Video card install help

[sweetdiesel]

Need more computer help from the gurus. I spent the better part of last night and this morning trying to install a video card into the wife's computer. The card is this one

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...?EdpNo=3041056&csid=ITD&body=MAIN#detailspecs

And the computer is a Dell Inspiron 530 quad core running Vista. The problem is the computer will not recognize the card after installing. I searched the web and it said to try installing the updated Nvidia drivers but when I tried that the drivers would not install because the hardware is not recognized. I also uninstalled the card, restarting, and then re-installing. I did this a few times but the computer never brought up the "Found New Hardware Wizard" window. What are some other things I can do to try to get the computer to recognize the new hardware?

I really appreciate any help you can give....I'm running on 3 hours of sleep and I'm at my wits end.

 

[beason]

did you replace an existing card, or add this one? if you just added this then that means you have an onboard video card, you may have to disable that one, in order for the machine to see the new one. also the pci express slot may be turned off and you may have to enable it. all of this needs to be done in the bios, with a dell i think its F2 at startup to get into the bios. that is what the ones we have are. With the card installed, go into the bios and see if it showes up there.

 

[sweetdiesel]

I'm adding this one to the existing integrated video card. When I disabled the integrated card last night, it made the fonts and windows huge but I didn't know that I had to enable the PCI-E slot in bios. I had to run to work but I'll try this as soon as I get home.

 

[beason]

did you have the video cable plugged into the old one or new one? if it made the fonts and stuff big then its running on a default driver, you may not see the new hardware thing pop up. look and see in the device manager if the new one is listed when you disable the onboard. if it is then go to dvice manager and tell it to update the driver for that one. or run the setup for the driver, it should pick it up if its listed in the DM

 

[sweetdiesel]

The video cable is plugged into the old one. When I had it plugged into the new card the monitor did not receive any input.

When I disabled the integrated video, the fonts went big but the new hardware was not listed underneath. The user manual said the graphic icon in DM should have a red X on it after I disable, but the X never appeared. The fonts getting big was the only sign that it was disabled.

 

[beason]

ifyou disable the onboard in the bios, it should not show up at all in the DM. look in the bios and see if the card shows up in there, it should have a list of all the stuff plugged into the expansion slots. sounds like you may have a bad card.

 

[sweetdiesel]

I'm leaving work early so I can work on this. I'll pick up another card on the way home just in case going into bios doesn't find it.

Thank you very much for the help and info, I really appreciate it!

 

[HeartBreak]

Have a look in the bios, and see if you can find an option that says "IRQ for VGA", or something to that effect. My Nvidia AGP card won't function at all without an IRQ designated for it.

Aside from that, make sure it's in the first PCI-E socket (usually the one closest to the onboard ports), and that everything else is at least one socket away, if possible.

Lastly, look at your card and see if it requires a power connector from the power supply connected to it. Odds on, you're not giving it any power.

 

[sweetdiesel]

I went thru the bios and did not find a way to enable a PCI-E port. The only options were PCI and onboard. So I put in a card I picked up from Frys and it worked! Looks like Tigerdirect shipped me a DOA card.

Thanks again for all the help. If this happens to me again with a different computer I'll know what to look for.

 

[GrudgE]

wouldnt be the first time I got a card DOA except I deal with newegg.

 

[beason]

bills in the mail!

j/k, glad we could help!