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TFK 2005-12-03 04:17
I recently attempted to get Windows to work with an extra PCI videocard without having to re-install Windows.
After doing some digging on this site and on Google, I've posted this piece of information to bind all information found here and there on this forum and my own findings togetter a bit.
I've used two GeForce cards from the same brand but the idea should be quite the same with other cards.
I hope this will help you guys out a little.
TFK
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AMD AthlonXP 3000+ 2.2 GHz, 512 Megs of RAM
AFX GeForce 6800GT AGP (2x DVI) - (2x Iiyama VisionMaster Pro 510)
AFX GeForce Fx5200 PCI (1x DVI, 1x D-SUB) - (1x Iiyama VisionMaster Pro 502, 1x Philips FlatTV)
"Symptoms and their causes"
First let's have a look at the situations you can encounter on the way...
- When the screens connected to your PCI card go black (stand-by): this is normal, they will be initialized when Windows starts.
- When all screens go black (stand-by) when Windows switches over from the boot logo screen to the desktop: hardware problem. See "Hardware problems"
- When Windows freezes up at the boot logo screen: hardware problem. See "Hardware problems".
- Any other freezes, crashes or weird behaviour: best to take a look at "Hardware problems"...
- Did I mention "Hardware problems"?
"Things you should do first"
First thing to do is get the AGP card working as you intend it to. So install it, connect the screen(s) you want to use in combination with the card, install NVidia's Detonator drivers and check if things are stable.
When you are certain all is good, reboot your system and make the following changes in your computer's BIOS (if available):
- Assign IRQ to video : Disable;
- PCI VGA palette snoop: Disable;
- AGP aperture size : 256;
Save and reboot and again check if things are still stable.
"Next stage"
Now shutdown your system and install the PCI card. The choice of PCI slot depends on your hardware config. In my situation (XFX 6800GT AGP / XFX FX5200 PCI) I got best results by using PCI slot 4 (slot 1 is the top one).
When installed and connected to the correct screens, reboot, enter the BIOS, and set the following switch:
- Boot from PCI instead of AGP
This activates the PCI card when the system starts so Windows has an easier job finding it and you have an easier job following it's progress.
Try to boot normaly, if it works you'll get a message that the newly found hardware has been installed. If it didn't (like in my case) reboot in safe mode. Now you should get into Windows and even here you'll get this message. If it still didn't work (like in my case), hardware problem: see "Hardware problems" (again).
"Finish it"
If your card is recognized, reboot, get in your BIOS and change the following setting:
- Boot from AGP instead of PCI
Do this because the AGP card is your main card and it should stay that way. Restart and boot normaly. At the time Windows switches your boot logo for a nice desktop the monitor(s) connected to your PCI card wil switch on.
you're allmost there. After Windows is comletely booted up open your screen's settings (right mouse button on desktop - properties - settings). You should see the ammount of screens you've connected with to greyed out. Move them (yes, you can move them!) to their correct position and you will be asked if you want to enable this monitor. The rest speaks for itself.
"Hardware problems"
Your system uses memmory slots to house your hardware. A little dwawback is that there aren't that many of them. So if you get strange errors like mentioned above then there must be some sort of conflict between some device(s) and your shiny new videocard. The best thing to determine is this is the case is to shutdown your system and remove any hardware which is not entirly mandatory (sound cards, tv cards, etc.). Then reboot and see if you get into Windows. This will tell you all there is to know.
If there is a hardware conflict, you don't neccecarily have to ditch your precious sound- or tv-card because you're BIOS probably has a feature to redirect or assign IRQ's to specific PCI slots. Furthermore, you can disable things as onboard audio (if your using a real sound card instread of those chips they use on motherboards these days) or the onboard serial port. These things all use an extra IRQ which you can use for your conflicting piece of hardware.
In my case it was my shiny SoundBlaster Live which gave a problem. What I did was assign a specific IRQ (5) to the slot where I had put it in and disable the onboard serial port (which was on IRQ 5 - hey!).
This is the kind of solution you have to look for. Stil, you will have to dig a little since no motherboard is the same. The priciple, however, is the same.
TFK
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AMD AthlonXP 3000+ 2.2 GHz, 512 Megs of RAM
AFX GeForce 6800GT AGP (2x DVI) - (2x Iiyama VisionMaster Pro 510)
AFX GeForce Fx5200 PCI (1x DVI, 1x D-SUB) - (1x Iiyama VisionMaster Pro 502, 1x Philips FlatTV)
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Manu 2007-02-19 10:13
Thanks for the information. Reading your message helped me to fix my setup.
My setup is like this:
Abit IS7 + P4 2.4Ghz
Geforce 5200 PCI (128Mb) connected to Dell 2001FP with DVI
Geforce 6200 AGP (128Mb) connected to Dell 2407WFP with DVI and TV-Out
At first, this wouldn't work, I got "Code 12" in the Windows XP device manager. I tried almost everything, rebooted multiple times, etc. Then your message got my attention. I simply set the AGP aperture size to 256Mb instead of 128Mb in the BIOS and magically the 2 cards were working together! I didn't touch the IRQ or Palette Snoop settings. I also set the AGP init first.
I know your message is one year old but maybe this can help other people the same way your message helped me!
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