how do I disable my onboard video?

[jen26butterfly]

Well, there are 3 PCI slots on the board, and one has always had my modem in it, I've never touched it. I did try the new video card in both of the free slots, and there was no difference.

I have a confession to make, every time I saw info saying that I could disable the onboard video with a jumper on the motherboard, it pretty much went over my head, b/c I had no idea what a jumper was or even what one looked like. My guru friend just explained them to me, and now I'm wondering if I could do it that way, the only problem is I have no documentation on this CompUSA system, bought 4 years ago, all they gave me was the Windows98 manual.

So how do I go about finding the diagram for locating this hypothetical onboard-video jumper? I don't know the manufacturer of the motherboard - I don't know where to look, so I wrote down all the acronyms that I saw on little squares on the board: Award (my bios), ESS Solo-1 (my modem, I think), Sis620 (my video), ST (a really really tiny black square near the PCI slots), ITE (IT8661F, on a square right next to the PCI slots), ICS (up near the top), and 3 different squares with CET on them...

yes, I'm a little clueless at this depth, but I learn fast, and I really don't believe this is the kind of thing I should have to pay CompUSA to do for me. Can anybody help educate me?

 

[RyanOldw83]

The mobo maunufacturer should be on the mobo itself not any of the chips on it. If theres a brand name on your computer you could type your quandry in a search tool on there site. Good luck

 

[ZeekeDaGeek]

If you can locate the FCC ID # or the BIOS string # at post, go to motherboards.org and register there and use the MB identification system they have at that site. Very informative.
To get your bios string # hit the pause/break key when the number appears. It's usually in the lower left of the screen. Enter that number in the MB ID and it should give you the particulars on your MB and then you should be able to get the documentation that you need.
Hope this helps.
DaGeek

 

[jen26butterfly]

ok, I got the bios string #, but motherboards.org doesn't come up with any results... now what?!? I tried to find the string with google (also searched for a smaller part of it, the part that motherboards.org indicated was the important part), and came up with nothing.

btw, what does OEM stand for?

 

[tech4hire]

Original equipment manufacturer=OEM
sorry im not familiar with motherboards.org.

 

[spfd]

he just said he has no AGP.

jen26butterfly if you didn't see the option to disable onboard video and you can't find a bios update that lets you do it than all you can do is put the new video card away until you get a new computer or buy a new motherboard (which usually translates into buying a new computer also).

bah i skimmed through it, dont have to be so harsh =p

 

[jen26butterfly]

alrighty folks, I think I have located the diagram for my motherboard, and identified the jumper and what position it needs to be in to disable my onboard video... but I'm not sure of the sequence of steps I should take.

My guess is it's something like this:
1. via device manager, remove the sis620 display driver
2. shut down, disconnect from power
3. disable the onboard video using the jumper
4. plug in my new video card
5. plug the monitor into it
6. start up the computer

Is this right? Someone please at least say ok or not-ok, I'm not touching the jumper until I'm sure of the whole procedure.

Thanks for everyone who's been on this thread... and by the way, before someone else refers to me as "he", it's "she" 5-year sw engineer, just now getting into hw.

 

[Blueman]

Sounds like a good plan. If you do indeed have a jumper on the MTB then give it a go. If it doesn't work, then just switch the jumper back again.

BTW, did you ever verify that the card is good in another system?

 

[jen26butterfly]

I don't have another system to test it in... I think it would be very difficult for me to convince a friend to try installing it on his system.

 

[Blueman]

well Jen, I'd test it for ya for certain, in any one of my systems. Unfortunately not everyone feels the same way. If you have any hardware geek friends I'm sure they wouldn't mind it. As long as you don't boot into the OS, a simple post screen is all you need and shouldn't hurt a thing on another system.

IF you feel like driving your system over to Cincy for a day I'll help ya troubleshoot it. ;-)