Trouble installing new graphics card

[reiterjt]

I have a stock Dell Optiplex 170L that needs a new graphics card in order to support a widescreen monitor with a resolution of 1600x900. I bought an ATI Rage 128 Pro to use in one of the PCI expansion slots.

First Trial: installed ATI card and booted up. Monitor never came out of standby. Turned it off and took out the card and hooked up VGA cable back to the onboard jack and rebooted, works fine. Do some reading and realize that the PCI card will not be automatically recognized and that I need to first disable the onboard graphics card.

Second Trial: Open up device manager, display adapters, and then disable the Intel 82845G graphics controller. Shut down, install card, reboot. Still blank screen. Do more reading, find that I might be able to uninstall the drivers and force windows to load with the Standard VGA compatible driver.

Third Trial: Enable Intel 82845G graphics controller, uninstall drivers, and then reboot to allow windows to automatically install Video Controller (VGA Compatible). It does this initially, but then goes ahead and automatically installs the Intel 82845G graphics controller. Do more reading and try some steps and keeping the chipset from loading the graphics card; used steps found at How to force Windows to use a standard VGA compatible driver. Was unsuccessful.

Fourth Trial: Accessed the BIOS in an attempt to disable the onboard graphics controller. Under Integrated Devices I had the option of setting the primary graphics controller to either "Auto" or "Onboard", but there was not a setting for turning it off completely.

Fifth Trial: This is the only trial thus far that was at least partially successful. On a random forum I found a suggestion to first boot up in Safe Mode, and then disable the onboard graphics controller in device manager. So I did, and then shut down, installed the graphics card, and booted back up (at this point the BIOS setting is set at "Onboard"). The VGA cable was initially hooked into the onboard jack, and I received the Dell startup screen and then the XP loading screen. The picture then went blank again. I switched the VGA calbe to the ATI card jack and the picture returned, showing the windows login screen. I logged in, inserted the driver installation disk, and successfully setup the card. However, the resolution selections did not include 1600X900, just several both above and below the desired resolution (the max resolution of the ATI card is 1920 x 1200 @ 85hz). I rebooted and changed the BIOS setting back to auto, and then again received a blank screen.

I know that the best way to figure out such problems is continuous trial and error (definitely the best way to learn) but I think I have exhausted all the resources I have available. Right now I know I can remove the card, reboot, change the BIOS setting back to "Onboard", and at least be able to function, but the whole purpose of this card was for the computer to be functional with an Acer 20" widescreen at its max resolution of 1600x900. The card driver on the installation disk is the most update driver available.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what to try next? Thanks in advance to any that offer help.

[AnakiMana]

reiterjt,

This video card is quite old, being produced around 1999 or 2000. Because widescreen monitors were not around back then, neither your ATI or integrated video adapter will work for 1440x900 (edit: I meant 1600x900, but it's the same problem) or other now-common widescreen formats. Try a newer video card, but research on the internet before buying anything.

~Andy

[reiterjt]

Thanks for the reply. That thought had occurred to me but I just wasn't quite sure if that was the reason, so thank you for solidifying that for me. The reason I tried so hard with this graphics card is because I bought three of them for work to upgrade 3 separate towers because they only cost $20 a piece. There is also the possibility that there may be more computers that will also need the same upgrade, so my next question would be does anyone have any suggestions?

The requirements are:
PCI card
vga and/or dvi output
output 1600x900 on widescreen flat panel monitor
cost efficient for multiple towers (as of right now 3)

Again, thanks in advance to any that offer suggestions.

Also, I am still not sure what's going on with my blank screen situation (original post), so that is still an open problem if anyone has an ideas on that.

[n0valife]

You are making sure that you are plunging the VGA cable in to your graphics card and not the integrated graphics?


Not read your post totally so ignore me if iv missed something, but i read your symptoms and iv had the same problem.

[reiterjt]

"The VGA cable was initially hooked into the onboard jack, and I received the Dell startup screen and then the XP loading screen. The picture then went blank again. I switched the VGA calbe to the ATI card jack and the picture returned, showing the windows login screen"

That's what is currently happening.

Since I really just need a different graphics card with standard widescreen formats I will close this thread and post a new one regarding that.