PCI Express video card questions linux drivers?

M$ISBS · 06-07-2012, 09:14 AM

I have aquired a pci express video card and have never used one before. I installed it and set the bios to use it.

I am getting little colored spots that move all over the monitor but do have a picture. The monitor is not the problem.

Do I need to install a driver for the card?

I did lspci and the card shows up.

I took the card out and reseated it.

I am leaning towards the card being faulty.

Thanks for any help.

brianL · 06-07-2012, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M$ISBS

I have aquired a pci express video card and have never used one before. I installed it and set the bios to use it.

What brand, etc?

Quote:

Originally Posted by M$ISBS

Do I need to install a driver for the card?

Yes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by M$ISBS

I did lspci and the card shows up.

Can you post the details?

Quote:

Originally Posted by M$ISBS

I am leaning towards the card being faulty.

Not necessarily.

M$ISBS · 06-07-2012, 11:12 PM

The card is a gigabyte gv-r38128 radeon x600 pro

lspci just shows the make and model

I have searched for drivers and could not find any drivers for this particular card
even on gigabytes website.

One of the reasons I was considering it to be faulty is that I purchased it used for $15.

adamk75 · 06-08-2012, 04:18 AM

You do not need to install a driver for the card, despite what brianL said, as every distribution for the past five years has had support for that GPU with the 'radeon' driver.

What you are describing does sound like what happened to me when a GPU fan stopped working properly and caused overheating, but it might be worth grabbing and trying a Fedora 17 liveCD (which likely has a more up-to-date version of the radeon driver and X server than whatever version of Ubuntu or Slackware you tried).

Adam

brianL · 06-08-2012, 05:46 AM

I should have put maybe for the driver question.

cascade9 · 06-08-2012, 05:55 AM

+1 to adamk75, 'little coloured spots' is typical of overheating. 'No picture at all' is a good sign that the card is totally cooked.

$15 for a x600 might sound like a good deal, but its a 8 year old card. A new ATI/AMD HD 5450/6450 or nVidia G210 would be faster everywhere, use less power and output less heat. Those cards are about $30 (or less) new.

M$ISBS · 06-08-2012, 07:33 AM

Ok, I see.

Thanks for the help everyone.