HELP i cannot get my geforce 6600 graphics card to work :(

[themanager3066 0]

hi all,

before i begin i am a bit rubbish at computers so firing all sorts of computer wiz questions will just confuse me even more, but i would really appreciate your help. recently i have found that my computer has struggeled to run many new games because of my graphics card (ATI radeon 9200) in my 3 year old computer, and the final straw came when i bought a game that required pixel shader 2+, something which my graphics card simply couldn't handle. so i thought i would update my graphics card to generally improve the performance of my computer, and also get some more RAM (512mb) to give me 1gb of RAM.

so i popped along to my local PC world where i spoke to a very helpful man who provided me with RAM which was compatible with my computer, and recommended the GeForce 6600 256mb AGP 8X as a good graphics card which was compatible with my computer, so i then went and bought this on amazon for £80. it arrived today and i went to fit it. the RAM was easy to fit, and initially so was the graphics card, slotting into its slot nicely, but then the instructions said that it required extra power. after about 30 mins of careful inspection in my computer i couldn't find anywhere to plug the wires from the graphics card to give it extra power, so i phoned PC world who said i should run the cable from the graphics card then to the power cable going to the HDD, then back into the HDD, and so i did that and everything fitted fine. However, when i started my computer up it was running so slowly i couldn't believe it, so i tried up[censored] the drivers, and nothing changed, then i took my computer apart again, removed the graphics card, and now its working fine again.

so i consulted the instructions again and i noticed that they said, and i qoute "never combine the pwoerline from your HDD with your VGA card". this means that either my computer does not have enough pwoer to run this card, and if so what can i do about it?, or that the instruction or the man from PC world are lying. Is there anything i can do to make it work, or have i just thrown away £80?, any help you can provide would be much appreciated.

[tool_462 0]

Ok, first we need a little more info. You did a great job describing the problem though! Here is what we need: How many watts is your Power Supply Unit (PSU)? It will be on a sticker on the side of the unit, sometimes you have to read a bit of the label to find the wattage. Probably between 250-500. I see on the 6600 you need a 4 pin molex connector to connect to the card. Your PSU should have 4-8 of these connectors running from it. See if you have any that dont connect to any other component and try that on the card. But to me it seems like the PSU isnt giving enough power. So let us know how many watts your current PSU puts out and we can let you know if it is powerful enough to give you what you need! Also include some detailed system specs, like what CPU/RAM/How many HDD's and Optical drives you are running.

[themanager3066 0]

ok forgive me if i describe this a little poorly but here we go:

 

my computer is;

I XTREME 6080

palornar springdale PE(MS6763 ver1.0) motherboard

intel pentium 2.6 GHZ processor

HDD seagate U9 series (80GB i think)

1 DVD drive

1 CD drive

1 floppy disk drive

i already had 512mb or RAM in two sticks, and put in another 512mb of RAM, which seems to be working fine

the power thingy i believe says AC input 220-230 V, if that makes any sense, and when i opened it up i think it said max output 280W

 

does this mean i will never be able to run this graphics card, cos right now i am a bit depressed at the prospect of loosing my hard earned £80

hope that is all the info you need will have another scout around if u need any more

 

also bear in mind when recommending a new PSU, which i think is what i need, i believe my computer moniter also gets power from it at the back, in other words there are two plugs going in the back of my PSU, one fat one if u see what i mean, and one below it a small little one, which i think is my moniter power cable, damn why are computers so confusing, and why is it always never as simple to fit things as i think it is going to be, and why does my computer have to be so god damn different.

 

Mike.

[Edited by themanager3066 on 2006-05-24 10:58:30]

 

[Relic 0]

Originally posted by themanager3066:

Quote:

ok forgive me if i describe this a little poorly but here we go:

 

my computer is;

I XTREME 6080

palornar springdale PE(MS6763 ver1.0) motherboard

intel pentium 2.6 GHZ processor

HDD seagate U9 series (80GB i think)

1 DVD drive

1 CD drive

1 floppy disk drive

i already had 512mb or RAM in two sticks, and put in another 512mb of RAM, which seems to be working fine

the power thingy i believe says AC input 220-230 V, if that makes any sense, and when i opened it up i think it said max output 280W

 

does this mean i will never be able to run this graphics card, cos right now i am a bit depressed at the prospect of loosing my hard earned £80

hope that is all the info you need will have another scout around if u need any more

 

also bear in mind when recommending a new PSU, which i think is what i need, i believe my computer moniter also gets power from it at the back, in other words there are two plugs going in the back of my PSU, one fat one if u see what i mean, and one below it a small little one, which i think is my moniter power cable, damn why are computers so confusing, and why is it always never as simple to fit things as i think it is going to be, and why does my computer have to be so god damn different.

 

Mike.

[Edited by themanager3066 on 2006-05-24 10:58:30]

 

It's definitely your PSU, the bare minimum for your card is 300W, I wouldn't use less than a 400W with your setup. On the side of your PSU there should be a chart, describing the output on your "rails", which are the power rails.

 

The bare minimum for your card/system is 18amps on the +12V rail, which should be fine. A good PSU can be had for around $50 Canadian, you'll have to convert that to pounds, this for example: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=15860&vpn=AX400-PN&manufacture=FSP%20GROUP%20USA

 

It has two 12V rails, one at 18amps, the other 16amps, more than enough for your system, and the price is right.

[themanager3066 0]

can you just give me an idea if these would work or not;

 

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info-pc.asp?id=4087&pc=kelkoo

 

http://www.savastore.com/productinfo/pro...id=45&tid=2

 

to be perfectly honest i am finding it extremely difficult to find a new PSU unit that may be compatible, becuase basically i am rubbish at computers so don't understand a lot of the information given, so please any recommendations would be extremely helpful

 

also just as an aside how do i know it will fit into my pc case, and connect to my motherboard etc?

 

Mike.

[tool_462 0]

Yep, Relic beat me to it for the first answer. It is you PSU that is causing the issue and YES, either of those PSU's will be sufficient to run your PC. Also, just for future reference, the plug on the back of the PSU for you monitor or whatever you want, doesnt take any power away from your PC. It is simply like plugging it into a power strip or surge protector.

[themanager3066 0]

so any PSU would it into my pc, in terms of housing and connections to things like motherboards? and the only thing i am looking for in particular is to make sure it is 400W

 

Mike.

[tool_462 0]

Yep. Any PSU that is 400Watts+ should work fine. Unless your computer is very old (which it doesnt seem to be) the PSU will be ATX and will fit perfect. Older PC's use AT PSU's but dont worry about that.

[Relic 0]

Akasa has a good rep, haven't heard a lot about Chieftec PSU's being bad, so either one, both have dual 12V rails at 14 and 15 amps each, should do you well.

[themanager3066 0]

how about this one

http://misco.co.uk/productinformation/~75860~WW~/Akasa%20400W%20Power%20Supply.htm

 

[Relic 0]

Yeah, that would work, SLI PSU, but nowhere enough power for a top-of-the-line SLI system.

 

You want to run 2 cards in the future, 600W+, dual-core ready.

 

For what you want now, go with the first Akasa.

 

Now, you can post links for 100 more PSU's that will do the trick, but it's a waste of time, you already have your answer. Go with one or the other.

[themanager3066 0]

i know i know, sorry about the repeated posting of info on new PSU's, but i really want to get it right, i don't want to fudge it and get the worng thing, that is how i first ended up in this situation, but soon i will buy a PSU, maybe sunday/monday.

 

 

Mike.

[themanager3066 0]

right, i bought a 450w PSU from PC world today for £44.99, and it had enough connectors so that i didn't have to connect the graphics card to the HHD and i managed (after a little work) to put it in! however, when i started up it had no effect. after a few hours of proggressively worsening langauge, i went to the packard bell website put in the serial number for my computer and found that there was a BIOS update for my computer, i downaloaded it and made a CD with it, restarted my comp and used the prgram it had made on the CD, and hey presto now my computer runs games beautifully!!!!!!!

i cannot thank you guys enough for the help, as i didn't really know what to do until u guys told me, and now i can enjoy my games fully, and have a strange blue light which comes out of the back of my comp due to the new PSU, which looks pretty smart, so thanks guys, i owe u one.

 

Mike.

[Relic 0]

Originally posted by themanager3066:

Quote:

right, i bought a 450w PSU from PC world today for £44.99, and it had enough connectors so that i didn't have to connect the graphics card to the HHD and i managed (after a little work) to put it in! however, when i started up it had no effect. after a few hours of proggressively worsening langauge, i went to the packard bell website put in the serial number for my computer and found that there was a BIOS update for my computer, i downaloaded it and made a CD with it, restarted my comp and used the prgram it had made on the CD, and hey presto now my computer runs games beautifully!!!!!!!

i cannot thank you guys enough for the help, as i didn't really know what to do until u guys told me, and now i can enjoy my games fully, and have a strange blue light which comes out of the back of my comp due to the new PSU, which looks pretty smart, so thanks guys, i owe u one.

 

Mike.

 

Heh heh heh, that's very cool dude, and you're welcome, from all of us, if I can be so bold as to speak for everyone.

 

Now, you got your "hands dirty", next time around, you probably won't be so shy about fixing your system yourself, which is a very cool thing, we all start somewhere.

 

Congrats on the successful BIOS flash, BTW. 8)

[themanager3066 0]

thanks man, i know what you mean, fitting the parts wasn't half as hard as i imagined, but the thing that i struggeled greatly was the whole compatibility issues, and not really knowing which parts would work with each other. but i have to say it may be a little while before i pick up the screwdriver again and try and change anything with my computer as my blood pressure must have gone off the scale at some points

o and by the way this is the PSU i got, i thoroughly recommend it

 

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/p...p;category_oid=

 

thanks everyone

 

Mike.