Need help installing a video card (and BIOS help)

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himynameisbuddy

Member
Aug 28, 2007
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I have the card physically installed in my PC. I plugged it into a power plug and its fan is running, so I know there's power going to it. I just can't, for the life of me, seem to get my new card to show up in the Device Manager... I don't know what to do.

Also, just today, I started not being able to access BIOS (thought I could change some settings to get my VGA card to show up). My board says to press Delete or F8, but neither of those work... and I have used BIOS many times before with this same PC.

The card is an EVGA Geforce 8600 GTS, PCI-Express x16.
Mobo - ASUS M2NPV-VM (does support PCI-Express x16)
Athlon 64 3200+, 2.0 GHz
2 Gigs OCZ RAM
Nothing overclocked

Thanks,
~Buddy~
 
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olmer

Senior member
Dec 28, 2006
324
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If you are still using onboard than you have to disable it and enable PCIE in BIOS.
You may be using USB keyboard with it not being supported by default by your bios in current socket/at all. Try primary USB port if it is the case or ps2.
 
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himynameisbuddy

Member
Aug 28, 2007
47
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I'm going to try using BIOS again - I just got Device Manager to recognize a "Video Controller (VGA Compatible)". So it knows it's there... I tried to install the drivers from the CD that came with it, but after that, my computer restarted and my internet didn't work - I just used System Restore and everything's okay now, but I still can't use my video card. I'm going to try to access BIOS now and I'll post again.

EDIT: I hope this is just because of my video card not working, but when I scroll down webpages (any pages, for that matter), it looks really crappy - like, the bottom of the screen moves before the top; kinda hard to explain...?
 
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himynameisbuddy

Member
Aug 28, 2007
47
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0
Nope - still can't access BIOS for some reason. My keyboard is USB (brand new keyboard, actually), and it works fine now... that's weird that BIOS won't recognize it. Could that be the case? I guess I could try to find a PS/2 keyboard somewhere.
 
RadiclDreamer

RadiclDreamer

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2004
8,622
40
91
You need to enable legacy usb support in your bios for it to be able to use a usb kb.

As for the system seeing the card as VGA, that just means the card doesnt have the drivers loaded. check the nvidia site for updated ones as the ones that usually come with the cd are old
 
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himynameisbuddy

Member
Aug 28, 2007
47
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Ah, Radicl, you seem to be right about the Legacy USB thing... I'm going to do that (got my hands on a PS/2 kb). The drivers for my card that are installed are from the EVGA website, so I'm not sure what the problem is...
 
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himynameisbuddy

Member
Aug 28, 2007
47
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Well, I got into BIOS (using a PS/2 kb), but the USB LEGACY SUPPORT was already set to Enabled. I disabled it, then enabled it again, just in case there was a little bug - but that didn't help. Still can't access BIOS with my USB keyboard. It's a new Saitek Eclipse keyboard - I don't know why it's being so weird. I don't think there are any drivers for the kb. Could it be that my BIOS need updating? If so, how can I do that? My mobo is listed in the first post.
 
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himynameisbuddy

Member
Aug 28, 2007
47
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UGH! I'm so frustrated... I've given up on the not being able to access BIOS thing (I'll just use a PS/2 kb when I need to).

Is there anyone that can help me to just get my video card working? It's plugged in to the PC correctly (into the PCI-E slot, and a power cable attached). It is not even showing up in the Device Manager anymore (it was at one point, but under the "Unknown" section). Any ideas???
 
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himynameisbuddy

Member
Aug 28, 2007
47
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Oh. No, I don't. Hmmm, wonder what I was thinking...

Oh, I actually remember why I didn't - there are 2 white ports on the video card, and my monitor has a blue plug (doesn't fit the white ports) - BUT, the video card did come with an adapter, but when I plugged my monitor into the adapter, then into the video card, my monitor didn't work. I'll try again, in both slots - thanks for helping, Radicl - I'm a noob, and you're very resourceful :)
 
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himynameisbuddy

Member
Aug 28, 2007
47
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Well, I tried both ports and my monitor was just black when plugged into both (but the power LED was still on). Just having a video card in the machine doesn't mean anything until the monitor is plugged into it? Or am I wrong? Either way, I still dunno what to do :(
 
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TemjinGold

Diamond Member
Dec 16, 2006
3,050
65
91
The display is still black because your onboard video is still turned on. You need to go into the bios and disable onboard video, then set the display to PCIE. Now save and exit, power down, and swap the monitor plug to the card.

As for the "ugly bottom" problem you were having when scrolling pages, this is because you didn't have drivers and standard vga in XP or under (I assume you're not on Vista) is crappy slow, so what you are seeing is that the display has a hard time keeping up with the scrolling (lag, if you will.)
 
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himynameisbuddy

Member
Aug 28, 2007
47
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0
Yes, once drivers were installed the scrolling thing did fix itself, thanks :) . As for the BIOS thing, I just can't seem to find anything about PCIE at all - the only thing that's there about PCIE is already enabled... I'll try again and see what I find.
 
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himynameisbuddy

Member
Aug 28, 2007
47
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HA! THAT DID IT!!! Thanks, Temjin... apparently, the first couple times I went through BIOS I must've missed it... it was something called "Primary Video Device," which was set to onboard - I changed it to PCI-E, and I'm now a happy man :) . Went without a hitch... thanks so much everyone for your help - much appreciated.

~Buddy (a very happy Buddy)~
 
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TemjinGold

Diamond Member
Dec 16, 2006
3,050
65
91
Glad that worked. On a lot of BIOSes, the PCI-E option is listed as "PEG" (short for PCI Express Graphics).
 
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