Graphics Card Nightmare
July 12, 2010 10:04 AM   Subscribe

How can I change my visual display from onboard to a PCI slot?

This might sound like an easy question to answer but when I restart the computer and go into the BIOS menu and change the "intl visual display" from "Onboard" To "PCI slot" nothing happens. I have an eMachine T6532 and a NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS Card. The card is working fine, the drivers are installed and the fan IS running. That said, it seems the computer does NOT want to switch from the onboard display to the PCI slot, so the Card is useless.

I've read where people say to just uninstall the drivers of the onboard visual display but I don't want to do that in case it still wont switch and then I have a computer with no visuals.

If it matters, I have Win XP SP2, 32 bit.
posted by magnoliasouth to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)
 
Even without an accelerated video driver installed the OS will enable the generic VGA driver which lets you boot into Windows at 640x480 which is what you get in safe mode, so don't be afraid to uninstall.
posted by Rhomboid at 10:27 AM on July 12, 2010


What worked for me in a similar situation was not just flipping the visual display but actually turning off the onboard graphics card in the BIOS. For me, there was a "Onboard devices" or something similar tab, and I could flip the onboard graphics, ethernet, sound, etc.. to "on" or "off". Turning the onboard graphics off let it use the AGP card.

You might want to back up your BIOS settings (if possible), and make sure you can reset them without being able to see them before you do this. I didn't, but I am a fool.
posted by contrarian at 2:22 PM on July 12, 2010


Response by poster: Thank you all! Unfortunately we never could get it to recognize the card.

Ah well, at least the computer still works. ;)
posted by magnoliasouth at 4:43 AM on July 19, 2010


« Older We're engaged! Help us find a ring with...   |   Exploring the English countryside Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.