Newer video card + older mobo

[epileptic]

I ordered a Sapphire 8500LE for my dads beater comp, mainly for the tv-out. Problem is it doesnt post or give any video just a weird beep followed by a few short beeps. I tested the card in my vnf3-250 and it works fine there. I thought agp is backwards compatible with 4x or 8x. my questions are why is this not working, and is there anything I can do like maybe a bios flash to get it going?

 

[BFG10K]

You may need a BIOS flash for your motherboard. Also it may only have a 3.3V AGP slot while the Radeon requires 1.5V.

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: epileptic
I ordered a Sapphire 8500LE for my dads beater comp, mainly for the tv-out. Problem is it doesnt post or give any video just a weird beep followed by a few short beeps. I tested the card in my vnf3-250 and it works fine there. I thought agp is backwards compatible with 4x or 8x. my questions are why is this not working, and is there anything I can do like maybe a bios flash to get it going?

To start with, look up the beep codes for the MB in that older PC. The number and sequence of beeps have real meanings attached to them. While you are checking the specs for the MB, see if it's an AGP-1 type.

There are some later type video cards that can be destroyed by stuffing them into an AGP-1 era slot. They come with warnings about this in their manuals. 2x, 4x, & 8x AGP are all interchangeable as regards lowered power draw. 8500's are relatively old when discussing video cards, because change in this area is so very rapid, however, I'm relatively certain it's a 4x, if not even an 8x. There may be some moderately old motherboards that need specific settings in the setup to help them differentiate between AGP-1 and 2x. Did you check for that?



:frown:

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
You may need a BIOS flash for your motherboard. Also it may only have a 3.3V AGP slot while the Radeon requires 1.5V.

An old MB like yours - P3 tualatin, right? - supplys 3.3v (i believe) to your agp slot. if you look really closely, you'll see your Radeon doesn't really fit; your 8500 requires only 1.5v - your MB will FRY it!

 

[epileptic]

the mobo is a asus cusl2-c, it has a celeron3 coppermine core in it now...I dont think it has tualitin support but maybe. the card that was in it is a tnt2 ...is that a 3.3v card? im going to buy a radeon7000 today and see if it works...

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: epileptic
the mobo is a asus cusl2-c, it has a celeron3 coppermine core in it now...I dont think it has tualitin support but maybe. the card that was in it is a tnt2 ...is that a 3.3v card? im going to buy a radeon7000 today and see if it works...

i believe your MB is the older 3.3v AGP spec.

TO BE SURE, look on the mfg's website
(i am too lazy, afterall, it is not MY mb)

The Radeon 7000 (original Radeon 64 DDR) is the older spec and should work . . . .

again, check both ati's and asus' websites.

 

[tungtung]

epileptic: better check your manual for the meaning of those beeps.
A friend of mine had a very old Aopen board which is still using Slot 1 and AGP 2x.
Last week another friend of our lend her a used Radeon 9800SE and it works fine on that old board.
So I believe since the CUSL-2C has an AGP 4x then the card should work fine.
I mean 8500LE is about a year older than 9800SE.

Edit: Also I don't think a 1.5 volt card will fit into a 3.3 volt AGP slot.

 

[epileptic]

thanks for all the responses. I don't think there is anything I can do to get the 8500LE to work in the cusl2-c. its already running the most recent bios version...and the Radeon 7000 I picked up today works fine. I guess ill put it on ebay or something....I paid 34 shipped from allstarshop and now the same card is 46 shipped...might work out after all.