trying to salvage a Packard Bell Windows 98 machine. The on board video (driver/card) appears to have died. The monitor does work (tried it with a different computer).

How do I install a new video card when a can't see to change drivers/Cmos/bios/etc.

I did try to plug in a new video card into the PCI slot. Of course the machine never seemed to detect that it was there.

Any suggestions.

Putting a new card in may not work as some BIOS's require you to tell them that there is another card there. You could try finding the CMOS reset jumper, which is usually near the battery/BIOS chip on the motherboard. Using that may reset it and tell it to use the card you put in.

> I tried Wii-ste's suggestion, the best that i knew how to. Quite honestly, i'm new to the game. I never found or knew what to look for, concerning the CMOS reset jumper. I did pull the battery to see if that would work. No luck.

> Does resetting jumpers require special tools? What do these jumpers typically look like?

> This old Packard Bell is getting closer and closer to the donation bin.

Did you check the BIOS settings to see if there was an option for the on-board video? Get to the BIOS by pressing DEL * at the beginning of the boot process.
* some systems have F2 - it should show up on the boot screen.

This is what a jumper looks like

You may need to lookup the jumper for your motherboard on the manufacturers website. Usually the CMOS one is just four pins
88 <--- set out like that
Normally you just move the plastic bit from one pair onto the other pair for a few seconds, then put it back.


If you need further help you will need to post the full model number of the computer.

Attached Images

jumper01.jpg (30.8 KB, 3 views)

>>The saga continues...thank you all for your patience and ideas.

>>I tried resetting the jumpers and also tried to access BIOS with DEL and F2>>. No luck on all counts.

>>The full model number of this "old Betsy" is Packard Bell Model: A940-TWR

>>Any parting suggestions?