU from? It may still be underpowered, there are many situations where PSUs have an output rating on them that they don't nearly reach.

[mugatea]

My uncles tower unit. It's a CASECOM ATX 300w.


Could it be the bios agp driver?

Jamie

[glc]

What is HE running for a video card?

Admin note - watch your language, please.

[mugatea]

64mb ati

[mugatea]

I've got the money and I'm stuck between a new motherboard or psu. I just get the feeling its incompatible. Or should I just risk purchasing a 128mb card?

[mugatea]

fixed it!

Bought a 128mb nvidia

[mugatea]

ok, the the relief was only tempory. The nvidia geforce mx 4000 while boots the pc ok, will not play battlefield 2 nor lego starwars. Lego starwars wont works it says cause it needs pixel shaders v1.1 support. So it seems this card is no better than the 64mb card that was in it except for the extra 64mb of memory.

Any thoughts?

Jamie

[glc]

If you want to play BF2, build a new computer. You can only do so much with an eMachine. You are lacking in processor, ram, video, and power supply specs. Sorry to be so blunt but you are fighting a losing battle here.

You are right - a MX4000 is no better than a Radeon 9200, in fact I think the 9200 is actually a faster card.

[mugatea]

yeah, but this is my sisters friends pc. When I installed the 256mb card at the house he was playing bf2 fine.

I dont know what to do.

[Underhanded]

I have a radeon 9600 256mb aswell. I don't know what brand your card is, but my card would NOT run on anything less then a 400W power supply. It also seems you're using nothing but stock, crap, power supplies. If possible, buy a power supply of decent wattage and decent brand if possible (I believe there is a thread here listing the good brands)
You should be able to get a refeund if it doesnt work, so no real hassle.
The Geforce MX 4000 is an aweful card, for that same $50 you could have gotten this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153023
and probably be gaming in peace.
....though not BF2'ing it up.. or atleast not very well ^^;

[mugatea]

both graphic cards work great on my 300w power. I dont know and I dont think anyone does. This has to be a unique freak problem.

jamie