Computer won't recognize graphics card

[Team Spicoli]

Hello,

I have a Gateway GM5088 desktop running Win 7 32bit. I recently purchased a EVGA 8400 GS graphics card and have been unsuccessfully trying to install the card.

I may have made the grave mistake of assuming that the card was compatible with my mobo, however it's a bit late for that now unless anyone here in the forums knows for certain at which point then I'm just S.O.L.

If my situation is still salvageable, then I would be very grateful for any assistance at this point. I've disabled the Standard VGA adapter via the Device Manager, however the card still is not being recognized.

In addition, when I attempt to install the drivers via the cd-rom that came with the card, I receive an error message saying that the "install cannot continue. This graphics driver could not find compatible graphics hardware."

I've scoured the internet to no avail. And lastly, I'm unable to access my BIOS using the F2 button for some reason. That is the function key that is designated to the BIOS at startup based on the onscreen Gateway menu, however after I press the F2 key repeatedly, the next screen is just blank (black) with an underscore blinking cursor, and that's it. Might have to do with the fact that I'm using a wireless keyboard, but I'm not certain and I don't have a wired keyboard unfortunately to test that theory out.

When I startup the computer, I can hear the graphics card make a succession of approx 3 clicking sounds, then the clicking stops and the computer proceeds to startup. Thought it was worth mentioning that as well.

Any help at this point would be much appreciated, and thank you in advance. Seriously.

 

[Team Spicoli]

***UPDATE*** The clicking noise I referenced previously actually was coming from the dvd-drive because I had the cd-rom containing the drivers for the card still inside. My apologies.

 

[I/O]

Can you afford a new card. I think that relic might be dead I am afraid.

 

[Team Spicoli]

Thanks for the quick response. What are you basing that on?

 

[Team Spicoli]

I was trying to upgrade the graphics card to stream blu ray movies from a hdd. The onboard card is an nvidia ge 6100 but only has VGA out. I thought the 8100 would work because it has an hdmi out.

 

[Team Spicoli]

If I disable the onboard 6100 card via the device manager and then try to connect the VGA cable to the 8100 card and restart the comp, there's no signal at all. Should I just exchange the 8100 for a new one (same model) or look into something else? Don't think I need much, but I'm not sure what is compatible with my gateways mobo.

 

[I/O]

Thanks for the quick response. What are you basing that on?

Just basing your situation on my past experience of over 10 years with computer hardware.

 

[Team Spicoli]

Just basing your situation on my past experience of over 10 years with computer hardware.

Thanks. I wasn't being sarcastic, I just didn't know what to do. Sounds like I should try and exchange for a new one I guess.

 

[I/O]

Thanks. I wasn't being sarcastic, I just didn't know what to do. Sounds like I should try and exchange for a new one I guess.

Almost a sure thing that a new card will fix your problem.

 

[Team Spicoli]

Almost a sure thing that a new card will fix your problem.

Thanks again!

 

[Termie]

Disabling the onboard graphics via device manager is never necessary. If anything, you would do so in the BIOS, but a stock OEM BIOS is often so locked down that you don't have many options.

Either way, simply inserting the card into the PCIe slot should force the motherboard to treat it as primary. If you're not getting video out from any of the outputs (don't just try HDMI, also try DVI or VGA to be sure), then the card may not be compatible. I doubt it's actually broken. It's brand new and a pretty basic card.

You might try a Radeon HD 5450. They tend to be pretty cheap. Actually, just looking up your PC model number, it looks to be an Athlon 64. That could definitely have compatibility issues with newer cards. I could not get a 5450 to work in one of my old Athlon systems, and had to go with a 4670. Perhaps you can still find an HD 4350 around for HDMI output.

 

[Team Spicoli]

Thanks for the follow-up. I actually bought the card used. Appears in like-new condition. The fan on the card runs when installed, but who knows. I only have tried the VGA out from the card to no avail, not surprising given the card doesn't appear under devices in the control panel.

I've ordered another 8100 (new this time) and I hope that does the trick. Otherwise, as you've pointed out, might just be a compatibility issue with such an old Athlon mobo. I've just been trying to squeeze as much life out of that comp as possible lol.

I'll keep you posted. Thanks again!!

 

[Bubbleawsome]

I doubt a 810 will play hd content anyway. :/

 

[Team Spicoli]

I doubt a 810 will play hd content anyway. :/

Hey thanks for the post. Is that based on my mobo? Any other recommendations?

 

[Team Spicoli]

I actually recall that the NVIDIA icon for its control panel appeared on the taskbar after I installed the 8100. I couldn't download any drivers because of the aforementioned error message but that seems odd.

 

[Team Spicoli]

***CORRECTION*** I'm attempting to install an 8400 not 8100. My apologies, I was up late last night trying to get the card to work and somehow I've mixed up the numbers. Thanks

 

[LPCTech]

You said you cant get to the BIOS?

Its possible that you have to disable the onboard graphics with the BIOS before you card will be recognised, you dont do that in device mgr, wont have any effect.

So I would be really interested in getting into that BIOS if it were me cuz the fact that when you try to get in you cant is odd to say the least.

Maybe go online and see if you can find an updated BIOS for your MoBo/PC from the manufacturers website and then see if it works.

Cuz it seems to me that most motherboards would detect a new inserted card and switch to it automatically but who knows.

Also, cheapo wired keyboard = 5$ you should invest.

 

[Team Spicoli]

Here's the processor specs for my computer:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ dual core processor with AMD64 Technology
Operates at 2.4 GHz
2000 MHz system bus
512 KB ×2 L2 cache

I came across this graphics card as well:

512-P3-1300-LR GeForce 8400 GS Graphics Card - PCI Express 2.0 - 512 MB DDR3 SDRAM

I'm not sure the difference between that card and the one I purchased below:


EVGA GeForce 8400 GS 1 GB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 DVI/HDMI/VGA Graphics Card, 01G-P3-1302-LR

 

[Team Spicoli]

You said you cant get to the BIOS?

Its possible that you have to disable the onboard graphics with the BIOS before you card will be recognised, you dont do that in device mgr, wont have any effect.

So I would be really interested in getting into that BIOS if it were me cuz the fact that when you try to get in you cant is odd to say the least.

Maybe go online and see if you can find an updated BIOS for your MoBo/PC from the manufacturers website and then see if it works.

Cuz it seems to me that most motherboards would detect a new inserted card and switch to it automatically but who knows.

Also, cheapo wired keyboard = 5$ you should invest.

Thanks. I'm definitely going to purchase a wired keyboard, because I agree that part of the problem may be that I need to access the BIOS to disable the onboard card. Trying to disable it via the Device Manager is pointless, does nothing as you pointed out.

 

[KingFatty]

I've disabled the Standard VGA adapter via the Device Manager, however the card still is not being recognized.

1. Try to restore the computer to how it was before - undo this disabling and enable the standard VGA adapter.

2. Ensure that your display is plugged into the standard VGA connector on the motherboard.

3. Reboot the computer

4. During bootup, press whatever key(s) are needed to enter the BIOS

5. Navigate through the BIOS and take pictures of, or write down details of, whatever BIOS screen mentions your on-board standard VGA adapter, including any sub-screens or menu items.

6. Let us know what the BIOS says about the secondary video card, if anything

7. If you can't get into BIOS, turn off the computer and remove the 8400 video card, then turn on the computer and try to get into BIOS.


That should help us figure it out. It may be that you need to change a setting in BIOS to get the 8400 to work. But if I had to guess, I would say that the Gateway motherboard would default to automatically handling this to make it as straightforward as possible. Because this didn't work for you, it may be an issue with the video card. We won't know until you can get into BIOS and poke around and figure out the settings for configuring your motherboard to work with the 8400 video card.

Ideally I'd suggest configuring the motherboard to use both the on-board VGA and the discrete GPU 8400, so you could not have to worry about which one is enabled or disabled, and potentially do triple-screen in Windows by using both video cards simultaneously.

http://www.ascendtech.us/gateway-gm5088-105553-motherboard_i_mb64gt4006105r6.aspx

 

[Team Spicoli]

Hey KingFatty, thanks for that follow-up. Most appreciated!

Problem is I simply can't access the BIOS at startup. The Gateway startup menu shows that the <F2> key is for the BIOS, however after I repeatedly depress the <F2> key, the screen then just goes blank (black) and in the upper left portion of the screen is just an underscore _ blinking and nothing else happens. This may be the result of using a wireless keyboard, which is why I'm going to try accessing the BIOS using a wired keyboard and pray that does the trick to at least access the BIOS.

I like your thought on using both the on-board graphics card and the 8400, however I have no idea how to configure the mobo to do just that. And forgive me, but the correct slot for the 8400 is the slot directly under the letter N indicated in your image of the mobo correct? It must be, because it's the only slot that will accommodate the 8400, and it fits like a glove once inserted.

I realize much of this consternation stems from simply working with older equipment, but it's part of the fun of upgrading at times to see what works and how much life can be infused into an older system before taking the plunge on modern equipment. So thank you to all for your efforts to help!

 

[Cuular]

Checking for a bios update for the motherboard would probably help. Since it's a pci-e 1.0, from what i can see googling it. The new card is pci-e 2.0, so the mobo may need some update to work. if it can.

Getting into the bios and seeing what it says about the inserted card will help determine, whether a bios update will help.

Have you been able to get into the bios before inserting the new card? Because if you had before, then removing the new card, and rebooting without it in there may help. If the card is not completely recognized by the motherboard, then it's probably in the bios, just not displaying it when you see the black screen with the blinking cursor.

 

[Team Spicoli]

Checking for a bios update for the motherboard would probably help. Since it's a pci-e 1.0, from what i can see googling it. The new card is pci-e 2.0, so the mobo may need some update to work. if it can.

Getting into the bios and seeing what it says about the inserted card will help determine, whether a bios update will help.

Have you been able to get into the bios before inserting the new card? Because if you had before, then removing the new card, and rebooting without it in there may help. If the card is not completely recognized by the motherboard, then it's probably in the bios, just not displaying it when you see the black screen with the blinking cursor.

Hey, thanks. I don't recall if I have been able to access the BIOS. Can the BIOS be updated from within the BIOS in my computer? Or do I have to search it online? Thanks!

 

[KingFatty]

Your motherboard probably needs you to provide the downloaded BIOS update file using USB or floppy disk. But, perhaps Gateway has a utility you can install in windows that can attempt to upgrade the BIOS that way? I know ASUS has that kind of windows utility.

But if you click on the link right above the image of the motherboard, you'll see that label "S" corresponds to a BIOS reset jumper. So if the BIOS settings get screwed up, you can use that jumper to reset the BIOS settings to their default. Maybe give that a try (while the computer is off), and perhaps your motherboard will prompt you during the next reboot that it needs to enter BIOS to configure it. But I wonder if your motherboard simply cannot support the wireless keyboard within BIOS, such that this reset trick still would require you to get a wired keyboard. I just figure you have nothing to lose in trying the BIOS reset at this point, and possibly avoid needing the corded keyboard if it happens to work.

 

[Team Spicoli]

Your motherboard probably needs you to provide the downloaded BIOS update file using USB or floppy disk. But, perhaps Gateway has a utility you can install in windows that can attempt to upgrade the BIOS that way? I know ASUS has that kind of windows utility.

But if you click on the link right above the image of the motherboard, you'll see that label "S" corresponds to a BIOS reset jumper. So if the BIOS settings get screwed up, you can use that jumper to reset the BIOS settings to their default. Maybe give that a try (while the computer is off), and perhaps your motherboard will prompt you during the next reboot that it needs to enter BIOS to configure it. But I wonder if your motherboard simply cannot support the wireless keyboard within BIOS, such that this reset trick still would require you to get a wired keyboard. I just figure you have nothing to lose in trying the BIOS reset at this point, and possibly avoid needing the corded keyboard if it happens to work.

Thanks. Where do I go online to obtain updated BIOS for my mobo to transfer to a thumb drive?