Turning off onboard video

[l15741]

I got a new HP yesterday. I was gana build my next one, but a Athlon 64 3300+, 512mb of ram, 160 gb hard drive and all that for like $550, plus if anything goes wrong there is someone to fix it, making me not the first, last and only line of protection for the computers. All that and they keyboard looks cool. 8)

But anywaise, it allows for up to 128mb of video memory for the onboard video in bios, but since I have a graphics card I don't need it. However, and I think it's at the fault of a poopy bios from HP, I can only turn it down to 32mb. With only 512mb of ram anywaise, this is a pain because now I only have 480mb of system memory. I talked to HP, and they said there was nothing I could do, and I'd prefer not to flash it, but I tought maybe there is someone here who knows something thats more or less safe, but maybe you wouldn't necessiarly tell someone to do as a support person... (Though they did recamend I go into msconfig and uncheack everything....)

Well heres hoping, thanks to anyone who answers.

 

[Mize]

Not having seen the bios it's hard to say. There's no disable option? No jumper on the motherboard?

 

[digitalwanderer]

I thought almost all of the newer mobos disabled onboard video if you had a card in the AGP slot so the video memory for the onboard video in the bios should be entirely irrelevant.

 

[Blazkowicz]

you should flash the Bios anyway, most times there are less functions on bioses of branded PCs, in order to limit the damage done by the user..
And download it from the motherboard's manufacturer and not from HP

 

[l15741]

I disabled it in the device manager. There is a option in the BIOS to switch to AGP, but (don't laugh ) it's a PCI graphics card, and it lists the onboard video as PCI 0, and the card as PCI 1. I'm not very famaliar with motherboard jumpers, I could google it I guess, and I'll get on that, but feel free to leave any tips...

Sounds like this would all be solved by getting a AGP graphics card though, am I right? I need a upgrade anywaise so I might consiter that, especially if it solves this problem.

Well thanks, it's at least a start...

Edit: Ok, CPUZ identifies my motherboard as a ASUS Salmon. However I can't find any mention of this motherboard anywhere. Therefore I can't find the jumper settings. Anyone have any ideas from here?

 

[CMAN]

I will try to look at the bios when I go to work tomorrow. What is the model number? A810N?

 

[stevem]

If there are no options in the BIOS (or motherboard jumper) to disable on-board graphics & you have an available AGP slot, it should auto-disable the on-board graphics when you plug in an AGP card. As you found out, when you plug in a PCI graphics card, the system will not disable the on-board graphics. The BIOS option of AGP/PCI graphics init only sets which bus to check first for VGA on POST & this is then the primary grahics device.

A BIOS update may have added the options you need. Given I just killed a FWH by hacking the FW for a newer video BIOS, you may not want to be as adventurous as I was...

 

[l15741]

Sorry about my long absence, I had a graphics card problem that I needed to mess around with for a while to get the thing to even boot. Then regular life to...

Yea, it's a A810N, and there is a bios update from HP I might look into... If anyone has a solution I would like it, but if theres nothing I can do, theres nothing I can do. I might just have to wait till the next time I wana upgrade my video card, and get a AGP one and it sounds like it will work. I guess this is one thing about buying a pre-build computer, it's easier, but there are less options...

 

[Guden Oden]

Are there any large alternative BIOS sources for brand-name computers? Dell, in particular. Not that I really care by this point, the box is getting a wee bit long in the tooth, but it would be cool to see if there's anything out there for my own Dimension 8100...

 

[CMAN]

Sorry, but for some reason they sold the display A810N, so I can't take a look at it. In addition, the A815 and A820 are P4 machines, so looking at them may not help.

 

[Lezmaka]

If you flash the BIOS to a non-HP version, you may not be able to use the restore discs, and may have problems with XP activation as well.