Weird Video Problem

[leapingfrog0]

Hey Guys,

I'm trying to replace a failing video card in an HP Pavilion 8870 system, but the system is not liking the new video card for some reason.

When I remove the old card, insert the new card, and boot up, the system beeps at me - 1 long beep and then 2 short beeps which means "video failure" (as I understand).

I thought maybe the video card was defective or something, so I tested it in my computer and it works perfectly. When I put the old one back in, the video works fine (but is garbled -- that's why it's being replaced).

What's going on here?

New Video Card:
Asus V8170 Magic - Product Specs

Replaced Video Card:
Asus V3800 Pure - Product Specs

Is there some sort of compatibility issue or something?

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[Rkonster]

Wow, that is strange. It might be a compatibility issue. It also might be a motherboard problem on the pavilion.

 

[leapingfrog0]

Now that you mention that the motherboard could be the problem, would that also explain the "clicking" noises I'm hearing from the hard drive? It sounds like the drive is turning off and on very fast (mainly during drive access. I even heard it click several times while high-level formatting to FAT32). These are distinct clicking sounds, not like the normal clicking sound a hard drive makes when it's accessing data. Before formatting the drive, ScanDisk found lots of problems with the drive (crosslinked clusters or something... problems with the file system).

Thinking it was the drive itself, I ran quick and extended tests on the drive with Maxtor's PowerMax utilities and it passed all of the tests. After that, I low-level formatted and everything was okay there too.

Something is not right...

Any ideas?

 

[leapingfrog0]

Anyone?

 

[Mrpilot007]

Hard drive turning on and off usually is a power failure. Maybe its your power supply that is going bad or not supplying enough power anymore.

 

[mechBgon]

Also, did you get the new card all the way into the slot? AGP slots have two layers of contacts in them, so make sure to get down past both rows.

 

[leapingfrog0]

I swapped power connectors on the drive to see if the power connector was going bad. I'll have to see how that works out.

I ordered another video card for the system. My geforce2 card in my computer works fine with it, so there must be some compatability issue w/ the geforce4 mx or something.