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Packard Bell Columbia GX Motherboard

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  • Packard Bell Columbia GX Motherboard


    How does the graphics get turned off on this motherboard?

    I have added a graphics card, and can't get it to function, since I can't turn off the on-board graphics.

  • #2
    DID YOU SAY PACKARD BELL??? Man! I haven't heard of them in YEARS! Ever since they shut operations down in america because of so many lawsuits! The problem with most packard bell products, is that they are made very, VERY cheaply! So much so, that most of their motherboards are not compatible with other pc equipment! I am not sure about your particular motherboard, but I have a rule of thumb that I give to everyone I know who has packard bell equipment......"If it ain't broke DON'T FIX IT!" Which means, if the PB motherboard you have is working...... be glad! A lot of the lawsuits that packard bell faced in the US, was because of faulty equipment. For example, there was a packard bell support phone technician that was told by his bosses to STALL customers asking about motherboards failing, parts (soundcards, videocards) being SOLDERED into place and things like that!!


    What you are wanting to know is how to put a simple videocard into a motherboard and usually it can be turned off in the BIOS of the motherboards.....but.....for some reason.....a LOT of people here in the US complained that when they tried replacing parts in their packard bell motherboards, the majority of those parts failed to be recognised by the motherboard itself! Even packard bell before they were shut down in the US said that usually the only way to upgrade one of their motherboards cards was to use packard bell equipment! Mabye someone here i who is familiar with your particular Motherboard can help, but I think that packard bell made their equipment to be incompatible with other PC equipment on purpose....so that people would be FORCED to buy their upgrades from packard bell! So again, the desicion is yours, but if I had a working PB motherboard, I think I would leave it be, or pull it out and get another brand! IMHO.
    Here are my specs:
    System Specs: ATX generic case with Antec 550 watt power supply. ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Motherboard. Western Digital 7,200 RPM 40 gig IDE Hard Drive.(NTFS- file system) AMD Athlon XP 2600 processor.(standard fan and heatsink-Thoroughbred Core-standard speed-NO OVERCLOCK) 1 gig of Samsung DDRAM(PC 2700- 333 mhz....2-512mb sticks running in dual channel mode).Ati Radeon 8x 9600 XT (8x is enabled on motherboard). Soundblaster Audigy 2 sound card. Motorola sb 5100 cable modem (Insight Communications-Cable Connection) BenQ 16x DVD- RECORDER.(records -R/-RW or +R/+RW and CD-R formats) LG 52x32x52 CD Burner. Zip 100 internal drive and a generic 3.5 floppy drive. Windows XP Professional Operating System. I also have a HP Deskjet 3520 inkjet printer and a KDS X Flat 17 inch CRT monitor.

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    • #3
      My first computer was a PB 166 with a 2gb harddrive(that was huge in the day!), that I paid $2600 at Sears for!!!
      What a rip off. Believe it or not I still have it down in my basement!

      They are pieces of crapppp. I wouldn't try and upgrade it. I kept it for posterity.
      The best thing you can do is save up about $500 and build yourself a new system.
      Until then, I would just be happy your PB still works, and use it to browse the web and whatever else you can, until you get a new computer. Actually I don't even know if I would call a PBell a computer! Maybe more like a calculator!

      Good luck,
      Chez

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Chezman29
        My first computer was a PB 166 with a 2gb harddrive(that was huge in the day!), that I paid 00 at Sears for!!!
        What a rip off. Believe it or not I still have it down in my basement!

        They are pieces of crapppp. I wouldn't try and upgrade it. I kept it for posterity.
        The best thing you can do is save up about 0 and build yourself a new system.
        Until then, I would just be happy your PB still works, and use it to browse the web and whatever else you can, until you get a new computer. Actually I don't even know if I would call a PBell a computer! Maybe more like a calculator!

        Good luck,
        Chez


        See what I mean?? There is a former packard bell owner! He really is right though......it would be better to use it for what you can and try to get yourself a new system. The reason being what I stated above about PB equipment. They are just hard to upgrade!!
        Here are my specs:
        System Specs: ATX generic case with Antec 550 watt power supply. ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Motherboard. Western Digital 7,200 RPM 40 gig IDE Hard Drive.(NTFS- file system) AMD Athlon XP 2600 processor.(standard fan and heatsink-Thoroughbred Core-standard speed-NO OVERCLOCK) 1 gig of Samsung DDRAM(PC 2700- 333 mhz....2-512mb sticks running in dual channel mode).Ati Radeon 8x 9600 XT (8x is enabled on motherboard). Soundblaster Audigy 2 sound card. Motorola sb 5100 cable modem (Insight Communications-Cable Connection) BenQ 16x DVD- RECORDER.(records -R/-RW or +R/+RW and CD-R formats) LG 52x32x52 CD Burner. Zip 100 internal drive and a generic 3.5 floppy drive. Windows XP Professional Operating System. I also have a HP Deskjet 3520 inkjet printer and a KDS X Flat 17 inch CRT monitor.

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        • #5
          I dunno why you complain about PB. When I got mine, it worked when it felt like it. Sure I have dozen of sleeples nights and failed to show up to school a few times, but I got it to work. PBs Tech Support was a joke, so I learned everything myself.
          Come to think of it, if I didnt get a PB, I wouldnt really be into computers as much as I am now!!!!
          So PB is OK with me. But Im a freak, so dont go by my judgement.

          PS> I did get a 200 Overdrive chip to work with my PB!!!!!! So they arent all bad! They're EVIL!!! :flames:

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by kane2g
            I dunno why you complain about PB. When I got mine, it worked when it felt like it. Sure I have dozen of sleeples nights and failed to show up to school a few times, but I got it to work. PBs Tech Support was a joke, so I learned everything myself.
            Come to think of it, if I didnt get a PB, I wouldnt really be into computers as much as I am now!!!!
            So PB is OK with me. But Im a freak, so dont go by my judgement.

            PS> I did get a 200 Overdrive chip to work with my PB!!!!!! So they arent all bad! They're EVIL!!! :flames:


            Well....putting it THAT way....I guess you would have never been interested enough to stick with computers if you didn't have to "tinker" with that PB! So in a way, I guess that was good! But for the average joe they were a NIGHTMARE that Freddy Kruger would be afraid of! By the way, HOW did you EVER get that overdrive chip to work??? That must have been some trick.....actually getting anything not made by PB to work in a PB computer!
            Here are my specs:
            System Specs: ATX generic case with Antec 550 watt power supply. ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Motherboard. Western Digital 7,200 RPM 40 gig IDE Hard Drive.(NTFS- file system) AMD Athlon XP 2600 processor.(standard fan and heatsink-Thoroughbred Core-standard speed-NO OVERCLOCK) 1 gig of Samsung DDRAM(PC 2700- 333 mhz....2-512mb sticks running in dual channel mode).Ati Radeon 8x 9600 XT (8x is enabled on motherboard). Soundblaster Audigy 2 sound card. Motorola sb 5100 cable modem (Insight Communications-Cable Connection) BenQ 16x DVD- RECORDER.(records -R/-RW or +R/+RW and CD-R formats) LG 52x32x52 CD Burner. Zip 100 internal drive and a generic 3.5 floppy drive. Windows XP Professional Operating System. I also have a HP Deskjet 3520 inkjet printer and a KDS X Flat 17 inch CRT monitor.

            Comment


            • #7
              I dont remember exactly, but either the Evergreen or PB had a BIOS update I had to do before the Chip would work.
              It was fun, within my first year, floppy and sound died. they had sound/modem cards back than!!! and about month after sound, I had no modem! So the upgrades began. I got a 28.8K modem! and a SB16 those were some major upgrades. :laugh:

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              • #8
                i got a PB for free a few months back and put in a new CPU, and RAM, and a modem and it never gave me any hell

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                • #9
                  amd_man - you just upgraded a PBell a couple months ago?

                  Where did you get the CPU, Ram and modem. And what kind of Ram did you put in?
                  I still have my Pbell, and have thought about getting it going again.

                  Chez

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    It was back in may, It was a Rummage sale find. Upgraded CPU from a p120 to a p233, from 8MB EDO to 32MB EDO, all this was just parts i had layin around, no special Pb parts

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