PCI cards not working in Optiplex 160L

[guitarzan]

I'm going crazy trying to get a video card with two inputs to work on one computer.

They system is a Dell Optiplex 160L with Windows XP SP3.

First, I tried a Jaton 348PCI 256TWin card, then an ATI Radeon 9250 PCI card, both with two monitors plugged in. The results is the same in both cases, I see the BIOS screen in both screens, and then the Windows logo in both screens, and then black.

The only video options I can find in BIOS are in the "Integrated Devices (Legacy Select Options)".
Primary Video Controller is set to Auto (other choice is OnBoard)
Onboard Video Buffer is set to 8 Mb (other choice is 1 Mb)

And, PCI is enabled in BIOS.

Any ideas as to what is causing these cards to not work?

 

[BadBigBen]

are the black screens on both monitors?

boot into safemode and change the display properties, there you should be able to choose at least one of the monitors as the primary...

then reboot into Windows and see if you get video, then change the properties to get the dual monitor set up...

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[guitarzan]

Yes, black screen on both monitors. And I really should have tried safe mode before posting, good idea. If I can get on the machine today I will try your suggestion

 

[edfair]

Do you have the latest drivers for the M/B? Seem to recall some issues with things not getting sorted out right without them.

[F2] on cold boot to get to setup, service tag is there somewhere, dell.com for drivers for specific service tag.



Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[guitarzan]

Sorry for the delay, got pulled off to other issues... thanks for the help so far...

I actually have THREE different computers now that I'm having the same issue with... Working with the ATI Radeon 9250 PCI cards for now.

The latest machine is one built in-house years ago, with an Intel D845GVSR m/b. Had latest chipset drivers at the time, but I will see if there are newer drivers. This machine's Bios has a "Video Configuration" section where I can switch between "Onboard" and "PCI", so I switched it to "PCI", installed the card, plugged a monitor into the VGA port of the card and rebooted. I can boot into safe mode without problems. But a normal boot, I see the BIOS screen, the WIndows logo, then black (well almost black... there are a few pixels lit across the top row of the monitor. This happened on the other computers as well!)

I switched the bios back to "onboard", booted with the monitor plugged into the integrated video (PCI card still installed, though), and installed the latest drivers for the PCI card. switch back to "PCI" in bios, reboot with monitor in PCI card and same behavior; safe mode ok, normal mode black.

 

[guitarzan]

OK, I solved the issue (mostly) on the D845GVSR m/b... guess it was my own inexperience adding video cards. I thought that when you installed a PCI card, the onboard video would not work?? In fact, I was able to boot with one monitor in the integrated video, and another in one of the two PCI slots, and I got video to work on the one plugged in the integrated card. Then I could see that the monitor in the PCI card was disabled; I enabled it and got it to work. I suspect the same will work on the other two machines; will try those tomorrow.

Problem now is that this machine has two nearly identical monitors (both Acer 22" widescreens, one is a B223w and the other a V223w). The B223w, I can choose 1280x768, but the other shows black at that same resolution. 1024x768 works on the V223w though.