Install a new video card for a failing onboard video connection

[loninappleton]

This hardware question is about adding in an older NVidia graphics card to replace the onboard video.

One error I'm getting and computer power up is 'not getting signal' at the monitor from the onboard video.

A sample install of the add-in card to bypass that connection gave a typical blue screen with the message of a new piece of (something-- hardware software) is not recognized.

The motherboard has Radeon 4540 graphics on the board. The add-in card which is used is an Nvidia XFX gotten from a friend who is upgrading.

My question is this:

It is known that a hard disk can be migrated from one rig to another by modifying the driver in Device Manager. What this does is have Win7 make a new discovery of the hardware piece. Can something similar be done with video in Device Manager or the BIOS on this MSI 880GM-E41 model MS 7623?

Additionally, could a reinstall of Win7 adding in the proper Nvidia driver which I put on a cd solve the problem?

Or does the chipset simply not support Nvidia? I have looked at the specifications manual page and found nothing on it. The Radeon info comes from the Everest diagnostic program.

thanks for any replies

 

[RoasterMen]

HD 4540 or HD 5450? The motherboard will support any graphics card assuming it has a PCI-E slot (which it does have). Have you tried disabling onboard video in the bios?

 

[loninappleton]

Disabling onboard video is a good tip. But I could find nothing on it in the manual.
What is it typically called and under which option?

 

[loninappleton]

Forgot.

Yes Radeon ATI 4250 is the video gpu on motherboard which about six years old,
The AMI system BIOS date is 1/27/2011 . BIOS screens are confusing I need to know where to start
to find the switch you mentioned.

 

[RoasterMen]

I don't have your motherboard's BIOS options but here's a picture that will give you an idea

It won't be exactly like this but should be similar

 

[AddRAM]

You should not have to change anything in the bios, just install the card, then download the proper drivers from nvidia and install them, that`s it.

Visual Computing Leadership from NVIDIA

 

[loninappleton]

That should help a lot. I'll inform of my progress.

I guess I'm wondering that if the POST gets as far as Win7 why wouldn't it continue?

Anyway, I'll be testing this shortly.

 

[loninappleton]

An update.

I can't believe how opaque this procedure is to even find a screen shot of what to do.

It's not in the manual with the board. ( I had not looked for a pdf on the install disk)

There is an MSI site that has a download concerning the AMI BIOS where I hoped to see a read me. That download is in something called a .BAO file. It may be for flashing, who knows?

Next I went to a third party site for a pdf download. This was a bit more complete. Keep in mind, this MSI has POST problems and I am not shutting down til necessary.

On this manual description it says Primary Graphics display and the right option to open. But even here it does not show other options except to say some selection is available.

That is the best I have found.

Before attempting this it would be helpful to know if the options shown would even include a swap to NVidia.

 

[loninappleton]

One other note: Some may wonder why I don't go to MSI forum with all this. I simply can't read their tiny text that is white on black format in keeping with their layout.

 

[Mellon Head]

On this manual description it says Primary Graphics display and the right option to open. But even here it does not show other options except to say some selection is available.

Primary Graphics Display is the BIOS entry that you want, and you want to set it to PCIe or "PEG", whichever of the two show up. That will set the system to look at the add in GPU first. If it can't find a GPU (if you don't have it installed, for instance), then it will default to the onboard graphics.

Keep in mind that BIOS manuals are terrible and are usually translated from another language into English with naturally resulting errors and omissions. They also seem to make them as generic as possible so that one BIOS manual can mostly replace another when it comes time to write a new one. It usually takes a bit of head scratching and trial and error to figure out what to do. It's normal.

Before attempting this it would be helpful to know if the options shown would even include a swap to NVidia.

The BIOS manual will never tell you that, but you should have no problem putting in an Nvidia card as long as Windows 7 drivers are available for it. If it's really old, it might be a problem, but you'll probably be OK. Just make sure to install the drivers after you install the card and you should be good to go.

EDIT: See my next post for further instructions...

 

[Mellon Head]

OK. I just found the manual at the MSI website. To set up your motherboard to use an add-in GPU, you want to get to the "Advanced BIOS Features" screen in BIOS and set the "Primary Graphics Adapter" setting to "PCI-E". Then save and exit.

This is the screen you want. The relevant setting is outlined in red:



You'll have to switch your monitor cable over to the Nvidia card, obviously. Then you can reboot, install the drivers and be good to go.

 

[RoasterMen]

You should not have to change anything in the bios, just install the card, then download the proper drivers from nvidia and install them, that`s it.

Visual Computing Leadership from NVIDIA

This is not the case on all motherboards. Some motherboards really do need the onboard VGA to be disabled

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Weird my Acer is on auto and works
Board and bios from 2009

 

[RoasterMen]

Hi,
Weird my Acer is on auto and works
Board and bios from 2009

Same with my pre-built PC that I had (HP a6540d) with MS-7525 with a BIOS from 2008.

 

[loninappleton]

I will have to catch up on the messages here. Some did not have mail alerts that I saw.
I will make a report when I do something more on this. Since the system has become erratic,
I leave it on and don't try to restart. I put on a different restart switch too which was doable because my system is open, bench- style and I just changed the push on/off switch which goes to a case.

And soft restart doesn't play nice either.

I asked about this as a Win 7 subject since the card got as far as a Win7 blue screen.

Before that just nothing without several tries to restart. The rest of everything powers up.
But it's not until I hear the monitor click that the POST will continue.

Maybe these details will help. I appreciate the time and replies to this hardware
question.

 

[loninappleton]

OK. I just found the manual at the MSI website. To set up your motherboard to use an add-in GPU, you want to get to the "Advanced BIOS Features" screen in BIOS and set the "Primary Graphics Adapter" setting to "PCI-E". Then save and exit.

This is the screen you want. The relevant setting is outlined in red:

View attachment 389908

You'll have to switch your monitor cable over to the Nvidia card, obviously. Then you can reboot, install the drivers and be good to go.

This detail is appreciated.

Does "VGA share memory" on the same screen need anything done with it?

I'm printing out the relevant manual page but the options are not even shown in that.

As an example I went in to the BIOS on another machine and that just offered the
selection of PCIe or PCI. The replacement card is a PCIe.


To review then

At shut down, turn off power, unplug, Put the new card in, power up, hope to get to the BIOS screen, make the selection and then boot from dvd drive to get the Nvidia driver?

Crimeny.


I'll report back when I do the actual operation.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Yea I ended up taking a snap shot to so you might compare settings
Mine are all default
I have a 4gb gtx 980 hybrid on it.

 

[Mellon Head]

You shouldn't have to boot from the CD drive to get the driver. You can just boot normally and then go to the CD to install your driver.

Alternatively, you can probably get a newer driver from here:

Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers

And you can just leave VGA Shared Memory as it is.

 

[AddRAM]

Yes, you have to first boot into windows before you can get the drivers off the cd.

But you should download the latest driver from Welcome to NVIDIA - World Leader in Visual Computing Technologies

As already suggested in post #6 and #18

 

[loninappleton]

On drivers, since I got this add-in as a hand me down, I'm going to think that Nvidia can read the card and supply the right driver.

I have one Nvidia machine (also with onboard video) and as old at that is (6 years or so)
the driver available was from 2013. It installed ok on that system.

I'm going to assume the same applies to this one when/ if I get to the Win7
which, like I said, was a problem. I think I have asked all the possible questions now.

And thanks for straightening me out on the driver issue. I may have been confusing
bootable cds with non bootable cd discs.



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