[Haerry]

Right, so i've finally bought a graphics card (a 7600GT), and have made an attempt to install it myself. I put it in and tried to load the driver (now thinking back, i am not sure if i did this correctly). I could not get my monitor running through the connection on the graphics card and assumed something was wrong (at this point i was still running it through the connection to the intel on-board graphics). I was not really sure what i was doing, but in an attempt to get the monitor showing picture throught the port on the 7600, i disabled the driver for my onboard card. (in the manual it said to uninstall/disable the driver for any onboard graphics after you have installed the nvida driver). Now i cannot get a picture on the monitor no matter which plug i connect my monitor's cable to (onboard or 7600).

Am i correct in thinking that i have probably not installed the 7600 correctly, and should try doing that again? If so, how do i enable the on-board intel graphics so i can get a picture on my monitor, so that i can install the nvida driver properly?

Thanks for any help that you could give,
Haerry

[link590o]

i think you might have done things out of order.

if you have an onboard card, you should have 2 monitor ports. attach the monitor to the onboard port first, boot up, and install the necessary drivers and catalysts and such. then attach the monitor to the graphics chip, and reboot and you should be good to go. from there you just have to disable the onboard card.

if you don't know how to do that, here's how:(and i'm assuming you're still running win XP sp2)
start> control panel> system> hardware tab> device manager> display adapters> integrated card> right click, disable/uninstall. whichever you prefer.

if you don't have an onboard, it should have at least displayed something because windows includes very very basic graphics drivers, enough to make it display and allow you to do stuff.

[Haerry]

Right, so say i try plugging the monitor into the slot, and nothing appears on the screen. What would you say i am doing wrong? I understand i need to install the nvida driver, but the monitor shows no signal, so how can i get to control panel etc...

BTW, i can hear the computer turning on, it's deffinately working, the monitor is just showing no picture.

[link590o]

here's another thought..did you check to make sure your power supply has enough power to support an added graphics component?

try removing the card entirely, and plug back into the old monitor port and see what happens. and double check your power supply. if it's the one that came stock with the machine, you need to replace it with a better high quality one. graphics cards tend to be very power hungry.

[Haerry]

I'm fairly sure it's not the power supply, as i tried removing the card, and there were still no changes. When i turn the pc on i can see the fan on the card working, so i'm guessing thats proof that it's not power supply related...? Also, before i disabled the onboard graphics driver (and the problem of no picture started), the newly connected card seemed to running fine and the computer said new hardware was found.

I have a 400w supply, and a fairly simple set up (core 2 duo processor, 1gb ram, 160gb hard drive) so I'm fairly sure the problem isn't power related (am i right?)

Correct me if im wrong, but i think the main problem is that without the driver for the on board graphics, the computer wont display on a monitor for me to install the nvida driver and use my new card.

Do you, or anyone else, know a way around this? (a way to re-enable the on board graphics driver, so i can install the correct driver for the 7600 perhaps?)

[cheesewheels99]

push down on the card make shure its in all the way then go into the bios and disable onboard graphics and you need more then 400watts at least 500 or 600

[Haerry]

Will I really need more than 400watts? How complicated/expensive is it to upgrade power? I seriously know very little about computers. Will it work at all with 400w? if not, what will ensuring the card is correctly inserted achieve?

The onboard graphics have already been disabled, that is the problem. Because they are disabled, i cannot install the new driver necessary for the new card. What I am asking is is there a way to enable the onboard graphics, even though nothing is showing up on the monitor as there is currently no working graphics card in the computer.

[cheesewheels99]

its not hard to upgrade make shure you put every thing back were u inplugged it from the one i have isa xtreme power 585 its pretty good 2 12v rails