GA-P35-DS3L Unreadable Monitor

[clw]

Thanks for any help anyone has.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-P35-DS3L Unreadable Monitor

Ok, first Control + F1. That is a older option and may or may not even be needed for your Board/BIOS. If your board has a older BIOS it may be needed, new BIOS it would not be.

If you can see Memory Subtimings in the BIOS then you do not need to use it as that is what it un-hides.

Now, how it works is (And yes whether you need it or not you can use it and still see other hidden settings on other pages) On the MAIN BIOS page hit Control + F1, the screen will flash and that is it, then you go into the MIT, or any section, and you will see the hidden settings if there was any.

I think a unsupported BIOS version would just not let you start the PC at all, I have only seen/heard of that being the case.

So you either may have a bad card, or your PSU's 12V rail is not enough for that card. Or you have some memory timings way to tight, I have seen this cause a few random looking and garbled pages.

Go into the MIT section and make sure Static tRead Value is not set to 6, this is often the cause for garbled text from when I have seen ram cause it.

Other then that, do you have or can you borrow a older GFX card to test and see if maybe this is the issue? Also, if possible you should test that card on a different system twice, once to be sure it is not DOA, and then if you can with YOUR PSU on a different system to see if also your PSU may not be enough on the 12v rail. Recommended is 18+V

Ahh scratch all that PSU talk I see yours is 33A on the 12V so that is not the issue for sure.


So please if you can try a different older card, and test that card on a different system. And if you can see the screen goo enough check that setting I mentioned

[clw]

Re: GA-P35-DS3L Unreadable Monitor

Thanks for the reply lsd! With your help I can now get in to the advanced features. Thanks man. Well the Static tRead Value is set to 6 and I set it to a higher value, think that right, and tried to save it. After reboot and go back to it it's still at 6 with my higher value 8 in [8]. So hard to read so not sure if I'm saving it right. I hit enter and set it 8 and enter again and save to cmos with the y blinking and press y and enter and it's reboots. Oh before I set the value I set the SPD to manual and it stayed that way after reboot.
I'll try to get another card, might have to get one off ebay as all my friends have older stuff agp. I'll see what I can do.
Think it would be worth it to get a P4 cpu just to see if would clear up the problem?
Thanks again.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-P35-DS3L Unreadable Monitor

Ahh so you did HAVE TO use control + F1? If so then you likely need a BIOS update, which would probably help you with some issues you may have as well

To save that setting you must have this on manual for it to save and be applied >>>

DRAM Timing Selectable_______ SPD __ [Manual]

Performance Enhance = [Standard] << Be sure to set this to STANDARD as well

Static tRead Value_______________ 7-10

If once you get this setting changed and things are clear then it would be safe to flash the BIOS and you may not need to buy a P4. And in the case you do decide to buy a older 775, get a cheap Celeron or Pentium D you can get those at newegg/tigerdirect/anywhere really for about $50-60 brand new, that would be better because after you use it to flash you could either RMA it to the place you bought it (if you do it fast) or better yet just ebay it and since it is brand new it would sell for alot more then a P4

So, did you get it set right? If so, please also check the Performance setting as the default is turbo and that isnt good and could be causing a issue as well.

If you are still having the issue after above is set properly and stays then it very well could be a DOA card, it happens.... Unfortunately with all hardware. It would be nice if you could find a card to test with, or at least test that card somewhere else to be sure about it all before going forward with anything

[clw]

Re: GA-P35-DS3L Unreadable Monitor

With your help I got it going, it was the card. Put a different one in a few minutes ago and can finally read the bios. Before I put in the new card I changed the setting as you recommended but with the fubar card no go. I'll leave the settings as in your post. I'll most likely have more questions.

Thanks Lsd!

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-P35-DS3L Unreadable Monitor

Ahh, DOA card eh! Hope you can easily RMA it, if not good luck.

Glad you found the issue!! And post back anytime!