Graphics Issue.

[Hungry4info]

It seems that a graphics card issue has prevented me from enjoying Celestia for a few days.

My graphics card, NVIDIA GeForce 5200, was salvaged from my old computer and placed into this new computer which I am running now. I know that the graphics card still works, because I put it back into the old computer, and it ran just fine.

The card used to work on my new computer, however, a couple days ago, as I was surfing the internet, it just stopped. My monitor went dark, so I figured something was loose. I checked connections, and behold, nothing.

So I plugged in my monitor's VGA cable back into my motherboard's VGA port, which of course wasn't designed to make Celestia appear as it should. Celestia looks terrible now, of course.

I looked in BIOS to make sure there wasn't some I/O address conflict or anything, but everything seems to have a unique IRQ and I/O address.

I have installed the drivers for the graphics card into this computer, but not the drivers for the monitor. (It shouldn't matter? Should it? It worked fine earlier)

It was weird, it worked one second, and then it just stopped. The card is still good though.

Any advice?

[t00fri]

Hungry,

just a question: generally there is 2D and 3D graphics support in a computer. 2D graphics is responsible for the display of the usual Windows and all the other daily graphical stuff on your monitor. How does that look with your card NOW in your new computer?

If your card were broken, also 2d graphics would show serious disturbances like stripes etc.
If all this looks fine and well focussed, then you might want to examine step by step whether the 3d (hardware supported) graphics is correctly installed. For instance, there was a 3d driver before. Was it correctly deinstalled?

Fridger

[Hungry4info]

If my monitor is plugged into my graphics card, it displays absolutely nothing.

If my monitor is plugged into my motherboard's VGA port, the 2d graphics are fine.

I'm confident the card isn't broken, as I tested it in my old computer.

I do have previous drivers in addition to the drivers for the NVIDIA GeForce 5200. Do you really think they might be causing the problem? And if so, why would I not have had the problem before? (i.e. why did it only now stop working?)

[selden]

Hungry,

I don't know why the display would have suddenly stopped working, but...

My experience has been that Windows has the nasty habit of disabling graphics ports if nothing is plugged into them when Windows boots. Moving the display from one port to another while the computer is up won't work. Only the graphics ports which detected a display at boot time will generate an output signal while Windows is running. If you haven't already, please try rebooting Windows after plugging the display into the Nvidia graphics card. Better yet, you might try plugging a (cheap, borrowed, old) display into the motherboard adapter at the same time. You should see the boot sequence on both.

Some computers will refuse to use a plugin graphics card if the motherboard graphics controller is enabled. You might check your BIOS documentation to see if that's supposed to be the case for your computer.

[Hungry4info]

If you haven't already, please try rebooting Windows after plugging the display into the Nvidia graphics card.

Alright, I tried it. No luck

I'm afraid that even though I have two video cards, I only have one slot on my motherboard that they are compatable with. =\

[Chuft-Captain]

Hungry,

A couple of other possibilities...
1. You may have what they call a "cold" connection on the motherboard slot on your new machine. This just means that for some reason a good electrical connection is not being made with the video card. This can present as intermittent failures, and may be the result of dirt/dust collected in the motherboard slot, corrosion, or just a loose connection with a particular card. This might explain why it's OK with one card, and not the other.
Sometimes removing and replacing the card a few times (carefully) may dislodge dirt/dust. (But you did say it was a new machine so I would think in your case this shouldn't be the issue.)

2. Did you use an anti-static wrist-strap or mat and earth yourself properly when handling any part of the circuitry? It's possible to fry any motherboard or videocard circuit with static from your body.

I hope it's not scenario 2.

CC

Incidentally, you should never mess with the internals when the machine is running.

[cartrite]

I have installed the drivers for the graphics card into this computer, but not the drivers for the monitor. (It shouldn't matter? Should it? It worked fine earlier)

What driver version are you using? The latest Nvidia drivers probably don't support a NVIDIA GeForce 5200. But if it worked before?????? I don't know why a driver/card would just stop working.
Still, if you are using a new driver, you may want to try installing the original driver that came with the card if you still have it. If it works, search of Nvidia's archive and carefully search the supported products list for the latest driver for your card. Every driver download page should have a link to the list for that driver.
cartrite

[cartrite]

Thinking more about this, it doesn't seem to be related to the driver. More like a bios setting got switched off or on. Your graphics card should get the monitor running before the computer even boots or the driver starts running.

Maybe some malicious software got into your computer while on the internet. You could try to update Windows XP to SP3 and one of the updates will be a malicious software removal tool. Not sure how it works though. It may be automatic? A virus scan and/or a malware/spyware scan wouldn't hurt either.
cartrite

[Hungry4info]

I'm convinced it's the motherboard's fault now. I've gone through multiple video cards, and it seems that no matter what card I put in, and no matter what port I plug it in to, it doesn't work.

No change under SP3.

[LordFerret]

I would start taking a look at free/open source motherboard diagnostics, something that allows you to download an ISO so that you can boot into it and then just let it run (like overnight) and test the heck out of it.

A motherboard tester (diagnostics) -
http://www.freshdevices.com/
freshdevices also produces 'Fresh Download', which is similar to 'free download manager' which I'd used for ages before moving to Linux.

A memory tester I've used -
http://www.memtest.org/

Hitachi's drive fitness test (non-destructive, I've used) -
Instructions: http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/downloads/Dft32_User_Guide.pdf
Where to get it: http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

Seagate has drive diagnostics also, but I believe they only work on Seagate drives -
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools

Good luck!

[Hungry4info]

LordFerret, thank-you for those resources. I used the Fresh Diagnose software, and on my AGP slot, before I put the video card in, it says

Code: Select all

Slot designation:                        J6C1
Slot Type:                               AGP 4X
Data Bus Width:                          32 bits
Current Usage:                           Available
Slot Length:                             Full Length
Slot ID:                                 0x01
Provides 5.0 Volts:                      No
Provides 3.3 Volts:                      Yes
Shared Slot Opening:                     No
PC Card slot supports PC Card-16:        No
PC Card slot supports Zoom Video:        No
PC Card slot supports Modem Ring Resume: No
PCI slot supports PME# signal:           No
Slot supports hot-plug devices:          No
PCI slot supports SMBUs signal:          No


After I put the video card in, it says the same thing.
So it seems my motherboard is completely oblivious to the video card's existence.

Edit:
Both my graphics adapters and one of my USB ports use the same IRQ. Into that USB port, I have a mini-usb / usb adapter cable that I plug my mp3 player into. Just like with the video card, the mp3 player acknowledges that it is plugged in (it turns on and says "connected"), but the computer seems oblivious to the mp3 player's existence.

Is it possible that the entire IRQ doesn't work? Lol.
Is it possible to get my video card to use a different IRQ? And if so, would that work?

[Hungry4info]

Edit:
Both my graphics adapters and one of my USB ports use the same IRQ. Into that USB port, I have a mini-usb / usb adapter cable that I plug my mp3 player into. Just like with the video card, the mp3 player acknowledges that it is plugged in (it turns on and says "connected"), but the computer seems oblivious to the mp3 player's existence.

Is it possible that the entire IRQ doesn't work? Lol.
Is it possible to get my video card to use a different IRQ? And if so, would that work?

Nevermind, got the Mp3 player to work, doesn't seem related to the video card's problem.

Well, that's it. I'm all outta ideas. Anyone?

[selden]

It sounds to me like a hardware problem. I suggest that you visit a forum related to the manufacturer of the computer or of the motherboard that you have. There will be people there who are quite familiar with its quirks.

[LordFerret]

I tend to agree with Selden there. But, before you do, you might want to try the following - I found this in an old forum...

Is the BIOS set to choose the AGP first? If not set it that way.

Boot into Safe Mode. Go to Device Manager and delete the items that show up incorrectly (or without drivers). Try rebooting Normally and see if it rebuilds the items correctly.

Go to Windows Update and see if it recommends newer drivers for your video controller and/or a newer VIA 4-in-1 driver set. Failing that, go to your mobo's mfr website (or system if it is a branded system) and DL/install the latest VIA drivers and BIOS for your machine.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/139648-45-geforce-5200-card-recognized-upgrade-winxp

[Hungry4info]

From what I can tell, the AGP port was bad.
No longer an issue. I just bought a new computer just for Celestia

[Fenerit]

Right!