Is agp video card required?

[Bryce]

I am trying to get a rescue from the dumpster revived:
bare Intel AL440LX m/b powered up on a piece of cardboard,
with PII/233, 1 stick of SDRAM, an H/D containing Linux,
a PCI video card, and keyboard attached.

Power supply starts up immediately upon plugging in:
start button not needed. HD spins up and seeks a couple
of times. No beep, no video, no nothing.

If I power up with no RAM, BIOS complains with 1-3-3-1 code,
not listed in manual, but obvious wail about missing memory.

If I disconnect PSU from m/b, it does not start up upon
applying AC power. Apparently, m/b is not well.

Question: This board has an agp slot. Can I just use a
pci video card instead (in a pci slot)? I find no setup
jumper on m/b to set this up, and don't have a spare agp
board to use.

 

[Paul]

I am trying to get a rescue from the dumpster revived:
bare Intel AL440LX m/b powered up on a piece of cardboard,
with PII/233, 1 stick of SDRAM, an H/D containing Linux,
a PCI video card, and keyboard attached.

Power supply starts up immediately upon plugging in:
start button not needed. HD spins up and seeks a couple
of times. No beep, no video, no nothing.

If I power up with no RAM, BIOS complains with 1-3-3-1 code,
not listed in manual, but obvious wail about missing memory.

If I disconnect PSU from m/b, it does not start up upon
applying AC power. Apparently, m/b is not well.

Question: This board has an agp slot. Can I just use a
pci video card instead (in a pci slot)? I find no setup
jumper on m/b to set this up, and don't have a spare agp
board to use.

There is a FAQ page here for that motherboard. 1-3-3-1 is memory.

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/AL440LX/sb/cs-011217.htm

When a computer starts, without the button being pushed, sometimes
what that means, is the Southbridge is under stress. As an example,
on my 440BX board, that happened when the IDE cable was only half
plugged in. The computer would start, as soon as the line cord
was plugged in and the switch on the back of the PSU was set
to the ON position.

I would strip as much hardware from the machine as possible, and
test whether, under any conditions, it won't immediately start
up. Maybe you'll get some idea what is causing the stress. It
could even be a broken front panel power switch.

For an AGP video card, you'll need a card which can run at
3.3V. I have a FX5200 AGP here, that I've run in my 440BX
based motherboard, and that should be close to the same
conditions to be expected on your 440LX. If you cannot
find an old video card to perform a test with, both FX5200
AGP and FX5200 PCI cards are still available at retail.
The card does not represent a good gaming card, but it handy
for testing purposes. I've used FX5200 in my more modern
AGP 8X motherboards, and also on the 440BX 3.3V only AGP
slot.

Paul

 

[Bryce]

Thanks BigJim and Paul!

I will borrow an agp card from another member of the
flock. The m/b is already as disconnected from other
stuff as possible, so I don't have a lot of hope.

Actually, that's probably a good thing. Currently,
I have thirteen machines in runnable condition! Ten
were adopted at curbside. It's fun to bring them
back to life, but I think I have enough.

Bryce

 

[Bryce]

A pci board should work ok.. It has on all the mbs I've had with an
agp slot. If you get a bios screen you can select pci video preference..
Eric

Getting a BIOS (or any) screen would be real progress. I tried an AGP
card, got the same non-working result. Running outta ideas, I measured
the CMOS battery voltage in-circuit. It's OK. Also tried moving the
setup jumper to maintenance mode. Black screen yet again. Last gasp
before surrender is to reflash the BIOS firmware. Got to find a spare
floppy drive first.

Bryce

 

[Flasherly]

I am trying to get a rescue from the dumpster revived:
bare Intel AL440LX m/b powered up on a piece of cardboard,
with PII/233, 1 stick of SDRAM, an H/D containing Linux,
a PCI video card, and keyboard attached.

Power supply starts up immediately upon plugging in:
start button not needed. HD spins up and seeks a couple
of times. No beep, no video, no nothing.

If I power up with no RAM, BIOS complains with 1-3-3-1 code,
not listed in manual, but obvious wail about missing memory.

If I disconnect PSU from m/b, it does not start up upon
applying AC power. Apparently, m/b is not well.

Question: This board has an agp slot. Can I just use a
pci video card instead (in a pci slot)? I find no setup
jumper on m/b to set this up, and don't have a spare agp
board to use.

connect a switch to the MB jumper PWR ON (where the case switch to mb
pwr, not reset, goes). Everything powering up, like it's doing, isn't
right. It needs to be shut down -via- the switch, (hold it in for
several seconds until it shuts off, then) repowered up -via- the
switch.

a matrox pci video is a good choice for $10. compgeeks or a websearch,
i've seen them often being dumped cheap. no frills "go to work"
videoboard

 

[Bryce]

connect a switch to the MB jumper PWR ON (where the case switch to mb
pwr, not reset, goes). Everything powering up, like it's doing, isn't
right. It needs to be shut down -via- the switch, (hold it in for
several seconds until it shuts off, then) repowered up -via- the
switch.

a matrox pci video is a good choice for $10. compgeeks or a websearch,
i've seen them often being dumped cheap. no frills "go to work"
videoboard

Thanks Flasherly!

Apparently the BIOS is currently set to "Return to previous state when
power returns". I find I can indeed shut it down and then restart it
by temporarily shorting the "power on" pins on the m/b.

I still see no sign of life other than the beep code for missing memory.
There is absolutely no indication of booting: no video, no flashing of
keyboard status led's, no one-beep-i'm-booting signal, nada.

Tomorrow I'm going to borrow a known-good SDRAM from another machine
and try that.

Thanks for the tip!
Bryce