Video Card Hokey Pokey

[Shropshireblue]

This is very strange.  I recently purchased a RADEON 9600 Atlantis video card to upgrade.  My old card was an nVidia GeForce4 MX440.   I unplugged the old card and installed the Radeon.  The computer booted up with the usual screwy graphics, and after I tweaked it (as directed) and installed the Radeon drivers, it worked just fine.

Sort of.

It worked great, so I shut the computer down so I could put it back together.  When I tried to restart, however, the monitor never got a feed from the computer.  I killed the power, opened up the box, took out the Radeon, and re-inserted the nVidia.  It came on properly with no problems.  I then shut down, removed the nVidia, and replaced it with the Radeon.  When I powered up, the monitor properly got a feed and the card worked like a charm.

But I was suspicious.  I shut down, the tried to restart.  Same problem as before - no feed to monitor.  So, powered down, took out Radeon, put in nVidia, booted again.  It worked.  Shut down, removed nVidia, put in Radeon, powered up.  It worked!!  But, of course, upon shutting down and restarting, it did not work.

*censored*??  How come it works the first time I power up with it, but not on subsequent powerups?  It's like the computer doesn't recognize the card after it has worked once before, but it will recognize it after another card has been properly booted up.  Aaarrrghghghghghg!!!

I have a Compaq (go easy on me) Presario 7110US
Athlon 1.3Mhz
512 RAM

Help!! Please!!  The Video Card Hokey Pokey is driving me crazy!!!

ShropshireBlue

[Raptor]

Have you checked if the cards are properly inserted and that no cables require replacing?

I suggest you check your BIOS to see if something needs to be set differently.

[Guest]

Sounds like a driver problem, go here http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/ use that to rid your system of unwanted nvidia and radeon drivers, then reinstall the radeon drivers. All of which is done in safe mode to ensure proper cleaning.