dell 5150 with extra video card

T

T3-Jeff

T3 Trading Group
You guys really helped me last month with another quad monitor issue....so I'm hoping you can help again. I just got a new Dell Dimension 5150 with the 128MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon X300 SE HyperMemory Card. I also bought a ATI 256MB Radeon 9250 PCI card from Compusa and installed it in an empty slot. When I install it in the top slot, right under the existing card, when I go to boot up, the computer never really boots....it's on, but there is not picture on the monitors and I can tell the computer didn't go through a full boot. When I put the additional card in the slot under it, the computer boots up but won't recognize the card at all. I tried two cards and two identical computers. In the BIOS I have "Autodetect" for the video option.

The new card says to uninstall any drivers for the old card. Do I really want to do this?? Can I mess something up so bad that I get get no picture at all (If I uninstall the original driver and the computer has no display at boot up??)

When I did this same setup with a Dell Dimension 4700 with the same 2 cards it worked flawlessly. Any suggestions
??

Thanks,

Jeff
 
Do you have another BIOS option... like PCIE, or something? If so, try that.

Is that 2nd card a "3rd party" job and not a genuine ATI model? If so, replace it with the real thing. 3rd party cards in multi-card is a big no-no in my book.
 
Thanks gnome...I think you helped me out with my other problem as well. My computer is at my office, so I will check that out in the morning.

The card is a Norwood Micro ATI Radeon 9250 that I got at Compusa....the same one that worked in my DEll 4700. It has the "ATI" seal on it.

One other thing....When I go to "Add/Remove programs, there are two items there 1) plug n play Radeon X300 SE HyperMemory and 2) default Radeon X300 SE HyperMemory. I don't know if that is an issue or not.

Lastly, is it possible that if I remove a driver or screw up a BIOS setting that I can't get a picture, and thus NEVER be able to "see" what my computer is doing?? (ie, its there but I can't see it because the computer can't "talk" to the monitor)

Thanks,

Jeff
 
i just bought a dell e510. and am installing 2 double pci cards. i have tot ake the modem card out of the pci slot. the e 510 has a double video card built in already so i'll have 6 monitors. i tookm it to a shop and they're putitng it in now. on my dell 3000 i had the same problem when i tried to put 2 video cards in. there's a conflict somewere between your cards
 
Quote from jefftrader:

Thanks gnome...I think you helped me out with my other problem as well. My computer is at my office, so I will check that out in the morning.

The card is a Norwood Micro ATI Radeon 9250 that I got at Compusa....the same one that worked in my DEll 4700. It has the "ATI" seal on it.

One other thing....When I go to "Add/Remove programs, there are two items there 1) plug n play Radeon X300 SE HyperMemory and 2) default Radeon X300 SE HyperMemory. I don't know if that is an issue or not.

Lastly, is it possible that if I remove a driver or screw up a BIOS setting that I can't get a picture, and thus NEVER be able to "see" what my computer is doing?? (ie, its there but I can't see it because the computer can't "talk" to the monitor)

Thanks,

Jeff
More...

I'm fairly sure the problem is with that card. It's not a *genuine* ATI card and its driver is telling you to uninstall the other. (All of the Radeon modern cards run from the same driver. If your 2nd card was genuine, it would not tell you to uninstall other drivers.)

Even if you hose the video driver completely, it should default to a generic Windows driver to boot up.

If you haven't installed or deleted any drivers yet, don't. Just return that card and get a genuine ATI card and you should be OK.
 
Well, I'm hoping that there is not a conflict between the 2 cards, as I have this identical setup on another Dell. What are they doing for you at the shop??

Thanks,

Jeff
 
No, not genuine. Take it back to CompUSA and tell them you want a *genuine* ATI Radeon card, not a "3rd Party Radeon card".
 
installing my 2 dual head video cards. i tried to put a few on my old dell 3000 and there was a conflict. so for $30 i din't want to mess with it
 
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