Matrox mga on pb600 graphic on board

brissonii, this doesn't sound good.

First, in Windows, or whatever your operating system is, set the video properties to standard VGA. (That is, one reason you might be getting a black screen is that your operating system is expecting a specific video device driver, and that in turn is expecting the old or existing video card. The totally black screen you're receiving makes this an unlikely source of the problem, but for most operating systems, you need to begin mounting a new video graphics card by first setting the operating system to use some form of standard VGA driver.)

Second, despite what packard bell says, boot up into the bios and try manually disabling the video. (Do you need help with this or can you manage to work thru it yourself?)

Then, if you still cannot boot up into some standard VGA mode (that is, get a  picture instead of the black screen), your Matrox card is totally incompatible with your motherboard chipsets

Matrox cards are super - I use one - but I've found that they will not work on IBM motherboards (300 PL series), and a few other motherboards. That is, the AGP versions of the cards will not work. The black screen is the symptom. There is nothing wrong with the Matrox card - it simply is incompatible with your motherboard. This sometimes happens with the Creative Labs TNT cards, too.  The totally black screen is the symptom.

thanks Forester for your help in this problem
i will check the bios again and i will be reporting next wednesday

brisson jj

Hi Forester
re your question of may 11 th
display in the bios is set to ega/vga other choices
are 80 25 or monochrome

brissonjj

thanks Forester
my 2pcs are old indeed 92 & 95
i will probably buy a new pc in a couple of months
my most serious work is the handling & printing of digital camera photos

brissonjj