Author Topic: This is not good.... can anyone help? (Read 470 times)

Dowding · « **on:** February 09, 2001, 05:39:00 PM »

Finally started building my PC. It was going well...

KT7A-RAID motherboard is in my case with a 1.2 GHz CPU (thermal compound - arctic silver). Crucial CAS2 133 MHZ RAM (2x128 Mb) inserted. Prophet II GTS Pro 64 MB sitting nicely in the AGP slot.

I turn it on - great, the two case fans and the CPU fan are turning nicely (with not much noise). I look expectantly at the screen...

... oh no...

...wtf...

Basically, every other character space is filled with '#' characters and the words are spelt wrongly. What should read as 'set-up' reads 'sey-up' - this is repeated for every word on the screen.

This is almost funny for about 3 seconds.

I quickly get into the Bios set-up and check CPU core temperature. It rises to 38 degrees celcius, and stays there - no problem there. Apart from the character 'crashes', everything is rock solid.

So I've taken out the Prophet card and put in my old PCI VGA card, and the problems vanish. The text on the screen is without blemish.

I assume the problem is with my Prophet card. Has anyone had experience of similar symptoms or even heard of them? I've sent an email to Hercules about it, but they don't give tech. support at weekends.

Thanks for any info./advice.

[This message has been edited by Dowding (edited 02-09-2001).]

214thCavalier · « **Reply #1 on:** February 09, 2001, 06:16:00 PM »

Bad news Dowding you got the wrong card in that board they are incompatible apparently, read below or better still bookmark this site http://go.to/kt7faq.
If you got a KT7 its a must read.

Why doesn't my Hercules 3D Prophet II PRO work on my KT7-RAID?
Thanks to John of the Guillemot UK Technical Support for the following information:

There is currently an incompatibility problem between the Hercules 3D Prophet II GTS Pro card and the Abit KT7(-RAID) motherboard.
Symptom:
The PC does not start. We think that this could be due to the motherboard being unable to deliver enough power to start the graphics card.
Solution:
Customers with this problem can contact the Guillemot Technical Support for a solution.
Important: The current Hercules 3D Prophet II GTS Pro runs perfectly with all the other motherboards on the market.

According to one user, Hercules technical support stated that only the older Hercules cards with serial number 5058430 have this problem.

US Technical support have stated:

We do have a modified version of the board to resolve this problem. Please call technical support at 1-877-484-5536, and we will issue you an RMA number to exchange the video card over the phone. If possible, please have the receipt of purchase, as well as the video card handy when you call.

Good luck.

bloom25 · « **Reply #2 on:** February 09, 2001, 06:18:00 PM »

Hmm, check for a bios update for the video card. Also, check a KT7 faq and see if this issue has ever come up before.

Also, what size power supply do you have. (300W I hope.)

You did load the via Agp driver didn't you???
If not, go to www.viahardware.com and download it.

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bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS

Dowding · « **Reply #3 on:** February 09, 2001, 06:36:00 PM »

I've already seen that article Cav - I'd assumed that since I have a different serial number, the problem would have been sorted. The fact that the computer actually boots with stability makes me think the situation can be rescued.

If the worse comes to the worse, I can exchange it - shouldn't be a problem.

Bloom my PSU is 300W. I just expected to plug it in and it would go. As you can see, I'm not exactly a computer expert.

Thing is, I haven't installed an OS or hard-drive, which I'm assuming I'll need to start installing drivers. I'll check it out anyway.

Thanks.

Sancho · « **Reply #4 on:** February 09, 2001, 07:06:00 PM »

Definitely a hardware issue at this point. Drivers haven't come into the picture yet.

That's a real bummer Dowding. I know what it's like to power on a new PC and get big fat nothing. You'll get it working though.

Dowding · « **Reply #5 on:** February 10, 2001, 08:23:00 AM »

I've called the reseller and they are picking it up to test it next week. If it is faulty, they will send out another one.

The tech support guy reckoned that it was a faulty card rather than an incompatibility.

From a layman's point of view, the character errors sound like there is something wrong with the output port (or the hardware associated with it), rather than the processing aspect of the card. Anyone reckon that could be it?

Anyway, guess I'm going to have to be patient.

BTW, has anyone got the ELSA Gladiac Ultra card? I might exchange it for that.

bloom25 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 10, 2001, 10:06:00 PM »

I've seen some real oddities on GeForce cards on VIA chipsets before you load the AGP driver.

I have heard of this AGP power problem on the Abit, but I would assume Abit would have resolved the issue by now. (The Asus A7v does not have this problem as far as I know.)

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bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS

Dowding · « **Reply #7 on:** February 11, 2001, 04:47:00 AM »

Is the AGP driver, contained within the VIA 4-in-1 drivers? Would I still be able to set-up the AGP aspect of the OS, with just a PCI VGA card installed?

Then perhaps I could put the AGP card back in and see what happens?

hmmm...