JTM
New Member
Sounds good, let us know how it goes!
Save my computer from being thrown out the window!
- Thread starter Pck21
- Start date
Sounds good, let us know how it goes!
Pck21
New Member
So an update to my situation...
I got the new motherboard in yesterday and installed it last night. I created a slipstream of Microsoft XP Home SP2 with my original copy and...drum roll please...everything went great! It turns out that the original motherboard was the problem.
So here's the deal though. I have an ASUS 9800GT GPU that I wanted to install on it BUT the PCIe x16 is a little too close to the PCI slot below it, meaning that I can't fully install the card because it's blocked. I was wondering if I could take off the cooler and replace it with a Zalman third party cooler that was slimmer so that it would fit? Would that work? Is there a way to fix this issue? Thanks everyone!
I got the new motherboard in yesterday and installed it last night. I created a slipstream of Microsoft XP Home SP2 with my original copy and...drum roll please...everything went great! It turns out that the original motherboard was the problem.
So here's the deal though. I have an ASUS 9800GT GPU that I wanted to install on it BUT the PCIe x16 is a little too close to the PCI slot below it, meaning that I can't fully install the card because it's blocked. I was wondering if I could take off the cooler and replace it with a Zalman third party cooler that was slimmer so that it would fit? Would that work? Is there a way to fix this issue? Thanks everyone!
JTM
New Member
Yeah you should be able to do the aftermarket cooler, just be careful removing and installing it. You might be able to mod the card case possibly to fit?
Pck21
New Member
Well it's not the case so much as it is poor design of the board...again lol. Basically the card can't sit properly because the PCI slot below it is too close and keeps it from going in the PCIe x16 slot all the way. I'm thinking of getting an aftermarket cooler but I can't find any low profile ones that will fit the card. So far I found the Zalman VF2000 LED on their website but I can't find a way to buy it haha. It just never ends with this thing I swear...
JTM
New Member
haha proprietary cases, boards, everything!
bomberboysk
Active Member
Is it the 9800gt singleslot or dual slot cooler? Could you take some pics of what its hitting perhaps?
Pck21
New Member
It's a dual slot cooler. It's this one here:
I will definitely take pics of it when I get home. Here's a pic of the board for reference:
If you can see where the blue PCIe x16 slot is in that pic, the card is hitting the white PCI slot just below it. Hopefully that makes sense...? lol! If not, I'll post pics of my actual board and card. Thanks for the replies!
bomberboysk
Active Member
It's a dual slot cooler. It's this one here:
I will definitely take pics of it when I get home. Here's a pic of the board for reference:
If you can see where the blue PCIe x16 slot is in that pic, the card is hitting the white PCI slot just below it. Hopefully that makes sense...? lol! If not, I'll post pics of my actual board and card. Thanks for the replies!
Oh, then that makes sense. Maybe if you dont find a cooler that could fit on the card you could to something like cut the plastic away from where its hitting, then cover it up withsome thin plastic painted black and gued there with some ca glue?
Pck21
New Member
That's not a bad idea! Could I, theoretically, just remove the plastic covering from the card and leave the fan and heatsink on there? Would that mess up the card or anything? I'll see what I can do about cutting or shaving away the plastic part when I have like 3 or 4 hours to spare since I have no idea what I'm doing lol. Thanks!
Bodaggit23
Active Member
Well, the shroud is made to take air in and force it over the rest of the board,
and out the back, so the fan would not be as effective, so you'd have to make
sure you have good airflow, and watch your GPU temps closely.
Maybe you could just unseat the shroud a bit, just enough to clear the slot?
and out the back, so the fan would not be as effective, so you'd have to make
sure you have good airflow, and watch your GPU temps closely.
Maybe you could just unseat the shroud a bit, just enough to clear the slot?
bomberboysk
Active Member
Well, i would take a dremel just to the part where it is hitting, then using something thinner to cover it up and maintain as much airflow as you can, but it theoretically wouldnt make you loose too much airflow as long as you can seal the "hole" decently
Woah... Pck21, are you saying that the PCI slot next to the PCIe slot is too high to allow the graphics card to seat all the way in to the slot??All the slots should be the same height. That card will cover the adjacent PCI slot - that's a given. But, it should still fit all the way down into the PCIe slot. Are you sure it's not hitting the capacitor between the two PCI slots?
Pck21
New Member
All the slots should be the same height. That card will cover the adjacent PCI slot - that's a given. But, it should still fit all the way down into the PCIe slot. Are you sure it's not hitting the capacitor between the two PCI slots?
Yep, I'm pretty sure the PCI slot is actually sitting higher than the PCIe slot, which I thought was weird too. I know first hand that I would lose a PCI slot due to the dual slot of the cards (I'm losing 2 PCI slots in the build in my sig lol) but I never thought it could be a capacitor. For the now I put in an old 7600GT in the PCIe slot and sits just fine.
I might try the dremel idea and go from there. I'm also looking at just replacing the stock cooler with a third party cooler since the stock fan is loud as heck. The problem is most of the fans don't fit my model, or if they do, they are just as big as the stock cooler.
That is unusual. I will have to do some investigating into that. If you can pull the board and look along the top profile of the slots or just take a piece of paper/a ruler and slide it along them, I bet you will see that the capacitor squatting in the middle is what is causing your problem. I am surprised still that anything would be sticking up that high to cause this. We are only talking a millimeter or two, but still...
You can get some low-profile coolers for that card. That would be a better option than just modifying the casing (but that could get you by for now). As some have mentioned already, that casing is designed to help the air flow around the card's heatsink.
Pck21
New Member
That is unusual. I will have to do some investigating into that. If you can pull the board and look along the top profile of the slots or just take a piece of paper/a ruler and slide it along them, I bet you will see that the capacitor squatting in the middle is what is causing your problem. I am surprised still that anything would be sticking up that high to cause this. We are only talking a millimeter or two, but still...
You can get some low-profile coolers for that card. That would be a better option than just modifying the casing (but that could get you by for now). As some have mentioned already, that casing is designed to help the air flow around the card's heatsink.
Yea, the more I look at the board, the more I think that the capacitor in the middle is being the punk here lol. The PCI slot still sticks up a bit more than I'm used to, but I'm wondering why ASUS, in their infinite wisdom, decided to place a capacitor there? That's just dumb IMHO.
Do you have any recommendations for low profile coolers? I can't seem to find a single one that would work anywhere! When I do find one, they are no longer available, or they haven't been released yet.
EDIT: Actually I'm looking at the Thermaltake DuOrb right now. Would that be low profile enough to work for me?
Thanks for the help and replies everyone!
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Yea, the more I look at the board, the more I think that the capacitor in the middle is being the punk here lol. The PCI slot still sticks up a bit more than I'm used to, but I'm wondering why ASUS, in their infinite wisdom, decided to place a capacitor there? That's just dumb IMHO.
Do you have any recommendations for low profile coolers? I can't seem to find a single one that would work anywhere! When I do find one, they are no longer available, or they haven't been released yet.
EDIT: Actually I'm looking at the Thermaltake DuOrb right now. Would that be low profile enough to work for me?
Thanks for the help and replies everyone!
Heh heh...very good question. I've seen some poor designs before. I forget what model of laptop it was, but the board designer/manufacturer put raised ICs below the SDRAM sockets (that lay parallel with the board) and you could not use even a single-sided stick of RAM in the lower expansion slot. Genious...
That DuOrb would be perfect for you. It won't sit nearly as low as the stock cooler casing.
Bob692006
New Member
Just thought I'd throw this out there, a little late I know, but the original problem I believe with the install was that you were trying to install Windows XP so SP on a SATA HDD. Until SP 2 (I think) Windows XP did not come with SATA support, you have to put the SATA driver on a floppy and hit F6 to install a 3rd party HDD driver when doing the OS install.
Yes, that was fixed by post #22. He took care of the issue with an updated (SP2 slipstreamed in) install disk. Thank you though.
Pck21
New Member
Thanks for the info Bob! I actually didn't really understand why it wasn't working so I appreciate the help. This way I know for next time!
Also, I have another update about the video card situation. I finally got it to seat properly and tightly...after many tries. It was actually a dumb problem that I wouldn't have guessed would happen. Turns out the machine that made my board left the SMALLEST piece of plastic bubbled or sticking out inside the damn PCIe slot! I took some small needle nose pliers and plucked it out and it's now working perfectly! The reason I looked in there at all was because I was investigating the capacitor and the PCI slot below it to see which one it was hitting. I noticed that the card had a good inch of space from both pieces and THEN noticed the small plastic part. What a relief!
Thanks for everyone's help...seriously. I couldn't have done it without you guys! :good: