No display to my brand new comp

N

nickrfroberts

Geek Trainee
I have an Intel D848PMB, Pentium 4, 256MB RAM (for testing purposes, anyway) and a GeForce FX5500 256MB DDR

Now, my motherboard has slots for PCI. The motherboard has no onboard way to hook up a monitor. My GeForce is fit into a PCI slot which my monitor is connected to. The power cords are hooked up, and my drives are disconnected for testing purposes.

All I have hooked up is the CPU, Heat sink, RAM, video card, keyboard and monitor, and cords leading from the power button of my tower are also hooked to the motherboard. When I press power, it starts just fine. If I hook up my fans, they run. There is a green light lit on the motherboard.

However, the video display will not work. After carefully reviewing the instructions manual included with the motherboard's accompanying cd, it IMPLIES I can only use an AGP video card. Is this true?

I can't get to the bios, because nothing appears on the monitor. I'm stumped, my more computer-apt friends are stumped, and I really need advice. So am I doing something stupid, or do I need to buy an AGP video card and get rid of the GeForce?
 
Your one of the few people on these forums that list all thier specs and what they've attempted!

Now, that may be true as some mobos are designed to run with AGP vid cards only but you can try installing the card in a different PCI slot for starters.
 
I'm getting pretty desparate here, so I will try to run it in all three of my PCI slots, hoping one will work.
If not, is it safe to assume that an AGP is necessary?

edit: by the way, the video card and monitor have been tested on my other comp, and they work
 
yes, i think it is safe to say that, or maybe you could also try emailing INTEL support and asking them about compatibility!
 
Hmmm... especially since I have the GeForce for PCI anyway...
A mobo would certainly be cheaper than buying a similar quality AGP card, I'm sure.

Any suggestions on a cheap model that will serve my purposes, given what my computer has? Bearing in mind, I plan to upgrade my memory to 1GB.

I bought a cheap sound card, thinking I needed one. On this mobo I have, the onboard soundcard seems to be not much worse than the soundcard, so it felt like a waste. This is my first time putting a computer together from scratch.


edit: Oh, and on the mobo's accompanying CD there was some documentation about the bios. Apparently it can be changed to PCI there. Problem is, until I have a AGP card, which I don't, I can't see the screen to change the input to PCI.
 
could you borrow a AGP card off someone for 10 minutes so you can change it to PCI?
otherwise i would recommend a good ASUS or ABIT board as theyre very stable and of good qulity!
 
I'm considering buying a cheap AGP video card, bringing it home, changing it, and then going back to the store and exchange it and pay for a more expensive item, like a bigger hard drive. :D
 
well you might be able to exchange that PCI of yours for an AGP if theyll let you or you could memorise your BIOS and try changing the settings BLIND, if you stuff anything up just reset your BIOS!
 
your bios might not be set to use a PCI card, check in there if there is an option to change it from searching for an AGP card to search for a PCI card.
 
Euh, as I said, I can't do that until I can see what I'm doing.

And pelvis, I already tried doing it blind by reading the menu. Didn't work.
 
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