SB51G--New video card kills the machine?

I have an SB51G which has been running a Radeon 9200 (128 MB) fine. Wanted
to upgrade the video card. Bought an eVGA GeForce FX5500 (256 MB). Plugged
it in. Pushed the switch--nothing. Machine was dead. Nothing. Took out
the new, put back the old video card, fired right up. Checked it again,
made sure card seated, etc. Tried to start it again. Nothing. Dead
computer. Tried the card in another machine. Works fine. What gives?
Could this be a power supply issue? I have read on this newsgroup about
folks using this exact card in this exact machine. Frustrated.

If I can not use this card in this machine, anyone have any suggestions for
an upgrade on the Radeon that WILL work?

Thanks in advance.

I use this exact card in my SB51G with no problems at all. I did
upgrade to the latest BIOS before install just as a matter of
principle. Have you checked to see if you have the latest BIOS?

Also, what CPU / Speed are you running? the "stock" power supply in
the SB51G is only 200W. If you are running a CPU that is at the
top-end of this units capability and this card, then you may be
overloading the P/S. (I think it was absolute nonsense to put a 200W
P/S in these! 300W MIN!)

I am running a P4 Northwood "mobile" s478 at 1.6 GHz. The FB51 does
not support speed-step technology to make the jump to 2.8 GHz.

On Tue, 7 Mar 2006 19:43:54 -0500, "PJL"
<harvard75atdiespammerkomkastdottnet> wrote:

>I have an SB51G which has been running a Radeon 9200 (128 MB) fine. Wanted
>to upgrade the video card. Bought an eVGA GeForce FX5500 (256 MB). Plugged
>it in. Pushed the switch--nothing. Machine was dead. Nothing. Took out
>the new, put back the old video card, fired right up. Checked it again,
>made sure card seated, etc. Tried to start it again. Nothing. Dead
>computer. Tried the card in another machine. Works fine. What gives?
>Could this be a power supply issue? I have read on this newsgroup about
>folks using this exact card in this exact machine. Frustrated.
>
>If I can not use this card in this machine, anyone have any suggestions for
>an upgrade on the Radeon that WILL work?
>
>Thanks in advance.
>

I have also seen mention of this card in this machine and wonder what
the problem could be. While it might something to do with the BIOS,
since the OP says he got nothing when he pushed the "on" switch, it
doesn't seem that the BIOS could be involved--if the machine's dead
with that new card in it, it's dead and not reading the BIOS. Really
sounds like power supply issue to me. What do you think?

Makes sense to me. I did have another machine that was a pain in the
neck to install video cards into. When I changed the card, it did not
seat properly, and it behaved much as described. But since the OP has
no problems with other cards...

The only thing I will add is that my eVGA FX5500 card is rated at "AGP
4X AND 8X". The specs on the FB51 Motherboard show that 4X is the max.
If the FX5500 you installed is only rated for "8X", then I could see
that might be an issue as well.

On 8 Mar 2006 11:10:03 -0800, "harvard75" <> wrote:

>I have also seen mention of this card in this machine and wonder what
>the problem could be. While it might something to do with the BIOS,
>since the OP says he got nothing when he pushed the "on" switch, it
>doesn't seem that the BIOS could be involved--if the machine's dead
>with that new card in it, it's dead and not reading the BIOS. Really
>sounds like power supply issue to me. What do you think?

"NewMan" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Makes sense to me. I did have another machine that was a pain in the
> neck to install video cards into. When I changed the card, it did not
> seat properly, and it behaved much as described. But since the OP has
> no problems with other cards...
>
> The only thing I will add is that my eVGA FX5500 card is rated at "AGP
> 4X AND 8X". The specs on the FB51 Motherboard show that 4X is the max.
> If the FX5500 you installed is only rated for "8X", then I could see
> that might be an issue as well.
>
> On 8 Mar 2006 11:10:03 -0800, "harvard75" <> wrote:
>
>>I have also seen mention of this card in this machine and wonder what
>>the problem could be. While it might something to do with the BIOS,
>>since the OP says he got nothing when he pushed the "on" switch, it
>>doesn't seem that the BIOS could be involved--if the machine's dead
>>with that new card in it, it's dead and not reading the BIOS. Really
>>sounds like power supply issue to me. What do you think?

Does the card require a direct connection to the power supply?

--
Mark
--