I know this guy....

[LA_MERC_Sabre]

I know this guy that bought an old pc from a garage sale and is trying to put it together for his daughter...

anywho,

the pc ran fine when he got it, it had Windows XP pro and it was using an AGP 4 mb vid card (i know, i know)...He the RESTORED the BIOS to its default settings...then re-installed WINXP pro (i believe he formatted too).

After this, his pc won't recognize the AGP vid card but will see a PCI card and the PCI card seems to be the default.

I initially told him that he might have to flash his BIOS, but he really wasn't comfortable with that and was hoping there was an alternative.

Do any of you guys know of some BIOS settings that may be causing Windows to not see the AGP card? As i mentioned above, the AGP card was working.

this is what i know of the pc itself...440bx chipset, Tyan mobo (tiger 100), AMI Bios.

thanks in advance.

[LA_MERC_T4rg3T]

Make sure that agp mode is enabled and that its not set to pci

Also, here is a link to the manual

http://www.motherboards.org/files/manuals/124/m_s1832_220.pdf

[LA_MERC_Onji]

On some mobo's, in the bios, there is a setting for your vga. You can either choose, init pci 1st, or init agp 1st.

If you have this option, put the pci video card in, boot into bios, change it to init agp 1st. Save changes and exit. Power down the pc, take out the pci vid card and install the agp vid card. And boot back up.
If that doesnt do it, then yeah try flashing the bios to the latest ver. The process isnt as bad as he thinks it is.

[LA_MERC_T4rg3T]

Also, you can try to clear the cmos and reset the bios again.

Make sure to unplug all power cords and then find JP3 on the board. Move the jumper to the 2-3 position and leave it for 3-5 minutes. Then move it back to the 1-2 position and power on the pc.

[LA_MERC_Sabre]

His bios is set for the AGP Enabled.....I'll let him know about those other options..

Thanks alot guys! I'll let you know what worked :)

[LA_MERC_MadMAX]

This is why I always say..."If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Also, it could be some of the AGP settings in the bios - since he reset it. Like AGP Fast Write or Side Band addressing that aren't compatable w/ the older 4 meg card that he has -

He may just end up having to sit there and play w/ settings until he gets it "right".

[LA_MERC_Sabre]

Thanks for your help guys...here is the email i got from him:




Last night I got the AGP slot to work. Boy that 4mb card sucks! I’ll have to try yours again.



As expected it was a toggle switch in the bios.



One of your buddies sent a link for the manual of the motherboard and I looked specifically at the bios settings/options. One switch caught my attention. It was the PCI0/PIC1 switch. I did not know this but an AGP slot is just a modified PCI slot for graphics. The toggle switch was by default set to PCI1 which was the first PCI slot. I switched it to PCI0 (the AGP slot) and it worked.



I did clear the CMOS at the same time but I think the toggle switch was the culprit.



If you would pass on a thanks to your buddies.