[Stephan Stross]

My computer is currently being VERY uncooperative with my new graphics card, an ATI Rage 128 Pro card for PCI ports. The issue is that after installing the card in windows and disabling the onboard card and switching to the new card's VGA port, nothing shows up!
And, when something does decide to show up, it's my wallpaper, with no mouse, icons, or any way to control the computer. When I boot up my computer with the card in, the BIOS
(PhoenixBIOS) beeps 3 times. If the onboard card is primary, the screen shows up and works, but the resolution is jacked. If I set PCI to primary in BIOS, everything goes black on startup. I have no clue what to do and REALLY need help!

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Hi Stephan,

That card is very old, release date 1998. Does not like playing nice with XP.

Have you installed the latest drivers you can find?

From your motherboard manual, can you tell what the 3 beeps mean?

[iammykyl]

Hi Stephan,

That card is very old, release date 1998. Does not like playing nice with XP.

Have you installed the latest drivers you can find?

From your motherboard manual, can you tell what the 3 beeps mean?

[Neil Jones]

PhoenixBIOS tended to to have a series of beeps with pauses, as opposed to three straight beeps and pause. There is no beep, pause, beep, pause, beep pause for a Phoenix BIOS.

Considering the company took on board Award Software BIOS in 1998, and Award BIOSes on their own usually only beep if they can't write anything on the screen (a feature that remains to this day on the newer Phoenix/Award BIOSes), this can only be an issue with your Rage 128 card.

[Stephan Stross]

Ok, here is a list of everything I do to my computer in an attempt to get the graphics to work
1.boot pc, splash, go into setup, set primary video adapter to onboard, save and exit.
2.no splash, grub opens, xp loads at correct resolution, clicks a lot(normal)
3.Insert card into top pci slot, scan for hardware change. No change, reboot.
4.Settings, no change. No splash, grub loads, xp boots normally.
5.Check for card, shows up as RAGE 128 PRO PCI TMDS (Microsoft Corporation)
6.switch to rage card in windows display settings, switch vga to card at resolution 640*480.
7.Jacked screen resolution, windows freezes, REBOOT! Back to onboard vga.
8.Splash, grub, xp boots to a black screen on integrated vga, normal screen at 1024*768.

I guess it's working now, but I have 1366*768 monitor, and I would like the card to display at that resolution, but I'm glad that it's working now

P.S. I wrote all these posts using the Droid X's SWYPE feature!

[iammykyl]

In device manager, find out the version of the driver, then search the Internet for the latest compatible or specific driver for your OS, may give you more options to control the card. Save to desktop.

Create a restore point.

If the driver files have an installer, use it.

If not, in device manager, update driver and select the one you downloaded.

May not be signed but continue anyway.

If the system is stable, OK.

If not, roll back drive, if system is still unstable use the restore post you created.

[Stephan Stross]

I just found out that my system is
A. Naturally a pain in the [bleep] to upgrade
and B. Not worth upgrading
So I guess this topic is good and dead
Sorry, everyone

[iammykyl]

Sorry we did not resolve the card problem.

Dead it might Be but at least you have found out not to waste money.

If you decide to build a new system, we are hear to help.

[Stephan Stross]

I might be able to coerce my mother into letting me build my own laptop for college, so thanks for the offer

[iammykyl]

I have build lots of PCs, but a laptop, NOT a project I would undertake.

Choice of parts and availability are limited compared to Desktops, so real customisation is limited as well.

Very hard working in the confined space.

You can buy bare-bone kits and then choose your own vital parts but I don't think you would save much money.

I would do some serious research, documented, proof of and then try to persuade your mother that, "This really mean machine is absolutely essential for my work and will easily do me right through UNI".

Good luck.

[Stephan Stross]

Ok, well I might not build my own , but I'll DEFINITELY make sure I can upgrade it when the time comes.Thanks for all the help.