Things I've tried so far with no sucess:
1. Install the board with no OS device
changes.
2. Disabled the S3 Graphics ProSavage DDR and then
installed the device.
Conclusions have both been an absence of a video signal to the monitor. Now I am using an adaptor (that came with the card) to allow my VGA cable to connect to the DVI port on the card. Odd case scenario this device could be flawed.
3. Disabled the alloted video memory on the BIOS. - this gave me some now obvious problems. The 8500DV didn't work with that config either and the onboard had no memory to display with when I tried to revert.
So I pulled out an old ATI Radeon 64 DDR AGP and installed it. The board recognized this card - for a while. If I allowed the OS to continue on to the login screen I would loose my video signal. Since I now had a least a short window of sight, I went back to the BIOS and set the video memory back to its default of 32MB. The next reboot I left the backup Radeon AGP in and let it go all the way to the login screen - no loss of video signal this time. Old Radeon working well - New Radeon zippo.
The puzzle that I'm left with is: Does the ATI 8500DV chipset differ so much from the old ATI Radeon 64 that the FIC AM37 motherboard wouldn't acknowledge it?
Note: This is an eMachine (laugh if you wish, but I'm poor) A26EV17F. I've was reffered to a manual for an AM37 motherboard on FIC's site that has BIOS options that my motherboard's BIOS does not display and am wondering if the BIOS can be updated and if my mobo is truly an AM37-L - which I have found no reference to on FIC's site or elsewhere.
AM37 Manual
1. Install the board with no OS device
changes.
2. Disabled the S3 Graphics ProSavage DDR and then
installed the device.
Conclusions have both been an absence of a video signal to the monitor. Now I am using an adaptor (that came with the card) to allow my VGA cable to connect to the DVI port on the card. Odd case scenario this device could be flawed.
3. Disabled the alloted video memory on the BIOS. - this gave me some now obvious problems. The 8500DV didn't work with that config either and the onboard had no memory to display with when I tried to revert.
So I pulled out an old ATI Radeon 64 DDR AGP and installed it. The board recognized this card - for a while. If I allowed the OS to continue on to the login screen I would loose my video signal. Since I now had a least a short window of sight, I went back to the BIOS and set the video memory back to its default of 32MB. The next reboot I left the backup Radeon AGP in and let it go all the way to the login screen - no loss of video signal this time. Old Radeon working well - New Radeon zippo.
The puzzle that I'm left with is: Does the ATI 8500DV chipset differ so much from the old ATI Radeon 64 that the FIC AM37 motherboard wouldn't acknowledge it?
Note: This is an eMachine (laugh if you wish, but I'm poor) A26EV17F. I've was reffered to a manual for an AM37 motherboard on FIC's site that has BIOS options that my motherboard's BIOS does not display and am wondering if the BIOS can be updated and if my mobo is truly an AM37-L - which I have found no reference to on FIC's site or elsewhere.
AM37 Manual