Troubles with 2nd video card

[pstj]

Hi!

I recently purchased an ATI Rage Pro 8mb PCI card from Ebay, hoping to setup a dual-display on my computer. My main video card is an ATI Radeon 7200 AGP, the motherboard is an Abit - BH6. OS is Windows 98se. (yeah, older machine)

I first tried to install the Rage card in the only free pci slot, which, on bootup, gave me an error (I've got an Award BIOS). Thinking it had something to do with the presence of two videocards, I removed the PCI card, booted up again, and changed the display bootup option from PCI to AGP. Installed the PCI card again, booted up, and found my way to Windows. Upon installing the drivers, the system hangs. I boot up again. Upon entering Windows, the system hangs again.

I then think that it is something to do with the drivers and a conflict inside Windows between the two cards. I decide to shut everything off, remove the AGP card, and only boot up with the PCI one. Again, I get an error beep on bootup, but this time I have something displayed - a very mangled, constantly changing mix of colours, yet I'm able to make out that the computer is starting up.

I then assume it might be a bad PCI slot. I remove the PCI card, clear another PCI slot, and reinstall the PCI videocard in a new slot. Same problem. I do this another time, then give up. I remove the PCI vid card, put the AGP back in, boot up, and head to pcmech.com.

I am slowly starting to suspect a problem with the PCI videocard itself, but is there something else I can try before returning the card? I don't really want to have to deal with the Ebay return process, and would much rather have a working card now.

Thanks in advance for the help

pstj

[RazorDX]

I think your problem lies in the little thing that it is impossible to do that. To set up dual-display you either need 2 Voodoo PCI cards, 2 nVidia cards in SLI, or simply just a video card with 2 video outputs. You can't put both a PCI and an AGP card in and expect it to work.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that can't be done.

[pstj]

Originally Posted by RazorDX I think your problem lies in the little thing that it is impossible to do that. To set up dual-display you either need 2 Voodoo PCI cards, 2 nVidia cards in SLI, or simply just a video card with 2 video outputs. You can't put both a PCI and an AGP card in and expect it to work. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that can't be done.

I'm fairly sure it can be done. I could be very wrong though. But anyways, if you reread my post, you'll see that I actually did try the PCI card alone and it still wouldn't work.

EDIT: Where did you hear it couldn't be done? One of my friends told me once to save my old pci video cards as setting up dual display was a good thing (even with agp). I might have been lied to!

Pstj

[pstj]

I quote from here

The emphasis is my own.

For those with an existing system that could benefit from dual displays, replacing the existing graphics adaptor with a dual head card is an option, but it is not the only one. Another graphics adaptor can be added to the system, and the existing card can be kept. This is nice for financial reasons, or if the performance of the existing card doesn’t warrant replacement. The key thing to consider with this approach is to select a secondary graphics adaptor that uses a slot available on your motherboard, and that offers a display connection to match your monitor. Newer systems may feature more than one PCIe x16 slots which can make this happen, but you can also add a PCI card to any system currently running PCIe, AGP, or PCI graphics. The cards used in a dual display setup do not need to match, and it is acceptable to run a high end primary card with a bargain basement secondary card, or any combination of cards in between.

[Hi Ho]

You do not need SLI for dual displays. An AGP and PCI card should work together if you don't have a dual head card.

[pstj]

Originally Posted by Hi Ho You do not need SLI for dual displays. An AGP and PCI card should work together if you don't have a dual head card.

Thanks for confirming that... that being said, base don what I described, does it sound like a bad video card?

Thanks!

[Hi Ho]

It could be a bad card. I would test it in another machine.