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Video card issue?

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15 replies

by caskier

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I recently built a new PC with an AMD Athlon XP 1600, Biostar motherboard (recommended by AMD), 256MB DDRAM, Diamond S540 video card with 64MB on-board. The machine ran fine for a month or so but now, randomly, the monitor will shut off like it's insleep mode and a beep will come out of my speakers at about a 2 second interval. If I try to reboot, many times the monitor doesn't come out of sleep mode and it doesn't sound like the hard drive is booting. Does this sound like a problem with my video card or my hard drive? My video card is not supported by Windows XP.

15 replies

by dmiles

This accessment could be accurate that driver software are not functioning properly if the board is not supported by Windows XP,you could try using W2K drivers from the video card manufacturers web site

Then you may want to check the memory modules to make sure they are seated properly and have not gone bad.

Check the Advanced Power Management settings,by disabling to see if this will help

by madmark

Hmmm, Sounds like a video problem alright. If you can get it to boot, check for interrupt conflicts. If none are present, check for intterupt SHARING. Try not to share interrupts. Some devices will just grab a default IRQ despite it's being in use elsewhere intermittently.

When the beeps come, are they steady or just two or three and then silence? Try diabling the Advanced Power Saving Settings in the BIOS.

Backup your data. Make sure that you have the latest drivers installed. If you are running XP and the video card isn't supported, IT ISN'T SUPPORTED. There is usually a reason. Get one that is, or use a different OS.

by thechas

While XP may not support the Diamond S540, it does support the Savage 4 chipset on the card.

I would start by making sure that you have the latest video bios from Diamond installed.

Then, try the XP Savage 4 reference driver from www.s3graphics.com

If you still have problems, try re-seating the video card in its slot.
Then check for updated drivers for the motherboard.

If you check IRQ assigments as suggested by answer 2, you will find that XP places almost everything on 1 IRQ. My XP system has all devices on IRQ9, and there is no way to change them.

Chas

by caskier

The card was not seated right. There's a gap between the card and the case to screw the card in securely. If I screw it in, it pulls the back end of the card out of the slot.

by montea7

I would also run a motherboard monitor to check your temperatures and power supply. Since this worked fine for some period of time.....
Temperature could be the source of the trouble
Weak power supply could also be the source

If you do not have a motherboard utility on the cd that came with your Biostar go to
http://www.hatman.com/mbm/mbm.htm
download and install the monitor.

by adembo

Make sure you have installed all of your motherboard drivers. If it is a VIA chipset, that includes a AGP driver. I think a motherboard BIOS update is always a good idea. Be careful though!

by hs_it

This could be a video card issue, but sounds like a power issue to the video card or motherboard. What wattage power supply are you using? The AMD XP cpu's require a good power supply to operate correctly. If the power supply is inadequate of failing you will get this type of error.

by cbovay

Sometimes a video card overheats and causes problems. Make sure the fan is working on the card, and it's not too dusty. Also, if there is a card adjacent to the vid card, it may not let airflow properly. Try an additional fan or different fan placement. It is getting warmer out, and I've had 2 customers with heat problems now that summer is here. Make sure to check the power supply as stated above, also.

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