new Computer woes

[Leftenant Moley]

Well my new computer arrived today. tries to set everything up but the connector from the monitor to the base unit(goes to the main board) are not compatible help it feels like i got a £950 paper weight. The computer im usin just now(old Dell) has the the correct connection for the monitor but so i cant use my dell monitor on my new comp either

Komplett Intel Core 2 Duo:
OCZ Gold PC4200 DDR2 2048MB Dual Pack,
NEC DVD±recorder AD-5170 IDE Black OEM
OCZ Technology Powersupply ATX 450W
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz Socket
Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2
Norman IC, 1 year license Virus Control
PC box
SoftThinks Installation/Recovery
Trust Compact Keyboard KB-1120,
Samsung SpinPoint P80SD 80GB SATA2
Logitech Click! Optical Mouse,
Gigabyte Triton GZ-XX1CA-SNB Black
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3, P965, Socket-775,
Gainward GeForce 7900GT 256MB,1,4ns DDR3
Samsung 17" CRT Syncmaster 793DF TCO99 Monitor, DynaFlat, Silver/Black

[Leftenant Moley]

wait i think i see the problem. They have given me 2 connectors within the motherboard box that would fit the monitior. So the ones on the base unit must be 2 VDI's and the 2 spares are the ones is what I need on,(VGA's). How do i go about switching this? looks like i need to take the graphic card out swith one of the interfaces then put the card back in.

P.S never actully removed/inserted a component before only looked in a Pc a a number of times.

[whyidie]

I don't see an onboard video port on your motherboard:

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_t...terid=22169854

You sure it has a vga port ?

Your monitor doesn't look like it would have a DVI port while your video card looks like it has just DVI ports.

So you would need a vga to dvi adapter and its very likely they supplied one for you if they built the system. Shouldn't require you to move anything around or even open up the case.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Hmm, well, if you really want to avoid messing around with your rig, you could just go and buy a VGA/DVI converter, I believe.

[Husar]

First off, shouldn't your monitor data cable belong into your graphicscard and not your mainboard?
Then, if it doesn't fit, get such a DVI/VGA adapter, though they are often delivered with graphicscards.
Now that I looked at you specs again, modern graphicscards use to have 2 DVI plugs while your CRT monitor should have a VGA plug so the adapter could be necessary.

[Leftenant Moley]

I'm sooo stupid lol

the thing they gave me is a vga to dvi converter. I realised it 30 mins after making this post and when i slapped that on it worked fine....

until I tried to down load the lastest nvidia driver. just when it was installing the montitor went black with a " Hz?" symbol on it.(can only support 65hz) so it looks like i may just have to get a new LCD after all. (wasted £70)

[whyidie]

I'm sooo stupid lol

the thing they gave me is a vga to dvi converter. I realised it 30 mins after making this post and when i slapped that on it worked fine....

until I tried to down load the lastest nvidia driver. just when it was installing the montitor went black with a " Hz?" symbol on it.(can only support 65hz) so it looks like i may just have to get a new LCD after all. (wasted £70)

Your video card should be able to support that. If it doesn't and the computer came bundled with the monitor whoever sold it to you should supply with a compatible part.

[Leftenant Moley]

Your video card should be able to support that. If it doesn't and the computer came bundled with the monitor whoever sold it to you should supply with a compatible part.

Heres the smart part. Decided to buy the monitor separate( ) how or where do I check the frequency of the monitor and card to see if they are compatible. Its not the first time i have had this trouble. When I fitted the FX5200 into this computer my dell monitor would say they same thing at times. When even i turned on the the base dell unit before the dell monitor, the dell monitor would say "Frequency out of range". I have tried switching montiors but that hasnt help."frequency out of range" message came up. They might take back the samsung monitor for part exchange(though i'm not holding my breath). So which monitor should i get? Its it possible there is something wrong with the card itself?

[Geezer57]

According to the Samsung website, that monitor is a multi-sync capable of up to 1280 x 1024 @ 65Hz - see specs here: http://www.samsung.com/in/products/m...Specifications

Your graphics card is capable of matching the monitor's requirements, it just probably needs to be set. Try hitting the F8 key at bootup, entering Safe Mode, and setting your display from there so the the refresh rate doesn't exceed the monitor's rather modest limits (640 x 480 @134Hz, 800 x 600 @109Hz, 1024 x 768 @86Hz, 1152 x 864 @77Hz, 1280 x 1024 @65Hz). To avoid eyestrain from flicker, I wouldn't use any resolution higher than 1152 x 864 @77Hz.

[Leftenant Moley]

Well i tried playing around in safe mode, but i cant seem to be able to change the monitor settings. It just says "use hardware's defaults". Also Dxdaig cant regcognise i have a 7900gt card in. Is that because i havent installed the drivers yet? or do i have to fiddle about with the BIOS first? I think i will try a format(again) download the lastest nvidia driver and intall it using safe mode, maybe then I can fiddle with display settings.

[Geezer57]

I thought you bought the new box pre-built? Didn't the vendor install anything? Or am I mistaking the issue, and you're working from a collection of parts?

[Leftenant Moley]

They installed everything, but i bought the monitor separate from the unit. Actually can it be the card thats at fault. dxdaig cant seem to recognise the card but system>hardware>other devices PCI device comes up as a display adapter. When i let windows search for a driver it knows its looking for a 7900gt driver but at the end it comes up with "cannot install driver, hardware may not be working properly." I could try letting windows look for on online perhaps. But right now i fell like im going to have to take it to a repair shop and replace the card(or possibly motherboard) as something doesnt feel right.

Also should i be worried about the first couple of screens having a lot funky white dotted stripes running up and down the screen(screen that does memory check and windows xp loading screen) every other screen is fine though. BIOS, DOS, Safe mode, windows desktop.

//Update just tried letting windows use the internet. Still no joy

[Leftenant Moley]

I have also notice that one of the front usb ports dont appear to be working I have asked if i can send it back so they can replace the faulty parts ...more waiting for me i suppose to see the demo of Medieval 2 in all of its high detail glory.

[screwtype]

I'm a little confused here. If you have a graphics card, shouldn't your monitor be plugged directly into that rather than the mainboard? If you're plugging it into the mainboard, I assume you are using the onboard graphics rather than your GFX card graphics, which are probably inferior.

Secondly, if you have both onboard graphics and a GFX card, you may need to set a jumper on the mobo somewhere to get the right one working.

As far as the front USB ports, often there is a cable you have to connect from the mobo to those ports. Didn't you get a mobo manual with your machine? I suggest you read that carefully to work out what needs to be connected to what.

[Leftenant Moley]

I'm a little confused here. If you have a graphics card, shouldn't your monitor be plugged directly into that rather than the mainboard? If you're plugging it into the mainboard, I assume you are using the onboard graphics rather than your GFX card graphics, which are probably inferior.

Yeah that was my stupidiy. The monitor always has done and always will do plug into the graphics card

Secondly, if you have both onboard graphics and a GFX card, you may need to set a jumper on the mobo somewhere to get the right one working.

eh?

As far as the front USB ports, often there is a cable you have to connect from the mobo to those ports. Didn't you get a mobo manual with your machine? I suggest you read that carefully to work out what needs to be connected to what.

oddly when i tried the usb port again it work. But the graphic card is still giving me greif. And the white dotted stripes running up and donw the monitor on memory check screen and windows XP loading screen are a bit worrying

Also after looking inside again i have noticed that the motherboard apears to be slanted a little and it looks like the Graphic card has been made to fit regardless(its sorta bent looking)

[screwtype]

A jumper is like a little switch on the motherboard you can change from one position to another.

But you may not need to change a jumper to activate your graphics card. It might be a BIOS setting instead. Or it might just autodetect, I don't know because I've never had a PC with integrated graphics.

You should have got a motherboard manual with your PC. It should detail all the settings you can change in the BIOS. Have a look in it to see if there's a setting to disable/enable your integrated graphics.

If there is such a setting, you could try going into the BIOS to disable it. You can usually get into BIOS by holding down the Delete key on bootup.

If your BIOS screen won't display on your monitor either, look around to see if you have a different cable to plug your monitor into the integrated graphics. If you can get graphics that way, it's a pretty safe bet the computer is set to display integrated graphics rather than from a GFX card. You should then be able to use your integrated graphics display to change the BIOS setting (assuming there is one). Then hopefully your graphics card will work.

Edit: Actually, I'm not sure the above is appropriate advice, since it sounds like you are getting some sort of display from having your monitor plugged into the graphics card. I misread your post last night. All the same, might be useful to have a look at the BIOS settings, just in case.

[BDC]

Graphics card playing up and usb ports not working sounds like a power supply issue to me... Not enough juice!

[Leftenant Moley]

Graphics card playing up and usb ports not working sounds like a power supply issue to me... Not enough juice!

Well my PSU is 450W and the card requires a 400W so it should be okay.
I have also sent the computer back to be replace.

Also another thing, i forget to select what sound card i wanted on the system and ended up with none at all . So I will need to buy sound card and fit it myself. However i noticed that there was USB sound cards. I take it that you just plug it in the usb port, sit the thing somewhere and can get sound from it with no need of an internal sound card?

[Husar]

Well my PSU is 450W and the card requires a 400W so it should be okay.
I have also sent the computer back to be replace.

Also another thing, i forget to select what sound card i wanted on the system and ended up with none at all . So I will need to buy sound card and fit it myself. However i noticed that there was USB sound cards. I take it that you just plug it in the usb port, sit the thing somewhere and can get sound from it with no need of an internal sound card?

I am not a power expert, but I was told that a 450W PSU is not a 450W PSU.
(Which means it depends a lot on who manufactured it, ie. the brand)

[Leftenant Moley]

Its an OCZ Technology Powersupply ATX 450W

[screwtype]

Well my PSU is 450W and the card requires a 400W so it should be okay.
I have also sent the computer back to be replace.

Also another thing, i forget to select what sound card i wanted on the system and ended up with none at all . So I will need to buy sound card and fit it myself. However i noticed that there was USB sound cards. I take it that you just plug it in the usb port, sit the thing somewhere and can get sound from it with no need of an internal sound card?

Most mobo's these days come with integrated sound. You don't absolutely need a sound card. If you're not getting any sound at all, again, it may be your BIOS settings or, obviously, your drivers.

Personally, I don't see why you'd want a USB sound card, it will hog a USB port and clutter up your desktop. Much better to get an internal one for most uses. Cards are really very easy to install, all you need is a screwdriver. Just be sure to ground your hands on a metal water tap first and then only handle the card by the sides.

[Leftenant Moley]

I just got the email conformation from komplett stating they have retuned my computer after replacing the mobo which was faulty.

Hopefully it will arrive in time for Medieval 2(which il probably be getting on saturday)

And i'll need to try the intergrate sound card thing. After buying "building your own computer" from Hayes its explained a lot of things you need to know to set up a comp correctly. Kinda wished i built my own now. Looks pretty easy.

[DukeofSerbia]

Samsung SpinPoint P80SD 80GB SATA2
Samsung 17" CRT Syncmaster 793DF TCO99 Monitor, DynaFlat, Silver/Black

So strong components with so small hard disk and monitor is...

[Leftenant Moley]

Sweet I just my computer back today and its in working order
And medieval looks sooo great and runs flawlessly. As soon as i hit end turn the ai zips throw their moves and 3 secs later is my turn again

So strong components with so small hard disk and monitor is...

I'll struggle to fill that hard disk in a year. My old disk which is 40G still has plenty room and it has alot of internet guff on it(being a shared computer)

I am starting to regret the monitor though. Especially after my laser eye surgery i'm not wanting to damage me eyes again so i might just bye a £200 LCD after all. (and consider the £70 a waste, oh well)

Anyway i'm off need to unlock the Scots so i can the English