G450: both monitors flash

I just bought a new (to me, I think) Matrox G450. I installed it in my
computer, plugged two monitors into it and started up the computer.
Both of my monitors started flashing and then eventually just went
black. The computer kept booting, but I couldn't see anything on the
screen.

I turned off the computer, plugged my main monitor back into my old
built-in video card and booted up.

Nothing on the screen, but windows booted.

I removed the matrox card and started the computer again, and
everything worked fine, except I wasn't using my brand new video card I
paid big bucks for (well, not really that big -- but they were bucks!)

Did I do something wrong. Do I have to do something to make this thing
work?

Help, please!

wrote:
> I just bought a new (to me, I think) Matrox G450. I installed it in my
> computer, plugged two monitors into it and started up the computer.
> Both of my monitors started flashing and then eventually just went
> black. The computer kept booting, but I couldn't see anything on the
> screen.
>
> I turned off the computer, plugged my main monitor back into my old
> built-in video card and booted up.
>
> Nothing on the screen, but windows booted.

Forgot to mention that the screen stays white after the initial
flashing.

On 29 Jun 2006 09:59:51 -0700, wrote:

>I just bought a new (to me, I think) Matrox G450. I installed it in my
>computer, plugged two monitors into it and started up the computer.
>Both of my monitors started flashing and then eventually just went
>black. The computer kept booting, but I couldn't see anything on the
>screen.
>
>I turned off the computer, plugged my main monitor back into my old
>built-in video card and booted up.
>
>Nothing on the screen, but windows booted.
>
>I removed the matrox card and started the computer again, and
>everything worked fine, except I wasn't using my brand new video card I
>paid big bucks for (well, not really that big -- but they were bucks!)
>
>Did I do something wrong. Do I have to do something to make this thing
>work?
>
As you were originally using the onboard graphics card, you may have
to go into the bios and change the setting for which graphics adaptor
the machine uses.
On older motherboards this was sometimes controlled by a jumper on the
motherboard.

Sounds like what's happening is that the bios is telling the machine
to use the onboard graphics adaptor...and when you plug the Matrox in
you have nothing connected to the onboard VGA socket.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

Stephen Howard wrote:
> On 29 Jun 2006 09:59:51 -0700, wrote:
>
> >I just bought a new (to me, I think) Matrox G450. I installed it in my
> >computer, plugged two monitors into it and started up the computer.
> >Both of my monitors started flashing and then eventually just went
> >black. The computer kept booting, but I couldn't see anything on the
> >screen.
> >
> >I turned off the computer, plugged my main monitor back into my old
> >built-in video card and booted up.
> >
> >Nothing on the screen, but windows booted.
> >
> >I removed the matrox card and started the computer again, and
> >everything worked fine, except I wasn't using my brand new video card I
> >paid big bucks for (well, not really that big -- but they were bucks!)

> As you were originally using the onboard graphics card, you may have
> to go into the bios and change the setting for which graphics adaptor
> the machine uses.
> On older motherboards this was sometimes controlled by a jumper on the
> motherboard.
>
> Sounds like what's happening is that the bios is telling the machine
> to use the onboard graphics adaptor...and when you plug the Matrox in
> you have nothing connected to the onboard VGA socket.

Well,

I've disabled the onboard card within windows, and my BIOS is already
set to go to AGP and PCI first (it's an agp card.)

It seems to be recognizing the card, because my onboard video no longer
works once the new one is installed. And... when I hit "DELETE" as I'm
booting up, with the new card installed, the whitish/grey flashing
screen turns to green, which is the color of my BIOS screen.

So it seems to be "working" but just not showing me what's on the
screen. Can this be the sign of a defective card? Or just a defective
installer (me.)

On 9 Jul 2006 06:36:51 -0700, wrote:

>Stephen Howard wrote:
>> On 29 Jun 2006 09:59:51 -0700, wrote:
>>
>> >I just bought a new (to me, I think) Matrox G450. I installed it in my
>> >computer, plugged two monitors into it and started up the computer.
>> >Both of my monitors started flashing and then eventually just went
>> >black. The computer kept booting, but I couldn't see anything on the
>> >screen.
>> >
>> >I turned off the computer, plugged my main monitor back into my old
>> >built-in video card and booted up.
>> >
>> >Nothing on the screen, but windows booted.
>> >
>> >I removed the matrox card and started the computer again, and
>> >everything worked fine, except I wasn't using my brand new video card I
>> >paid big bucks for (well, not really that big -- but they were bucks!)
>
>> As you were originally using the onboard graphics card, you may have
>> to go into the bios and change the setting for which graphics adaptor
>> the machine uses.
>> On older motherboards this was sometimes controlled by a jumper on the
>> motherboard.
>>
>> Sounds like what's happening is that the bios is telling the machine
>> to use the onboard graphics adaptor...and when you plug the Matrox in
>> you have nothing connected to the onboard VGA socket.
>
>Well,
>
>I've disabled the onboard card within windows, and my BIOS is already
>set to go to AGP and PCI first (it's an agp card.)

Disabled within Windows? That won't have any effect on how the machine
boots with the Matrox.
Sounds like you have the right bios settings though...
You might need to reset the computer's 'resources' - if the bios is
assigning a resource that the card needs to another device then this
could hang things up.
There should be a setting in your bios that says something like 'Reset
configuration data"
>
>It seems to be recognizing the card, because my onboard video no longer
>works once the new one is installed. And... when I hit "DELETE" as I'm
>booting up, with the new card installed, the whitish/grey flashing
>screen turns to green, which is the color of my BIOS screen.
>
>So it seems to be "working" but just not showing me what's on the
>screen. Can this be the sign of a defective card? Or just a defective
>installer (me.)

I'm tempted to blame the card - but the only way to be really sure
would be to pop a different card in and see if the same thing happens.
If it does then it points to a problem with the bois/moboard settings.

Regards,




--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

Stephen Howard wrote:
> On 9 Jul 2006 06:36:51 -0700, wrote:
>
> >Stephen Howard wrote:
> >> On 29 Jun 2006 09:59:51 -0700, wrote:
> >>
> >> >I just bought a new (to me, I think) Matrox G450. I installed it in my
> >> >computer, plugged two monitors into it and started up the computer.
> >> >Both of my monitors started flashing and then eventually just went
> >> >black. The computer kept booting, but I couldn't see anything on the
> >> >screen.
> >> >
> >> >I turned off the computer, plugged my main monitor back into my old
> >> >built-in video card and booted up.
> >> >
> >> >Nothing on the screen, but windows booted.
> >> >
> >> >I removed the matrox card and started the computer again, and
> >> >everything worked fine, except I wasn't using my brand new video card I
> >> >paid big bucks for (well, not really that big -- but they were bucks!)
> >
> >> As you were originally using the onboard graphics card, you may have
> >> to go into the bios and change the setting for which graphics adaptor
> >> the machine uses.
> >> On older motherboards this was sometimes controlled by a jumper on the
> >> motherboard.
> >>
> >> Sounds like what's happening is that the bios is telling the machine
> >> to use the onboard graphics adaptor...and when you plug the Matrox in
> >> you have nothing connected to the onboard VGA socket.
> >
> >Well,
> >
> >I've disabled the onboard card within windows, and my BIOS is already
> >set to go to AGP and PCI first (it's an agp card.)
>
> Disabled within Windows? That won't have any effect on how the machine
> boots with the Matrox.
> Sounds like you have the right bios settings though...
> You might need to reset the computer's 'resources' - if the bios is
> assigning a resource that the card needs to another device then this
> could hang things up.
> There should be a setting in your bios that says something like 'Reset
> configuration data"
> >
> >It seems to be recognizing the card, because my onboard video no longer
> >works once the new one is installed. And... when I hit "DELETE" as I'm
> >booting up, with the new card installed, the whitish/grey flashing
> >screen turns to green, which is the color of my BIOS screen.
> >
> >So it seems to be "working" but just not showing me what's on the
> >screen. Can this be the sign of a defective card? Or just a defective
> >installer (me.)
>
> I'm tempted to blame the card - but the only way to be really sure
> would be to pop a different card in and see if the same thing happens.
> If it does then it points to a problem with the bois/moboard settings.
>
OK... so I did the following:

1. "Enabled" Reset Configuration Data in my BIOS and rebooted. =>
Result: No change, same flashing screen that goes blank.

2. Tried another card in the same slot. => Result: Other card works
fine in that slot.

3. Tried the Matrox in another computer => Result: Same flashing
screen that goes blank as I had on the original computer.

My conclusion: card is bad. Just before I email the ebayer who sold
it to me, I'd like your expert opinion. What do you think?

On 11 Jul 2006 13:20:03 -0700, wrote:
<snip>
>>
>OK... so I did the following:
>
>1. "Enabled" Reset Configuration Data in my BIOS and rebooted. =>
>Result: No change, same flashing screen that goes blank.
>
>2. Tried another card in the same slot. => Result: Other card works
>fine in that slot.
>
>3. Tried the Matrox in another computer => Result: Same flashing
>screen that goes blank as I had on the original computer.
>
>My conclusion: card is bad. Just before I email the ebayer who sold
>it to me, I'd like your expert opinion. What do you think?

I'm no expert...but if I'd done all you've done and still ended up
with a blank screen then I'd see no reason why it wasn't safe to
assume the card was defective.

I can't see that either of us have missed any critical points, or
overlooked anything obvious.

The only other possibility is that both motherboards have agp slots
that are incompatible with the G450 - but as the 450 works on 1,2 and
4x agp at 3.3 or 1.5v, I wouldn't have thought you could be so unlucky
as to find two boards it wouldn't work with.
Does the bios have an AGP speed setting?
Some boards, although fitted with a 4/8x agp slot, had problems
running the 450 unless the agp slot was manually set to 1x.

If you have such a setting in your bios I suppose it's always worth
tweaking it and seeing what happens - but I suspect that the card's
had it.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk