Gateway w/Vista won't recognize video card

D

David W. Richardson

Chapelgrove Films
Trying to install a PCIExpress GeForce 8400 GS video card into a Gateway PC, and having problems.

The computer has on-board video, with no way to disable it in BIOS. Running Vista.

From what I've read, it should just automatically see the new card and start using it instead of the on-board graphics, but that's not happening. I removed the card, uninstalled the video drivers (so it's just using standard VGA), then installed the card and booted -- and it still won't see the new video card.

The card works fine in a different computer.

Any suggestions???
 
But if Windows isn't SEEING the installed card, then it can't install drivers for it. That's the problem. It doesn't see anything in the PCI-E slot at all.

I did a similar upgrade to my own computer -- an HP which also has onboard video. All I did was pop the new video card into the PCI-E slot and boot up. Windows saw the card and disabled the onboard video just like that.
 
did you try downloading and installing a driver? If windows doesn't have any pre-existing nvidia drivers, it can be buggy and not even have the faculty to recognize what is in the slot. I've never put a video card in my pc without installing a proper driver.

Different motherboards and onboard video chipsets will respond differently. Try the driver and if that doesn't work, go back into bios and see if there are any options for "primary video adapter" (switch it to pci-e). Also, is there more than one pci-e slot? make sure it's in #1
 
Fohdeesha said:
did you try downloading and installing a driver? If windows doesn't have any pre-existing nvidia drivers, it can be buggy and not even have the faculty to recognize what is in the slot. I've never put a video card in my pc without installing a proper driver.

Different motherboards and onboard video chipsets will respond differently. Try the driver and if that doesn't work, go back into bios and see if there are any options for "primary video adapter" (switch it to pci-e). Also, is there more than one pci-e slot? make sure it's in #1
Click to expand...

The on-board video is also Nvidia, so there are already Nvidia drivers installed. But as I said, if Windows doesn't even know a card has been plugged into the PCI-E slot, what good are drivers? The card isn't detected by Vista, and it doesn't show up in Device Manager.

There's nothing I can find in the BIOS related to a video adapter or PCI-Express slot at all. Wish there was.

Thanks for the assist though. I do appreciate it.
 
Well I don't know what to tell you man, If I were in your situation I would grab the latest proper driver for that card off of nvidias site, uninstall the current drivers you have installed, and install the new ones. That's what I've done several times in the past with no problems, and a card just put in usually won't show up under device manager, and if it does it would be as an unknown device.

What I would do to verify the card is actually working, and the slot on your motherboard is working, is this - turn your computer off, and plug your monitor into the new card. turn the computer on, and you should get output (your bios etc, then hopefully windows as well). If it's not outputting anything at all, then something is dead

also, what gateway model is it?
 
I've done that. Uninstalled the drivers for the on-board video. Shut down, installed the card, attached the monitor to it, and booted up. No output through the new card.

The same card works fine in a different computer. In fact, it's working right now on the computer I'm using to post this.

It's a Gateway GT5473E.

Thanks. I really appreciate your help.
 
No problem, I'd love to see this resolved. I'm assuming you put the card in the long orange pci-e x16 slot, not the short x1 slot? A dumb question I know, just trying to rule everything out.

Assuming it's in the correct longer slot, and doesn't output a single thing when you power on the computer, not even the bios loading screen, it sounds like your pci-e slot is dead. Which is rare, to say the least. In a last move of desperation you could try to blow some compressed air into the slot, wiggle the card around and make sure it's deeply seated in there, etc. You could check the bios again for any options referencing any pci or pci-e slots at all, or "add-on cards" or anything like that. If there's any IRQ or IRQ assigning options, let me know. Have you added any other pci cards to the computer?

So you can just pop the card in the other computer and it works just fine? I assume the video card doesn't need any additional power supply connectors plugged into it
 
I did put it in the long orange slot. :)

I considered that a dust bunny might have gotten into the slot, so I blew it out fairly well. And did wiggle the card. Neither helped.

I plan to go through the BIOS options one more time. That's really the only thing I can think of. Maybe I missed something. The computer isn't mine, so I have to go to someone else's house to work on it.

Yep, I just popped the card into my HP and booted. It detected the card and installed it. No problems. This is the second Nvidia GeForce card I've put into this computer in the last few weeks, and both installed just like that. I assumed installation would be equally simple with the Gateway. Silly me. :(
 
Hehe. Well, it sounds like it would have been that easy, but it seems the actual slots hardware is defective. The card should at least power up and output standard bios messages when the computer comes on. When that doesn't happen, somethings very much broken. Not the best of news! If you see any option in the bios similar to "reset pci configuration data", enable that. Other than that, there's not too much hope :(
 
Way back in my day, I remember that sometimes we'd clear the BIOS settings by quickly reversing the polarity of the BIOS battery. Wonder if that would really screw things up?
 
Well I was going to recommend resetting the bios as a last resort, until you mentioned it was someone else's pc. I guess there's not much to lose though, I highly doubt they have any custom settings they've set in the bios that they'd lose.

There's a nifty jumper these days!

http://support.gateway.com/s/MOTHERBD/Shared/4006138R/4006138Rmvr11.shtml

pop that jumper over one pin, leave it on there for about 5 seconds, then put it back where it was. that'll reset the bios/cmos settings to factory.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top