No Video! HELP!!!

[TheRoni]

OK, here's the story. I just re-did my OS (Win XP) and it was time to install the new graphics card. My Dell's onboard graphics no longer had the Dell driver (I installed a different version of XP, not the one that comes with Dells), so I thought my new graphics card would work well. I put the graphics card in, and I went into the BIOS to set the primary video to PCI.

Now, I have no picture on either of the cards!!! What should I do? Is there a quick fix for this? The only thing I could think of is trying to go into the BIOS without seeing anything, but that's a little risky. HELP!!! :disgust:

 

[Ligoc]

I haven't used an OEM computer in a while but is there a jumper on the motherboard to reset the CMOS. If you reset it the BIOS will return to default settings.

 

[TheRoni]

Awesome! Thanks! So, where might this jumper be? Should I check the manual?

 

[TheRoni]

Ok, I found the jumper. Now what do I do? Sorry, I'm kind of a newbie at this...

Edit: Also, how should I install the PCI graphics card then? Should I install the Nvidia software, install the graphics card, reboot, and go into the BIOS and set PCI as the primary graphics?

 

[Ligoc]

There should be 3 pins with a jumper covering the middle pin and one of the outside pins. Cut the power to the computer and move the jumper so that it covers the middle pin and the other outside pin and leave it there for a few seconds. Then move the jumper back to where it was. When you restart the computer the BIOS should be reset and you will hopefully have video from the onboard graphics.

You might want to consult with Dell about installing the graphics card. Since it's a PCI graphics card, the motherboard might only be able to output video from a certain PCI slot. Most likely this will be the top PCI slot. With an AGP card you can just plug it into the motherboard and install the video drivers later but I'm not sure if there is a difference with PCI cards.

 

[TheRoni]

Thank you so much for your help! That did the trick! The new graphics card installed just fine in the top slot, and now it's better than ever! Thanks again!!!