Hello. I have a problem with a new GeForce 8600GT graphics card. I just installed the card into my Dell Optiplex 745. When I boot the PC I have no image until the Ubuntu logon box comes up. No bios info, no boot menu, no grub menu, nothing until the Ubuntu login. Once I get to the logon prompt everything seems fine except when I use CTRL+ALT+F1 to get to a console. Then I get nothing but a blank screen. When I press CTRL+ALT+F7 my desktop loads fine and all is OK again. I had a problem trying to get the nVidia drivers installed because I didn't have a usable console. I had to use SSH to install the drivers. I'm using this card with an HP 1755 flat panel that's about 5 years old and a Dell Optiplex 745 with Intel Dual-Core CPU. Can anyone tell me how to get around this problem?

Thanks,
Rick

Which distro...

I assume that there is no problem with the graphics card you used before your 8600GT? The BIOS is set for the PCI-Ex16 slot?

Have you tried to see if there is any difference with a few different live-cds, Ubuntu, openSUSE, PartedMagic(Gentoo based), Mandriva? There probably won't be, but still.

Did Google tell you about this make and model card and booting peculiarities with the motherboard in your Dell, that is the board/nearest board model made by whomever delivered it to Dell?

Do you have the latest BIOS, as this is most likely a BIOS fluke. Is there anything in the BIOS that could be changed, maybe an Init Display First or Full Screen Logo Show setting such as on my motherboard, or anything else about the display or graphics?

I once encountered a PC that hid everything until the Windows login screen. The only way to see anything before that was to hit a key just after the power on. I think it was the Tab. This was a feature of the BIOS that could not be changed; it was meant to keep the adventurous from adventuring.

By the way, I have an Inno3D 8600GT and the first thing I see after I push the power button and before the beep, is notice of the graphic card's own BIOS bringing the card to life.

Thanks for your reply.

The previous card was an ATi FireGL 1300X. It worked fine but was very slow and not compatible with newer distros.

Googling didn't turn anything up quite like the problem I'm having.

Latest BIOS is installed and I can't see anything in the BIOS that would cause/solve this problem.

I've found a temporary (I hope) solution. I had an old HP CRT monitor in the garage. Brought that in, hooked it up and booted. Boots normally, so I guess whatever mode the graphics card is in at boot is not compatible with the Flat Panel. Guess I have to keep the CRT around a bit longer.

Thanks,
Rick

Well then...

I think that you should try my suggestion of booting some live-cds to see if any of them bring the screen to life during the boot sequence. You can buy a couple of rewritable CDs of fair quality, so if the attempt leads to nothing, not all is lost.

This approach is a long shot since the problem may arise before the boot loader comes into play. However, once the bootloader starts, it determines the resolution of the image on the screen and therefor that something might show itself on the screen at that stage. It is possible to edit GRUB/GRUB2 to specify the resolution that the bootloader introduces. You can google for GRUB and VGA or GRUB, edit resolution.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/blog/a...damp-lilo-830/

http://www.linuxquestions.org/blog/l...nd-lilo.-2000/

What linux are you using, what is the make and model of the 8600GT card and what is the make and model of the screen? I'll google too; it's an interesting problem. It may, however, be that it has no solution. You couldn't find another PC to try the card in, perhaps a Widows system to see if the card acts the same way?

If Google says that no one else has a problem with this card and your screen, might you not consider the behavior of this 8600GT a fault, and if you still can, sent the card back(RMA)?

Thanks again for your reply.

The card in question is a Palit nVidia GeForce 8600GT 512MB PCI-E 16x. My display is an HP 1755 17" Flat Panel Display. My Distro is Kubuntu 9.04 (also tried the Kubuntu 9.04 with KDE3). The PC is a Dell Optiplex 745 with Intel Dual-Core CPU.

I have also tried Kubuntu 8.04 live CD and the Knopix System Repair Disk live CD. Both of which have given me the same results. Yesterday after booting with my CRT monitor a few times I re-connected my flat panel to the card and everything was fine. The system booted normally, I was able to access the system BIOS and to able to boot to a console. Perfect. Today I booted up with the flat panel display and the problem is back. No screen of any kind until the KDM logon screen appears. No BIOS message from the GPU, no system BIOS and no grub menu. Also, the resolution of the desktop appears to be set at 640x480 and not the 1280x1024 I had yesterday. The HP 1755 is sort of a spare monitor. I use it when I'm setting up new PCs or working on systems for other people. I also have an HP 1940 Flat Panel on my desk that the machine will be hooked up to when it's ready for use. I'll try that today and see if the problem persists. Intermittently bad card or maybe a display that isn't auto sensing?

Thanks,
Rick

OK. This morning I connected the PC with the nVidia 8600GT to my HP 1940 monitor. It worked great. I got the GPU BIOS message, the system BIOS and the grub menu. I was also able to drop to console with CTRL-ALT-F1. I reconnected the HP 1755 and once again I don't get any of the startup messages, just the Kubuntu login and no console. Must a problem with the display and the GPU together. It would be nice to have a solution, but at this point, it's not critical.

Thanks,
Rick

Vexing...

The HP1940 works with the Dell system with the 8600GT, suggesting that there is nothing wrong with the Dell or the 8600GT, but can you try the HP1755 with another system to see if the problem can be isolated to the HP1755 screen, not the combination of that screen and that card?

At five years and with perhaps a few knocks, the screen may simply be going bad, but it does in fact display, it just fails to display its function for a while. Have you tried to look at the xorg.conf file to see what resolution and refresh rate is being produced, either by your installed linux or by a live-cd?

Have you tried connecting the two problem elements with another cable, have you pushed and pulled, raised and lowered, twisted and done all the usual things to test the connection? Do the connectors look good; all the pins are straight, etc.?

There may be nothing to be done except to give up on it. It's only worth so much effort and you can try to see if it works better with different hardware on a later project.

Hey,

I found the same issue on my Compal IFL92 ( GeForce 8600 GT) under Gentoo (xorg-server-1.6.5 and nvidia-drivers 190.42). Have you found any solution? My first impression, when I discovered that, was that something must have been broken by nvclock installed on my system a few hours before.

I haven't found a solution other than to use a different monitor. This problem only occurs on a monitor I use when I'm working new systems or repairing existing PCs. My regular desktop monitor doesn't suffer from this problem and neither does an old CRT monitor I have out in my garage. Seems to be an issue with the nVidia GeForce 8600GT and the HP 1755 monitor display. Since it doesn't really cause my any problems I'll just let it go.