Dell Inspiron 660 not recognizing new video card

[Virgorising]

Unfortunately Dell does not use very good quality motherboards so who knows why it isn't compatible.

I disagree and, via first hand experience. All my Optiplexes have had excellent Intel boards, including the one I am on now. Never had a problem with one (cept that I killed one myselfl, had to replace it). Were Dell moved to save money re their boards in their business systems especially, they would be stupid verging on masochistic. They are profitable because they know not to risk hardware failure.

In all their hardware, they partner with makers who make boards, cooler, and yes, PSUs as well to their specs.

Not to capriciously, broadbrush, diss da Dell please.

And, proprietary is not the same as inferior. For those who build their own rigs, it's just not the right way to go is all.
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Edit:

I just did fast delving and found this re the Inspiron 660:

yogamingpc said:
The best card you can get without changing your power supply would be the HIS HD 7750http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007827196/ref=as_li_q... and you would see a very significant upgrade in your performance if you were to get one.

i did some more reading and I should only have about a 300 w psu, the details on that card say it requires a min of 400 psu. knowing this do you have a different

solution​

​

? thanks btw

wanagoloco
August 27, 2013 6:50:03 PM

You can use the 7750 on a 300W

power​

​

supply. Many have run it on a 275W supply. If you want to upgrade your power supply to a CX 500M http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ALK3HF4/ref=as_li_q... you would be able to run any current card on the market. Keep in mind the manufacturers over shoot their recommended wattage to cover their own butts. 300W is fine for the 7750 but you won't be able to power any card above it. Do you have a total budget for this upgrade?[/quotemsg]

At the moment i am looking at up to $150 dollars into the immediate upgrade(i have some larger expenses this month) but next month i will have more funds to play with for further upgrades.

 

[lioneltrains1]

This is for bubbaleone thank you- You're a flippin genius > Had the exact problem with Dell 660. My son changed power supply and the PCI express video card stopped working. followed this procedure-WORKED!

1. power on the computer and when the f2 setup, f12 boot options appears in the lower-right corner of the screen, press f12.
2. when the boot device menu appears, use the arrow keys to choose the bios setup option.
3. in the bios setup utility, move to the boot tab and disable the secure boot control option.
4. next, navigate down to the boot mode option and switch the boot mode from uefi to legacy. Press f10 to save your changes.
5. once your computer restarts, press f12 to bring up the boot menu again and under 'other options' you should now see 'peripheral device setting (oprom setting)'.
6. use the arrow keys to choose peripheral device setting, then make the approptiate changes in bios to disable the onboard vga and enable the pcie graphics card. Press f10 to save your changes.
7. allow the computer to restart and test to confirm that your grapics card is now functional.
8. once satisfied, restart your computer then go back into the bios and switch the boot mode back to uefi with secure boot enabled.

Once again THANKS!!-Joseph

 

[inachu]

After all this have you when the pc is off and unplugged hold down the power button?

I always had better luck resetting the hardware like that.

 

[DandyD]

I was really excited when I saw this thread as it seemed to address my issue exactly, but when I reboot my Dell 660 and make the changes suggested here, I never get the display controller as an option for something onboard to change. I get settings for the audio card, onboard LAN, etc, but not for video.

I upgraded to the latest BIOS to see if that helped, but it did not.

I can tell from how my machine is behaving that it is still booting up properly with the new video card installed, but when it gets past the basic splash screens the video goes black for the built-in interface as well as for the new card. All I have to do to get video back again is remove the new card.

To be honest, everything looks like it is doing what it is supposed to, I just can't find the setting to make the new card the primary display adapter.

Oh, and when I get the peripheral device setting option to appear the only option is to enable/disable. It doesn't go to a menu that lets me choose anything else.

 

[Sikes442]

This is for bubbaleone thank you- You're a flippin genius > Had the exact problem with Dell 660. My son changed power supply and the PCI express video card stopped working. followed this procedure-WORKED!

1. power on the computer and when the f2 setup, f12 boot options appears in the lower-right corner of the screen, press f12.
2. when the boot device menu appears, use the arrow keys to choose the bios setup option.
3. in the bios setup utility, move to the boot tab and disable the secure boot control option.
4. next, navigate down to the boot mode option and switch the boot mode from uefi to legacy. Press f10 to save your changes.
5. once your computer restarts, press f12 to bring up the boot menu again and under 'other options' you should now see 'peripheral device setting (oprom setting)'.
6. use the arrow keys to choose peripheral device setting, then make the approptiate changes in bios to disable the onboard vga and enable the pcie graphics card. Press f10 to save your changes.
7. allow the computer to restart and test to confirm that your grapics card is now functional.
8. once satisfied, restart your computer then go back into the bios and switch the boot mode back to uefi with secure boot enabled.

Once again THANKS!!-Joseph

I got to #5 and it did not have peripheral device setting. It somehow tried to reboot and now will not boot at all. Only beeps every 2 seconds. Tried removing the motherboard battery for a few minutes and replacing but still will not boot. Please give me some advice. My son will kill me.

 

[inachu]

AGAIN, all Dell's boards are made by either Intel or Asus. No exceptions.

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1901780

#LOL

My i5 ASUS did the same thing and I had to fight the hardware to make it see the newer video card. Multiple reboots/hard resets finally got it to work.

 

[Bubbaleone]

I got to #5 and it did not have peripheral device setting. It somehow tried to reboot and now will not boot at all. Only beeps every 2 seconds. Tried removing the motherboard battery for a few minutes and replacing but still will not boot. Please give me some advice. My son will kill me.

Since my original post last year it's become apparent that Dell has manufactured the 660 with different OEM mobos that use different BIOS/UEFI setup utilities. Meaning, the steps I outlined apply regardless but the location of these settings in your BIOS/UEFI setup utility may be different.

If you haven't bricked the mobo you should be able to restore the default factory BIOS/UEFI settings by holding down the Fn key while "tapping" the F2 key when you first power up the computer.

.

 

[Bubbaleone]

I was really excited when I saw this thread as it seemed to address my issue exactly, but when I reboot my Dell 660 and make the changes suggested here, I never get the display controller as an option for something onboard to change. I get settings for the audio card, onboard LAN, etc, but not for video.

I upgraded to the latest BIOS to see if that helped, but it did not.

I can tell from how my machine is behaving that it is still booting up properly with the new video card installed, but when it gets past the basic splash screens the video goes black for the built-in interface as well as for the new card. All I have to do to get video back again is remove the new card.

To be honest, everything looks like it is doing what it is supposed to, I just can't find the setting to make the new card the primary display adapter.

Oh, and when I get the peripheral device setting option to appear the only option is to enable/disable. It doesn't go to a menu that lets me choose anything else.

Try enabling the peripheral setting option then save and exit the setup utility, and immediately shut down the computer. Now power up your computer, repeat step five, and see if the peripheral device settings options are now visible/accessible.

My suggestion is based on the fact that on this same machine none of the boot device options are visible/accessible until after secure boot has been disabled and the computer rebooted.

.

 

[Sikes442]

Since my original post last year it's become apparent that Dell has manufactured the 660 with different OEM mobos that use different BIOS/UEFI setup utilities. Meaning, the steps I outlined apply regardless but the location of these settings in your BIOS/UEFI setup utility may be different.

If you haven't bricked the mobo you should be able to restore the default factory BIOS/UEFI settings by holding down the Fn key while "tapping" the F2 key when you first power up the computer.

.

Sorry to sound stupid, I see F2 but not Fn. I finally got it to stop beeping. It will boot to BIOS on the secondary monitor. The main montitor stays black. It connects with HDMI, the one that works with a VGA. The video card worked for about 10 minutes, computer was slow as hell. I reboot and it wouldn't work after that. I had already disabled onboard graphics too. Going to take it to a friend that works on computers. Let him deal with the headache, lol.

 

[Rza79]

Edit: fixed some other way