Jj’s blog

Over the last weeks my screen connected to my Ati video card had been showing strange lines accross the windows, funny repaints and weird colors. As weeks passed it all got worse and even the BIOS boot screen was a mess. So I decided to check my video card.

It turns out the fan hadn’t been spinning for god_knows_how_long, so I figured I could give it a last shot by changing the fan. Of course no fan I can find in Wilson would fit, so I just adated any fan to it, This is what I ended up with…

It didn’t really help, so I decided to get a new Video Card. I went to the store and asked for:

• Brand: Nvidia
• RAM: 128MB
• AGP: 8X
• Chip: GeForce FX Whatever you’ve got
• Manufacturer: Whoever

My video card needs aren’t too big, mainly because I’m a desktop user, so any GeForce with enough RAM will be enough for me. I got a XFX built card, GeForce FX5200 powered for $45 and I’m quite happy.

Instalation blues

I installed the new card, and still see funny pictures, even in Gentoo or Ubuntu or any liveCD I tried. I recompiled the kernel, installed the correct drivers, modified enlessly my xorg.conf file with no luck.

The next morning, defeated… I grab my new videocard in my hands and stare at it wondering why it is not working correctly

I read out loud GF FX5200 256MB DDR TV DVI…. and find myself sayind 256MB, 256MB, 256MB!!!! I asked for a 128MB videocard and got a 256 Videocard!. In a blink I changed the AGP aperture size in my BIOS setup, and automagically it all got solved

So, how I solved it?

Since I know I wouldn’t read all the fluff I just wrote, The thing was that I got a 256MB videocard instead of a 128MB card I requested, My AGP port was configured for 128MB and that is why it didn’t work.

I changed my AGP aperture size to 256MB in my BIOS setup and it got fixed