Problem with AsRock 4CoreDual-SATA2 and certain AGP AIW cards
 

I am having a very strange problem that I wanted to run past the members of this forum. I have an ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2 R2.0 motherboard and have been trying to experiment with several AIW cards. I have the following AIW AGP cards: 9000, 9600, 9800 Pro and the 2006 (AGP version). I also have the X600 Pro which is a PCI-e card. The problem is that I am getting absolutely no visual signal on my monitor when I install the 9000 and 9800 Pro cards. This also includes during boot up. The operating system boots up fine and I can hear the Windows XP jingle but my monitor is completely blank. The 9600 and 2006 cards work fine. FWIW, the PCI-e X600 also works fine although my problem is with the AGP slot. I am completely stumped. I have installed and re-installed the affected cards several times with the same result. The only difference that I can come up with is the way that the affected cards are slotted. The 9000 and 9800 Pro cards have two voltage slots for either 3.3v or 1.5v signaling. The 9600 and 2006 cards have only one 1.5v signaling slot. The motherboard manual does state that one should not use a 3.3v card but the 9000 and 9800 Pro are not dedicated 3.3v only cards. They are supposed to support both 3.3v and 1.5v signaling (hence the dual slots). I have done an extensive Google search and can find no info on this problem. I know that several members of this forum have this motherboard and I am reaching out to you for any experience you can share with me. I think that it is extremely unlikely that both my 9000 and 9800 Pro cards are bad. The 9000 was purchased used but the 9800 Pro was purchased new in a factory sealed box. I also don't think the problem is with my monitor as I have tried three other monitors (with both DVI and VGA inputs) with same results. I checked and made sure that I have the most updated BIOS which is version 2.2. I even went back and installed older BIOS versions to no avail. Regarding the BIOS settings, there are several that deal with the AGP slot. I made sure that AGP (not PCI-e or PCI) is selected primary graphics. The remaining BIOS settings as it relates to AGP I left at the default state of AUTO. I don't know enough of what they mean to make any adjustments. I would be very interested in knowing if anyone else has experienced a similar problem with this board or could share any recommendations regarding trouble shooting.

Thought I would give an update to my original post if anyone is interested. I obtained an AIW 9200 card which also has dual voltage slots and it works! My only conclusion at this point is that both the 9000 and 9800 Pro cards are bad. I am actually pleased that that the problem does not appear to be the motherboard as I really like this board. Although the PCIe slot is only x4 speed it does accommodate x16 cards and works just fine for capturing using the PCIe AIW cards. So far I have only tested it with the X600 Pro and the X800 XL and they work great. The SATA2 ports are nice to have and it is running a Pentium Dual-Core E6600 CPU which is giving me more than enough speed.

I actually just purchased another AGP board off Ebay (couldn't resist the price!). It's the ASRock 775i65G which uses the Intel 865G chipset instead of the VIA chipset on the 4CoreDual-SATA2. I plan to test those suspicious cards on this board as well. That should definitively answer the question of whether these cards are bad.

Let us know how you like the 775i65G compared to the 4CoreDual-SATA2.
And PM me a link to that post, when you do.

Both of my 4CoreDual-SATA2 systems have a quirk that is annoying, though I'm not sure what the root cause is. It may be completely unrelated to the motherboards. At restart, Windows XP will often forget what desktop theme is being used, and reverts to that candy coated default, and with the obnoxious chimes/noises. I generally strip my systems down to gray/classic with no sounds. Sometimes Windows XP also forgets that the AIW is installed, and requires a restart.