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Video Card Upgrades on Dell e520

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6 replies

by rdpollard 1 view

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I'm attempting to upgrade video on a few Dell Dimension e520 PCs. I'm using Sapphire x1550 (ATI) and I end up with no video on boot. I've checked the BIOS settings and it is set to detect a card in the PCI-E slot and override the onboard video. No problems there. So far none of these cards seem to be working, and I've tested several to ensure I didn't just get a bad one. I even went so far as to replace the 305 Watt PSU with a 500 Watt model to make sure that the problem wasn't for lack of power.

Any ideas?

6 replies

by thechas

Do you get video from the on-board video at boot? If so, the on-board is not shutting off like it is supposed to.

One often overlooked BIOS setting to check is the video BIOS cache setting. When you use an external card with a system that has on-board video, you do NOT want to cache the video BIOS. Or any other video data or RAM.

Chas

by computercookie

recently had a friend witha similar problem, he hadn't connected the power supply to the card???

The video card should post before the computer beings to post.

by bakerooie

I am trying to install a ATI Radeon X550 PCI Express card in my Dimension E521 and having similar results.

I disable the onboard/integrated card. Install the new card and the computer boots up to Windows (I can here the windows jingle play in my speakers), but no video comes out. The monitor power light just flashes like the computer is off.

When I reboot with the monitor plugged into the old plug a window pops up telling me I have a add-on video card and to use it.

When I go into the BIOS I can see the VGA video devise is recognized in the PCI slot.

Very frustrating. The BIOS is updated, but for some reason I can't get this to work.

I've had the new card tested and it works fine in another system.

Does Dell only allow certain video card manufacturers on their systems? Any suggestions? All are welcome.

by oh smeg

[i]Nvidia GeForce 6150LE[/i] Chip Set CPU here these Chip Sets are not completely compatible with all ATI Video Cards.

In your case just changing the make of the card may be sufficient to allow the system to run correctly or a better idea would be to use a NVidia Chip Set Video Card which shouldn't have any compatibility issues with the M'Board Chip Set.

Col

by oh smeg

There are 2 PCI Express Slots on the M'Board one is described as

[i]PCI Express: x1 slot bidirectional speed - 500 MB/s[/i]

while the other is described as

[i]PCI Express: x16 slot bidirectional speed - 8 GB/s[/i]

Make sure that you are plugging this Video Card into the X 16 Socket not the X1 Socket. That isn't supposed to take a Video Card.

Col

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