Can't Get Windows to See My New Graphics Card

I've got an old 17 inch IBM CRT sitting on the floor next to my desk that is destined to go to the recycling depot. It was a spare that I used when working on other PC's here at home. Pretty similar circumstances to what you describe above. I noticed the colors were off, power cycled it and it would be normal again, for a while. Now one color is completely gone so its going out the door to be recycled. I swapped monitors to confirm it wasn't the motherboard/PC that was faulty. lol, the even older and even smaller CRT I swapped in works fine. This is why I suggested testing your monitor on another PC. It might save you some time, head scratching, and maybe some money too.

Everyone,

Thank you for trying to help, but I've given up on this PC. I've come to suspect a power supply issue; i.e., the graphics card (GeForce 210 or 8400) probably wasn't getting enough from the power supply. I could have gone out to get another power supply, but it's just not worth pouring money into a 5-year-old PC, not to mention the time, of which I have little. Because what if I blow another $60 or whatever on a new power supply, and then the motherboard goes out in a few months?

I will actually just go out and buy a new desktop in a few days here.

I am going to go ahead and mark this thread as resolved, and I really appreciate everyone's attempts to help.

Here are some links I got from friends on this topic; thought I would share them with you in case they are helpful in the future:

eXtreme Power Supply Calculator (this one is how I came to suspect the 300 W power supply is too weak to provide for the new card)

How to Disable the Onboard Graphics and Install a New Graphics Card in Your HP Pavilion 6630: 8 steps - wikiHow

How to Disable an Integrated Video Port in an HP Pavilion 1700 Computer | eHow.com

I'd still like to hang out here and learn and hopefully be helpful at times.

Best Regards, Tommy.

Trouble shooting a PC problem can be a real pain if you don't have spare parts to test with. I think most people are looking for a good excuse for buying new gear, and yours is one of the better ones. I don't think too many here are going to ague with your logic on this one.

I am thinking your PC might have a PSU that’s about 350 to 400w tops and i am fairly certain that an 8400gt needs a 12v rail and a 500w psu just like the new cards correct me if i am wrong but if my suspicions are correct your psu is the problem. never hearts to open up the case and look at the back of it. if my memory is correct you need around a 500w psu and one 4 pin pic-e connector for the back of that video card. Any build i do for my friends i don’t put any thing smaller then a 850 psu in them now and even that’s a little small for my gaming buds that are running some of the newer cards.