Black Screen after Driver Install

[hunterjwizzard]

I am attempting to set up Windows 98SE on an MSI KT4AV with a Geforce 6800 graphics card.

This has happened twice so far. I go all the way through windows setup, then I install the Geforce drivers, and when I reboot - no display.

It gets through BIOS, Starting WIndows 98, etc. But when it comes time to actually start windows, no display.

I can get it to come up in safemode ok. On my second attempt, I loaded up the via 4-in-1 drivers first.

At the moment, it is just motherboard+graphics card.

Now I'm stuck. Any ideas?

 

[GiGaBiTe]

The Geforce 6800 is not a native AGP video card, it uses a PCIe to AGP bridge chip, which is notoriously temperamental. Motherboard compatibility is terrible at best.

IIRC, it required special vendor drivers to work, and even then it wasn't reliable and had widespread compatibility issues. I have a 6600GT AGP and it barely works on Windows XP, forget about Windows 98. I only have a single AGP motherboard that both my 6600GT and HD4670 work in.

 

[hunterjwizzard]

I thought it was the 6600 that was PCIe/AGP bridge, not the 6800?

I get told different things every time I ask.

 

[GiGaBiTe]

The *ONLY* Geforce 6000 series that has a native AGP implementation is the Geforce 6200. All others use bridge chips.

You can take off your cooler to confirm. If you see a large ASIC between the AGP connector and the GPU core, it is not a native AGP card. Some cards have the bridge chip on the back of the card.

 

[hunterjwizzard]

The *ONLY* Geforce 6000 series that has a native AGP implementation is the Geforce 6200.

That's annoying, Invalidates my entire build plan.

Well regardless I did get this card to work under 98 on the P4 I previously had it attached to, so it *should* be possible.