My friend has a Dell Dimension 5100 and decided to purchase a new Graphics card (ATI Radeon HD *4550) for the computer so that it can run higher performance gaming and i was asked to fit it as my friend isn't that technically gifted.
I fitted the video card with no problems. I then put the computer back together, plug it all up and push the power button, the computer turns on and makes the normal booting sounds but the screen isn't being activated at all, it stays in standby.
At first i thought it was a power supply issue as maybe the DImenion's 305W PSU couldn't handle it so i fitted a 450W thermaltake after making sure that dell hadn't put in any propietary hardware inside the computer and still no screen output.
After that i removed the video card so i could access the BIOS (as the dell's bios didn't like having an add-in video controller but the user trying to output via the integrated graphics. I went into the bios and changed the video settings from auto to "integrated graphics/add in video controller" which means the integrated graphics would be disabled when a video card is installed. Put the card back in and still nothing.
I thought it might be that some cards rather output on the DVI port first over the VGA but still nothing.
I then went the next mile and updated the 5100's BIOS from A01 to A03 via the Dell support website as suggested as i believed maybe the BIOS' in built micro drivers might not support it but still, same problem, the screen stays on standby.
I've tried many other small things to try and make it work as well as i tested the card in my own custom built machine to make sure it wasn't DOA but it was working perfectly fine. After searching around, there seems to be no reason why an HD4550 should not work in this computer and i'm at my wits end and if anyone out there could make any headway on the matter or has seen something similar and has an idea on how to fix this issue, it would be much obliged
Regards,
E
*mistake, thought it was a 5550
I fitted the video card with no problems. I then put the computer back together, plug it all up and push the power button, the computer turns on and makes the normal booting sounds but the screen isn't being activated at all, it stays in standby.
At first i thought it was a power supply issue as maybe the DImenion's 305W PSU couldn't handle it so i fitted a 450W thermaltake after making sure that dell hadn't put in any propietary hardware inside the computer and still no screen output.
After that i removed the video card so i could access the BIOS (as the dell's bios didn't like having an add-in video controller but the user trying to output via the integrated graphics. I went into the bios and changed the video settings from auto to "integrated graphics/add in video controller" which means the integrated graphics would be disabled when a video card is installed. Put the card back in and still nothing.
I thought it might be that some cards rather output on the DVI port first over the VGA but still nothing.
I then went the next mile and updated the 5100's BIOS from A01 to A03 via the Dell support website as suggested as i believed maybe the BIOS' in built micro drivers might not support it but still, same problem, the screen stays on standby.
I've tried many other small things to try and make it work as well as i tested the card in my own custom built machine to make sure it wasn't DOA but it was working perfectly fine. After searching around, there seems to be no reason why an HD4550 should not work in this computer and i'm at my wits end and if anyone out there could make any headway on the matter or has seen something similar and has an idea on how to fix this issue, it would be much obliged
Regards,
E
*mistake, thought it was a 5550
