BIOS and new Video Card Booting problem
 

I replaced my AGP video card and my system was unable to boot with the new card. I tried clearing the BIOS CMOS with the jumper pins back to default and still no boot. I put the old video card back in and it booted normally.

The system is an MSI K8T Neo2 v2.0 with AGP 8X slot 3.0 spec, the new card is ASUS V9520-X with AGP 8X. I know that the card is OK because I took it out of another system (Windows XP)where it has been working. The Award BIOS is up to date at v3.6.

What could be the problem here? Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

check the agp card related bios settings.
disable video bios related things

Thanks
 

Attempting to do this has brought out a new problem -- now I can't get into the BIOS. During the boot up when I now click Shift/F10 I go to some boot options, not into the BIOS.

I wasn't aware that ANY motherboards were ever produced which actually offered full x8 functionality on their AGP slots.. But never mind that :) let's see...

Both of my MSI boards use the DELETE key to access the BIOS, but also, both my boards use an AMI BIOS, not Award. Does DELETE work for you?

The other menu you describe sounds like the BOOT menu, where you can select the boot device. I access that with F-11 on mine.

As to why the machine will boot with one AGP card and not the other, really sounds like a hardware incompatibility, though I can't suggest what exactly it might be. Like you, I would think that either card should work find, if they are both AGP and both fit correctly in the slot.

You say you did reset the CMOS once already, so I suggest that you try whatever you need to, to get back into the BIOS, and make sure the option for "BOOT VIDEO CARD" or whatever it''s called, is set to AGP and not PCI, or you will definitely continue to have this problem.

Best regards,

Sasha

Addendum:
The video bios related setting is acpi related and can be found in more recent MSI boards (AMD). PCIE radeon cards have difficulty with the option.

Still can't get into the BIOS...

You can try to remove the CMOS battery and the power cord and hold down the power button for a while to see if that helps. Otherwise, consider clearing the BIOS by setting a jumper on your motherboard.

See your motherboard manual or google for information on the procedure for your model motherboard.