Hi Guys...... Friend gave me a GTX285, upon install I got 3 beeps. Reinstall the 8800 and got the same thing. Fiddle with a few things and noticed the PCIe "tab" wasn't quite all the way towards the rear (locked into the notch of the Vcard). With some careful pressure and josseling of the 8800 I got it seated better. Boots fine. I notice that with the tight fit of the GTX285, it was very similar. Locked in the notch but "not quite" all the way. I remember breaking them off before on other mobos with no consequences. If I simply remove the rod that goes into the slot, will the "safety" that prevents the boot simply rotate forward and always give the "good to go" prompt? I don't think I can completely seat the GTX285 so that the rod does what it's doing now on the 8800. The card (GTX285) is seated 99% of the way (if not 100%), the back end of it rides ontop of a 2pin (front case fan) connector. So it's canted literally 1/64th of an inch out of parallel with the PCIe Bus slot. Just ever so slightly. I've seen Vcards seated worse and work just fine. I don't want to break the entire assembly and have it send a "no go" message. But I'm pretty sure (if memory serves me), that just breaking off the rod that goes in the notch allows the rest of it to simply never move and always give the "good to go" signal. Thanks for any advice, in advance.....
Update: 3 beeps with the old card back in. Reseated a few things (3beeps for my mobo code is unseated ram), popped the CMOS battery, and now it boots. I could have bigger problems then just a card that barely fits..... Who knows..... I'm at the point where I don't want to reboot...... LOL.
No takers huh? Beeps codes is for RAM. But how badly could I have unseated it? I'm all for giving this card a shot, since it's a free upgrade, but I don't want to get stuck reformatting or worse having a fried mobo and/or RAM.
