[Hecubus_65]

I have an eMachines T3422 (dramatic pause for the lahghter to stop).... I have been trying to upgrade from the on board graphic chip to a PCI express card (Radeon HD5450). I stalled the card and there seemed to be a conflict, all I had was black screen on the monitor. I removed the card and the on board grapic chip worked.

I read on the internet (so it must be true) that I should disable the on board chip and then the PCI-e card would work. So I disabled the on board graphics chip through device manager, turned off the machinne installed the PCI e card, turned it on and.... nothing. All I have is black screen.

So how do I re-enable and disabled on board graphics chip when there is nothing coming to the monitor? I can't get to the BIOS, safe mode or reinstall the OS (XP pro).Or should I find a different PCI-e card, install it and see if that does the trick?

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Hi Hecubus

In some machines you need to disable the on-board VGA card in BIOS...
Based on the manual for the motherboard you have try to enter the BIOS and change the Primary Graphics Adapter to PCIe on the PNP/PCI Configurations screen

The change you made on Device Manager only affects Windows, you should be able to access the BIOS without problem.
If you can't access windows try booting in Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key when you see the first messages on screen after power on.

[SleepyDude]

Hi Hecubus

In some machines you need to disable the on-board VGA card in BIOS...
Based on the manual for the motherboard you have try to enter the BIOS and change the Primary Graphics Adapter to PCIe on the PNP/PCI Configurations screen

The change you made on Device Manager only affects Windows, you should be able to access the BIOS without problem.
If you can't access windows try booting in Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key when you see the first messages on screen after power on.

[Hecubus_65]

Can't get to the BIOS or F8. Computer powers on, but then nothing but black screen. I have removed and installed the PCI e card multiple times and there is nothing getting to the monitor either with the card or the onboard chip. I have tried resetting the CMOS with the jumper on the MB, but that has not worked either. I will try again later today to see if a longer time jumped helps, but I don't expect it to work, based on the trouble this system has been.

I have read more this AM about issues with this 5450 card and the need for updating the MB BIOS on certain machines. Seems that the PCI drivers might not be up to date and need a reload. That would make sense to me given the inability of the machine to recognize to card.



Any other thoughts?

[SleepyDude]

Hi,

Remove the extra card and connect to the on-board VGA, then try to rest the BIOS

From the manual To clear CMOS you should:
1. switch off the system and short 2-3 pin of the JCMOS1;
2. switch on the system again and the message “CMOS checksum error” should appear;
3. switch off the system and return to 1-2 pin (Keep Data) position;
4. switch on again for operation.
Please avoid clearing CMOS while the system is on; it will damage the mainboard.

See if you can access the BIOS after this.

[Hecubus_65]

Could not get into BIOS after clearing CMOS. It just stayed black screen.

Here is what did work:

Found low end PCI express VC. Installed, reboot and initial screen loaded, would not let me enter BIOS and then went blank. After several failed attempts, I removed both 1 gig memory sticks and replaced with 1 512mb stick (which was what was originally install when purchased). Was then able to enter bio, reset time/date and video to on board chip. Saved and rebooted. And then was able to load windows. Slower than snails, but loaded.

Once windows loaded, re-enabled on board chip through Device manager. Shut down normally.

Now re-installing upgrades piece by piece. Time consuming and a pain in the arse, but at least I have video back.

I believe my initial problem is the original BIOS I have does not support PCIe 2.0 correctly. I read a few places that there were issues with emachines made and sold during the initial relase of PCIe 2.0 cards. I will update the BIOS to the latest version and then see if the new VC fires up. Checked VC on a friends computer and it worked just fine- problem is isolated to my machine.

We will see.

[SleepyDude]

Hi Hecubus,

Thanks for let us know how it goes.

I suggest you to do one change at the time and test to find the problem source, I will start with the new memory and running a test with http://www.memtest86.com

And yes some times a BIOS update is needed when changing hardware.