New Video Card

I have never been this frustrated in my life! Anything that could go wrong today, has. I expected to go out and buy a new video card this morning and have it up and running before lunch. Nope. I bought a 9200 SE 128MB PCI video card. Produced by ATI - the "Xtasy" brand. My computer initially came with some low powered video card by Intel on the motherboard (not a seperate card). There's no way to get to it, but there are 2 different PCI slots presumably for a video card. Neither one registers at all... I can restart the computer as much as I want but the "found new hardware" never recognizes the new card and apparently the disk that came with it does *nothing* unless the computer recognizes it. I wouldn't think it's defective...I didn't do anything to it and it's fresh out of the box. The instructions say to disconnect the old video card and plug this one into the slot that the old one came out of but I can't do that b/c the "old" one is not accessible and is welded onto the motherboard underneath a protective metal case which is bolted down pretty tight. I just assumed that if I plugged the new card into one of the PCI slots it'd register... I also uninstalled the one that did register and now every time I restart it "finds" it and wants me to install it but still doesn't recognize the new one! I'm pissed cuz I feel like I'm totally overlooking something but I don't know what it is. If anyone can help me I'd appreciate it very much!

Go into the BIOS.... Look for an option like VGA boot from PCI or something.... (depends on your BIOS)


Been there done that, with a Radeon 7500.


I never liked onboard video.... Oh yeah.... Disable the onboard card if you can.

I hate to say this but you might end up having to butcher a part of your case to get the old video card out I think that is the only way windows is going to see it and one other thing be very careful when pulling the old video card out.

Thx. There is no old video "card", it's actually part of the motherboard. You essentially plug the moniter into the motherboard. I can't boot into BIOS. I looked up how to get into it with this kind of computer and it said I was supposed to hit F10 as soon as I turn the power on - so I did that repeatedly but I think GRUB boot loader is messing it up. (I tried before the boot loader came up and after, but no luck). I dual boot with WinXP and Red Hat and I think perhaps the new boot loader is keeping me from accessing the BIOS? I tried google with "grub bios" and came up with nothing useful... Compaq's support sux, just for the record.

I thought he said he had an onboard card?

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Originally posted here by D0pp139an93r
I thought he said he had an onboard card?

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If I did, it's either because I'm frustrated and tired or b/c I don't know wtf I'm talking about. In either case, sorry if I mislead you. I managed to access the BIOS with F12 (NOT what the manual said) and the only options for video were either "PCI" (which is what it was set to by default) or "Onboard VGA". I really *hate* to say that I'm lost but I know absolutely nothing about this....I feel like a total n00b but I guess it's good to have the feeling every now and then so you don't get a big head. So should I switch from PCI to Onboard VGA?

*edit*
I also managed to disable the original one. Wasn't hard actually, even had a button saying "disable" under the device manager. Thx for the tip!

*re-edit*
One other thing - the monitor only works if I have it plugged into the original place for it (the one that connects directly to the motherboard) but there's also a slot for it on the new video card. If I plug the monitor into this one, it's just blank. The instructions said that I should have it plugged into the new one from the get-go... I'm thinking about going out in the back and pouring gasoline over the instructions and making a little bon-fire. :)

Sorry I misread your post damn speed reading gets the best of me at times. this has me puzzled I will see what I can dig up. you really know how to stump a person.
:what:

Ok have you looked at the web site of the manufacture who made the motherboard the answer might be there

It's a Compaq Presario with an Intel Pentium 4 2 GHz processor. I'd assume Compaq made the motherboard... They're absolutely no help. They're like (stupidity voice on) "If you've got one with a seperate video card, then unplug that one and plug the new one in. If you have an onboard video card (or w/e), then most of those have a cable going from them to the power source to the hard drive." (stupid voice off) Mine doesn't fit into either category and it says NOTHING else about what to do. Perhaps I could call some tech support line... If I haven't got this thing licked by an hour from now, I'll give up and give somebody a call in the morning. (I don't wanna scream at them so I'll give myself the night to cool down some).

Good luck with the tech support and pray that you talk to someone from compaq that you can actually understand what they are saying. but before calling compaq I would call tech support at ATI and see if they could help you.

Skrew it, I'm gonna reinstall the old one for now. I'll try again tomorrow... I emailed the ATI tech support (video card manufacturer) and I'll give Compaq tech support a call in the morning. Thanks for trying though!

I feel your pain. I'm having he same problem with a firewire card and various sound cards on this machine. Stick 'em in the PCI slot, producer says Windows will detect the hardware and add it accordingly, then -- NOTHING! I'm quite bewildered myself. Grr...

And, I have one up on you on cases. I had a couple of old machines donated to me, and they have plenty of good parts in them, only -- I can't get to them! The cases are horribly built, as screws necessar to remove the various drives are positioned so that no screwdriver can reach them without having gymnastic capabilities. The case is built so you can't reach anything to remove it.

So, you are having problems with installing a new graphics card over your already integrated graphics card? Correct?

Well lets see -

Do you have a gaphics card slot or are you trying to hook it into a wrong port? (I am not trying to make you sound stupid but sometimes the easiest things are the answers. I have seen others do this.) I just know that sometimes integrated boards don't have room for extra graphics card.

Have you loaded any other internal hardware onto this computer? If so was the install easy?

You can't boot to your BIOS?

Is your keyboard USB? If you keyboard is USB you may not be able to use it until you boot into an OS. If your keyboard is swap it with one with a serial port and try again.

- MilitantEidolon

Hi Keezel,

When you say "the old one" are you saying that you already have a replacement (that works) for the onboard video chipset. If so what does it plug into, a short brown slot, or one of the longer (white) PCI slots?

You do realise that Compaq were taken over by HP, so support is not going to be more than marginal. Anyways, the big boys don't like it when you change components and operating systems. And they will be as interested in a dual boot into Windows and *nix as Saddam Hussein is in human rights.

Is this an old ex-corporate machine, by the way? It may have a custom BIOS.............anyway, the big manufacturers mess with the BIOS to cut their support costs. The standard BIOS access for Compaq is F10, so there is something weird about your machine for a start. That could be this dual boot manager?

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It's a Compaq Presario with an Intel Pentium 4 2 GHz processor.

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Well that machine should certainly have an AGP slot IMHO, it is relatively modern. Even DELL PIIIs have AGP slots :( That's the short brown one, usually with a locking mechanism at one end.

I would suggest changing the BIOS setting to "onboard/VGA" and see what happens. Try it with the monitor attached to the new video card.............I have an old Digital Venturis that I put a PCI video card into.........it will use that or the onboard one, depending on which outlet I attach it to on bootup.

just a few thoughts