Seeking Graphics Card advice

[Ian]

There was a problem with motherboards using the chipset you've got and black screens - Intel have a dedicated thread on their forums about this. I wonder if this could be the culprit? It probably isn't, but I thought it was worth a mention:

https://communities.intel.com/thread/39881?start=0&tstart=0

Do you get any beeps when booting and does hitting del/F2 (or whatever the BIOS key is) do anything? I imagine it's stalling before this point, but you never know.

 

[Taffycat]

That link is interesting, in a scary sort of way. But thank you Ian.

When I start, there are no beeps... but I don't believe I have ever heard it beep on startup, which I've always found a tad odd, tbh.

When I hit F12 on startup, I get the Gigabyte motherboard screen, with options for BIOS setup, etc. The only problem, is that I cannot navigate to any of those options. The F keys don't respond, neither does tab, or arrow keys, etc. It just stays on that screen, doing nothing in particular.

 

[Ian]

I wonder if forcing the backup BIOS to kick in would do anything. Can you power off, then hold the power button down until it powers on then off again (should be around 4 seconds), then press the power button one more time to see if that will get the dual-BIOS feature to kick in.

 

[Taffycat]

I wonder if forcing the backup BIOS to kick in would do anything. Can you power off, then hold the power button down until it powers on then off again (should be around 4 seconds), then press the power button one more time to see if that will get the dual-BIOS feature to kick in.

Ooh...... this is odd. Just before you posted, Ian, I gave the reset button a poke, and went through the F12 tapping again, determined to see if I could access the F-key choices. Anyway, the screen briefly went to the mobo page like before, but quickly switched to the "Welcome Windows is loading" screen.

This is still using the mobo HDMI connection, of course. But thinking about V_R's earlier comment, I took the opportunity to remove the old NVIDIA driver. Don't know if it will make a difference if I try reinstalling the new card again... Don't even know whether it's likely to boot into Windows again tbh, or was this a flook!

Might give the new card another go... but next time, when it's (probably) giving me the black screen, I'll try your suggestion.

Thank you all for replying, by the way - I appreciate your time and help, very much.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Are you getting any graphics from any port at all?

From info offered the motherboard graphics slot could be faulty.

EDIT: Missed the last couple of posts so kindly ignore this one.

 

[Taffycat]

Well... I went off to get some dinner and take a break.

Came back and thought positively... give it another go and all that... but zilch! This is so disappointing.

I have tried Ian's dual-BIOS suggestion, but it's not playing ball. I can sometimes get to the screen I mentioned earlier - namely the one with the F-key options... but cannot navigate to any of them, no matter what I try.

Now it just tells me there is no signal from HDMI (regardless of whether I'm using the GFX card or the mobo socket) and it's the same when I try DVI in either socket.

 

[TriplexDread]

I'd start from scratch again TC

Remove everything but memory/CPU and start from the beginning.
Drop your BIOS fully (Jumper switch and turn off wall socket)
Leave at defaults

Reboot bios with only onboard GFX, see what happens?

 

[muckshifter]

please remove any graphics cards ... ensure the internal speaker is attached (check MB Manual for location) ... if no speaker found, go steal one from another system. (they all the same two wired jobies)

You NEED to hear it beeping ... no beep, can be dead MB.

http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/faq-page.aspx?fid=816

I can't tell from the MB manual, but is there any LEDs on the MB that change colour?

 

[Taffycat]

Good morning... before seeing your message @muckshifter, I decided to try booting up (hoping the PC repair fairies had maybe visited during the night...er... they didn't!)

Anyway, on a whim, I swapped the CMOS for a new one - yeah gasping at straws.

After starting, it booted straight to the Gigabyte screen, (briefly showing some red-light-blinking activity from the mobo, which ceased when the Gigabyte screen came on.)

I am actually getting a beep when I force a shut-down. Just once yesterday, I got a beep when I used the re-set button. But those beeps seem to be a bit hap-hazard I think.

Right... now I shall remove the @~&£$@& card again (lol, beginning to feel a tad gung-ho with this now. At this rate the whole darned lot is going to find its way into the nearest wheelie-bin!)

 

[Taffycat]

@muckshifter - okay, I took out the graphics card and this time, when I tried to reboot, I got a single beep!

The PC then went into Gigabyte's UEFI Dual BIOS screen.

It said that the main BIOS were corrupted and then went on to do a "repair" BUT, it then came up with another message, which said "Your computer was unable to start, Startup Repair is checking your system for problems." But this was overwritten by yet another window which said: "Startup Repair, do you want to restore your computer using system restore?"

My problem now, is that I am stuck on that screen... I cannot hit either Restore or Cancel, because none of my input devices will work. Keyboard is dead and so is mouse.

I forgot to mention that the mobo red led is active, even though the screen appears to just be stuck.

 

[Taffycat]

I started over and inserted input devices into different mobo USB sockets. After getting back to the UEFI screen and going through the process again, I was able to click on "Startup Repair" but apparently Windows cannot be repaired.

I tried System Restore - ditto, cannot be rolled back to the chosen date... or any date seemingly.

Tried inserting the Windows 7 disc... hah! No joy with that either. It whirred and appeared to run, but nothing came up on screen (other than the aforementioned repair windows that I am presented with.)

Beginning to think that my earlier remark concerning "wheelie bins" might actually be the only appropriate course left.

 

[Abarbarian]

If you have a Live CD of some os you could see if it ran ok. If it did then you know your hardware is fine and the Windows is corrupt.

 

[floppybootstomp]

That Windows repair function rarely works, in my experience.

Do you have a spare hard disk you could swap with the current one with Windows on it and try doing a fresh install.

It's possible your original graphics card dying could have either corrupted Windows or damaged the motherboard, or both.

If you can do a fresh install of Windows then do so and then first try the CPU graphics and if all is good then try the new graphics card.

Abarb's suggestion of booting from a Live Linux CD or USB stick is a good idea, that would at least show motherboard and graphics are functioning independent of Windows. Try Tiny Linux. Cos it's tiny. (I'm assuming Tiny Linux will run as a Live Distro).

 

[Abarbarian]

That Windows repair function rarely works, in my experience.

Do you have a spare hard disk you could swap with the current one with Windows on it and try doing a fresh install.

It's possible your original graphics card dying could have either corrupted Windows or damaged the motherboard, or both.

If you can do a fresh install of Windows then do so and then first try the CPU graphics and if all is good then try the new graphics card.

Abarb's suggestion of booting from a Live Linux CD or USB stick is a good idea, that would at least show motherboard and graphics are functioning independent of Windows. Try Tiny Linux. Cos it's tiny. (I'm assuming Tiny Linux will run as a Live Distro).

Tiny is a tad too tiny as it comes with terminal stuff only as a starter. A nice friendly puppy would be a good choice, Slacko comes to mind.

http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=08342

I use this one , Salix as my carry around on a stick os.

http://www.salixos.org/

Any live os will do though and it is a good way to see if hardware is running right.

 

[muckshifter]

... disconnect any and all drives, need to go back to basics.

one beep @ startup is really good, need to take it from there ... have plenty of breaks. ;-)



Skype or phone me if you wish.

 

[Taffycat]

Thank you so much for the replies @Abarbarian, @floppybootstomp and @muckshifter - they are very much appreciated. I've had to "walk away" tonight, otherwise I think I'd have done it a physical mischief... with a sledgehammer! My goodness, I never thought it could be this frustrating!

Just pondering on whether a live disc would work, because right now, it doesn't appear to be "seeing" the Win 7 disc when I pop it into the drive (so wondering if it would be able to see a puppy?) All it ever does is throw up that blasted repair-function - which keeps telling me that it cannot find the problem. Very helpful. It also carried out another diagnostic (might have been memory? Getting befuddled now...) it came up with a long list of items, all of which appeared to be passed as ok.

Completely cream crackered now, so will take another look tomorrow.

@muckshifter, thank you for the offer to Skype, once again, muchly appreciated (I must see about setting it up on this PC... it's hubby's Win 8.1, which I am not completely at-home with, as I don't use it very often lol.)

 

[muckshifter]

If it gives you a single beep at boot, don't mess with memory/BIOS as it passed the POST ...

do as I say, remove the new graphics card, use the DVI onboard graphics , disconnect all drives via their power cables, (so no need to physically remove them) ...

make sure you do a 'cold boot', that is, disconnect the power from the mains and wait a few minuets ... there are 3 boot types, cold boot, warm boot & re-boot ... there is an undocumented boot called, "putting the boot in", not recommended.

I'm in all day tomorrow. ;-)

 

[floppybootstomp]

To use a Live Linux Distro disc or usb stick you'd have to enter the bios and instruct the machine what source to boot from.

From the boot menu in the bios select either the optical drive the disk is in or usb port the memory stick is in and booting from Windows will be ignored.

 

[floppybootstomp]

... there is an undocumented boot called, "putting the boot in", not recommended.

Ain't that the truth...

 

[Taffycat]

there is an undocumented boot called, "putting the boot in", not recommended.

Well... er... um... I did actually hit it with my slipper yesterday....