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Changed video card in a brand-new Windows 10 computer, now no video

L

LukFilm2

Junior Member
I admit I'm not a newbie to computers though I've been out of the loop for 15 years now and lots of things have changed. I just got Acer Aspire GX-785-UR16 and because I didn't need a fancy Radeon in it, I removed it and put in a plain old video card. Now my computer has no video even though I can hear the hard drive working and loading Windows. I assume there is a setting in BIOS or Windows that I have to switch to allow a different video card in the system, but I'm not sure where to look. I did disable Secure Boot but it didn't work. Any help is greatly appreciated 🙂
 
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Do you see a BIOS screen, or no video output at all? Is it using the same input to your screen the original card was?

I know that on some branded computers like this, running a CMOS reset from the board with the replacement card installed will allow the system to recognize it.
 
Ketchup said:
Do you see a BIOS screen, or no video output at all? Is it using the same input to your screen the original card was?

I know that on some branded computers like this, running a CMOS reset from the board with the replacement card installed will allow the system to recognize it.
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Just tried resetting CMOS and it didn't work. The computer cannot be locked to one video card, can it?
 
LukFilm2 said:
Just tried resetting CMOS and it didn't work. The computer cannot be locked to one video card, can it?
Click to expand...
It's more unusual for consumer desktop PCs to be locked to vendor-supplied cards, but it's not impossible.

There also may be a UEFI versus BIOS issue with the video card's BIOS. Is the OEM PC new enough to use UEFI? Does the video card support UEFI GOP? If not, then does the mainboard BIOS support "CSM mode"? Disable Secure Boot too.
 
Also, just a thought, you may want to turn off Windows fast boot and see that makes a difference.
 
I'm putting in super low-end Radeon (maybe 3450) and nVidia GT 650, nothing works. How do I turn off fast boot?
 
Turned off fast boot, still nothing.

@RLGL, I don't need a $250 video card, so I sold it to make room for a $10 video card. Looks like I might have to buy it back now...
 
LukFilm2 said:
Turned off fast boot, still nothing.

@RLGL, I don't need a $250 video card, so I sold it to make room for a $10 video card. Looks like I might have to buy it back now...
Click to expand...

Maybe the video cards are so old they are simply just not compatible with the PCIe 3.0 x16 slot (dependent on Acer BIOS support). Maybe try buying a modern PCIe 3.0 lower power video card like a GTX 1050 (or previous 1-2 generations of card).

That said, I never had good luck with Acer products. They were the first PC I ever bought, and it died on day 16. Then about 20 years later I bought a laptop from them, and it was defective out of the box. I returned it and bought a different brand. Fool me twice........
 
I could understand the AMD card being too old (They were still ATI at the time) but I would think the Nvidia card would have done something. It's really too bad they seem to have stripped some of the video outputs from the board, since the CPU has integrated video. OP, you may want to look and see if there is a displayport or HDMI connection separate from the video card. If you are able to use one, try it with no video card inserted. Again, you may need to try a CMOS reset.

I am curios how you disabled fast boot with no video output.
 
UsandThem said:
Maybe the video cards are so old they are simply just not compatible with the PCIe 3.0 x16 slot (dependent on Acer BIOS support). Maybe try buying a modern PCIe 3.0 lower power video card like a GTX 1050 (or previous 1-2 generations of card).
Click to expand...
OMG, I cannot believe it but that was it!!! Went to Best Buy and bought GT 1030 and now the video IS showing!!! Thank you so much for this suggestion 😀
 
UsandThem said:
That said, I never had good luck with Acer products. They were the first PC I ever bought, and it died on day 16. Then about 20 years later I bought a laptop from them, and it was defective out of the box. I returned it and bought a different brand. Fool me twice........
Click to expand...

My first box was also an Acer back in the mid 90's. I have one hell of a horror story that goes with it.
 
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