x1600pro issues with Dimension 4600?

hepht · Aug 19, 2006, 04:21 PM

Near as I can tell, the card and my computer should be compatible. With the card in I can get up to the Windows loading screen - then when it's about to load the desktop, my monitor goes black. Any suggestions?

Note: The computer came with an integrated video system - the BIOS has two options: ON (auto to the integrated) and AUTO (where it should detect a video card first). I've set it to AUTO but still have the problem. Also, I tried an older AGP card from a friends backup machine - my system worked fine with the old card (but now I want it to work with the new one).

My computer:
Dimension 4600
Windows XP pro
Upgraded power supply (430 watts)
Motherboard: e210882 (dell oem motherboard)
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.66GHz
Chipset: Intel 82801eb

Randomletters · Aug 19, 2006, 04:28 PM

Have you tried Uninstalling old drivers and run driver cleaner pro before installing the new card?

hepht · Aug 21, 2006, 10:12 PM

We've already tried uninstalling the driver manually and even had another IT friend come over and completely remove the integrated driver from the computer. We can't run driver cleaner pro because it requires steps in safe mode and with the new video card in we can't get through safe mode.

Yousaif · Aug 22, 2006, 04:56 AM

Is it an AGP or a PCI-e card? If its an AGP card then you need to make sure that the external power supply connection is connected. If it is a PCI-e make sure that you have all power connections to the motherboard hooked up. It may that it isn't getting enough juice.

I see its an AGP card. Here is a link to the manual for that motherboard. ftp://download.intel.com/support/mot...LC_English.pdf

AGP X1600's have a (I think) 4 pin connection on the trailing edge of them for a power connection.

niceguyrichy · Aug 22, 2006, 05:10 AM

well I wanted to say bios or drivers, but if you've already checked then I'd swap out the psu , gfx card might not be getting enough power.

hepht · Sep 17, 2006, 04:47 PM

Well, we fixed the problem, but we're still not sure what the problem was.

(I'm posting this, because when trying to research this problem, I saw many people asking about how to fix this problem, but no solutions. Hopefully this will show up on some search engine for someone's benefit.)

To make it so that the system worked correctly with the new video card, we had to replace the Dell Windows XP operating system with just a standard operating system. Not too happy with this solution, obviously, since OS software isn't cheap. But after trying so many different things to get this system running correctly, once we replaced the OS, everything worked perfectly.

I think I'm through with Dell after this machine....

Randomletters · Sep 17, 2006, 05:00 PM

Just because that happened to be one of many possible soloutions, thats not really a reason to shun Dell as a whole.

BTW, I know it doesnt really matter now but your supposed to go into safemode with the old video card installed ( or in this case just the integrated video) run DC pro then shutdown install new card and reboot, You said you already had the new card installed?