I just bought myself an XFX GeForce 6600 GT AGP (http://www.xfxforce.com/product_view.php?sku=PVT43AND) video card, but ran into some difficulty installing it. My current system specifications are:

ASUS P4R800-V Deluxe motherboard
1 GB Samsung DDR400 (2 * 512 MB)
60 GB Western Digital IDE hard drive
350W Enermax PSU
Dell M770 monitor
Running Windows 2000 Professional SP4

I uninstalled my old display adapter (ATI 9100 IGP) from device manager, as directed in XFX's manual, installed the card physically, restarted the computer, and directed the Windows Add New Hardware wizard to the installation CD. It installed the drivers, then I restarted the computer.

When starting up Windows, right when the splash screen loading is done, the screen would display a funky pattern; a black background with whitish-grey horizontal lines running down the screen. After about fifteen seconds, the monitor status light would switch orange for ten seconds, then come back on, and the screen would show a different pattern; a black background with bright green and blue dots, and a few bright green horizontal bars (not extending down the whole page.)

I went into safe mode, uninstalled the drivers, rebooted, reinstalled drivers... same problem.

I went into safe mode, uninstalled the drivers, downloaded the latest drivers from the NVIDIA website, rebooted, reinstalled drivers... same problem.

I tried reinstalling the drivers several times, to no avail. I am thinking it is a defective card, but why would it work in safe mode and in Windows without drivers and not with the drivers? I don't think the drivers are bad, since I tried both from the CD and the NVIDIA site... so I'm out of ideas.

Has anyone else encountered this problem before?

ATI 9100 IGP. That sounds like you have integrated graphics. Check the BIOS to see if you can disable onboard graphics. Also make sure you connect a 4-pin power plug to the 6600GT.

I tried a couple different plugs in the 6600 GT, thinking that could be the problem, but it didn't fix it.

I looked in the BIOS, but there is no setting to disable the onboard video; at least nothing I can see. I was really only able to change "Init Display First: AGP or PCI." I kept it at AGP.

Alright, turns out it was a defective card... go figure. I ruled that out at the start because it worked fine in safe mode, but... well... I guess it still was. Either way, thanks for the reply, Deagle. I'll be sure to remember this one.