MSI NX6600GT issues

[Aardcore]

This sucks, I'm starting to think this card is only capable to be on an Athlon 64 or some P4 processor cuz I've tried everything else, even replaced the power supply in my computer from a weak 240W to a 400W and I thought that was the problem that there wasn't enough power going through the thing and still nothing happens. Even updated the BIOS and... well... nothing happened, same problem even when I tried.

Here's what happens, I put the 6600 in, hook up the monitor, turn it on and everything turns on but nothing happens. The light that goes off when data is being read is constantly on and all I get is a black screen and silence besides the fans going off.

I have an HP Pavilion a420n with an Athlon 3000+ XP ( A7V8X-LA )
1.5 GB RAM, I upgraded it from the 512 it came with
400W Power Supply
If I'm missing anything that's worth mentioning, please tell me what else I should tell, someone please help me out because I feel real stupid having spent money on a new power supply for something that it probably didn't even work with in the first place if needed and then some... I feel ripped off :cry:

[RGPHNX]

Hi Aardcore,
You can find all the help you need to troubleshoot your card at my website.. start at the beginning of the "troubleshooting" section & work your way thru to the video card section...etc.
Post back if you STILL need more help. :)
RGPHNX

[Aardcore]

Jesus christ, still no help and that post was of no great importance either. Can someone PLEASE come in and help?

[RGPHNX]

Hi again Aardcore,
We need MORE detailed info to help you out!!!!!!!!!
Your last post re:

Jesus christ, still no help and that post was of no great importance either. Can someone PLEASE come in and help?

doesn't give us enough info to go on...

Troubleshooting is a step by step process..
If you miss only one step.. then.. nothing works. :(
Please post back the EXACT steps you have done (in detail).

It's possible that you'll need to completely un-install your video card & then re-install in again (including the newest up to date drivers from the manufacturer's website). However, I wouldn't go to the time & trouble of doing this unless you have already done the basic complete system troubleshooting.. step by step.

If all that fails.. then you've probably got a "dead" video card :( :( OR the video card is somehow "incompatible" with your system (CHECK the specs & requirements from the manufacturer).

Hope this helps,
RGPHNX

[Aardcore]

Okay so here's what happened, I got the card, took it out of the box. Unplugged everything from the computer, opened it up, took the old ATI Radeon 7000 out and put the new NX6600GT in, plugged it up and everything else, made sure it was fitted into the AGP slot, screwed it in, plugged the VGA cord up from the monitor, turned it on and nothing was really happening. It turned on but nothing was really happening all I got was a blank screen and the light that goes off when the computer is processing data was constantly on. I left it alone for a few minutes just to see what was going on then I just shut it off with nothing happening. I put the old ATI 7000 back in and everything was working normal again. I tried the NX6600 again, same thing, nothing happened that's when I noticed it demanded a minimum 350W power supply... so I went out and got a new one, a 400W power supply and changed my old 210W. I tried the NX6600 again and the same thing happened, the processing light was still constantly on and nothing happened, just a blank screen and that was about it. I put the ATI 7000 back in and it was back to normal again.

Either I have a dead card and got ripped off or my computer hates the card, I'm not sure but I'm pretty sure my computer holds the rest of the specs it needs... unless this card is only supported on the new 64-bit supported motherboards...

[Coconut Monkey]

That card should work fine with that configuration. While I hope you purchased a reputable brand of PSU for your system, the PC should at least turn on, which leads me to believe that you have a dud card. Is it possible for you to test the card in another system with an AGP4X or better slot and suitable PSU?

[RGPHNX]

Hi again Aardcore,
Thanks for the additional info. From the sequence you describe...
Looks like you "might have" forgotten to install the "drivers" program for your new video card. :sad:
If that's the case.. then.. you need to put your old video card in the computer.. then..copy the drivers for your new video card (follow the manufacturer's directions) to your hard drive....then.. put your new card in the computer... then.. it should work.
If it works you'r done :D
Just in case it doesn't work..
you'll need to put your old card back in the computer.. then.. UN-install the old card & remove it from the computer...then...hook up your monitor to the video connection on the motherboard(NOT the video card)...then.. put your new video card back in the computer.. then install the drivers..then.. hook up your monitor to the new video card. It should work.
If it still doesn't work.. bad news :sad: :sad: :sad: .. the new video card is dead.
CHECK OUT THE TROUBLESHOOTING CHARTS - you'll get more related details there.
Hope this helps
RGPHNX

[Coconut Monkey]

Hi again Aardcore,
Thanks for the additional info. From the sequence you describe...
Looks like you "might have" forgotten to install the "drivers" program for your new video card. :sad:

RGPHNX, that's not the case at all. The PC is not even booting up correctly to begin with! Drivers only come into play once Windows has started up and Aardcore isn't even getting a POST screen. Hence my assumption that the card is a dud.

Your post does bring something else to my attention however. Aardcore, is the Radeon 7000 an AGP card as well? If it's actually a PCI card, then you may have to head into your BIOS (with the Radeon in) to set the video card preference to AGP rather than PCI.

[Aardcore]

Ripped off! I feel ripped off! I just bought an ATI Radeon x700 Pro just to see if something less 'powerful' would work in this thing and the same exact thing happened! This sucks! LOL My computer likes nothing more than this old ATI 7000 in there. I did the same thing with the x700, like I said, and the same exact thing happened. Nothing comes up on the screen and the reading light stays constantly on so I put the 7000 back in and it's back to normal... again...

Either I have REALLY bad luck and both cards I got happen to be duds and faulty cards... or something else is going on...

[Aardcore]

And yeah, the Radeon 7000 is an AGP card as well and I set the BIOS to work on AGP, but the Radeon 7000 is an AGP and has been working on that ever since so I dunno why when I put these two other cards in, my computer doesn't work, it just sits with the black screen, the fans going off and that light staying on like it's trying to process something.

I've done everything I could, updated the BIOS, the AGP driver, practically everything including changing the PSU! I'm out of ideas right now...

[Coconut Monkey]

In regards to the extra power connector for the card (I trust you did connect this?), is it a dedicated line with no other devices hooked up to it?

[Aardcore]

Depends on which one you're talking about, remember I have two, I got the NX6600GT first then got the ATI x700 recently to see if it was just that NX6600 having problems but they're both doing the same thing.

As for power connection, yeah, I've connected them but the way they connect to the power is different. The NX6600GT card has a power supply that hooks directly from the power supply. The x700 connects from a 4 pin connector that splits into a receiving end and connecting connector. If you're not sure what I mean for the x700, it has a slot where you put the main connector from the PSU itself to it then hook up the 4-pin connector to the x700 card then hook up the last remaining connector to the harddrive, just as it's directed to be from the manual.

Ultimately, I just want to figure out why neither of these cards work and why they do the SAME exact thing: no post screen, blank screen and the fans continuously spinning at full capacity like it's trying to blow out hot air.

[Coconut Monkey]

Are you able to test the cards in another PC?

[Aardcore]

I should do that, have a friend bring his tower over and check it out, there's my brother's but I don't really want to risk opening his computer up and him going apeshit... he's a case when it comes to people messing with his stuff as 'important' as that, till then, I'll just have to hang tight. Gah... I still feel ripped off LOL

Over 350 bucks of video cards just sitting here with wicked potential.

[RGPHNX]

Hi again Aardcore,
If your not even gettinG a "post" screen (ie. black screen with white letters showing you the bios version etc.).. then I agree with "Coconut Monkey's" post that's it's not a driver issue.
So what's left ? It's either a....
> card/motherboard incopatibility issue... or a ..
> power (connections) issue.. or a..
> motherboard slot issue (maybee the slot burnt out- try another identical slot if you have one)... or a..
> motherboard circuitry issue ( the bus circuity is bad ) :sad: or.. a..
> two dead video cards

It's highly unlikely that you could have bought two dead video cards in a row.
If you can't test the cards in another computer.. then...
Re-check ALL you connections first..then
swap slots & re-try (if you can).. then...
troubleshoot the entire hardware system.
Just go step by step & don't assume anything
Hope this helps
RGPHNX

[Aardcore]

I'm pretty sure it's just some weird power connection issue... thanks for the help guys, if I have anything else to bring up I will, till then I'll just have to dish around with what I can since I've practically done everything that I can and all that's left to do really is... just mess around with the wires I suppose.

[keith999]

hey aardcore..

I have a similar issue with the same computer...different card...i bought the nvidia geforece 6600 gt oc..i have pretty much the same setup as you with an updated power supply...430 watts

I get the black screen at startup, and when i put my old card in ..ati radeon 8500 it works fine.

I contacted hp support and they said that my issue is the agp slot doesn't support this card becasue the slot is only at 300MHZ. The card i bought requires 525 mhz!!! This pissed me off because i meet the minimum sys requirements, and it fails to mention the speed of the agp slot...just that it needs 8x support. I have the same motherboard as well A7V8x-la. I didnt' update the BIOS, and probably won't now becasue it didn't work with yours.

I am going to investigate this further in case the guy at hp was full of shit.
Is there a way to overclock the agp slot...if so this may fix the problem, where do you find out the mhz of your agp slot??? I can't find it anywhere in windows

[Coconut Monkey]

The HP tech support fellow is probably referring to the type of AGP slot, but he sounds rather mixed up. AGP8X slots run at an effective speed of 533Mhz, while AGP4X slots run at 266Mhz.

You can overclock the AGP bus, but this will (for many motherboards) also overclock the PCI bus and require that you overclock your front side bus (and thus your CPU). Overclocking the AGP/PCI buses will also result in system instability because they don't like operating very far from their standard frequencies.

[keith999]

Yeah..I thought he was a little messed up, but i'm more than sure that this motherboard supports this.

I have a asus a7v8x-la .

Any suggestions for this problem....maybe i'll try updating the bios

thanks for your reply

[Aardcore]

forget this LOL I'm just gonna hold onto the videocards... over 350 bucks worth and I'll just wait till I build some new ones or something, gah... I give up on this, I'm rest assured this thing's just... outdated and these cards are for the newer generation that this computer cannot live up to. Thanks for the help everyone who helped and elaborated and also stated their own problems, but I give up LOL

[madcrazy]

Hey, I have the same problem. I got an eVGA 6600gt and when I put the card in my computer and tried to start it up, nothing. The monitor doesn't wake up, and all I get is fan noise and my power and harddrive light stay solid. I also have an the A7v8x-la mobo. I put my old gforce4 ti4800se back in and it runs fine. I have a coolmax 400w powersupply in my system. I tried plugging the card into my folks computer, which had like only a 200w psu and is agp 4x and I got it to run on there. I'm startin to suspect there's something wrong with this mobo/video card combo.

[Aardcore]

I honestly think it's the mobo. the A7v8xa-la is a VIA brand motherboard and it's very... very particular from what I've discovered. You'd have better luck on something else than that but I've done everything, updated the bios, updated the 4-in-1 drivers and the AGP drivers, even got a 450w power supply and nothing. It has to be the motherboard. the A7v8x-la is a neo-gen videocard nazi.

[madcrazy]

It's gotta be the mobo, although I did find a few people with the mobo and video card, but it might be the later model. They had 2 A7v8x-la models (kamet 2 and kelut 2) I've got the earlier kamet 2 which is the VIA KM400 chipset, The other one is KM400A chipset. So I'm thinkin there's probably some bios issue in this model that they still haven't addressed...god knows when they will. I even found some posting in French with people having the same problem (6600gt and a7v8x-la) not working. I rma'd my card and out a 15% restocking fee, I might as well wait until I upgrade my mobo to buy another card and if I upgrade I might as well move on to PCI-E. I'm sure with my luck an updated BIOS will be posted like next week to fix the problem.