hi,

This is the video card I am attempting to install:

Diamond Stealth S70, GeForce2 MX 400, 64 MB AGP

And this is the system I am attempting to install it to:

Gateway Model GP7-600
Windows 98 SE
128 MB RAM
P3 600 MHz
EV500 15-inch Monitor with 13.9-inch Viewable Area
Intel (Tabor3) BX Motherboard R3
200-Watt 3.3-Volt LP Power Supply with 700ma
RIVA 16MB TNT-2 M64 AGP Video Card
4 PCI slots
1 1x(3.3v) AGP slot
1 shared (PCI/ISA) slot


The situation:
I removed the old video card and installed the Stealth card. I powered on the computer. The computer made 3 beeps and then shut itself down. Nothing ever appeared on the screen. I un-screwed the monitor cable and then re-attached it. Powered on the computer again and this time it seemed OK. The screen that displays the video card’s name and RAM appeared and then Windows launched. I installed the most recent driver (S70909XME) from the Diamond website. The driver appeared to install successfully and I was prompted to restart. I restarted, the video card’s information screen appeared again, the Windows splash screen appeared, then the screen went blank. Only a blinking cursor appeared. It seems like the driver cannot install properly or something, but I don’t know.

I’m wondering if anyone has experience with this type of card and if they can give me an idea of what I should do next.

thanks

You may be having a problem with the AGP slot. You listed yours as being a 1x AGP slot on the mobo, correct? That new vid card of yours is a 4x AGP card. 1x and 4x don't mix well, and I'm surprised it displays anything at all. If you can check the manuals on both products for the AGP support, you might be able to get those two to work together.

What you need on the computer's end is written confirmation that the AGP slot is 1x/2x compatible. What you need on the vid card's end is written confirmation that the card can suport a 2x/4x AGP slot. If you can get both of these, we can work further. If not, it's best to just return the card and get a PCI vid card upgrade. Those are much easier to work with.

Did you remove the drivers for the old card first?

Three beeps means the memory did not past the post test.

Re-seat the memory.

Re-seat the video card

Boot into safe mode and remove all traces of all video drivers.

Re-install driver on startup

let us know what happens.

saphalline:

According to the Gateway website, the AGP slot is 1x and 2x compatible. The video card's instruction manual doesn't mention if it is 2x or 4x compatible. It does, however, list an "AGP 2.0/3.0 1.5 volt compliant slot" as a minimum system requirement for the card. The AGP slot on the computer is apparently 3.3 volts.

I also noticed that the card's manual listed a "250 watt power supply" as a minimum requirement. According to Gateway, this computer has a 200 watt power supply.

I read on a forum somewhere that power incompatibilities can cause blank screens. Do you think that's what I'm encountering here?


classicsoftware:
Before I removed the old video card, I attempted to remove the old driver by right-clicking it in the device manager and selecting Remove. Apparently, that didn't get rid of it, because I put the old card back in when the new one didn't work and the old driver automatically re-appeared in the Device manager.

I'm not sure how to go about completely removing the old video driver.

Device Mngr doesn't delete the old drivers, just "unregisters em"
They're still in System folder, but inert, the old INF file's still around also

To remove the old driver, boot into safe mode, then double-click on Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. Find the driver for the card and delete it.

Although I wouldn't remove the old driver just yet. It sounds like that Gateway PC can't handle the AGP spec anyway. 1x and 2x are of the AGP 1.0 sped, and the card requires a 2.0 spec slot, so I'm afraid it's a no-go with that card. At this point, you're better off getting something like a GF FX 5200 PCI vid card. That will work without a problem, once you remove the old vid card's driver. ;)

Thanks to all for the advice. I will probably be ordering a PCI video card soon. I will let you know how that goes.

I returned the Stealth AGP card and got a Jaton PCI geforce 2 mx 400 card as a replacement. The card and its driver installed without any major problems. The only issue involved the USB mouse driver, which for some reason needed to be reinstalled from the Windows 98 SE installation disk. This was but a trivial issue, though, when compared to the troubles I had trying to get that AGP card to work.

I guess in the future I will avoid AGP cards when dealing with older systems.

Thanks again for all of the advice.

Glad you got it all sorted out! That card should be a nice upgrade, too. You are quite welcome for the help, by the way, that's what we're here for. And thanx to you for coming back and letting us know how you got along, that is much appreciated. It always helps us to give better advice next time if we know what worked last time. :cool: