Adding a 3dfx card to a M599LMR

[FlashHarry]

As I understand it I can add a 3dfx card via the PCI slot, but I'm none too sure how I disable the existing onboard video card. There seems to be jumpers to disable the sound card and modem but not for the video card. Can I do this through the BIOS or Windows? (I'm running Win98)
This is my first venture inside my computer and I'm a bit nervous about inadvertently destroying the whole thing. Any help/advice/amusing comments would be greatly appreciated.

Harry

[Peter M]

The integrated VGA doesn't disable. It's multi-display capable, so it remains on despite another one being added.

How it works:

Enter BIOS, PCI/PnP page, and set the VGA priority to PCI instead of AGP.

Save, power off, add your PCI VGA. Connect your monitor to it and power back on. The BIOS POST and initial Windows boot screen should now come from the PCI card. This means step 1 done - your PCI VGA has become the primary display.

Next, Windows will prompt you for drivers for it. Install as described for your card.

Finally, if you don't intend to use the integrated SiS 530 graphics core anymore, then go to Windows Device Manager, and check "Disable in this hardware profile" in the SiS 530's properties.

Regards, Peter

[Eli]

Agreed. I did exactly that last week on my M717. Too bad I don't have the space for that second monitor... http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[FlashHarry]

Thanks for the advice. I ended up buying an Absolute MultiMedia Outrageous 3D Riva TNT2 M64 Graphics Accelerator. I changed the BIOS settings, inserted it into the PCI slot and restarted. The plug n Play detected it OK and installed the drivers from the CD, but it comes up in the device manager with an exclamation mark and says that it isn't working properly. I re-installed the drivers and rebooted, only to be greeted a blue screen saying that there had been a fatal exception error in nvcore.vxd. After that the only way I could turn the thing off was to pull the plug.

I have tried running the Add New Hardwear wizard, but it just repeats what it did before with the same results. I am now stuck a hideous low res VGA display and the horrible feeling that i have opened a can of worms. I realise that I'm now wandering towards the Graphics card message board, do you think i should post there as well?

Please help...

Yours desperately

Harry

[Eli]

Off the top of my head I'd suggest trying a different PCI slot... Have you disabled the old card within Windows yet, assuming that it could not be disabled completely in the BIOS?

[sns]

Some games also allow u to select which card u wish to use. I think its something like primary or secondary in the options. I havnt seen this with Q3A but I have come across it in others.

[Peter M]

Make sure you have "Assign IRQ to VGA" on, else NVidia cards won't run.

Also, as stupid as it might sound, you might have to reinstall the SiS 530 drivers after you installed the NVidia drivers. The latter seem to mess with the AGP GART driver. (Remember that in this situation, AGP is headed toward the integrated VGA, not the NVidia add-on.)

Regards, Peter
Regards, Peter

[Peter M]

Ah yes, and you might have to enable "PCI VGA Palette Snoop" in BIOS as well.

Regards, Peter

[FlashHarry]

I feel a bit daft. The CD that the shop supplied with the card turned out to be for the AGP model rather than the PCI, once I'd shouted at them and they'd given me the correct CD and I'd asigned IRQ to VGA everything was just fine

Thank you all for your help. No doubt I will be pestering you in the future when I next have a go at the insides of my machine.

Harry