Semi-OT: No video with BIOSTAR M7NCG 400 after installing driver...

I'm building a compuer with the M7NCG 400 v7.0 motherboard, using latest
BIOS. The display works fine until I install the nVidia video drivers. After
installing the drivers and rebooting, once it enters Windows (2000) and
loads up the display driver (after the white loading Windows screen) the
screen turns black and tehre is no output from the video port on the
motherboard (no signal). Also, loading windows in VGA mode will display, as
the video driver is not loaded.

The machine continues to run fine, just with no output from the video. I
have loaded WinVNC on the computer and I can VNC into it. When going inot
the properties of the driver I see on the output list the selection for
monitor is greyed out. It is on TV output, whihc is the only one that can be
selected. There is no TV out port on this motherboard, and it came with no
port to plug in to use the TV out functionality. So for no reason should it
be detecting a TV to output to.

Anyhow, I've tried several different drivers. The one that came with the
motherboaard, the one on BIOSTAR US site, the one on BIOSTAR Taiwan site,
and the latest nVidia drivers. All do the same thing.

Does anyone know how I might get the video on this board to work?

Other specs are:
Athlon XP (Barton) 2600+
(2x) Corsair VS256MB400 256MB DDR400 PC3200 CAS2.5
Smart Power SL350 (350 watt)
WD800JB 80GB ATA/100 7200RPM HDD w/ 8 MB cache
Liteon LTR-52327 / SOHR-5238S 52x32x52
Sony DDU1613 16X IDE DVD-ROM
Sony FD MPF9201121-1/MPF920-Z (Z/121) 6082 1.44MB 3.5in FDD
Antec SLK1650B Mini Tower Case

 

| I'm building a compuer with the M7NCG 400 v7.0 motherboard, using latest
| BIOS. The display works fine until I install the nVidia video drivers.
After
| installing the drivers and rebooting, once it enters Windows (2000) and
| loads up the display driver (after the white loading Windows screen) the
| screen turns black and tehre is no output from the video port on the
| motherboard (no signal). Also, loading windows in VGA mode will display,
as
| the video driver is not loaded.
|
| The machine continues to run fine, just with no output from the video. I
| have loaded WinVNC on the computer and I can VNC into it. When going inot
| the properties of the driver I see on the output list the selection for
| monitor is greyed out. It is on TV output, whihc is the only one that can
be
| selected. There is no TV out port on this motherboard, and it came with no
| port to plug in to use the TV out functionality. So for no reason should
it
| be detecting a TV to output to.
|
| Anyhow, I've tried several different drivers. The one that came with the
| motherboaard, the one on BIOSTAR US site, the one on BIOSTAR Taiwan site,
| and the latest nVidia drivers. All do the same thing.
|
| Does anyone know how I might get the video on this board to work?
|
| Other specs are:
| Athlon XP (Barton) 2600+
| (2x) Corsair VS256MB400 256MB DDR400 PC3200 CAS2.5
| Smart Power SL350 (350 watt)
| WD800JB 80GB ATA/100 7200RPM HDD w/ 8 MB cache
| Liteon LTR-52327 / SOHR-5238S 52x32x52
| Sony DDU1613 16X IDE DVD-ROM
| Sony FD MPF9201121-1/MPF920-Z (Z/121) 6082 1.44MB 3.5in FDD
| Antec SLK1650B Mini Tower Case
|

Try switching your memory to PC2700 if possible to test your memory
compatibility. This board is extremely finicky with memory when using the
on-board video. I ordered this same board with Kingmax memory (PC3200) and
had problems such as yours, switched to biostar's recommended Kingmax PC2700
and the problems went away. So then my son ordered the same board with the
same memory that worked in mine and he had video problems, so Biostar told
him to get Kingston value ram PC2700 (their other recommended brand). He
still had video problems. He then bought some generic PC2700 ram from the
local computer dealer and it worked. Biostar says The latest BIOS fixed the
problem with PC3200 compatibility but not so with the memory brands that we
used. It may be possible to adjust your bios settings and get yours to work,
I fiddled with mine for several hours with no luck, but I'm not smart enough
to know what all of those settings mean. Maybe Wes Newell (computer god) can
help you out with the settings. To be honest with you, these boards are now
rock solid but I would never buy another. It's not worth the hassle.
http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbdetails.asp?model=M7NCG 400
does NOT list DDR 400 (PC3200) as compatible and although many have had
success using it, most of these people are using an AGP video card.

 

Since my original post I ahve tried a few different sticks of memory. I
believe it was all PC2700. A few different brands. Corsair (best RAM IMO, I
always buy the high end corsair RAM for my own systems and and high end
systems I build, lower end systems get the slower Corsair RAM), also
Kingston, and two generic no-name sticks. Same problem with each stick. Also
with each stick I tried different memory timings, significantly slower than
what the memory was rated at. This has no affect on the video problem.

BIOSTAR is of no help in the matter. The dumbf**ks first sent me a response
to my help inquiry saying to try different RAM, that PC3200 wasn't supported
though sometimes worked. I responded that I had since tried that. They
responded today, and I quote: "This is very strange, have you tried a
different operating system like Windows XP?".

As you can imagine that makes me very angry. I responded, for the seocnd
time asking them to call me ASAP, any time of day or night, 24/7, on ym cell
phone to work out what the problem is, if the solution is software/driver, a
repolacement M7NCG 400, or if it is a different motherboard. I hate how the
only phone number I can find to contact them no one ever is at, and all I
get is a machine. I'm royally pissed and will never _EVER_ buy another
BIOSTAR product again. I had trouble with one of their boards, and their
service years back on an old Pentium board. I heard good reviews about this
board so I figured I'd give them a try. Big mistake. BIOSTAR makes a
half-a**ed product and much worse, won't even support their shoddily made
product. Never again...

Anyhow, if you have any other ideas I'm open to anything. I think today I'll
try once more to contact BIOSTAR and if I don't get any answers by tomorrow
I'll see if I can send the board back to the place I ordered it from.
Unfortunately that will mean sending it back to CA (I'm in NJ), will cost
_ME_ money for shipping, and the guy I'm building it for will be displeased
that he has to wait that much longer, which is something I've been trying to
avoid!

Cory

 

Since my original post I ahve tried a few different sticks of memory. I

I've built several dozen computers based on the M7NCG 400 motherboard and
had the same video problems on the first one as everyone else until (by
trial and error) I found that Elixir brand PC3200 works with no problems.
Luckily, I happened to have a half-dozen different brands on hand to play
with.

MS4ME.com has Elixir at a good price and ships promptly.
http://www.ms4me.com/mo25pc4ddrme.html is the direct link for the 256mb
modules.

Steve Midgley