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Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: danny_galaga on April 11, 2015, 10:12:40 pm

Title: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: danny_galaga on April 11, 2015, 10:12:40 pm
I've just put an arcade vga into my mame pc. I have a pc monitor hooked up via an svga to dvi adapter. All I get is a cursor flashing on the screen. No boot sequence or anything. The heatsink of the arcade vga is warm so SOMETHING is happening. Just not on my screen! Right now I can't even figure out how to remove the card to make sure everything is still ok. That clip is impossible to reach, and I've looked online and people say just to break the clip!
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: leapinlew on April 12, 2015, 12:19:18 am
Does it beep on boot up?
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: danny_galaga on April 12, 2015, 12:53:41 am

Doesn't show anything but a flashing cursor. No BIOS info or anything. It has onboard video. No beeps. It was working before I put the card in. Acer core 2 duo 3.0ghz. I wish I had backed up what I had done on there first  :(
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: ark_ader on April 12, 2015, 05:32:33 pm
Crap Danny, just go out and buy a new PC.  Sound and now video issues?   :dizzy:
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: danny_galaga on April 13, 2015, 04:48:25 am
Crap Danny, just go out and buy a new PC.  Sound and now video issues?   :dizzy:

I'm not made of money you know  ;D

Sound fixed with a 3 dollar USB thingo (",)
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: nitrogen_widget on April 13, 2015, 06:57:55 am
It probably has a bios setting to choose onboard or add in card as main video that needs to be set before you make hardware changes.
Did you try plugging monitor into onboard with arcade VGA in?

And you can't get the arcade VGA out?
Isn't it just an ago video card?
Are you talking the plastic tip on the back of the connector that holds the card in place?
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: danny_galaga on April 13, 2015, 07:28:05 am

Ok, this is where I'm at. I managed to get the card out again. Computer booted again so I looked in BIOS and changed the video default of AUTO to PCIE. Put the card back in and it made no difference. So I've changed it back to AUTO for now as I suspect that should be fine. Ultimarc suggests:

Quote
Before installation, check if your PC has a UEFI BIOS. If you are not sure, check in the BIOS setup screens and look for a "Secure Boot Configuration" menu. In this menu, disable "Secure Boot" and enable "Legacy Support".

Which I did have a look at before I started. I couldn't see anything in BIOS that time about a Secure Boot Configuration.
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: Malenko on April 13, 2015, 07:59:22 am
if you have an old core2duo odds are your BIOS isnt UEFI. Do you have any other video cards to test in your PCIE port?

If you have the arcadeVGA installed, do you still have video out on your onboard card?
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: danny_galaga on April 13, 2015, 08:32:29 am
if you have an old core2duo odds are your BIOS isnt UEFI. Do you have any other video cards to test in your PCIE port?

If you have the arcadeVGA installed, do you still have video out on your onboard card?

No other video cards to test unfortunately. With the arcade vga installed, the onboard video doesn't work either.
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: nitrogen_widget on April 13, 2015, 09:37:44 am
if you have an old core2duo odds are your BIOS isnt UEFI. Do you have any other video cards to test in your PCIE port?

If you have the arcadeVGA installed, do you still have video out on your onboard card?

No other video cards to test unfortunately. With the arcade vga installed, the onboard video doesn't work either.

How big is the powersupply?
arcadevga pcie is a 5450 correct?
Those are not power hungry video cards so you'd have to have a fairly weak PSU for it to tank the system when plugged in.

Have you tried the video card in another system?
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: DeLuSioNal29 on April 13, 2015, 12:56:47 pm
To isolate it not being the power supply power hunger issue:  Unplug your hard drive and then put the Arcade VGA in.  Then try booting up.  This will give the system more power.  If it does the same thing then you can rule out the power supply.

Also, I was under the impression that the Arcade VGA only worked properly with the VGA out (15 pin D-sub connector) and not the DVI.  Did you try connecting it directly to the other connector?  (I'm assuming your monitor is VGA and not DVI).

DeLuSioNaL29
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: danny_galaga on April 14, 2015, 06:54:01 am

If you are using a pc monitor (which I am until everything is set up) then it has to run through the dvi port. I am using an older monitor with an adapter. It occurred to me today that maybe the adapter is dicky. Will be easy to test by taking the machine over to a friend with a dvi monitor. 

Also just tried disconnecting the hard drive to see if the power supply was up to it. No difference. The power supply is 300W, which I guess isn't huge but I would imagine should be sufficient.

I am finally about to start a build thread, so this will go on hold tonight while I unveil the wonders of my build (minus the PC of course!)
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: danny_galaga on April 17, 2015, 03:39:01 am

Ok, I think I'm in trouble now. I reset the BIOS defaults and now windows won't start. Goes to the Windows error recovery screen. I've tried 'starting normally' , 'last known good configuration' and 'safe mode' .

I did this after I got an email from Andy

Quote
Danny,
 
This problem usually indicates the on-board VGA is still working instead of the plug-in card.
 
Are there any BIOS settings for disabling the on-board or prioritising the PCIe slot? This is the area of the problem.
 
Andy

So I tried that again, but it didn't change anything.

So now I've added to the problems. How do I get back to square one?

Also, this is getting dangerous :D
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: Malenko on April 17, 2015, 08:03:59 am
that particular not booting is an easy fix bro. go into the bios and put the HD in ACHI mode if its in IDE, or if its in ACHI change it to IDE
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: ark_ader on April 17, 2015, 01:17:32 pm

Ok, I think I'm in trouble now. I reset the BIOS defaults and now windows won't start. Goes to the Windows error recovery screen. I've tried 'starting normally' , 'last known good configuration' and 'safe mode' .

I did this after I got an email from Andy

Quote
Danny,
 
This problem usually indicates the on-board VGA is still working instead of the plug-in card.
 
Are there any BIOS settings for disabling the on-board or prioritising the PCIe slot? This is the area of the problem.
 
Andy

So I tried that again, but it didn't change anything.

So now I've added to the problems. How do I get back to square one?

Also, this is getting dangerous :D

Cases do bite.  :lol

Just sick a Xbox in there and use a SCART for your arcade monitor.  Sounds like you need a new PC anyway.
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: nitrogen_widget on April 17, 2015, 02:03:36 pm

Ok, I think I'm in trouble now. I reset the BIOS defaults and now windows won't start. Goes to the Windows error recovery screen. I've tried 'starting normally' , 'last known good configuration' and 'safe mode' .

I did this after I got an email from Andy

Quote
Danny,
 
This problem usually indicates the on-board VGA is still working instead of the plug-in card.
 
Are there any BIOS settings for disabling the on-board or prioritising the PCIe slot? This is the area of the problem.
 
Andy

So I tried that again, but it didn't change anything.

So now I've added to the problems. How do I get back to square one?

Also, this is getting dangerous :D

when I fix my car a blood sacrifice must be made to the automotive gods or it won't work.
they prefer knuckle blood.

I assume the PC gods are the same.
consider yourself now blessed. :)

You could also google the exact model of Acer you have along with "add-in video card" or "triple monitor's".
There is most likely information out there on some forum or buried in the acer website.

I found this guide.
maybe it can help?

http://www.ehow.com/how_5376478_run-monitors-acer.html (http://www.ehow.com/how_5376478_run-monitors-acer.html)

If it has the original OS on it there may be a restore partition you can use if you don't need anything on the PC.
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: danny_galaga on April 17, 2015, 07:13:39 pm
that particular not booting is an easy fix bro. go into the bios and put the HD in ACHI mode if its in IDE, or if its in ACHI change it to IDE

Will do.

Crap Danny, just go out and buy a new PC.  Sound and now video issues?   :dizzy:

I concede  ;D

Will get this current PC going again, but get another one that is more suitable to an AVGA and keep this PC for my next build which will only be using an LCD monitor (",)
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: danny_galaga on April 18, 2015, 01:46:55 am
Ok, just so I don't screw it up even more, in BIOS I see:

Onboard SATA Mode     RAID

Where the options are

Native IDE
RAID
AHCI

What should I select?

Edit: fixed. I went with Native IDE. Now to put this PC aside for another project and find another PC for the arcade vga.
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: Malenko on April 18, 2015, 08:31:57 am
Told ya  :cheers:
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: nitrogen_widget on April 18, 2015, 08:38:59 am
 :notworthy:
Told ya  :cheers:
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: danny_galaga on May 13, 2015, 04:06:14 am
Ok, so I now have a PC compatible with my AVGA. It works on this PC, but I can't seem to install the custom drivers. The PC already had an ATI card in it, so I used the cat-uninstaller as recommended on the Ultimarc site. I don't know if it actually does anything though. When I run it, I don;t see anything happen. It just says to restart the computer. PC is running XP home edition.

Any thoughts?
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: danny_galaga on May 19, 2015, 05:34:55 am
I was looking at the ultimarc site one more time when I noticed there are instructions for doing a forced install of drivers. It worked! I am thinking though of going new because I sure as hell don't want to got through all that again any time soon  :banghead:

I can get an asus h81m plus (http://www.asus.com/au/Motherboards/H81MPLUS/) pretty cheap locally along with everything else I need. Is there any reason anyone can think of that this motherboard would not be suitable?

Wish me luck, I'm about to take this PC downstairs and hook it up to the arcade monitor (",)
Title: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: DeLuSioNal29 on May 19, 2015, 03:00:57 pm
Glad you got it working.

As for the motherboard. I would steer clear of anything with integrated video.  I've had problems myself in the past because of it.
Title: Re: Installing arcade vga. Not working. What to do?
Post by: RandyT on May 20, 2015, 11:32:41 am

The motherboard you linked to seems to have the ability to use the integrated and external video cards simultaneously.  This is probably a good sign, as your previous issue seemed to be tied to a "one or the other" situation.  The only thing which would give me a bit of concern is the graphical BIOS, but it can probably be disabled.

ASUS are my favorite motherboards.  I've been through a lot of systems in my time, and ASUS has always been reliable and the least problematic when it comes to upgrades.  They also seem to have more of a tinkerer's philosophy, as evidenced by the extensive overclocking options on a lot of their MB offerings.