New Video card, system wont boot up?

[kenn1320]

Hello all, Im a newbie to computers, so bare with me please.
I bought a used IBM 300gl(pentium II 400hrtz). Im currently running 98ME. I purchased a Pine 3D Phantom XP-PCI3800(SiS 315E 32MB PCI). When I put the card in and plug the machine back in, the fan comes on and thats about it. The power button doesnt work, unless I hold it down for approx 5 seconds. The computer will not boot up until I pull the card and plug it back in. I have tried to load the drivers first, but get to the point where the system says it doesnt detect the hardware and kicks me out. I have looked in the BIOS, and cannot find anything realating to what friends have told me to look for. Things like Assigning IRQ for VGA, or initializing set to PCI. Friends say I need to disable the onboard card, but I cannot figure out how to do that. The onboard card/chip is a S3 Trio3D. Also it was suggested this card may be bad, so I contacted the company and they sent me a new card. Needless to say that didnt fix it(same problem). I also reflashed my bios with the latest version, but that didnt offer any new settings that related to the video card.

Im open to all suggestions.............

thanks in advance.

Kenn

[glc]

My suggestion is get your money back and use the onboard video till you can afford to build a new computer. Those proprietary machines will fight you tooth and nail when you try to upgrade *anything*. The onboard video is plenty good for anything except DVD decoding and gaming - and that SiS card you bought is a lousy gamer too.

I understand you want to learn about computers, building them, upgrading them, it's just you picked the wrong machine to experiment with.

[kenn1320]

GLC, thanks for the post. Unfortunately I bought the new card, because my computers graphics are terrible. I originally could only get 16bit color. I then hunted around the net and found I could get an updated driver. I did that, and now have access to 16 high, 32 true, and 256. Im currently using 32 true. When I switch to 256, the graphics are terrible. I figured upgrading the card would help this out. The card was relatively inexpensive($25). I can appreciate your opnion on this card not being a gamer card. I did not buy it for that. Im simply looking to have a computer to allow me to get on line, create word and excel documents. Maybe down the road I will get into playing games, at which time I know this current machine would need to be set aside for a box with more zing.

[glc]

Graphics always look terrible at 256 color. Run 16 high or 32 true. 16 and 32 is "bit" - 256 color is 8 bit - does this make sense now? 16 bit color is 64k colors and 32 bit is what - 15 million? The S3 Trio is a weak chip, but for your use, it will be just fine now that you have found the right driver. I have customers still running a lot worse to process words and surf and do e-mail.

I'd probably say that the card you bought may be defective. Pine Technologies is a division of PC Chips, and their quality is the bottom of the barrel - there's a *reason* you found a 32mb video card for $25, you got what you paid for. If you plug a card into a slot and the computer refuses to run, the card is defective or incompatible, end of story.

[kenn1320]

Thanks again GLC. I wasnt aware that 32 bit was better then 256. I thought I recall running 256 at work, back when I was on a pc. I finally broke down(from frustration)and took my dad up on his offer to take a look at the computer for me. I just dropped it off with him. I guess if he gets it working, great. If not, then the 32 will be fine as you said.

As for the card possibly being defective, I told the company it was and they already sent me out a new card. I tried the new card, but got the same results. Somehow it could be that its not compatible with my machine. If its not, Id say Im stuck with the card. Could be worse I supose, could have been a $50 card that wasnt compatible..................

[kenn1320]

Just a follow up on this thread. I had my dad look at the computer and he said theres no way to turn off the onboard card. He had his computer guy look at it, and he confirmed that this computer is not upgradable in terms of a video card.
thanks for your help GLC.

[nocturnx]

A pentium II computer that doesnt allow the video to be upgraded? Would you happen to know what motherboard is in it?

[glc]

It's a proprietary IBM, probably made by Acer.

[kenn1320]

Not sure on the mother board brand, but GLC is probably right. Sad thing is I really frustrated myself trying to do this upgrade on my own, when in fact it couldnt be done. Theres no lesson learned harder then that............

[Xayd]

Well when you eventually build your own you can always use the old machine for a router or firewall or fileserver for backups or something.

You can do all kinds of useful things with a stripped down Linux distro and a crappy computer ;).

[glc]

Heh - I have a customer using a 486 running a Linux distro off a floppy for a firewall on his T1. That 300 you have is overkill for that use.

Although proprietary, you have a decent websurfing and office box there - you just can't do any heavy gaming or multimedia with it. Run it as is and enjoy it for now.