P2B-S/Graphics Compatability

[Rick]

Hoping someone can help me out. I'm running an Asus P2B-S (bios 1013) with a
PIII 850 (WinXP Pro). I purchased a BFG GeForce MX 4000 graphics card and I
get a black screen with several beeps when I try to boot. I called their
tech line and they said it might be a mother board compatibility problem as
the board is several years old. He said I could try updating to the latest
bios which from the Asus web site appears to be 1014.003. I can't seem to
find any info to tell me whether or not this update will do any good. Does
anyone know? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Rick

 

[P2B]

Hoping someone can help me out. I'm running an Asus P2B-S (bios 1013) with a
PIII 850 (WinXP Pro). I purchased a BFG GeForce MX 4000 graphics card and I
get a black screen with several beeps when I try to boot. I called their
tech line and they said it might be a mother board compatibility problem as
the board is several years old. He said I could try updating to the latest
bios which from the Asus web site appears to be 1014.003. I can't seem to
find any info to tell me whether or not this update will do any good. Does
anyone know? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Rick

BIOS 1014.003 is very stable, I've been running it for quite some time.
As compared to 1013, it adds support for larger IDE disks (up to 128GB)
and Tualatin Celeron processors, but AFAIK it will not address your
graphics card issue.

I have several P2B-S systems running Asus GeForce2 MX400 & GeForce4
MX420 cards with no issues. I've not seen "MX 4000" - possibly a typo?
If so, I guess it's possible "BFG" did something to render the card
incompatible, but I think it's more likely the card is defective. Do you
have another system you could use to test the graphics card?

P2B

http://tipperlinne.com/p2bmod

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

BIOS 1014.003 is very stable, I've been running it for quite some time.
As compared to 1013, it adds support for larger IDE disks (up to 128GB)
and Tualatin Celeron processors, but AFAIK it will not address your
graphics card issue.

I have several P2B-S systems running Asus GeForce2 MX400 & GeForce4
MX420 cards with no issues. I've not seen "MX 4000" - possibly a typo?
If so, I guess it's possible "BFG" did something to render the card
incompatible, but I think it's more likely the card is defective. Do you
have another system you could use to test the graphics card?

According to Nvidia's site the 4000 is an 8x budget card. I wonder if
the problem is an incompatability between the 8x card and the 2x slot on
the P2B-S.

 

[Roland Scheidegger]

I have several P2B-S systems running Asus GeForce2 MX400 & GeForce4
MX420 cards with no issues. I've not seen "MX 4000" - possibly a typo?

No, that's correct. Nvidia rebranded their budget graphic card some time
ago. MX4000 uses a chip branded NV18B in contrast to the NV18 the
GeForce MX440-8x uses (which, itself, is a AGP 8x version of the NV17 of
the original GeForce MX440). AFAIK the gpu is 100% identical though
(possibly validated for different clocks/voltage, in particular I think
NV18 has a standard frequency of 270Mhz core, 250Mhz ram, NV18B 275Mhz
core, 200Mhz ram, and the MX-440 also often used bga ram). The MX4000
cards are often a LOT slower than GeForce MX440-8, as graphic card
manufacturers often go down to as little as 133Mhz 64bit DDR ram (!).
But I can't see a reason why GF440MX-8x cards would run (at least I
thought these ran without issues) and GF4000MX cards would not on P2B
boards.

Roland

 

[Rick]

P2B wrote:


According to Nvidia's site the 4000 is an 8x budget card. I wonder if

the problem is an incompatability between the 8x card and the 2x slot on

the P2B-S.

I guess trying it in another system would be the next step.

Thanks for the help.

Rick

 

[Rick]

I guess trying it in another system would be the next step.

Thanks for the help.

Rick

I tried this board in another system and it worked fine. It would appear it
is a MOBO compatibility problem. Can anyone suggest another graphics board
that would work with my MOBO (P2B-S) and Winxp? I don't do any gaming, I'm
just looking for a basic card that will work.

Thanks,
Rick

 

[eric]

Can anyone suggest another graphics board
that would work with my MOBO (P2B-S) and Winxp? I don't do any gaming, I'm
just looking for a basic card that will work.

Rick,
I use a basic matrox g200 2x 8mb card on several of my p2b's without a
hitch, plus these cartds are extremely cheap on e-bay: you can find
one for around $10 shipped. Or a matrox g400 16mb card will work as
well and also has a pretty reasonable price. maybe $20 shipped.

eric

 

[Rick]

Rick,
I use a basic matrox g200 2x 8mb card on several of my p2b's without a
hitch, plus these cartds are extremely cheap on e-bay: you can find
one for around $10 shipped. Or a matrox g400 16mb card will work as
well and also has a pretty reasonable price. maybe $20 shipped.

eric

Thanks for the tip Eric. I now have a Radeon P7000 in it and I'm still
having the same problem. Start playing and everything freezes. I'm thinking
this must be something simple I'm missing.

Rick

 

[P2B]

Thanks for the tip Eric. I now have a Radeon P7000 in it and I'm still
having the same problem. Start playing and everything freezes. I'm thinking
this must be something simple I'm missing.

You said the system would not boot with the GeForce MX 4000 installed,
so the problem with the Radeon P7000 does not appear to be the same at
all based on your description.

Assuming the system is stable running whatever graphics card you used
previously, but freezes in XP when you install the Radeon, the graphics
driver is the most likely culprit. Try a newer or older version of the
driver.

Alternatively, try an nVidia-based 4x card. I've used MX400 & MX420
cards in many P2B-S and P2B-DS systems and never had a problem. They are
cheap used, and a 440BX system can't fully utilise faster cards anyway.

P2B

 

[Thomas Wendell]

"P2B" <[email protected]> kirjoitti viestissä
SNIP

Alternatively, try an nVidia-based 4x card. I've used MX400 & MX420
cards in many P2B-S and P2B-DS systems and never had a problem. They are
cheap used, and a 440BX system can't fully utilise faster cards anyway.

P2B

As that board only has AGP 1x/2x support, one might wonder what voltage it
uses when going 3D ???



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Reply to group
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[eric]

On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 22:49:47 GMT, "Rick" <[email protected]>
wrote:



Just a thought, something simple that once worked for me on an asus
p2b of a friend which would freeze up. I had the video settings within
windows out of spec. That is I was trying for too many colors at too
high a resolution say 1024X768. So try with lower settings and see
what happens.


e.

 

[Rick]

You said the system would not boot with the GeForce MX 4000 installed, so
the problem with the Radeon P7000 does not appear to be the same at all
based on your description.

Assuming the system is stable running whatever graphics card you used
previously, but freezes in XP when you install the Radeon, the graphics
driver is the most likely culprit. Try a newer or older version of the
driver.

Alternatively, try an nVidia-based 4x card. I've used MX400 & MX420 cards
in many P2B-S and P2B-DS systems and never had a problem. They are cheap
used, and a 440BX system can't fully utilise faster cards anyway.

P2B

I said screw it! A friend from work donated a new Shuttle AB48PN mobo and I
just ordered a PIIII 3.0G Prescott. If this board doesn't suit my needs I'll
upgrade later. I think it's about time I do a little updating. Thanks for
all the help.

 

[P2B]

I said screw it! A friend from work donated a new Shuttle AB48PN mobo and I
just ordered a PIIII 3.0G Prescott. If this board doesn't suit my needs I'll
upgrade later. I think it's about time I do a little updating. Thanks for
all the help.

Fair enough.

What revision is the P2B-S? If it's soon to be surplus, I might be
interested...

P2B

http://tipperlinne.com/p2bmod

 

[Rick]

Fair enough.

What revision is the P2B-S? If it's soon to be surplus, I might be
interested...

P2B

http://tipperlinne.com/p2bmod

I'm assuming this info is on the mobo? I'll take a look when I take it out
(later this week) and get back to you.

Rick