installing graphics caarrggh...

[adalgisa]

I have a compaq with an ASUS A7V8X-LA motherboard, 480 watt power supply, Via chipset, S3/Unichrome onboard graphics, compaq LCD monitor, running winxp home. Sigh. I got a powercolor radeon 9600 pro graphics card and couldn't get it to work (posted about this in January)...finally gave up & brought it into a local shop, where they tested the card in other machines & found it was defective. They tried an FX 5700 in my computer & it worked fine, so there's nothing wrong with the AGP slot. (they also replaced the 250w psu with the 480w)
It'd been more than a month since I bought the card from Newegg, so I'm RMA'ing the card to the manufacturer -- which they say will take 4 weeks!
On unbridled impulse I got a "Mad Dog" radeon 9550 card for $50 last weekend from CompUSA & in a fit of optimism tried to install it.
Uninstalled display adapter using device manager & add/remove programs; Seated card; plugged in cables; turned on. Blah. Disconnected everything, pulled out & reseated card, plugged in cables, turned on. ; disconnected, pulled out card, reassembled computer, logged on here, beat breast loudly & groaned.
The computer powers on, the fans turn, the little lights in the new psu are pretty blue & red, but the monitor remains on standby, and the computer doesn't continue booting up.
Could I have another faulty card? Am I doing something wrong? I could just take it back to the shop but what could be so difficult about plugging a card into a slot?

[mjkovis]

Mad Dog isnt know for making great quality products sometimes. Try taking the card back and exchanging it. It could be another bad card, but it may not be. Wait to see what others have to say first though before returning the card. Someone may have a suggestion.

AK

[adalgisa]

I didn't remove the Intel Extreme Graphics -- should that go too?

[kram 2.0]

What was the graphics card that came with the Compaq - the Intel Ext. Graphics? You may be limited to just that - the limited power that is given off by the Compaq PSU may limit the range of upgradability. Go ahead and give the Ext. Graphics a try by taking all graphics cards out of the AGP slot.

kram

[Moose on the Loose]

Are you sure you turned on the onboard graphics in the BIOS? Try using driver cleaner to make sure there are no traces of previous drivers remaining, then download the latest ATI drivers for that card from their website.

Moose

[adalgisa]

What is a "driver cleaner?" is it a freeware utility? There doesn't seem to be a way to disable the onboard graphics in the BIOS- it's supposed to recognize when a card is put in the AGP slot. Do I install the ATI drivers before installing the card?
Kram, there was no card, only onboard graphics; and I replaced the 250w psu with a 480w.

[glc]

Where did the Intel Extreme Graphics come from? You have a Via motherboard with S3 onboard graphics. If you have Intel drivers installed, you have a problem.

[adalgisa]

There are S3 drivers, and the display adapter is Via; to be honest I don't know how the Intel Extreme Graphics drivers got on there (might they have been installed with a game?).