The highly rated HP Pavilion Slimline PC thread

tle041 said:
Hi everyone,

I have a quick question. After installing the Galaxy 8600gt and turning the system on, my monitor remains black. Before installing the card, I've changed the setting in the BIOS to use PCI-e instead of PCI. The monitor is connected to the card using a VGA cable. I know there is power to the card because the fan is on.

I'm a total novice when it comes to computer hardware. Any help is appreciated..
Click to expand...

Hi, I hope you can get the card to work because I ordered the last one in stock from the same website and I have the exact same slimline model as you ahah so heres my suggestion,

Did you change the cables so that the output is coming from the card?
if no, then you must absolutely do that as it is set for PCI-e

if you did switch the cables to the card and it is still blank then do this:

1. Switch back to the onboard video (plug it where it used to be)
2. Boot up your slimline
3. With the onboard video, go to vista normally and insert the CD drivers for the 8600gt
4. Install the drivers
5. Shut down your PC
6. Switch from the onboard video back to the card

the drivers should automatically configure the BIOS, thats why you shouldnt have changed anything yourself, you should have done this in the first place

1. Shut down your pc
2. Install your card
3. Boot up your PC with the card as the video output
4. Install the given drivers
5. Restart

Thats what you are supposed to do.. but since you changed it yourself then try to do the 6steps I gave earlier and tell me how that works out.

I need to hear about your progress a bit so that I know my PC will run with it well also.
 
Guys, do you think I have enough room under the video card to use another PCI-E card without causing heat issues? Here is what it looks like with the stock modem installed. Kinda tight in there ...

inside1yy0.jpg


Here it is without the modem card (how it is running now since I don't need the modem card) ...

inside2cf6.jpg
 
"Guys, do you think I have enough room under the video card to use another PCI-E card without causing heat issues? Here is what it looks like with the stock modem installed. Kinda tight in there ..."


hey.. Im gonna have to make the same choice as I have the modem there also..the modem isnt the wireless though is it? I think its best if its left out if you dont need it but if you do it shouldnt be much of a problem either..could you please suggest something for the guy who got a blank screen with the galaxy 8600gt two posts ago? Im getting the same card and I have the same model so I hope things will work out.
 
hp300f ... I was hoping to suggest something regarding the blank screen, but I couldn't think of anything to add to what you had already said. For what it's worth, I installed the Chaintech 8600GT, moved the plug to the card's VGA output (which I just switched to DVI-D tonight), turned on the computer, and the monitor defaulted to low res. Once I installed the drivers, the monitor switched to highest possible res. The BIOS automatically switched to PCI. I never came across a blank screen issue.

Regarding the modem, it is the old school wired. I was hoping to slide in some eSATA card or something to provide faster connection to external HDs for media storage and access. I just didn't want that slot going to waste if I could use it for something.
 
Thanks for the replies. The strange thing is that I have the same problem regardless of whichever VGA port I use (from the card or onboard). They both produce a blank screen.

All I know right now is that the card works and it is not a power or heat issue. Any suggestions?
 
Guys --- unless HP has done something unique and special to their HP video card drivers - (which I HIGHLY doubt the fact that you've downloaded video card drivers from HP for a 8600GT card....You probably got them from Nvidia right?) Those driver installs should and cannot be changing CMOS/BIOS settings. I know Nvidia drivers can't, and since you 99.9% chance did not download the drivers from HP....Your drivers didn't change your BIOS settings. You should manually change the setting, but it's not even 100% necessary to change it, as apparent by the fact that most people haven't here on this forum. PCI-E is what the setting should be on, - NOT PCI. I admittidly have a limited understanding on the CMOS setting for video card preference, but I think it helps the motherboard address the correct device each and every time it needs without "searching" or "polling" each device each time through the BIOS.

A new video card does NOT need drivers to function at a basic BIOS level. You do NOT have to install the video card drivers before putting in a card, in fact I don't think I've ever done that. The BIOS functions and screen output are before a "specific" driver level and thus will work with no Windows drivers loaded at all. Hence you can build a PC or load the BIOS without an OS isntalled or even without a hard-drive in the machine.. If your card is not outputting when you first power on the computer and you have another problem. I'm guessing the VGA cable ribbon hooked up the card, or something else is faulty. Most low profile 8600GT's have the DVI (digital video interface) on the actual card, and the VGA port connected by an accessory ribbon. My guess is that the ribbon is incorrectly connected - maybe reversed/backwards? If your card does not use this ribbon than you amy well have a faulty card. If you take the card out and you can't get the PC to display on the onboard video card then you need to reset the CMOS settings. The HP manual shows a jumper that you use to do that. It should also be labeled in "silk-screen" text on the motherboard. This resets all CMOS settings to default and should let the BIOS function nomally.

If your ribbon is backwards in connection then that VGA slot would obviouslyo not work. If the PCI-E connection is taken up with a video card than the the onboard may be disabled. I know my s3020n did not work when the pci-e card slot had a video card in it, I've not tested my s3200t, but the manual says it won't either. However, I have read somewhere or other that some models of HP will allow use of both PCI-E and onboard so as to have 3 display devices working at once...can't remember the models though.

So the above scenario could explain why neither VGA port works. Check how you have your ribbon connected for the VGA slot.

I've built literally THOUSANDS of PCs in my previous job on a help desk at a large company. So I feel comfortable with this process.

The install order should be.

1. Change CMOS/BIOS setting to PCI-E (with onboard video card in place)
2. Shut PC down, unplug from power, and install PCI-E card.
3. Plug PC back in with the display device cables now connected to the new PCI-E video card device rather than the onboard display device
4. Load into Windows (it will look odd most likely - perhaps 640x480 or 800x600 resolution) Download newest driver from Nvidia or ATI for your specific card - install and reboot
5. Change LCD display resolution to display native pixel resolution or whatever your preference with CRT.


One more thing. The BIOS functions are what hold a PC together at the lowest level - it does the memory addressing, cpu processing transfers to and from RAM, controls all hardware basically. It is below windows --- windows is the platform that sits on top of the BIOS. The CMOS is related to the BIOS in that the CMOS is where you change BIOS settings. Most of the time in posts people will say they changed a setting in the BIOS - that' true, but they changed the setting in the CMOS which then effected the BIOS setup.

CMOS is your interface to BIOS. ---- just a 'did you know'
 
Archaea ... just to clarify, when I installed my video card, the BIOS switched video to PCI automatically. Yes - I did not change it. I didn't bother changing it to PCI-E since everything seemed to work well enough. I will change it to PCI-E when I get home. Is there any difference at all?

Also, can anyone provide some options for me on the PCI slot (x8 I believe it is)? It's just killing me that that's just sitting there not being utilized.
 
Ok, so I took the 8600 card and connected the monitor to the onboard video VGA port and the monitor is working. I guess something happened so that the monitor goes blank when the card is in regardless if I use the VGA port on the card or the onboard one. Hopefully installing the drivers will work.
 
tle041 said:
I guess something happened so that the monitor goes blank when the card is in regardless if I use the VGA port on the card or the onboard one. Hopefully installing the drivers will work.
Click to expand...

When the 8600GT card is in, is your monitor's power indicator light green or is it orange. If green it means the monitor is receiving a signal from the video card, if orange then the monitor is not receiving a signal and it is in standby mode. If the light is orange, check to make sure all your cable connections are tight (monitor cable to the VGA or DVI connector on 8600GT card etc.). Otherwise, I would say your 8600GT video card is bad (I know you said the card is receiving power from the PCI-E slot because the fan is on but the video chips/RAM on the card may not be working). Do you have access to another computer with a PCI-E slot, so you can test the 8600GT in it?
 
tle041 said:
Ok, so I took the 8600 card and connected the monitor to the onboard video VGA port and the monitor is working. I guess something happened so that the monitor goes blank when the card is in regardless if I use the VGA port on the card or the onboard one. Hopefully installing the drivers will work.
Click to expand...

I really hope that the card isnt bad..at least mine anyway, ok, now that your back to onboard video,try to put the card in and DONT change anything in the bios, it will be recognized automatically and will be at a low resolution, and then you install the 8600gt drivers..but if you already installed them with the onboard card, try to shut down after the install and put the card in like you were planning.
 
I seem to remember that when i got my galaxy card and installed it, i had blank screen at first. After some fiddling i finally got it to work, at this later date i don't remember the specifics.

Also, as the.ronin also reported, it turns out upon todays check that my normally working rig's graphics were set to "pci" in the bios. I switched that setting to "pci-e" with no apparent change in function.
 
zauber said:
I seem to remember that when i got my galaxy card and installed it, i had blank screen at first. After some fiddling i finally got it to work, at this later date i don't remember the specifics.

Also, as the.ronin also reported, it turns out upon todays check that my normally working rig's graphics were set to "pci" in the bios. I switched that setting to "pci-e" with no apparent change in function.
Click to expand...

if you got it to work then great :) but can you please think and tell us what you remember? Was it a hardware or software thing? Thanks.
 
I had a similar experience to zauber's wrt to installing the Galaxy in my s3100. I can't recall exactly the sequence, but it did take some "fiddling" to get it to work. I was trying to set up a dual monitor setup with one monitor hooked to the VGA port and the other hooked to the DVI port. The problem was getting the DVI monitor to consistently see the card. I attributed it to a loose or balky connection at the DVI port (either at the connector interface with the monitor plug or the DVI connector connection to the card) or possibly some interaction between the VGA port and the DVI port. Regardless, some "jiggling" at the connector and some repeated boots and re-boots in various configurations (VGA monitor alone, DVI monitor alone, and then finally with both monitors connected) and finally got it to work - perhaps the connection and reconnection of monitor plugs resulted in a sat contact of the pins. Once I got the system working consistently, I haven't touched it since for fear of screwing it up again. Once again, the problem appeared to be with the DVI port in my case but it could have been a VGA port interaction problem. I would check and recheck the VGA ribbon as suggested previously and and if you have a DVI monitor try the DVI port to see if you can narrow down the issue to a port problem or the card. The only consolation I can give is that it appears that the Galaxy may be somewhat temperamental wrt port connections based on what a few posters have reported. Just to be clear - as archaea notes - all my trouble shooting was at the bios/pre OS bootup level (i.e., getting the displays to work during the POST sequence) - so the issue appeared to be connection related rather than driver or even bios related. Good luck.
 
vferrari said:
I had a similar experience to zauber's wrt to installing the Galaxy in my s3100. I can't recall exactly the sequence, but it did take some "fiddling" to get it to work. I was trying to set up a dual monitor setup with one monitor hooked to the VGA port and the other hooked to the DVI port. The problem was getting the DVI monitor to consistently see the card. I attributed it to a loose or balky connection at the DVI port (either at the connector interface with the monitor plug or the DVI connector connection to the card) or possibly some interaction between the VGA port and the DVI port. Regardless, some "jiggling" at the connector and some repeated boots and re-boots in various configurations (VGA monitor alone, DVI monitor alone, and then finally with both monitors connected) and finally got it to work - perhaps the connection and reconnection of monitor plugs resulted in a sat contact of the pins. Once I got the system working consistently, I haven't touched it since for fear of screwing it up again. Once again, the problem appeared to be with the DVI port in my case but it could have been a VGA port interaction problem. I would check and recheck the VGA ribbon as suggested previously and and if you have a DVI monitor try the DVI port to see if you can narrow down the issue to a port problem or the card. The only consolation I can give is that it appears that the Galaxy may be somewhat temperamental wrt port connections based on what a few posters have reported. Just to be clear - as archaea notes - all my trouble shooting was at the bios/pre OS bootup level (i.e., getting the displays to work during the POST sequence) - so the issue appeared to be connection related rather than driver or even bios related. Good luck.
Click to expand...

Ok well I hope mine comes in soon and I'll tell you guys how it goes. Hopefully not too much tweaking will be involved as I am using a single 1440x900 display.. in terms of gaming though how does this card perform? The 8600GT's are supposed to get 140fps average on the source engine at 1440x900 with 16xAA and 16xAF.. is this true? that would be great.
 
I haven't really pushed the Slimline/8600GT with any FPS's. I want to try HL2 Episode 2 at some point (I use a dual core P4 and ATI X800 XL with Win XP as my main gaming rig - but as you can see its getting a little long in the tooth to put it mildly - but haven't installed any Steam apps on the Slimline yet) but I like the card's performance with World in Conflict, FS X, and CFS 3 as the same or better compared to my "reference" rig so I expect FPS performance on Steam to be excellent.
 
When I installed my chaintech 8600GT, nothing happened well let me rephrase that; as soon as I plugged the slimline to the electricity it would turn on by-itself but the monitor would not do anything (black screen). So I took the card out and plugged it back in to the electricity and it didn't automatically turn on.

I boot and go into the BIOS and see it defaulted to PCI so I change it to PCIe and shutdown&save. I unplug it re-insert the card and then I plug it in to the electricity and it doesn’t turn on so now I turn it on and it takes a long time for thee monitor to show the HP logo(8sec) so then successes!. Remember POST on these PC's is normal even if they last up to 15seconds...
 
^ I just stuck the Chaintech card in there, replugged the VGA to the Chaintech VGA (now I am DVI), turned on the computer, and everything worked flawlessy. The monitor defaulted to the low res, I installed the drivers, and everything was at max res when I rebooted.

Happy days. :D
 
Ok, so after working on the comp for a while, I've realized that the problem with my Galaxy 8600gt is the VGA port. I had to connect another monitor to the card by DVI and everything works fine. I guess the VGA port is malfunctioning on this card. The card itself is great though. It's brought my WEI from 3.0 to 5.2 (the weak point now is the AMD X2 5000+ CPU). The only negative thing with the card is the loud fan. It's about twice as loud as the stock fan. If you're going to use this as a HTPC, you will notice it unless you have your speakers on a relatively high volume. Since I'm only using it as a regular PC, the noise doesn't bother me at all. The good thing about it is that the entire system is cool to the touch.
 
tle041 said:
Ok, so after working on the comp for a while, I've realized that the problem with my Galaxy 8600gt is the VGA port. I had to connect another monitor to the card by DVI and everything works fine. I guess the VGA port is malfunctioning on this card. The card itself is great though. It's brought my WEI from 3.0 to 5.2 (the weak point now is the AMD X2 5000+ CPU). The only negative thing with the card is the loud fan. It's about twice as loud as the stock fan. If you're going to use this as a HTPC, you will notice it unless you have your speakers on a relatively high volume. Since I'm only using it as a regular PC, the noise doesn't bother me at all. The good thing about it is that the entire system is cool to the touch.
Click to expand...

excellent news, my hp came with a dvi connector so no problems there :D so I'll try setting it up with that connection. Tell me, what kind of frames are you getting on games? Did you remove the modem under the card? Thanks
 
Hello all. I jumped on the bandwagon and bought myself a s3300f. I'll be using the computer for strictly HTPC use. Unfortionately the video card is the Geforce 6150LE so I need to update that to get DVI out and larger monitor resolutions.

Does anyone recommend a video card that would be cheap and do this for me. Again, I'm not looking to game, just watch movies.

Thanks
 
Mycophiles said:
Hello all. I jumped on the bandwagon and bought myself a s3300f. I'll be using the computer for strictly HTPC use. Unfortionately the video card is the Geforce 6150LE so I need to update that to get DVI out and larger monitor resolutions.

Does anyone recommend a video card that would be cheap and do this for me. Again, I'm not looking to game, just watch movies.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Haha a previous poster and I both ordered Galaxy 8600gt's and we have the same slimline model as you. It is the best slim card out now for games but since you want something for movies, I reccommend the 8400gs, its usually in stock, affordable and pretty much what your looking for.
 
hp3300f said:
Haha a previous poster and I both ordered Galaxy 8600gt's and we have the same slimline model as you. It is the best slim card out now for games but since you want something for movies, I reccommend the 8400gs, its usually in stock, affordable and pretty much what your looking for.
Click to expand...

Want to know what's really funny.

Two days before I started looking for a HTPC I went to Circuit City to pick up a computer my sister had bought. Now I know it as the HP 3XXXXX slimline. I don't know what model it was but it had +4600 AMD, 4 gigs ram/ 500gig HD and an integraded graphics card. She paid 550 + tax. Then they got her for another 150$ on software "that she must have". She ended up paying 700$ for this thing.

So after picking it up (and me shaking my head in confusion at the 150$ in software) I find out 2 days later I'll be buying the same computer. FOR 300$ LESS

When she finds out about this she is going to be PISSED. :rofl:

So about the card. Is that really all I need? Like you I've been looking at all these other cards people have been trying out and frankly I don't want to spend another 50$ on a freaking video card. Looks like this one is HDCP complient so I guess if it works well then I'm good. 35$ isn't bad at all.

Thanks for the reply.

edit: I had ordered the Asus version of the 8400gs and it was 35$ (42$ w/ship). Thought better of it and canceled the order and got the XFX version 52$ (w/ship). Although it isn't passive I don't think that little fan will put up too much noise. At least I hope not.
 
Hi.

This thread is great.

I was looking to pick up a slimline to use for a HTPC, when I came across the thread here, while trying to get more information on the slimlines.

I was able to pick up a s3300z w/ an AMD x2 BE-2300, 2gb ram, 500gb HD for under $200 from ubid.

Right now I'm going to be putting in an MSI NX8500GT video card. I went with the MSI 8500gt, because I needed the HDMI port that the card has.

I can't wait to try it out, after I do a clean vista install to it today (to remove all the HP bloatware it came with).

If and when HP releases a BIOS update so it will support the X2 4850e, I plan on upgrading to that, then jumping the ram up to 4gb.
 
Any news about the 8400gs DDR3 card coming out? I would like to try this in my htpc setup.
 
hp3300f said:
Haha a previous poster and I both ordered Galaxy 8600gt's and we have the same slimline model as you. It is the best slim card out now for games but since you want something for movies, I reccommend the 8400gs, its usually in stock, affordable and pretty much what your looking for.
Click to expand...

BTW: I'm curious about something. I got to thinking. The ubid site describes this model as coming with a geforce 8500 gt but we know that's wrong. It also describes this model as coming with a REMOTE CONTROL HP Media Center remote control with IR (infrared) receiver. This is the reason why I spent the extra money and bought this model. Did your computers come with this? Did you buy from ubid?
 
My next question is.

How well will the set up I have now (AMD x2 BE-2300, 2gb ram) be able to handle HD video files?

I am mainly wanting to playback H.264 encodes, at 720 over hdmi, to my DLP tv.
 
Fly'n Brian said:
My next question is.

How well will the set up I have now (AMD x2 BE-2300, 2gb ram) be able to handle HD video files?

I am mainly wanting to playback H.264 encodes, at 720 over hdmi, to my DLP tv.
Click to expand...


Those of you looking to use this chip in a home theater PC may be interested to know that I tried playing back an H.264-encoded HD DVD (the movie Babel) on our test system, and the processor handled it quite well, with CPU utilization ranging between about 48 and 63%. CPU utilization was even lower with a VC-1 encoded disc.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/12616/15
 
Mycophiles said:
BTW: I'm curious about something. I got to thinking. The ubid site describes this model as coming with a geforce 8500 gt but we know that's wrong. It also describes this model as coming with a REMOTE CONTROL HP Media Center remote control with IR (infrared) receiver. This is the reason why I spent the extra money and bought this model. Did your computers come with this? Did you buy from ubid?
Click to expand...

it did not come with a remote, infared receiver or an 8500gt.. I believe they are referring to the s3330f, a different model. The s3300f is still great.
 
hp3300f said:
it did not come with a remote, infared receiver or an 8500gt.. I believe they are referring to the s3330f, a different model. The s3300f is still great.
Click to expand...

It might be great but that doesn't mean I'm not going to complain to ubid. They marketed it as having both the 8500gt and they remote/IR receiver. I will talk to them and I might have to replace it with a cheaper model. After all, unlike you I will use this as a HTPC and don't really need the AMD 5000+. We'll see how this goes.
 
I've been reading this thread for a while, and it make me want to go and buy the slimline even more.

I end up picking up a s3200t E2140 1.6GHz 1GB 160GB for under 200, Now, i can spend the rest of the money fixing it up. Ram, seems to be cheap, I will prob leave the HD alone for now since i have a NAS system in my house.

So that leaves the CPU and the Vid Card. who fast can we go for the Intel board? HP says that any e6x00 series will work. but I saw that the e7200 was pretty cheap, compare to the slower counter part would there be any issues using this cpu?

The video card would prob be up in the air, until i get the cpu work out. :)

Ok i pulled an Archaea

I end up with two Slimline, i dont know if i will be keeping both like him. I end up getting a s3200z X2 4600+ 2.4GHz 2GB 160GB for $260 after shipping. >_<

so both computer are around $450 together. which is the better platform to work with Intel or AMD?
 
Mycophiles said:
It might be great but that doesn't mean I'm not going to complain to ubid. They marketed it as having both the 8500gt and they remote/IR receiver. I will talk to them and I might have to replace it with a cheaper model. After all, unlike you I will use this as a HTPC and don't really need the AMD 5000+. We'll see how this goes.
Click to expand...

good idea, you might just be able to get that model for an exchange.
 
Processor 5.2
Memory 5.9
Graphics 5.9
Gaming Graphics 5.5
Primary Hard Disk 5.7

My rig rules... :D And I love it so, :cool:
 
Before Galaxy 8600GT Upgrade (Im getting the card on Monday):

Processor: 5.2
Memory (RAM): 5.9
Graphics: 3.1
Gaming Graphics: 3.0
Primary Hard Disk: 5.7

Will post updated results ASAP.
 
Mycophiles said:
Hello all. I jumped on the bandwagon and bought myself a s3300f. I'll be using the computer for strictly HTPC use. Unfortionately the video card is the Geforce 6150LE so I need to update that to get DVI out and larger monitor resolutions.

Does anyone recommend a video card that would be cheap and do this for me. Again, I'm not looking to game, just watch movies.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Mycophiles said:
BTW: I'm curious about something. I got to thinking. The ubid site describes this model as coming with a geforce 8500 gt but we know that's wrong. It also describes this model as coming with a REMOTE CONTROL HP Media Center remote control with IR (infrared) receiver. This is the reason why I spent the extra money and bought this model. Did your computers come with this? Did you buy from ubid?
Click to expand...

I'm a little confused by your posts. Did you purchase the computer from uBid? Did you actually receive it and it did not have the components installed as described? You cannot just go by the uBid posted HP model numbers (s3300f or whatever) you have to go by the description of what's in the box to figure out the configuration. If uBid says its going to have an 8500gt then it will. It will come with a media center remote control if it also says that a tuner card is installed. So if it did not come with what was described in the ubid configuration description I would definitely complain.

BTW - Just picked a sweet Slimline with a BE-2400, ATI HD 2400 with 256 MB, 2 GB RAM, 250GB HDD, no tuner/remote for a buck seventy-five from uBid.

My 3200t with HD/Blu Ray Drive, 8500gt, 500GB hdd, and 2gb ram had the tuner and media center remote but no WiFi :( Plan on hardwiring it anyway so no biggie.

Scores are:

Processor: 5.1
Memory (RAM): 4.8 (Seems low)
Graphics: 5.5
Gaming Graphics: 5.3
Primary Hard Disk: 5.7

For comparison my s3100 with AMD 64 X2 4000+, 2gb, Galaxy 8600GT, and 250GB is:

Processor: 4.8
Memory (RAM): 5.5
Graphics: 5.9
Gaming Graphics: 5.5
Primary Hard Disk: 5.8

Pre-Galaxy 8600 Upgrade and with 1 GB RAM, Scores were:

Processor: 4.8
Memory (RAM): 3.9
Graphics: 3.0
Gaming Graphics: 3.0
Primary Hard Disk: 5.8


FWIW...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top