Member Panel

Hello all,

Been having problems with my mATX PC lately. After I got back from christmas vacation, I found my computer would no longer boot up. On turning on the power, the motherboard wouldn't post, and gave a series of one long and 8 short beeps, followed by a series of 2 short, pause, 1 short beeps. After trying everything I could think of I finally broke down and took it to Best Buy so they could put it on the testing bench. Several days later, they tell me the motherboard is most likely burned out.

I replace the motherboard with a similar one, an MSI K8MM-V. After installing it and hooking everything up, I powered up the computer with my fingers crossed and... no post. However, instead of a series of beeps like before, now all I get is one long beep. Taking advantage of the new mobo's onboard video, I removed my GeForce and hooked the monitor up to the onboard port, and viola! it works like a champ.

My question is - is this a problem with the CMOS settings? Or do I have a burned out video card? Best Buy said they tried my old mobo with a different video card and it didn't work, but I don't know if they tested my GeForce in a known good system or not. Any help would be appreciated.

Specs-
AMD Athlon64 3500+
2GB Corsair PC3200 Pro (2 DIMMs)
MSI K8MM-V mainboard with stock chipset and Phoenix AWARD bios
eVGA GeForce 6800 GT with latest drivers

*EDIT* I saw a similar thread that ended with a suggestion to disable the onboard video in BIOS. Where is that option listed? I can't seem to find it.

Hello there outcry27 and welcome to pchelpforum.com

It sounds like you video card may be 'shot', normally when you put in an additional video card, the motherboard automatically detects that and enables it.

You can normally find the feature to disable onboard under the "Advanced BIOS features" or "Intergrated Peripherals".

If you do manage to change the option and your machine doesn't bootup with or without the card then you may need to reset your BIOS.
(check page 12 of your manual)

I've searched the CMOS up and down, but can't find any option to disable onboard VGA. And of course, it would seem to fit that my roomie's new computer came with a PCI Express graphics card that I can't use to test my PC, and his mobo doesn't have an AGP slot to test the GeForce in.

I've seen mention on other forums of flashing BIOSes, is it possible that my GeForce's bios has been corrupted? The GPU heatsink spins up when power is applied, and it still gives that horrifically annoying beep from the card itself if the 4-pin molex is removed. Would either of those things still happen if the card was paperweight-ed?

Thanks for the response

I wasn't aware that you could flash BIOS's on video cards, I have only heard of doing that on motherboards, might be worth looking into I guess.

Unfortunately even if the card is a "paperweight" more often than not the fans would still spin, you would still get the beeps when you remove molex e.t.c. It could just be a fault on the chip which causes it not to show video.

Yuck.

Found the roommate's old PC in the closet, and with the GeForce plugged into it... nothing happens. Sounds like $200-$300 down the drain :/ Oh well. Thanks for the info.

Grrr, that is a shame.

How long ago did you buy it, you may be able to return it if it still has a warranty.
(secret - act dumb)

More than a year ago, so I doubt the warranty still is in place