I am trying to INSTALL an ATI Radeon 9200 PCI video card on my Acer Aspire 1845 and I am not having any SUCCESS! I BELIEVE I have read every other thread but have not found my exact problem  

Here's my senerio: I install the card and when I boot up all I have is a black screen. It also seems that it is hanging up on the Acer boot up screen, because my keyboard does not kick in however, I have lights on everything else (floppy drive, CD/Rom Drive). I can also hear the Hard Drive functioning and my fan is spinning.

My BIOS does not have an option to disable the onboard graphics but I have tried to disable through device manager and that does not change anything. I have also changed my current display adapter to the standard VGA PCI and same thing. I have deleted the display adapter , shut down, installed new card and still same thing! I do see jumper settings on my MOBO for it however according to my jumper layout they are not listed and therefore cannot be changed.

Heres my current info:
Windows '98
MOBO:V58XA (ACER or ALI)
160MB Ram
300MHz AMD-K6 Processor

I have searched and have not been ABLE to locate any BIOS updates at all. Acer seems to have pretty much dropped the older systems completely as far as any help goes.

I have been on the FTP sites on found just about everyother MOBO but absolutely no info for a V58XA. It's like it never existed!  

I am going nuts trying to think of any other options or maybe I am just missing the obvious! Help will be greatly appreciated!!

I see the jumper settings on my MOBO to disable however on my layout for the MOBO it is not SHOWN and it states "if a jumper setting is not listed you must not change it" I don't know if I should attempt it or if that would cause MORE problems!

HELP!!!   Do you have enough RAM to support your videocard? Have you tried different PCI slots?  

Have you perhaps exposed the card to magnetic forces?I have tried another PCI slot and this is the second card that has had the same problem so I don't believe it has been exposed to magnetic forces. As far as the memory I think I have enough. The card states that I should have 64MB and between my physical and swap space there is more than enough. Am I looking at this correctly?  Frankly, I haven't got an answer to your question. - Perhaps some of the more knowledge able members do.

However, one more thing could be noted; Do you have enough processing power to have the card function?

You should try to locate and E-mail Technical Support and ask them for the appropriate BIOS update.Thanks Raptor! Again, I THINK I have enough processing power according to the card specs. I did email Acer unfortunetely they only sent me links to places I had already looked with no success. I am going crazy trying to figure this out. Any thoughts on me changing those jumper settings??  1. When it comes to video, only physical memory counts. Ignore the swap file.
2. Check your power supply. Most high end video cards have an extra power connector that draws current directly from the PSU 12v rail. A properly designed PSU will shut it down if it detects overload.
3. Even if you get it to work, it will probably not work "properly" in that machine.
4. Buy a new computer that is designed from the ground up to handle high end graphics and processing tasks.The ATI 9200 does not require an additional power source. It is powered by the AGP/PCI slot.

Dummy2k is correct, if you wish to use the videocard more efficiently, your system should be upgraded.

However, if you decide to upgrade and plan on buying a new motherboard I suggest you look into AGP.

Articles of interest:

PCI

AGP

Computer Video Card Support and Help

http://www.mrbios.com/biosupgrades/index.cfm