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Inspiron 1525 X3100 graphics (965 chipset) HDMI output not working
I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 that I'm trying to set up as a media center PC. It's old but it's plenty fast enough to stream video and play local content. It has a Core2Duo, I forget the exact model, but it's around 2.0ghz. The chipset is an Intel 965 with an Intel X3100 graphics chip.
For a long time, I had Windows 10 on this computer and everything worked fine, including the HDMI output. When I decided to repurpose it, I wiped Windows 10 off because it was getting slow and I was tired of constantly waiting to use my computer while it forcibly did updates at startup and/or shut down. I installed Windows 7 (64 bit), did all the updates, plugged it into my TV and got nothing.
I've tried installing the drivers from the Intel site for the 965 chipset/graphics, I tried installing some random 64 bit Intel graphics drivers from some site, I tried installing Windows 7 32 bit and using the Dell drivers for Windows Vista 32 bit, and I tried the 32 bit Intel drivers for the 965 chipset/graphics. I even tried reinstalling Windows 10 64 bit, but the HDMI port just won't work anymore. I tried the FN key, the Intel Graphics panel, the regular Windows Display settings. It either doesn't detect that there's an HDMI cable plugged in, or it doesn't realize that it has an HDMI port. I'm not sure which.
I know that the HDMI port still works because it works fine in an obscure variant of Debian Linux out of the box, with no fiddling required. I would just use Linux, but that particular variant is unusable as a media center.
I tried to hunt down an old modded driver package for the X3100 graphics chip, but I only found references to it and not the driver itself.
I've run out of options, am I missing something? Does anybody have any ideas on how to make the HDMI port work again?