Intel 845 GVSR, P4 PC giving trouble

[Koustav]

Dear Friends,
I am pointing out the exact problems I am facing with my PC right now. Wish you guys can help me out to sort out the problem.

I have a PC with Intel 845GVSRL mboard and P4 (2.4 Ghz) processor, it is 5 years old. My PC was kept unused for about 6 months and recently after powering it on I noticed the picture was kinda flickering on my monitor (not much, but one can notice if look continuously). After few days of usage one day when I started it the CPU started but the monitor didn't. After several try it ultimately started but then again restarted during boot. I thought may be RAM problem, I bought a 1 GB DDR ram and added it with the existing 256 MB RAM. the problem continued to stay. I removed the old RAM and run the PC with new one only. The problem still continued. I thought may be BIOS needs an update. Did so without any positive result. Then I also removed the onboard cell and BIOS pin to give a reset. All this was of no good result as the problem continues to stay. Sometimes the PC runs properly and sometimes the monitor doesn't come out with any display.

The latest addition to my worry is when the monitor is blank it's blank, but when it shows me display.... it's all greenish these days, no red colour is showing on my monitor. (I have checked the monitor using VGA cable with my lappy, and the display is OK in my monitor)

Please tell me what can be the problem? Is my onboard graphic card dead? If so then what to do? can i add external graphic card to my moboard?

 

[betwixt]

Sounds like the on-board graphics have died. The easiest fix is to go into the BIOS and disable the on-board graphics, then install a new graphics card into the special slot reserved for video cards, it is usually brown and will be closest to the processor. It should then work fine again, be faster at producing pictures and if you previously had shared graphics memory, you will find more is available to your programs.

Brian.

 

[Koustav]

Hi Brian,
Thank you for your reply. Can you please suggest me what kind of graphics cards are compatible with 845 GVSRL? Is there a way to change the on-board graphic card?

 

[Jack// ani]

Hi Koustav,

By brown slot, betwixt is referring to AGP slot. If you still have motherboard's manual, try to find which variant of AGP graphics card does your motherboard support.

Or you can always get PCI graphics card, which is almost always universal, so that you don't have to worry about compatibility.

Since, onboard graphics chip is integrated on motherboard there is no way you can get it changed.

Hope this helps...

 

[Koustav]

Thank you for your reply.
But I got one question,
How can I select the option to disable integrated graphic in BIOS, if I can not see the display? Or is it that once I put one PCI graphic card on motherboard then the display will automatically come up? Any idea?

On the other hand I may also go for a new moboard given the price of a graphic card is almost same to a new mobo's. In that case, can anyone please suggest what options are available in the market that support P4 processor and DDR SD RAM?

 

[betwixt]

The BIOS should initialize all the video cards it finds so the display should appear on the new card. Most BIOS have settings will allow you to disable the internal peripherals, including the graphics and will also have an option to set which is initialized first. If you add an AGP card, obviously set it to have priority.

There are benefits of not replacing the motherboard:

1. If you use Windows you will have to buy a new license. The new hardware will not match the description MS used to generate your activation key so it will become invalid.

2. Most on-board graphics systems share the memory with the processor, this reduces the amount left for programs and also slows the system down. A plug-in card will have it's own memory and on most modern cards will also have a faster and dedicated graphics processor IC.

3. If it breaks down again you can replace just the graphics card. If the motherboard breaks down you can transfer the graphics card to a new computer.

It's a win-win situation, if you change the motherboard all you do is lose money.

Brian.

 

[Koustav]

The BIOS should initialize all the video cards it finds so the display should appear on the new card. Most BIOS have settings will allow you to disable the internal peripherals, including the graphics and will also have an option to set which is initialized first. If you add an AGP card, obviously set it to have priority.

There are benefits of not replacing the motherboard:

1. If you use Windows you will have to buy a new license. The new hardware will not match the description MS used to generate your activation key so it will become invalid.

2. Most on-board graphics systems share the memory with the processor, this reduces the amount left for programs and also slows the system down. A plug-in card will have it's own memory and on most modern cards will also have a faster and dedicated graphics processor IC.

3. If it breaks down again you can replace just the graphics card. If the motherboard breaks down you can transfer the graphics card to a new computer.

It's a win-win situation, if you change the motherboard all you do is lose money.

Brian.

Thank you again,
But my M'board doesn't have AGP slot, are you sure the PCI graphics card will work with the 845 GVSR?
Thanks.

 

[Jack// ani]

The BIOS should initialize all the video cards it finds so the display should appear on the new card. Most BIOS have settings will allow you to disable the internal peripherals, including the graphics and will also have an option to set which is initialized first. If you add an AGP card, obviously set it to have priority.

There are benefits of not replacing the motherboard:

1. If you use Windows you will have to buy a new license. The new hardware will not match the description MS used to generate your activation key so it will become invalid.

2. Most on-board graphics systems share the memory with the processor, this reduces the amount left for programs and also slows the system down. A plug-in card will have it's own memory and on most modern cards will also have a faster and dedicated graphics processor IC.

3. If it breaks down again you can replace just the graphics card. If the motherboard breaks down you can transfer the graphics card to a new computer.

It's a win-win situation, if you change the motherboard all you do is lose money.

Brian.

Thank you again,
But my M'board doesn't have AGP slot, are you sure the PCI graphics card will work with the 845 GVSR?
Thanks.

Yes, PCI graphics card will work, no issues.

BTW, did to try to identify your motherboard problem by POST beep? It will help you pin point the fault. Are you getting any beeps any start-up?

 

[Koustav]

The BIOS should initialize all the video cards it finds so the display should appear on the new card. Most BIOS have settings will allow you to disable the internal peripherals, including the graphics and will also have an option to set which is initialized first. If you add an AGP card, obviously set it to have priority.

There are benefits of not replacing the motherboard:

1. If you use Windows you will have to buy a new license. The new hardware will not match the description MS used to generate your activation key so it will become invalid.

2. Most on-board graphics systems share the memory with the processor, this reduces the amount left for programs and also slows the system down. A plug-in card will have it's own memory and on most modern cards will also have a faster and dedicated graphics processor IC.

3. If it breaks down again you can replace just the graphics card. If the motherboard breaks down you can transfer the graphics card to a new computer.

It's a win-win situation, if you change the motherboard all you do is lose money.

Brian.

Thank you again,
But my M'board doesn't have AGP slot, are you sure the PCI graphics card will work with the 845 GVSR?
Thanks.

Yes, PCI graphics card will work, no issues.

BTW, did to try to identify your motherboard problem by POST beep? It will help you pin point the fault. Are you getting any beeps any start-up?

Hello guys,

Thanks to both of you for your replies. Today I went to the electronic market and after intense search on various stores, came to know the best available graphic card in PCI slot (non express) is of 8MB memory only. I also found out to my joy that 845, 945 series moboards are still available in the market (but only a few stores are having them and those are chipset by lesser known brands) . Anyway I did the easiest thing. Bought one 8MB PCI VGA card which costed me just 450 INR. And after installing it, my PC is back with it's display and I am happy that my 5 year old PC is working fine again... Now only thing I want to change is the USB ports, those are non high speed ones so take a long time to copy movies and big files... Is there any process to update non high speed ports to high speed? I have already checked in BIOS and there the highest speed option is selected for USB.

 

[Jack// ani]

Cool...so everything is in good shape now, good to hear that, must be quite a relief.

Because older mobo only supports USB 1.1, updating BIOS won't help. Instead get another PCI USB 2.0 card, it comes with 4 USB port at the back of card.

 

[Koustav]

Cool...so everything is in good shape now, good to hear that, must be quite a relief.

Because older mobo only supports USB 1.1, updating BIOS won't help. Instead get another PCI USB 2.0 card, it comes with 4 USB port at the back of card.

Ok, next time I will get it from the market. Thnx.