Bliss 7800+ AGP problem ?

Replaced Gigabyte Silent 6800 128 MB with Gainward Bliss 7800GS + 512MB
"Golden Sample", understand that it's actually a GS 7900 PCI converted
to AGP. Quite happy with my Athlon XP+ 3200, DDR400 dual channel Epox
EP-8RDA PRO and wanted to see if Oblivion would run that much better
with a powerful card.
I'm using a Zalman ZM400B-APS 400 watt ATX 2.03 power supply. Running
twin seagate SATA 1 drives, one Samsung DVD writer and a floppy (hardly
ever used these days).
Following the Gainward suggested procedure, I pulled out the 6800 and
clapped in the 7800GS and restarted. The mobo was ok and initiated
windows start, then the display went blank.

As an experiment I then booted with Knoppix 5.01 DVD-lo and behold,
everything worked as far as I could see. The card was unrecognised, but
a default Nvidia driver was used and seemed to give no problems.

But what to do about XP ? Send the GS7800 back to Dabs for a refund ? I
can't even boot into safe mode, or at least if i try the screen blanks
as before. Using a Medion LCD, good spec, 1280x1024 karge frequency range.

Any useful suggestions gratefully welcomed

Tom

Put your old video card back in, boot into Windows and do a
complete uninstall of Nvidia's drivers, and uninstall any third
party display software you might have (e.g. Powerstrip,
RivaTuner etc). Knoppix boots fine, which means the GS+ is
ok. More than likely you have residual drivers, utilities or
other software that's interfering in WinXP.

Also check your motherboard manual and see if any PCI
slots share an IRQ with your AGP slot (usually it's PCI slot1).
If you have a card in that slot, relocate it.

If that doesn't work, try a larger (500W or more) power
supply.

"Tom Goodman" wrote in message . uk...
Replaced Gigabyte Silent 6800 128 MB with Gainward Bliss 7800GS + 512MB
"Golden Sample", understand that it's actually a GS 7900 PCI converted
to AGP. Quite happy with my Athlon XP+ 3200, DDR400 dual channel Epox
EP-8RDA PRO and wanted to see if Oblivion would run that much better
with a powerful card.
I'm using a Zalman ZM400B-APS 400 watt ATX 2.03 power supply. Running
twin seagate SATA 1 drives, one Samsung DVD writer and a floppy (hardly
ever used these days).
Following the Gainward suggested procedure, I pulled out the 6800 and
clapped in the 7800GS and restarted. The mobo was ok and initiated
windows start, then the display went blank.

As an experiment I then booted with Knoppix 5.01 DVD-lo and behold,
everything worked as far as I could see. The card was unrecognised, but
a default Nvidia driver was used and seemed to give no problems.

But what to do about XP ? Send the GS7800 back to Dabs for a refund ? I
can't even boot into safe mode, or at least if i try the screen blanks
as before. Using a Medion LCD, good spec, 1280x1024 karge frequency range.

Any useful suggestions gratefully welcomed

Tom

Tom,

The mobo was ok and initiated
windows start, then the display went blank.

Two things;

1) Remove ALL old video drivers BEFORE rebooting with new card
installed.
2) Be certain you plug-in the required extra 12v. power connector on
end of card.

Same card works fine on my Abit IC7-G MoBo, with two RAID0 drives, two
IDE drives, a DVD drive, floppy, and WinXP Pro w/SP2.
--

Jim
Using - Virtual Access(OLR), ZASS 6.1, & WinXP Pro w/SP2
http://www.virtual-access.org

Jim wrote:
Tom,

The mobo was ok and initiated
windows start, then the display went blank.

Two things;

1) Remove ALL old video drivers BEFORE rebooting with new card
installed.
2) Be certain you plug-in the required extra 12v. power connector on
end of card.

Same card works fine on my Abit IC7-G MoBo, with two RAID0 drives, two
IDE drives, a DVD drive, floppy, and WinXP Pro w/SP2.
Jim,
Thanks for the comment.
There are two 12v connectors coming from the single card connector & I
have connected each to a spare 12v HDD connector on different wiring looms.
I was thinking along similar line to those you've suggested. I do have
Riva tuner installed...I'll let you know the result.
What is your PSU capacity by the way ?
Tom

EDM wrote:
Put your old video card back in, boot into Windows and do a
complete uninstall of Nvidia's drivers, and uninstall any third
party display software you might have (e.g. Powerstrip,
RivaTuner etc). Knoppix boots fine, which means the GS+ is
ok. More than likely you have residual drivers, utilities or
other software that's interfering in WinXP.

Also check your motherboard manual and see if any PCI
slots share an IRQ with your AGP slot (usually it's PCI slot1).
If you have a card in that slot, relocate it.

If that doesn't work, try a larger (500W or more) power
supply.

"Tom Goodman" wrote in message . uk...
Replaced Gigabyte Silent 6800 128 MB with Gainward Bliss 7800GS + 512MB
"Golden Sample", understand that it's actually a GS 7900 PCI converted
to AGP. Quite happy with my Athlon XP+ 3200, DDR400 dual channel Epox
EP-8RDA PRO and wanted to see if Oblivion would run that much better
with a powerful card.
I'm using a Zalman ZM400B-APS 400 watt ATX 2.03 power supply. Running
twin seagate SATA 1 drives, one Samsung DVD writer and a floppy (hardly
ever used these days).
Following the Gainward suggested procedure, I pulled out the 6800 and
clapped in the 7800GS and restarted. The mobo was ok and initiated
windows start, then the display went blank.

As an experiment I then booted with Knoppix 5.01 DVD-lo and behold,
everything worked as far as I could see. The card was unrecognised, but
a default Nvidia driver was used and seemed to give no problems.

But what to do about XP ? Send the GS7800 back to Dabs for a refund ? I
can't even boot into safe mode, or at least if i try the screen blanks
as before. Using a Medion LCD, good spec, 1280x1024 karge frequency range.

Any useful suggestions gratefully welcomed

Tom


EDM,
Sounds good; I was thinking-hoping-along those lines. Of course I was
using Riva Tuner to tweak the 6800 extra pipes !
I'll post the result tomorrow hopefully. I was pleased that the Bliss
card was actually fairly quiet, in fact added no more to the existing
faint hum !
Tom.

"Tom Goodman" wrote in message . uk...
EDM wrote:
Put your old video card back in, boot into Windows and do a
complete uninstall of Nvidia's drivers, and uninstall any third
party display software you might have (e.g. Powerstrip,
RivaTuner etc). Knoppix boots fine, which means the GS+ is
ok. More than likely you have residual drivers, utilities or
other software that's interfering in WinXP.

Also check your motherboard manual and see if any PCI
slots share an IRQ with your AGP slot (usually it's PCI slot1).
If you have a card in that slot, relocate it.

If that doesn't work, try a larger (500W or more) power
supply.
EDM,
Sounds good; I was thinking-hoping-along those lines. Of course I was
using Riva Tuner to tweak the 6800 extra pipes !
I'll post the result tomorrow hopefully. I was pleased that the Bliss
card was actually fairly quiet, in fact added no more to the existing
faint hum !
Tom.

Yes, I was plesantly surprised by the lack of fan noise on the GS+.
And it runs cool too, case + 8C at idle and case + 18C after
extended gaming sessions. Even substantially overclocked (I'm
running it at 500/1400) I've yet to see it go over 53C. Just an
amazing piece of work from Gainward.

As for my brain fart about PCI slot 1, never mind. Right after I
posted that message I remembered the card already takes slot 1
for its cooler. :-)

Tom,

There are two 12v connectors coming from the single card connector
& I
have connected each to a spare 12v HDD connector on different
wiring looms.

My Gainward BLISS GeForce 7800 GS+ Silent 512MB AGP only has one, which
I put on it's own 12v line.

What is your PSU capacity by the way ?

PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 510 Express/SLi
--

Jim
Using - Virtual Access(OLR), ZASS 6.5, & WinXP Pro w/SP2
http://www.virtual-access.org

Sorted: The Gainward procedure as in their printed booklet is of course
quite wrong and a very poor effort to put out with an expensive-and
excellent card. I had my doubts but followed it just to be on the safe
side-they ought to know best.

however, following my test with Knoppix, an invaluable tool, I did what
Jim, and EDM suggested, which was what I should have done in the first
place and what i would have normally done.
With 6800 in place, un-installed display drivers, uninstalled Riva
Tuner, ran Drivecleaner just on display elements, shut down and fitted
7800GS+.
Rebooted into VGA using F8 key, windows detected card, bunged in
Gainward CD and installed drivers and utilities. No Problem. All went
well and Oblivion now runs sweetly with amazing effects. With the new
card in place Oblivion detected a change and put in ultra-high quality
settings.
Thanks for help folks, I'm very pleased. now to do some benchmarking
just for fun.

"Tom Goodman" wrote in message . uk...
Sorted: The Gainward procedure as in their printed booklet is of course
quite wrong and a very poor effort to put out with an expensive-and
excellent card. I had my doubts but followed it just to be on the safe
side-they ought to know best.

however, following my test with Knoppix, an invaluable tool, I did what
Jim, and EDM suggested, which was what I should have done in the first
place and what i would have normally done.
With 6800 in place, un-installed display drivers, uninstalled Riva
Tuner, ran Drivecleaner just on display elements, shut down and fitted
7800GS+.
Rebooted into VGA using F8 key, windows detected card, bunged in
Gainward CD and installed drivers and utilities. No Problem. All went
well and Oblivion now runs sweetly with amazing effects. With the new
card in place Oblivion detected a change and put in ultra-high quality
settings.
Thanks for help folks, I'm very pleased. now to do some benchmarking
just for fun.

Glad you got it sorted.

Try the 91.33 drivers. I got a nearly 10% speed boost
over the stock 84.21 on my GS+.

Also install Coolbits2. The card has no problems running
at 460/1400, and most can hit 500 core with no stability
or temperature issues. I'd caution against running Nvidia's
automatic overclocking function, which is supposed to
find the max o/c. I've read a few reports of permanent
damage to cards from using or overusing this function.

Edm,

Try the 91.33 drivers

I've only seen the 91.31 drivers.
URL for the 91.33 drivers is???

--

Jim
Using - Virtual Access(OLR), ZASS 6.5, & WinXP Pro w/SP2
http://www.virtual-access.org