Please Help..Video Card Installation Problems!

[Yummy Freelunch]

Hi, Im a first time poster here, having some graphic card problems..

My specs..
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ @ 2000 MHz
2048 MB (2 x 1024 DDR-SDRAM )
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200
MSI K8T Neo-V (MS-7032)
PCI and AGP bus

Please dont laugh..lol..anyway..as you can see I have a crappy video card..so I just purchased an EVGA NVIDIA 8400 GS..AND a new psu, 550 watt, should be plenty to run the card.

So..I uninstall the old drivers..even use Driver Sweeper to make sure..install the new card..and drivers..everything is fine until reboot..then I get a totally pixelated screen. Its neon colors and cant read anything on it..btw.its a PCI card..so it says..and I have both PCI and AGP bus slots.

Screenshot: Zi6_0290.jpg picture by Faerytear - Photobucket

Strange thing is..I go into PC Wizard to see..or BARELY see..what its saying about the card..it is saying its PCI E..at least I THINK it says that..
I tried getting into my bios..and no luck..I have a razor keyboard and no matter what key I hit..I cant access bios..

What do you think is wrong..is it the graphics card itself? Just got it from Tiger Direct..hmmm
I really cant afford to spend any more money! Im a single mom and it was bad enough buying a psu and card. HELP!

[bigBonehead]

Hello YF and welcome to the forum... first off, PCI and PCIe are not interchangeable... they will not fit the same slot. Try putting the old card back in and see what you get. I'm also a bit leary about Driver Sweeper... As the cards are totally diferent, you needn't have used that, and it may have swept away more than you wanted. If at all possible try to do a System Restore.

[Nude_Lewd_Man]

Hi,

I've also seen it before where something similar was happening, it turned out that the graphics cable wasn't seated at one/other/both end...

To be honest, I didn't see the screen - other than with VNC - so I can't say whether it was pixelated or not, but the user was complaining about the colours being "freaky"....

Anyway, I would just ensure that both ends of the monitor cable are fully seated (and screwed in, personally) to see whether that is the problem - as it would be quicker and easier than anything else... Obviously, if you have no luck with that, then we can look into other ways of helping you get it sorted out...


Let us know how you get on....