novakom

Hi all,
So my main HDD went bad (the one with xp installed) on my 8-9 year old desktop so I bought a new one. I installed xp and got it up and running, but noticed that pretty much as soon as I got it up & running, there was unexpected display lag on things as simple as moving a window around (never been there before).

So I decided I'd get a new video card (current one is 6ish years old) after playing around seeing if there were any loose connections and unfortunately busting off a capacitor off the video card (I forgot there was an extra latch to unhook on AGP slots).

So I bought a new video card from best buy. They only had 2 AGP-based cards on sale, so I got one. Popped it in, first thing I saw was "Checking NVRAM..." during post and it hung there. Tried power off/on a few times, didn't even get that again-it either hung with no output to the display or beeped at me a bunch with no output to the display.

On a lark, I popped in my old video card (the one that I broke something off of) and look at that, it works fine. Lag I had seen before was still there, no real change. Dealt with the old setup for a few days, went back to best buy today, exchanged for their other AGP-based video card. Brought home, exact same thing-won't post at all, either beeps at me or stays silent without displaying anything to the screen.

My best guess is that the lag is due to the video card, though I suppose it's possible that the new HDD I bought is really crappy or something. I used to be able to full-screen online videos and get them relatively smooth and now when I full-screen it's choppy. Normal size they play fine. Thus I want to try to get one or the other of these new video cards to work to see if that's the problem.

My theories as to why the new cards won't work include:
1. My best guess right now is that my power supply is insufficient for my new card. I noticed that when I swapped in the new card a power connection to one of the fans started acting touchy whereas it used to work fine. Though it might just be going dead. More importantly however, the old card does not require an external power connector while both new cards do. This bothers me though because the 1st card I got said it required a 300W PS and the 2nd one says that it requires a 270W PS; I checked my PS and it says it's a 420W Max. Also, the PS has been louder than usual; I don't know what that implies. Maybe it's dying. Also, a quick google search shows people complaining about the model I have.
2. While trying to get xp installed, I was having other problems (some sort of IRQ conflict) so I ended up resetting the bios settings to the default. This might have screwed up something in recognizing the newer AGP. I have not as of yet explored updating the MB bios.
3. I boned something in messing around with the MB. I threw in an extra GB of RAM just 'cause I was doing general upgrading and xp sees it fine, so I think the RAM is fine, but I was messing around a bunch in there 'cause I had to swap a bunch of HDDs in to get some data off them. It's possible I broke something.

I'd rather not just build a new computer right now (though that's in the future plans-trying to keep costs down atm). So if anyone can explain why a clearly operational MB won't even post when I put in a new AGP video card, I'd like to at least try ruling out the video card before I try reinstalling windows again or something.

Specs:
CPU: 1.4Ghz Athlon XP 1500+
RAM: 2 GB
Motherboard: MSI MS-6712
Power Supply: Turbolink CWT-420ATX
Old Video Card (used to work fine): ATI Radeon 9000AGP Pro
New Video Card #1: ATI Radeon HD 3650 (VisionTek - ATI Radeon HD 3650 1GB DDR2 AGP Graphics Card - 900284)
New Video Card #2: ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro(VisionTek Radeon HD2400 Pro Graphics adapter - 512 MB - DDR2 SDRAM)
New HDD running windows: Western Digital Caviar Blue (7200 RPM, 320GB, EIDE)

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Phædrus2401

The power supply may certainly be the issue, but it's also possible that you have the wrong card for the slot. See, not all AGP slots are the same. The old cards use the 4X/8X version of the slot, while cards intended for newer machines are purely 8X. Because the voltage used is different, an 8X card will not work in a 4X/8X slot, and vice versa. Ensure that the card you got says 4X/8X on it (or on the packaging). If it doesn't you'll have to return that card and find an AGP card that is 4X/8X. I recommend looking on newegg.com:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...0Video%20Cards

novakom

That very well may be the problem. I'll give it a shot. Much appreciated.

emosun

Those new cards really aren't going to happen on that old board , there pci-e converted cards which typically don't work on old or cheap boards. Try just finding your original card on ebay or anything under the ati x series.

novakom

That's a good point. Taking your advice, 5 minutes of checking ebay turned up these two:

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
ATI Radeon 9200

My current card is the Radeon 9000, so these are both in the same "family", and both are listed as being 4x/8x compliant. Is there any reason either or both shouldn't work? I checked my MB specs, it's supposed to be 4x/8x compliant (though the bios only allows you to pick 4x)

Thanks again!

emosun

Provided there isn't something wrong with the motherboard it self they should work , the 9800 would be a little better.

Phædrus2401

I think the best you could get new for that computer would be like a Radeon X1650. I think an X1950 might work, but I can't find any new, you might one used.

emosun

Maybe the x1650 , but not the x1950 on that psu.