power hungry Matrox P650 won't boot up - PSU or mobo?

[Dave Williams]

Hi there

I've just splashed out on a lovely new Matrox Millenium P650 AGP video
card that won't work with the computer I've just built. Basically it
appears not to have enough power to boot up. Is this more likely to be
my PSU or my motherboard and its ability to deliver power to the AGP
slot? Does anybody here own a functioning P650 (or P750 or Parhelia) and
what is your PSU rating and model and you're motherboard make and model?

In more detail: With the P650 in my machine (Gigabyte GA-7VM400M
m.b.with an Athlon XP 2600+ 256MB RAM with one ExelStor 60GB 7200rpm IDE
HDD, old 4x CD-ROM drive and 300W Herolchi PSU HEC-300AR-PT) the fans
and HDD power up but there is no BIOS bleeps, HDD activity or video
output. A Winfast nVidia AGP card with a cooling fan runs fine in the
same machine so the AGP slot etc is fine. The P650 runs fine in another
P4 based machine with a 250W PSU. No AGP options in the latest BIOS
version except overclocking. Have tried disconnecting case fan, HDD and
other drives to see if enough power can be delivered to the card - same
problem. Have tried every option in the BIOS - same problem.

It could be compatibility but Matrox claim it should be OK with the VIA
KM400 chipset and I haven't found any compatibility issues published
anywhere else. The only thing I can think of is that my motherboard is
not supplying enough power to the AGP slot for the P650. It's unlikely
to be the PSU as the P650 worked in a 250W system. Can anyone recommend
a reliable motherboard make or model?

Thanks

 

[Larc]

| Hi there
|
| I've just splashed out on a lovely new Matrox Millenium P650 AGP video
| card that won't work with the computer I've just built. Basically it
| appears not to have enough power to boot up. Is this more likely to be
| my PSU or my motherboard and its ability to deliver power to the AGP
| slot? Does anybody here own a functioning P650 (or P750 or Parhelia) and
| what is your PSU rating and model and you're motherboard make and model?
|
| In more detail: With the P650 in my machine (Gigabyte GA-7VM400M
| m.b.with an Athlon XP 2600+ 256MB RAM with one ExelStor 60GB 7200rpm IDE
| HDD, old 4x CD-ROM drive and 300W Herolchi PSU HEC-300AR-PT) the fans
| and HDD power up but there is no BIOS bleeps, HDD activity or video
| output. A Winfast nVidia AGP card with a cooling fan runs fine in the
| same machine so the AGP slot etc is fine. The P650 runs fine in another
| P4 based machine with a 250W PSU. No AGP options in the latest BIOS
| version except overclocking. Have tried disconnecting case fan, HDD and
| other drives to see if enough power can be delivered to the card - same
| problem. Have tried every option in the BIOS - same problem.

Did you delete all other video drivers before installing the P650? Is your BIOS
set to look to the AGP slot first for video?

| It could be compatibility but Matrox claim it should be OK with the VIA
| KM400 chipset and I haven't found any compatibility issues published
| anywhere else. The only thing I can think of is that my motherboard is
| not supplying enough power to the AGP slot for the P650. It's unlikely
| to be the PSU as the P650 worked in a 250W system. Can anyone recommend
| a reliable motherboard make or model?

Gigabyte motherboards are generally among the very best.

One other place you might want to post this problem is on the AMD forum for
Gigabyte motherboards.

http://www.amdforums.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=11

Larc



§§§ - Please raise temperature of mail to reply by e-mail - §§§

 

[Strontium]

-
Larc stood up at show-n-tell, in (e-mail address removed),
and said:

Did you delete all other video drivers before installing the P650?
Is your BIOS set to look to the AGP slot first for video?


Gigabyte motherboards are generally among the very best.

That's YOUR opinion! They USED to be one of the best, in MY opinion.

 

[Dave Williams]

| Hi there
|
| I've just splashed out on a lovely new Matrox Millenium P650 AGP video
| card that won't work with the computer I've just built. Basically it
| appears not to have enough power to boot up. Is this more likely to be
| my PSU or my motherboard and its ability to deliver power to the AGP
| slot? Does anybody here own a functioning P650 (or P750 or Parhelia) and
| what is your PSU rating and model and you're motherboard make and model?
|

Did you delete all other video drivers before installing the P650? Is
your BIOS
set to look to the AGP slot first for video?

I didn't but the system doesn't seem to get as far as looking on any
storage devices for drivers. It does nothing but power up fans and
drives. No video output at all or BIOS bleeps etc. The BIOS (when
accessed using the mobo video chip set without anything in the AGP slot)
has no such options, the manual claims it does so automatically which is
what happens when the Winfast AGP card works. It seems to be looking at
the right slot when the Matrox card is in but nothing is coming back.

| It could be compatibility but Matrox claim it should be OK with the VIA
| KM400 chipset and I haven't found any compatibility issues published
| anywhere else. The only thing I can think of is that my motherboard is
| not supplying enough power to the AGP slot for the P650. It's unlikely
| to be the PSU as the P650 worked in a 250W system. Can anyone recommend
| a reliable motherboard make or model?

Gigabyte motherboards are generally among the very best.

One other place you might want to post this problem is on the AMD forum for
Gigabyte motherboards.

http://www.amdforums.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=11

Larc

Thanks, I'll give it a go.

 

[Dave Williams]

That's YOUR opinion! They USED to be one of the best, in MY opinion.

So what's the best (for high-end video cards) now? (In YOUR opinion)