Dell Optiplex Video Card Problems

[therealbc]

I have a Dell Optiplex GX270, Pentium 4, 2.2 GHZ. It came with the Intel on board graphics and I just purchased an nVidia GeForce 5500. Install itself went OK, downloaded updated drivers from nVidia website, updated bios on the Dell. When I startup and the monitor is connected to the card, the dell logo comes up, then the 'Windows is starting up' window, but when it's time for the logon screen it goes black. I know the log in screen is there because i can log on and here the windows chime, but there's still no picture. I am forced to plug the monitor into the CPU and go from there. I spoke to nVidia and they thought it was a bad card, I'm now on the second card and it's the same problem so I don't think it's the card.

I know when I changed the bios for the display it was either 'auto' or 'on' and it was on auto already. There wasn't an option to actually disable the onboard graphics from the bios.

Please Help!!!!!!

[classicsoftware]

Welcome tohttp://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif forums....

Based on what you say. It's windows opting for the on board display.

Take a look at this (http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_video&message.id=93965&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19)

[alex666]

Edit: I think classicsoftware's recommendation is right on the money. So ignore the rest of this post. I didn't attend closely enough to the final portion of your post. Sorry.

Edit 2: I take it back. Per that Dell site, "GX260, GX270, GX280 -
Just adding an AGP video card will automatically disable the onboard video card".
So, could you explain the sequence of what you did exactly.

You say "Install itself went OK, downloaded updated drivers from nVidia website, updated bios on the Dell". So it sounds like you were able to boot into windows and update the nvidia drivers, is this correct? But then when you booted into windows following this update, you are getting this black screen following the friendly Dell intro. Is that correct? If both of the above are correct, I'd suggest booting into safemode, i.e., tapping F8 during boot. If you can do that, then post back and go from there. That would suggest this is a driver problem and perhaps you will need to reinstall your newest drivers. If you cannot get into safemode, I'd be wondering about the Dell bios update. Was that a successful update, and I'm curious why you chose to update the bios? And did you update the bios before you installed the new card or what? What was the sequence? Finally, what version windows?

Sorry for the "64 questions", but it's all relevant.

marty

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Also, if you leave your monitor connected to the onboard vid out and install the other, if display still works on the onboard, it may be that it is being handled as a dual monitor setup. Going into Display Settings would show small graphics of 2 monitors side by side if this were the case.

It would be better if you had use of another monitor temporarily.